Old School Balkan Dirigibles

Gentlemen,

Below are a selection of the scratch built Dirigibles I made for the Balkan Air Fleets some 4 years ago - certainly the Turks pre date Brigades models. They are now residing in the collection of Steve Blease and are rumoured to be appearing in the 2nd edition of Aeronef when it is published. These wee very simple to build - consisting of spare aircraft bombs and drop tanks with various pieces of scrap plastic and sprue added to taste. The Turkish Carrier started life as the Revell Hindenburg kit with much chopping about. I really must get around to making some more of these as the basic technique I used has improved with practise and the fact that Brigade produce a load of usable bits to add to the resultant model.

The Turkish carrier Messudieh - note the wing turret type rails for launching fixed wing fliers.

A Turkish cruiser squadron on patrol, no doubt searching the Greeks or Bulgarians.

The Greek Coastal defence Dirigibles Psara, Hydra and Spetsai.

A Greek escort squadron of small destroyer sized dirigibles.

Finally the Bulgarians - the large model in the centre has some outrigger launching rails for fixed wing aircraft although sadly I never got around to adding them.

It was great fun making these and I am sure the next lot will be even better.
I hope you enjoy this piece of Aeronef history as much as I did digging them out!