1:72 Scale Model Kit of US Navy Metalclad Airship ZMC-2

Description

Sometimes you have to admit the task is too big for you and hand the baton to someone with greater skills. Of course, that has nothing to do with this offering. Unless it does. You decide.
This is a 1/72 scale model kit (BIG for an airship) of the Navy metalclad ZMC-2 which first flew in 1929 and continued as an experimental and training airship until scrapped in 1942. The metalclad concept featured an extremely thin gas-tight envelope made of aluminum and duralumin, thereby eliminating the need for gas cells and fabric hull covering of conventional rigid airships. The theory was sound, though unfortunately, aside from the commercial Slate venture which did not fly, ZMC-2 would be the only airship of the type built and operated. Funding, either from a follow-up military contract or commercial investment precluded development of a larger airship, so the potential was never explored. ZMC-2 made cameo appearances with all of its more famous colleagues, including Los Angeles, Akron, Macon and even shared the Lakehurst hangar with Graf Zeppelin and Hindenburg. Known by its flyers as the "tin blimp" ZMC-2 was arguably a rigid airship as it did not depend on its lifting gas to maintain its shape. This vacuum-form model kit was produced in Germany sometine in the 1980s has no discernible manufacturer name other than "airmodel." At this scale, the completed model will be just about 24 inches (two feet) long, making for a large and magnificent display. The kit is designed for the experienced modeler and is complete with everything shown here, which includes the hull halves, fins, engine nacelles and gondola, which is clear overall, awaiting painting. Numerous build options are featured, requiring scratch building gondola interior, control wiring and rigging and even cylinders for the air-cooled engines.The vacuum-formed hull halves are sturdy and thick and one would have to really work at it to bend or break them. Instructions are very thorough. The kit does not come with decals, the responsibility for livery left to the painting skills of the modeler. Thank you for looking at this and my other auctions.