DELAG

SACHSEN
Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin thoroughly believed in the
military viability of the airship. In order to provide his country
with trained airship crews, in 1909, the count established the
first civilian air line in the world: Deutsche Luftschiffahrts-
Aktiengesellschaft (DELAG).

The Sachsen, built for DELAG in 1913, was the sixth and last of
Count von Zeppelin's pre-WWI civilian airships. Over the
course of her commercial career she carried 9,836 passengers
over 419 voyages. She was the first airship command of Ernst
Lehmann who later lost his life in the Hindenburg disaster.
During WWI the Sachsen was mustered into the German army
as a training vessel. Later, she was armed and used in combat
to drop bombs on Antwerp as well as other cities. By 1916 her
technology had been eclipsed by the newer airships and she
was dismantled.

For more information view http://www.airships.net/delag-

passenger-zeppelins.
About the Kit

This kit is a 1/250 scale model and should be printed at 100% rather than 'fit to
page'. The printable area is designed to fill a 7x10 inch area which should be
appropriate for US Letter or A4 paper sizes. Note the scale marks in the corners of
the pages. When printed at 100% each mark in the upper right should be 1
centimeter in length. The marks in the lower left should be 0.5 inch. The finished
model should be ~22.04 inches long. However, there are conflicting sources
regarding the measurements of these early airships. As long as all the part sheets
are printed at a consistent size you should be fine. The graphics are entirely vector
based so enlarging and reducing should not reduce the image quality.

To build the model in other popular scales print at the following percentages:

1/200 = 125% = 27.56" (70.00cm) long model

1/250 = 100% = 22.04" (55.98cm) long model
1/300 = 83.33% = 18.37" (46.66cm) long model
1/400 = 62% = 13.78" (35.00cm) long model
1/700 = 35.71% = 7.87" (19.99cm) long model

and for those truly ambitious builders:

1/1 = 25000% = 5,511.81" (14000cm) long model

This model was designed using the open source computer programs Wings3d and
Inkscape. While there are many photographs of the Sachsen, there are few
detailed shots. Consequently, some of the details in this model are reasonable
guesses but not necessarily accurate.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative
Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0
International License.
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/)

Designed by Jeffery S. Koppe

2016
v.20170110
Build Instructions
In the instructions internal parts are shown as blue and glue tabs are shown
as gray. However, the parts are printed in a darker beige color in order to be
less conspicuous in case of gaps on the built model. Parts are named with a
letter and a number. The letter indicates the structure (e = envelope, s =
stabilizer, etc). Numbers are arranged from front to back. Many formers (f.01
through f.21) have glue tabs. Triangular tabs point toward the rear of the
model. Squared-off tabs point toward the front of the model.

Note that the envelope cylinders are not technically round. When completed
they will have 17 sides, not all of the same width. The two sides flanking the
bottom surface (which is marked 'bottom' or 'b') are narrower than the
others. Take care to match the bottoms of the cylinders when assembling
the envelope--the triangular spine through the center of the model is
designed to help with this. The glue tabs of the formers/glue strips are sized
to match the various width faces of the envelope cylinders. Formers with
triangular cut outs are designed so that the bottom of the triangle is closest
to the bottom of the envelope.

When the order of construction is important the order is marked with a large
number in a black circle.

Let's begin...

Airship Envelope
The fore part of the envelope consists of
four parts (e.01 through e.04) three glue
strips (f.01 through f.03) and one former
(f.04). All the parts can be glued together at
this time and set aside for later. e.04

e.03

e.02

e.01

f.04
f.03
f.02
f.01
 e.05, e.06, e.07
f.05, f.08, f.10

The next three sections are identical in construction.**

f.05, f.07, f.09 Keep the envelope sections separate for now.

f.13
e.08

f.12

f.11
Section e.08 is the same as the previous three with the
addition of gluing former f.13 to the rear former (f.12)
Note how the pointed tabs point toward the rear of the
model and how the triangular cutouts point up.

** NOTE: This diagram does not include the optional (though highly recommended)
internal formers f.05a, f.07a, f.09a and f.11a which are slid into e.05, e.06, e.07 and e.08
to provide extra support. See the diagram on page 7 for the final locations of these
parts.
 e.09 f.14 f.16 e.11 f.18 f.20 e.13 f.22

e.15
f.24
f.23
e.14
f/21
f.19
e.12
f.15 f.17
e.10

There are seven separate sub-assemblies for the aft portion of the
envelope. Note that e.09 and e.10 are left open in the front at this time.
They will eventually be mated up to f.13 from the previous step. These
sections will sandwich the horizontal stabilizers. It is recommended to keep
them separate because they may need to be trimmed in order to account
for the thickness of the card used to print out the stabilizers.

You should now have twelve separate sub-assemblies for

the airship envelope.
e.15
e.09 e.11 e.13

nose e.05 e.06 e.07 e.08 e.10 e.12 e.14

 e.09, e.11, e.13

2 Lower s.01 and s.02 onto 4 Lower the upper

envelope parts to
fk.03. The inside edges hide the assembly.
should be glued to the gray
shaded glue areas on fk.03. e.15
The stabilizers rest on the
lower envelope parts. s.02 3
Lower e.15 to
s.01 fill the space
between the
stabilizers.

fk.03

e.10, e.12, e.14

1 Slide e.10, e.12 and e.14 forward from the back of fk.03. The back of e.14
should be flush with the back of fk.03. The top edges should correspond
with the glue areas to support the horizontal stabilizers.

The finished assembly

s.03

s.04

5 Attach the upper and lower vertical stabilizers.

 fk.01
fk.02
fk.03

1 Insert the gray areas of fk.01 and fk.03 into fk.02 to form the central
support spine of the model. Note that the three edges of the gray
areas should be split to allow them to be compressed and inserted
into fk.02.

e.01
e.05
e.06
e.07
e.08

2 Slide part e.08 onto the central spine remembering to insert and glue
the triangular tabs into parts e.09/10. Once e.08 is secure, slide the
other sections of the envelope onto the central spine. The formers on
the ends of each section provide glue surfaces.

f.05a f.07a f.09a f.11a

The diagram above illustrates the internal structure of the model including
the optional internal formers (labeled).
 Keel and Passenger Cabin

The bottom surfaces of the envelope are marked with 'bottom' or 'b'. The
gray tabs of the keel pieces attach to these surfaces. The order in which you
attach the keel pieces is important. If the fit is off it will allow you to trim
k.03 in a location which will be hidden by part k.05.

k.01

1 k.02

3
k.05 k.03 k.04

5 4 2
Trim the leading
edge of k.03 if the
Split the center fold
fit between k.02
of k.04 in order to
and k.04 is too
fit on either side of
tight.
the lower vertical
stabilizer.

Note that the passenger cabin (k.05)

overlaps the joints between k.02 and
k.03 by approximately 0.5 inch.
1 Cut out along red line. Leave interior white spaces for now.

ck
ba
L L
back L

L L L
back
L
view
L

front
s.05 -
L

front
front
L = leave intact Stabilizer view

Frame

2 Fold along blue dashed lines to

form this shape. DO NOT GLUE
YET!

3 Unfold the shape. Laminate the

gray areas with thin strips of card.
Ensure that the lamination does
not interfere with the folds Cut
s.05 out the remaining white areas.
Laminate the back with thin strips
of card so that it is now three
layers of card. Refold and glue to
form the complete structure.

4 Cut the structure exactly in half

and remove a thin section equal
to the thickness of the vertical
stabilizer. Attach on either side of
the lower vertical stabilizer and
the bottom of the horizontal
stabilizer.

s.05

s.06

5 Attach six vertical rudders

(s.06) and eight horizontal
rudders (s.07) as shown.
s.07
Alternative s.05 -Stabilizer Frame
Note that part s.05 consists of fine, delicate cutting. An alternative method is is use
the print-out as a plan and construct the stabilizer frame from 1/16 inch basswood.

Display Stand
The display stand is a simple cradle. However, it is best to have it constructed before
attaching the propeller assembles and gondolas. These parts are delicate and it is
advisable to use the stand to prevent the model from rolling over and crushing them
once they are attached to the sides of the model.

b.02

b.03

b.04
b.01
Prop Assembly (4) Gondola Assembly (2)
p.03 g.05, g.06
g.02, g.04
p.04 p.03

g.01, g.03 g.07, g.08

p.01 or p.02
There are four prop assemblies, two left,
two right. Remember to flip the left and
right assemblies. The prop assemblies in
the front use prop p.01 (2-bladed), the ones
in the rear use prop p.02 (4 bladed). The
drawing shows the left, front assembly. The
propellers always face the rear. Note that
p.04 stretches from corner to corner of part
p.03. You'll need to supply the separators
between the two p.03 parts.
Fold and close the bow and stern of the
gondolas and insert the deck pieces.
Windscreens overlap the fronts of the
gondolas.
The two gondolas differ only in the location
of g.07 and g.08 (the bumpers). The aft
bumper should be towards the aft of the
gondola. The fore bumper towards the front
as shown. Laminate the bumpers to ~
5mm thickness and color them black or
dark gray.

p.04 p.03 p.04 p.03

p.01 p.02

k.01 k.02 k.03 k.04

girders cables
1 fore, 1 aft 3 each
g.07 g.01 g.03 g.08 side

Cross section at aft

propellers

central keel
cables
3 each side gondola
See the diagrams on the previous page and above for gondola and propeller
attachment details. Attachment cables and girders are not supplied. Each
gondola hung from the keel on three pairs of cables. In addition, each gondola
was supported by a pair of girders to prevent fore and aft swaying.

Use single thickness card for the cables, ~1.5mm wide. They should extend
~13mm above the top edge of the gondolas. Use double thickness card for the
fore/aft girders ~ 2mm wide. Cut them to fit after suspending the gondolas from
the keel on the 'cables.'