Project H-Bomb

Project H-Bomb: a realistic recreation of the tragic tragedy at Lakehurst Navy Base, in NJ.

Me and my friend are attempting the recreate the Hindenburg explosion. So anyway, I have the internal frame done.


Moving on, I have what the insides will be. 4 to 5 balloons filled with Butane and Helium (the structure wont have to float, it will be held up with thin wire).

Now, I just need some suggestions for how to make the outer structure, the fabric, the skin, and what to make it out of.

How we plan to detonate the device is with the use of an Estes model rocket igniter, with an electric ignition switch. The butane mixture, or fabric, must catch fire, and the flame must travel down the fabric, igniting everything on the way.

Any ideas?

I have two weeks on this, and have already started.

Help. Thanks.

-C

[ElChevelle]

Pearl Harbor?

The Germans attacked us first when they sent that firebomb to us!

Use polyester, shit goes up like quick like.

[s1138]

yeah polyester. thats what i would say too.

[John M]

wolfie - hook the launcher up to a firecracker. yes, the estes launcher will work. duct tape the cracker to a baloon to help channel the blast. should work. and, you get the one by one effect. boom.

[SNYder]

try animal skin. the benifit is it would smell good

[tjb2004]

A little napalm always seems to do the trick for me.

[SNYder]

Originally posted by SNYder
try animal skin. the benifit is it would smell good

i just relized how evil this sounds poor little rabbits


::looks around::

::evil grin::

[rm']

Your frame looks good. Skip the helium... if it doesn't need to float, why bother? A mixture of plain ordinary household air, and butane should work. The air has oxygen, which should keep the butane going... it'll be hard to get enough butane though, so you may actually want to consider the real thing, and get hydrogen. Hydrogen is pretty cheap (1L of hydrogen is cheaper than 1L of milk, around here).

You don't need too much hydrogen. You want the thing to burn, not to explode.

Between the gas cells (balloons, right?), put styrofoam, soaked in gasoline. Napalm for the poor man. That should give you a nice, slowburn effect... kinda make the flames crawl along the skin, rather than exploding out right.

For the skin, use cotton. Cover it in model airplane dope. Get it at any craft store. The dope will tighten the skin around the frame, while having the side effect of being flammable.

When you light the thing up, you will of course have to make sure the tail end is higher, so the flames will travel along the zeppelin.

Ive made napalm before... it turned green because of the oil mixed in with the gas (new fangled lawn mowers with 32:1 oil mixture... bah!)

ahh, i just love the smell of napalm in the morning.

a lot of you have good suggestions, and i was thinking of packing some napalm in... somewhere... just to provide it with extra funness. now to purchase or borrow a fire extinguisher, lol.

RM, i need to go to my local friendly Science Shop to price around... Hydrogen would be nice, if I werent so god damn afraid id blow myself up with it. We already have the butane, (350 ml) and the reason i wanted helium was because its cheaper than butane, but still is flammable. that way we can only half fill the balloons with butane, and then fill them up to 100% with the helium.

oh well.

and by dope, you mean what exactly? glue?

thanks guy... you make my day brighter with your respons-- oh wait, nevermind, thats just the model going up.

[rm']

Helium is nonflammable, hence, the German airships blew up, and the American ones didn't.

As for dope, it's not glue, nor is it a drug. It's kind of like shellac, specifically used to tighten model airplane skins, and make them semi-waterproof. It's clear, and goes on like wood stain. Ask your local craft store, or hardware store.

what what what?

Helium? Nonflammable?

Thats news to me. Guess I'll have to re read my science book.

Ill look into that Dope, RM.
Thanks.

[rm']

Certainly. After WWI, America was the biggest supplier of helium. They stopped selling the stuff to Germany, because of fears that they would use zeppelins for military uses, so the Germans had to settle for hydrogen, fully aware that it was inflammable. That's why the Hindenburg exploded. It was full of hydrogen, unlike American balloons, which were filled with readily available helium.

The only reason that helium is used, instead of hydrogen, which is twice as light, is that helium will not explode, causing massive lawsuits.

...or death, destruction, and carnage...

[griffinn]

For extra olfactory impact, add some sulphur to the mix.

[weedsatan]

You could always put little tubes of Gasoline on the bottom to represent the Motor gondels..
but off course they will blow up..

[ElChevelle]

Butane alone will make for a nice fireball, trust me.
I once was filling my butane lighter when I accidently ignited the lighter and was consumed by a mushroom cloud like fireball. Once my buzz wore down, I was like WHOA and refired Billy Bong Thornton.

