This is a 1/720th
scale model of the fated airship “the Hindenburg” by Revell
Germany. It is the second plastic model that I have completed this month. Prior to
this, I had not built anything since the fall of 2000 (High Power Rocketry got
my attention for a while).
I really didn’t
pay much attention to the scale of the model until I started building it. I
noticed the access hatches on the engine pods, and then checked the scale and my
eyes just about popped out of my head! This thing is more than half the scale of
my 1/350
Iowa
battleship and the airship model is still 13” long.
Now the actual size (803 feet) of the Hindenburg was truly apparent to
me!
The kit’s main
parts are the two fuselage halves, which fit at the ends, but not in the middle
(bowed). I wondered how I was going to get them to fit, so I just squeezed the
halves together (dry fit) and they ended up meeting perfectly. So I just applied
glue to the ends first, mated them together and worked my way down the halves
towards the center, applying gel cement and pressure as I went. I secured the
airship halves with masking tape while they dried, and monitored any slippage of
the halves over the nest 20 minutes.
The two tail pieces
were then added, along with the engine pods, landing gear, and gondola. I spent
more time on the pods than any other part of the airship. The few detail that
there are exist only on the exterior of this model.
I added a few guy
wires (using the stretched sprue/superglue method) at the tail and the forward
engine pods as the box art suggests, and almost went blind in the process. I
used ModelMaster clear flat over ModelMaster chrome silver overall. I had some
problems with the clear flat peeling, but a re-application of the clear cover
those mistakes fairly well.
The kit decals
lacked swastikas (something about not being legal in