Airship Columbia Moored at the Empire State Building, September 1931

[seejay]

 by seejay, on Flickr

This simple modification of the LEGO Empire State Building set (21046) represents something that almost, but not quite, happened.

The spire on top of the Empire State Building had been planned as an airship mooring tower during the design and construction of the building. A few attempts were made by various airships to approach or moor during 1931. This model depicts the Goodyear Blimp Columbia which successfully delivered newspapers to the building in September 1931 (without mooring) by lowering them on a line.

I've also recreated a historic photo from the attempt.

The Columbia is shown in the correct scale for the Empire State Building set which is approximately 1:800 scale. The Columbia was 45m long and so should measure a little over 7 studs. This design is just under 7.5 studs. This MOC removes the communications mast at the top of the building (which was not present during the 1931 mooring attempts).

Free building instructions are available.

Edited July 24, 2021 by seejay

[HydroWorld Outlook]

On 7/23/2021 at 8:11 PM, seejay said:

 by seejay, on Flickr

This simple modification of the LEGO Empire State Building set (21046) represents something that almost, but not quite, happened.

The spire on top of the Empire State Building had been planned as an airship mooring tower during the design and construction of the building. A few attempts were made by various airships to approach or moor during 1931. This model depicts the Goodyear Blimp Columbia which successfully delivered newspapers to the building in September 1931 (without mooring) by lowering them on a line.

I've also recreated a historic photo from the attempt.

The Columbia is shown in the correct scale for the Empire State Building set which is approximately 1:800 scale. The Columbia was 45m long and so should measure a little over 7 studs. This design is just under 7.5 studs. This MOC removes the communications mast at the top of the building (which was not present during the 1931 mooring attempts).

Free building instructions are available.

Love this MOC and your Airship Station! I will support your project as soon as I can get my LEGO Ideas account working again. But also, would you mind sharing free instructions for the airship station too, in case the project does not make the cut? 

Thanks in advance for your time.

 

[seejay]

I'm glad you like them! I haven't made instructions for the Airship Station simply because the parts aren't available in the needed colors. In particular the large octagonal sections of the Airship hull are not available in white. Does that make a difference for you? 

Edited October 4, 2021 by seejay

[Rauy]

A really cool little project! It's awesome when LEGO models can serve to highlight historical incidents like that.

[HydroWorld Outlook]

On 10/3/2021 at 1:16 PM, seejay said:

I'm glad you like them! I haven't made instructions for the Airship Station simply because the parts aren't available in the needed colors. In particular the large octagonal sections of the Airship hull are not available in white. Does that make a difference for you? 

No not at all. I could care less about the colors. I just like the models.

[Sven J]

Nice idea to modify the 21046 set that way!

Everything that has to do with airships is cool anyway...

[Feuer Zug]

I like your modification. The change to the building isn't much, but adds to the cool factor.