Hot Air Balloon

No balloons that I know of, but there are a couple of airship kits.  One is a Glencoe blimp, the other is the Hindenburg.  The later is a problematic kit with many inaccuracies.  Oh, there is also a very large and expensive Graf Zeppelin by Lindberg.  I had a picture of mine in FSM about a year or so ago.

I would think that you could scratch build one using tissue paper over a frame. I did that in high school for a mobile and it worked out ok in a small scale. You could as an alternative soak tissue paper with white glue and use a party balloon as the frame. Blow up the baloon and clamp its end, don't tie it off. This way, you could release the air and remove the party balloon once the tissue paper has hardened into shape. That would leave scratch building the gondola and using threads for the ropes. Rigging threads for boat modelling have good scale pieces.

Mike T.

Amt did one several years ago. it was a civil war observation balloon in 1-76 scale. it looks pretty simple and could be modifyed to look more modern. check out page 64 of sep issue  top left  add   i just saw this kit advertised here    dont know if im allowed to say the website here

just went to oldmodlekits.com  its a 1-57 scale balloon

Wow!  I assume that would be the Thaddeus Lowe balloon.  I would LOVE to have one of those kits if anyone has one and is willing to sell.  Guess I'd better get back on eBay and see if I can find one.  Anyone know the AMT kit number?

Amt kit # T571 oldmodlekits.com has one for  $75 bucks so be prepaired to shell out some bigger bucks on fleabay!   I saw 5 of these kits at a fleamarket last year for $4 dollars each    i never listen to my inner voice so i didnt snatch them up . And yes its the Thaddeus Lowe balloon. It even comes with a figure of him

Awh, those ol' baloons are full of hot air.

I read Pancho Barnes bio recently (Pancho of Happy Bottoms riding club at Edwards AFB).  I had not known that she was the  granddaughter of Thaddeus!

Is this Pancho Barnes the aviatrix? Everytime I think of the movie, "The Right Stuff", I think about how she should have been the main character, not just an unnamed person in one scene.

Yep. That is the one.  Grampa Thaddeus took her to her first airshow.  There is a good biography about her, and a made for TV documentary (PBS, I believe) that featured comments from Yeager, Hoover, and other AF folks.

yeah, she was a character well deserving of more attention for her unique contributions to early Edwards days.

Don Stauffer

No balloons that I know of, but there are a couple of airship kits.  One is a Glencoe blimp, the other is the Hindenburg.  The later is a problematic kit with many inaccuracies.  Oh, there is also a very large and expensive Graf Zeppelin by Lindberg.  I had a picture of mine in FSM about a year or so ago.

I have the Lindberg kit but the guy who suckered me to buy it didn't tell how bad of shape it was in and the pictures didn't look so bad but as it was an "as is" deal I still have it taking up space in the closet.  I don't even think I have the small parts anymore.  Sure would have been fun to build.  Trash man is going to get it next trip.

Chris