A dirigible model for GASLIGHT - part 2

Some progress on the dirigible. I drilled four holes in the side of the bottle to take the struts that will hold the gondola. The ends have now been glued in place, the gaps between the round cap and the body of the bottle filled with card. Tissue paper was pasted over the whole using thinned-down white tacky glue. Once this was thoroughly dry, I began to apply a coat of watered-down lightweight spackle.

Spackle takes some time to dry and harden thoroughly so I turned my attention to the gondola. The basic shape had already been made. I added a boiler using a section of foamcore, topped with a pressure drum made from two small plaster components from the Hirst Arts dungeon accessories mold. The small round object is a turned wood wheel-hub piece from a packet bought in Michaels. Below you can also see the "saddle" on which the dirigible's two-man crew will sit back-to-back. It's made from thin card over a section of drinking straw, the concept being the tube acts as boiler water supply-cum-trim tank.

The photo below shows the body of the blimp covered with the thin coat of spackle. I advise using pegs or wire to mark the places of the holes in the side of the model to avoid losing them under the spackle coating. The fins are cut from thin basswood using a card template. As construction went on I realized they're a smidge too long, so I'll cut them down by about a quarter inch to make a more squared-off shape.