Takom 1/350 Zeppelin Q-Class Airship

[Wolfman63]

This next build is something different. It is the Takom 1/350 Zeppelin Q-Class Airship. I will be building it as the LZ59 (L20) Airship. The LZ59 after completing its second bombing raid on Britain the airship started having engine problems on its return. This plus the strong winds from a weather front caused the airship to veer north towards Norway. It ended up crashing in the water Jasund, Norway.

The first week I worked on the forward and aft gondolas. The kit has all the windows on each one molded in. I decided to open them up. The forward gondola has a large window area on the nose. I ended up using some 32 gauge wire and replaced the kit parts by making my own framing. The top and side windows were then made with small strips of clear acetate. The side windows on both were drilled out and filled with clear acrylic gel. Both of these are held on to the lower panels via lots of small photo etch struts. The forward gondola wasn’t bad as it had the large supports which were access to the inside of the main airship. The aft gondola was a lot more delicate. Getting the struts lined up and placed correctly required some tedious work.

With the gondolas mounted to their respective lower panels I started working on the main airship. The Q class ship is similar to the P class ship except for length. The kit is designed for both P and Q classes so this kit has a center section to make it the correct length for the Q class. The fit was pretty close but it still required a bit of putty to cover the seams.

I am currently working on the main airship. The airship has a total of four engines. One on each gondola and two mounted on outriggers. These are also mounted with photo etch struts. The struts go to the main body as well as the aft gondola. I should be starting on painting this upcoming week as well.

You can see all the photos and details from the start in the build log at: https://davidsscalemodels.com/build-log/1-350-zeppelin-q-class-airship/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 15 by Wolfman63

[ghodges]

Good looking progress! It's easy to sort of look down on such an airship as old fashioned and cumbersome, but in many ways it was the "rocket science" of their time!

 

Gil 

[Wolfman63]

The second week of the Q-ship started of good. Built up and attached the out rigger engine mounts. I then began painting the scheme for the LZ59. There are three different colors used in the scheme. The colors listed in the instructions are MIG Ammo paint colors. I have never tried them so I decided to purchase them for this kit. The lightest color is Cremeweiss. The darkest is Dunkelgelb. The middle color is a three parts Cremeweiss to one part Dunkelgelb. After using these paints I am very happy with them. They work very well with either spraying or brush painting. The paint gives you an even coat and covers well. When I did touch-ups with a brush there were no brush marks and you cannot tell what was sprayed and what was brushed. The dried paint is durableI will add these to the list of paint brands to use on future models.

To aid in painting I scanned in the painting guide from the instructions and then scaled it to the same size as the model. This allowed me to measure the different sections to correctly mask them. The print out also will aid later when I need to apply the decals to their correct positions. I started with the lightest color first, then the middle color and finally the darker color.

Once the painting was completed I installed the gondolas. For the aft gondola I had to attach a couple of more struts that went from the out riggers to the gondola. And this is where disaster struck! The stands that came with the kit are short small clear stands. These are too small for the kit. The airship can easily be bumped and knock the airship off of them. When it rolled off the stands the aft gondola took the brunt of the damage. I spent two nights rebuilding all the supports for the aft gondola and straightened the out riggers. I decided that I will make new stands to better support the airship later. After the repairs I used a little bit of tape on the stands while I applied the decals.

I am now working on the stands. I am going to make the curved sections longer to better support the model and also make the stands a little taller. Once the stands are made all I need to do is mount the topside guns to complete the model.

You can see all the photos and details from the start in the build log at: https://davidsscalemodels.com/build-log/1-350-zeppelin-q-class-airship/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ghodges]

Excellent looking finish! It's sort of an odd scheme that doesn't seem to fit any sort of attempt at true camo. Since the colors seem to all run vertically do you know if (perhaps) it denotes different types/thicknesses of skinning used on various areas for more strength in those places, or just maybe different manufacturers of the same skinning using different dyes which they then cobbled together?

 

Gil 

[Wolfman63]

The third and final week of the ZL59 Q-Class Airship started off by building the new stands. I used styrene sheets for the base starting with a round bottom and then cutting out a German Flying Cross emblem. A styrene tube for support and a styrene square rod formed to the Q-ship. I also added some foam pads to keep the stands from scratching the surface and to keep the Q-ship form slipping on the stands. These were then painted German Grey with a black and white cross. I raised the height from .5” to 2.0” tall so that the underside details could be better seen. I added the gun mounts to the topside completing this build.

This build was a fun build. The kit itself was very good. The photo etch details are tedious to do but look great once in place. I think this kit would have been better if the gondolas had open windows and photo etch frames for the forward gondola green house windows on the nose. The fit was very good and only required a little putty for the main fuselage.

The only real disappointing part of this kit was the undersized stands. They are way too small to proper support the model and allow easy viewing of the underside details. The decals worked out very well and applied easily. Aside from the poor stands I would recommend this kit for those who want something unique to display. I hope you all had fun watching this build. Happy Modeling!

You can see all the photos and details from the start to finish in the build log at: https://davidsscalemodels.com/build-log/1-350-zeppelin-q-class-airship/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ghodges]

Unique indeed! Thanks for letting us tag along the build!

 

Gil