# Some things aren't meant to be G Scale



## riderdan (Jan 2, 2014)

My "prototype" is pre-war Germany and the period between WWI and WWII was the height of the zeppelin era. I'm really into zeppelins, and was thinking how cool it would be to hang one over my German countryside. I have one that's "almost" Z scale, which is about 50 inches long, but I'm still having a hard time wrapping my head around just how BIG G scale is. 

So I did some calculations: The most successful airship, LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin, was 776 feet long and 100 feet around. Worked out to the same 1:22.5 scale as my Piko engine and rolling stock, this works out to be... 413 inches, or *34 1/2 feet* long and 53 inches around... which I think might just overwhelm my 30x80 layout.

The image below is a scale drawing: the large gray rectangle represents a 30x80 foot space. The oblong shape is how big the Graf Zeppelin would be, and the tiny black rectangle represents my 0-6-0 loco.










I guess I won't be doing a full-scale zeppelin.


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## Scottychaos (Jan 2, 2008)

yeah, some things simply wont work! 
I had a similar experience when I worked out how large the LV Sayre shop building would be in 1/29 scale:










the answer? 12 x 26 feet! (not going to happen! 

Even in HO scale the building would be 4x8 feet..
I have a seen a few HO scale layouts that have it modeled..but never at full size..
usually about 1/2 size, placed in the background and "selectively compressed"..I have never seen a full-scale model, in any scale, of the building..

Scot


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## CliffyJ (Apr 29, 2009)

Yeah, I have to squeeze my prototype plans (for mine surface works) by 1/2 to get them to fit, and even then they're big. 

But with the Graf Z, if your layout is outdoors, it would make a heck of a shade structure! And if indoors, you'd only make the underside, and call it part of your ceiling, right?


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## Daniel Peck (Mar 31, 2009)

try a coaling tower 4 track or round house.... HUGE!


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## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

One Word...Blimp!



















very common in between the wars, or you could just model say the front part of a dirigible hanger and just model the nose sticking out.


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## CliffyJ (Apr 29, 2009)

Not quite as impressive as Vic's pics...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/LED-ZEPPELI...858?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2c73fa8c9a










Anyway, for a mere $5k, you can get your very own RC blimp, 10M in length:
http://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/2011-hot-sale-inflatable-rc-blimp_306351811.html

Actually, at that length, why not ride it?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:A-N400.jpg

Now THAT would be cool!


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## BigRedOne (Dec 13, 2012)

Oh, go for it! We want to live vicariously through your endeavor.


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## rkapuaala (Jan 3, 2008)

Perhaps you could model the Hindenberg








As you can see by Led Zeplins first album cover it ended up being less than half that size after it exploded into flames


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## BigRedOne (Dec 13, 2012)

Hey, can you run a steamer on hydrogen?


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## Daniel Peck (Mar 31, 2009)

they keep the goodyear blimp 2 mins away from here when the race is in town and that thing is HUGE!!!!


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## Scottychaos (Jan 2, 2008)

When I was a kid in the 70's I had a plastic model of a Goodyear blimp, complete with working lighted sign! my model is long-gone, but I googled for it:










Circa 1975..still available on ebay.
says its 1/169 scale! (the model was about 12" long from what I recall)​..but placed in the back of a garden railroad, it would look like it was off in the distance! 

although the electronics in that particular model wouldnt hold up outdoors..better to find a solid plastic non-lighted model probably..those exist too!

http://www.lindberg-models.com/air_model70821.html
that one is pricy though..found it on-line for $83.

There are actually a lot of blimp models! just found a ton of them on ebay..

Scot


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## Dave Meashey (Jan 2, 2008)

I have the Deutches Reichsbahn centennial brochure from 1935. It originally belonged to my Uncle Carl Gingrich, who visited Germany just after he graduated from college (the big trouble had not started as yet). When that brochure is fully opened, one side contains a map of the entire railway system with photos around the border. One of the photos shows a steam-hauled local passenger train taken from a Zepplin flying above the rail line. Not only is the entire train in the photo, but the entire shadow of the Zepplin is beside the train! It is a most unusual photo.

Sometimes our large scale can help with projects. One of my friends needed a pit for the turntable he was building for his five stall roundhouse. His patio umbrella just happened to be worn out around the same time. The metal base for the patio umbrella made a perfect turntable pit!

Have fun,
David Meashey


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## riderdan (Jan 2, 2014)

Daniel Peck said:


> they keep the goodyear blimp 2 mins away from here when the race is in town and that thing is HUGE!!!!


Yeah, but blimps are tiny compared to zeps. Here's a comparison of LZ-129 (Hindenburg of Lakehurst disaster fame) and Goodyear's blimp.










Goodyear blimps have a volume of 202,700 cubic feet. Hindenburg had a volume of seven million cubic feet.


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## CliffyJ (Apr 29, 2009)

I'm having a product idea... 


*The Hindenberg Barbecue*
Comes with handy docking tower and chopping board.
Requires 8 propane tanks (not included).
​
How cool would that be an open house?


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## Dave Meashey (Jan 2, 2008)

Guys;

I don't know whether he still has the photo, but Victor's "Oh the Huge Manatee" photo would probably be appropriate for this thread. It does demonstrate why one should never feed a manatee chili.

(For those who have never seen the photo, it depicts the Hindenberg disaster, but a manatee has been transposed over the place of the airship. And, delicately put, the fireworks are not coming from its mouth.)

Kinda' fits in with Cliffy's barbecue post.

Yours,
David Meashey


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## CliffyJ (Apr 29, 2009)

*Cool one, David*


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## Tom Lapointe (Jan 2, 2008)

About 15 ~ 20 years ago, I was into a type competitive RC airplane flying called "Pattern" (precision aerobatics); for each competition class, you were given a specific set of aerobatic maneuvers to do, & judged on how well you performed them. I went to a Pattern competition in New Jersey on a miltary base; the morning of the meet, the weather was incredibly dense fog (delayed start of the competition by 2 hours); I was bumbling around the base trying to find the abandoned military runway the competition was to be held at. Noted a couple of *HUGE *hangers, which I recognized as blimp hangers.  As I was driving slowly past one, a small sign shaped like a Zeppelin made me hit the car's brakes  when I saw the wording on it:
*Hindenburg  !* 
I then recalled the sign at the base entrance: *Lakehurst Naval Air Station. *The name had sounded vaguely familiar - I then realized I had *totally unintentionally stumbled across the Hindenburg crash site!  *I stepped out of the car & walked in front of the massive hanger building; laid out on the ground perhaps 50 ~ 100 feet in front of it was an anchor chain outlining where the Hindenburg's cabin section had fallen during the crash, surrounding a memorial plaque. The dense fog added to the eeriness of coming inadvertently upon the location of what was perhaps the first (& still among the most famous) well-documented air disaster; & although it was long before I was born, couldn't help feeling some pity for the victims.  Went back to my car & resumed the search for the pattern competition site; when I finally found it, it was maybe 1/2 mile away from the Hindenburg site. Here's a link to a Google image page which shows the memorial & historic images: https://www.google.com/search?q=hindenburg+crash+site&client=firefox-a&hs=AFj&rls=org.mozilla:en-USfficial&channel=sb&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=4JUWU5ioMofg0gGUtIHYAQ&ved=0CDgQsAQ&biw=1920&bih=950.

Funny how history can sneak up on you when you least expect it.  Tom


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