How to build a blimp?

[LockedINgooD]

Hey,
After hearing about the ballooncraft, I wanted to see if it was possible to make my own blimp, so I did some research and I found some sites and companies that have kits aviable, but some of their prices were high, so I was thinking I would make one from sratch, just a mini one I could use in a gym or in the house, not a full blown one like they use at basketball games. So I was wondering if anyone else has made their own blimp, and how hard it was to make one. I was thinking I would pick up some high toque servos, then some lightweight, but powerful motors from a surplus eletronic shop here in Portland (Wacky Willies). Which was would you make it, 1 Motor for lift, and 2 for steering or Two for steering? Thanks in advance!

[spinbotz]

Hello, lockedingood, on building small, home builds, you're goin the right direction, and here's my story of my own small, two channel *limited control* micro blimp* I found one of these really small toy cars that have a spinning front, and use two small pager motors to run it. I took the toy apart, and using the innards from it, set about making my gondola. The gondola came from a Swoops candy container *silver* that I had laying around which was the perfect shape for a small gondola. I used stiff, plastic tubing for the motor mount/outrigger. I basically taped the motors on*optionally, you can use small dabs of low heat hot glue from a hobby glue gun to affix each motor on* Since the way I had designed the gondola made it impossible to use the motor's current wired set up, *too short,* I had to cut the motors off completely and then use the same gauge wiring *insulated* to rewire each motor back onto the receiver. This is tricky since the space is no larger than 1 and 1/4's of an inch wide and about 2 inches or so deep* the wires going from and to the motors and receiver had small holes drilled near the outrigger arm*that supports the motor* that they thread through neatly. The antenna was poked out the rear of the gondola and a window cut out. The charger that came with the toy car was used as a ground charging station. it has a small cord with plugs on either end *one that plugs into the charger the other to the gondola* The charging jack has a small screw hole, and using a tiny bolt and screw I had in my parts box, I screwed in the jack so it's on the bottom of the gondola, and just behind the outrigger arms. There's no on/off switch. *though with some difficulty, and added weight, you could add one* You'd have to consider how to charge the onboard batteries*which, came with the receiver and never removed. they're welded via a thick two wires to the receiver. leave as is.* anyway, I'll supply some pics to help you. This is a limited control since you only have left, and right control and the control box which was designed the same way R/C cars are controlled, meant I had to tilt the propellers up at a 45 angle to allow for both forward and up flight* *reverse is down and reverse.* The props are pull*tracter*type. *mounted so the motors are directly behind.* the small gondola will work with 17 inch rubber balloons or larger mylar balloons. Ballast is needed to keep either choice from floating away from you. Note on Props.. The props were salvaged from a Smithsonian Turbo Airship I bought some years back* and when I found they didn't fit the motors*that came with the receiver* , I found some pagers with the right shaft diameter *which came from my parts box* and used those in place. A lightbulb used to be wired on the receiver so that when you made the toy car move forward, it lit up. This was uneccessary weight and made control hard to deal with, so I cut it off without any harm to the receiver's motor operation. Will post pics of the car, and the gondola and such at a later date.

[rocketboy2]

Hello, lockedingood, on building small, home builds, you're goin the right direction, and here's my story of my own small, two channel *limited control* micro blimp* I found one of these really small toy cars that have a spinning front, and use two small pager motors to run it. I took the toy apart, and using the innards from it, set about making my gondola. The gondola came from a Swoops candy container *silver* that I had laying around which was the perfect shape for a small gondola. I used stiff, plastic tubing for the motor mount/outrigger. I basically taped the motors on*optionally, you can use small dabs of low heat hot glue from a hobby glue gun to affix each motor on* Since the way I had designed the gondola made it impossible to use the motor's current wired set up, *too short,* I had to cut the motors off completely and then use the same gauge wiring *insulated* to rewire each motor back onto the receiver. This is tricky since the space is no larger than 1 and 1/4's of an inch wide and about 2 inches or so deep* the wires going from and to the motors and receiver had small holes drilled near the outrigger arm*that supports the motor* that they thread through neatly. The antenna was poked out the rear of the gondola and a window cut out. The charger that came with the toy car was used as a ground charging station. it has a small cord with plugs on either end *one that plugs into the charger the other to the gondola* The charging jack has a small screw hole, and using a tiny bolt and screw I had in my parts box, I screwed in the jack so it's on the bottom of the gondola, and just behind the outrigger arms. There's no on/off switch. *though with some difficulty, and added weight, you could add one* You'd have to consider how to charge the onboard batteries*which, came with the receiver and never removed. they're welded via a thick two wires to the receiver. leave as is.* anyway, I'll supply some pics to help you. This is a limited control since you only have left, and right control and the control box which was designed the same way R/C cars are controlled, meant I had to tilt the propellers up at a 45 angle to allow for both forward and up flight* *reverse is down and reverse.* The props are pull*tracter*type. *mounted so the motors are directly behind.* the small gondola will work with 17 inch rubber balloons or larger mylar balloons. Ballast is needed to keep either choice from floating away from you. Note on Props.. The props were salvaged from a Smithsonian Turbo Airship I bought some years back* and when I found they didn't fit the motors*that came with the receiver* , I found some pagers with the right shaft diameter *which came from my parts box* and used those in place. A lightbulb used to be wired on the receiver so that when you made the toy car move forward, it lit up. This was uneccessary weight and made control hard to deal with, so I cut it off without any harm to the receiver's motor operation. Will post pics of the car, and the gondola and such at a later date.
What if you take a RC system from a RC blimp and make the blimp bigger? :confused: