# Airship HYPERION (and other things of interest to airship enthusiasts)



## star-art (Jul 5, 2000)

After seeing the actual studio drawings of the *Hyperion* airship from Disney's _The Island at the Top of the World_, I couldn't resist having a go at it. I don't plan to build a complete model of this anytime soon (too many other things to do) but I love creating patterns for obscure subjects.

I spent the better part of an afternoon working up a side, top, front and rear view of the hull/envelope. I then quickly turned that into a 3D study model using Rhino to see if the shape was right. As is typical with studio drawings, the model as built was slightly different than the studio drawings. I tweaked a few details to better match the appearance of the airship as seen on screen.

This is, of course, only the beginning of the process. It's very rough and not meant to look "pretty." Building this particular ship in 3D will be quite a challenge since the netting creates a "quilted" effect on the fabric envelope. Anyone know best how to represent that? I was thinking that, after the hull was done, it could be split it into the diamond pattern and then converted to a mesh. Once that was done, each section would have to be grabbed and pulled outward in the center to create the bulging effect. Yikes, that sounds like a lot of work!!

Oh well, I'll likely build the gondola and the rest of the structure underneath, but I don't know about doing all the netting and a proper fabric envelope. That might be too much to deal with for now. . .

BTW, I just launched a new website for those interested in airship models. It turns out there were no such sites anywhere on the Internet! So after searching and searching and finding almost nothing, I decided to start one:

http://www.AirshipModeler.com

Included is probably the most reference you'll ever find online for the _Hyperion_ and many other airships. The site is almost brand new, so there is not a huge amount of stuff online just yet, but we're getting off to a good start!

Please note that the _Reference Desk_ section of the site which contains all the reference material is available to registered members only, but registration is free. The site is run using the same great software that is used here so it should be familiar.

Enjoy!


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## Arronax (Apr 6, 1999)

I can't guarantee it's accuracy but there's a full-scale replica of the Hyperion in Videopolis in Discoveryland, Disneyland Paris.

Field trip?

Jim


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## star-art (Jul 5, 2000)

Yep! There's a photo of that on my site as well. It looks like they changed a few things, most notably the color scheme. Even though it's in Paris, they removed all the French markings! Funny, I guess with all this globalism and "multi-culti" stuff being promoted these days, there's no room for national pride anymore! 

BTW, is the entire airship there, or just the front end? It looks like only the very front of the ship was actually built. Just like only the very top of the Nautilus on the water rather than the entire submarine.

I would love to go! But that isn't happening anytime soon I'm afraid. . .


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## StarshipClass (Aug 13, 2003)

Neat! I've always loved that ship and went to see the movie when very young but never heard nor saw any reference to it since (including never coming across the movie itself).

Thanks for the info gathering, Charles!


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## Lloyd Collins (Sep 25, 2004)

It was a different design, than most. When it cam out, they offered through the mail a four reel View Master set, which I got. A couple of years ago, I got the DVD.


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## Arronax (Apr 6, 1999)

In my youth, I wrote the Disney World newsletter. I also did a little cartooning. This one's from the November 16, 1974 newsletter. Thought you might get a chuckle out of it.

Jim


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## star-art (Jul 5, 2000)

Wow! Very cool!  I also had the Viewmaster set and that's the only reference I had to this film for decades! I never saw it again until I got the DVD recently. Now it looks like there is enough info to recreate the Hyperion as a scale replica!


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## A Taylor (Jan 1, 1970)

Sweet toon, Jimmy.


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## Wbnemo1 (Aug 22, 1999)

Jim, that is too cool a hyperion balloon how cweet would that be...i know for promotional purposes when the film aired they had a four ft inflatable hyperion a kit perhaps would be cool too

Ok Jim, how but lookin me up now lol????
William


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