Uncommon Operating Accessory - Goodyear Blimp

Great accessory, unlike planes it can be logically be expected to stay in one spot over your layout. How long is it?

Scotie

Thanks for asking.  The blimp is 13 inches long and 3 inches in diameter and I have added that info to the post.

Charlie

Hi Charlie,

That is so cool!  I remember when the blimp came to Tacoma when I was a kid, it was a really big deal.  Can't remember the occasion, but the blimp was memorable.

Very cool and great idea. How did you get the power line into it? Is it one of the suspension wires?

There was a blimp base in northern Harris county when we moved here in ‘75.  We were about 30 miles south of it but saw it frequently, at least once a year. In ‘92 we moved to within 4 miles of the base. We saw it a lot!  Unfortunately around ‘95 or so Goodyear did some cost cutting. They had 5 bases, I think, and had to go down to 4, and Houston ended up getting axed.

Not a Goodyear blimp, but ...

I added a Coke-décor blimp with a Christmas theme to my layout.  It is suspended from a 24-inches-tall model of the Eifel Tower. A disco ball motor attached to a vertical shaft moves it in a circle around the tower.  A hobby friend who has a garage filled with machine shop equipment helped enable the project.

This blimp has batteries on board with a slide switch, when ON,  it will turn the aft propeller.  Ultra cool - and a hit with kids who visit my layout. Photos attached.

Mike Mottler    LCCA 12394

It could be suspended on thin but strong monofilament fishing line with very fine electrical wire connection for the lights.

Kokie 71

Yes the wires hold up the blimp,  The wires are thin zip stranded copper twin wire often used for small speaker wires.  I separated the two strands about 14 inches and soldered them inside the blimp where the D cell batteries hooked up, bypassing the stabilizer fin switch which was flimsy.

I used a piece of heavy coat hanger wire to extend the blimp away from the back ground and hook the wires to the blimp on.  The end of the coat hanger wire was bent at 90 degrees and pushed in a hole in the top frame of the back ground.  The other end was bent in a 1/4 inch V shape to hold the wires to the blimp.  The twin wires were run along the coat hanger wire.

Charlie

I like the plan, thanks for the excellent detail!

I have his Grandaddy ...

A clockwork collector needs a clockwork Zeppelin !

A Marx airship from the 20's  ( Probably made by Ferdinand Strauss & Co  )  Strauss was Louis Marx's original employer

Fatman

Very neat antique Blimp, l like the style and love Marx.  I love the box post "Have you all of them"?

Thanks for sharing.

Charlie

Charlie, I've got one of those Good Year blimps.  My brother built it around 45 years ago, maybe 50 now.  I remember the sign working when it first was built.  I don't even remember how I came to have it but It hung from the ceiling over my basement layout two houses ago.  Still layoutless in this house it hangs from one of the racks holding buildings and scenery that await the future layout. The sign hasn't worked in decades and I've never had the desire to open it up to find out why.

I built one of these when they first came out. At the time, B.F. Goodrichhad a commercial making fun of the blimp. So, the one that I built had "B. F. Goodrich" blazened on its side!😉

I have another one waiting to be built and I wonder if there is a programmable scrolling light display that would fit in that size hole?

I have one of the Revell Blimps as well. It sat in a box disassembled for 5 years. I repaired the rotating mechanism 5 yrs ago and it now works. I’ve given thought to installing some kind of custom flexible OLED programmable display. That kind of project needs more thought for another day.

I built this several years ago from a kit that I bought many years ago.

Power is supplied from the wires that it hangs from.

It contains a power supply, an Arduino, and a LOL (lots of LED's) shield.

And where is Frosty Bar?

Frosty Bar is on Main Street next to the Police Station in Plasticville.

David

That display on your Revell Goodyear Blimp is a great improvement of the original.  I love it.

Charlie

This is neat! I'll have to look on e-bay as you suggested. Thanks for the posts.