[PabUK]

Somebody set up us the bomb.

[griffinn]

We get signal!

[zorpidus]

Just to prevent "bad stuff going down":

Hydrogen is a highly flammable gas that burns with an almost invisible flame and low heat radiation. Hydrogen forms explosive mixtures with air from 4 to 75% by volume. These explosive mixtures of hydrogen with air (or oxygen) can be ignited by a number of finely divided metals (such as common hydrogenation catalysts). In the event of fire, shut off the flow of gas and extinguish with carbon dioxide, dry chemical, or halon extinguishers. Warming of liquid hydrogen contained in an enclosed vessel to above its critical temperature can cause bursting of that container.

If large amounts of hydrogen are inhaled, move the person to fresh air and seek medical attention at once.

In the event of a leak, remove all ignition sources and allow the hydrogen to disperse with increased ventilation. Hydrogen disperses rapidly in normal open environments. Respiratory protection may be necessary in the event of a release in a confined area.

Good luck WolfieD. Be sure to tape the disaster!

[PabUK]

You have no chance to stop this crap make your time.

[InvisableMan]

my fav explosion:

2 sticks dynimite taped to the bottom of a shit abandond car(datsun pickups work the best) lite the fuse run like fuck (oh i forgot to mention it was filled with gunpowder and chilled nitro glycrene) get behind another car or something big and heavy layback and wacth the car FLY!!

[weedsatan]

Originally posted by ElChevelle
A and refired Billy Bong Thornton.

GO chev

And Iman.. FUCCCCCCCCCKKKK.. You are one crazy Motherfucker

[Huehuetenango]

Originally posted by ElChevelle
Butane alone will make for a nice fireball, trust me.
I once was filling my butane lighter when I accidently ignited the lighter and was consumed by a mushroom cloud like fireball. Once my buzz wore down, I was like WHOA and refired Billy Bong Thornton.

methinks someone has watched half-baked a few times too many
(i love that movie, now where's wesley pipes?)

[ElChevelle]

I guess once was way too many times.

My buddy says it on a nightly basis, got me doing the same

[KahlessTheUnforgettable]

Try propane, its much cheaper that butane or hydrogen and you will get the same effect.

update on project h-bomb:

im eating Chef BoyArDee Overstuffed Beef Ravioli, and it gave me a wonderful idea:

Maybe I should heat it up first.

[rm']

Propane is explosive. You don't want that.

Besides, it's a very heavy gas, so you will need a lot of it to fill a balloon.

[Xerxes]

What would be really cool is if you get it so when you actvate the switch, have a friend play back the very last part of the news broad cast -

"oh this is terrible this is the worst catastrophe that ever.. oh the humanity" - either that or blast some "Led Zeppelin"

Also, for style, make sure you get a real neat looking Nazi Swastika like the real Hindenburg- nothing pleases a crowd like a burning swastika...

[ampburner]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Xerxes
nothing pleases a crowd like a burning swastika...


Xerxes is one sick dood!!!! (but I like it )

[weedsatan]

Just one thing, wolfie...

TAPE it.......

[ampburner]

I second that! (It would also be nice if you'd posted the video capture **hint )

[ElChevelle]

Originally posted by Xerxes
What would be really cool is if you get it so when you actvate the switch, have a friend play back the very last part of the news broad cast

Xcellent idea X!

[weedsatan]

Or you could like tape it in black and white and then make it age fast...
With gliches in it and stuff...

we had planned on doing that, except having someone read off the script.

oh, and im getting it on VHS and AVI, too.

Copies for all!

[zorpidus]

Originally posted by WolfieD
Copies for all!

Yay!!!

[ampburner]

coolio!

[weedsatan]

Originally posted by WolfieD
we had planned on doing that, except having someone read off the script.

oh, and im getting it on VHS and AVI, too.

Copies for all!

You know If I have it..
In a month like I don't know how many it'll have..
Me running a server, being on Kazaa a lot Gnucleus WinMx
edonkey..
so man you'll be famous..

update:

mark is getting the gauze instead of cotton so itll be precut. we cover the blimp in gauze, soak it in a shrinking compound he has. tightens the skin.

we then coat the surface in Zippo fuel.

its looking good.

[ElChevelle]

I hope your catastrophe goes well and that destruction on a minor scale is achieved

[ampburner]

I just saw 'The Hindenburg' (1976) on tv hehe reminded me of this thread.