March 2005:

WTC Memorial Balloon Concept

This is an idea I once had which I decided to discontinue development of due to potential negative public opinion. I offer it here merely to showcase the concept art. More details can be found at www.nycballoon.com.

 

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March 2005:
Jon's Custom Cloudhopper Design/Construction Project

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September 2005:
NAILED!

Nailed! is a 42,000 cubic foot experimental/ultralight special shape hot air balloon I conceived, designed and constructed. The main envelope was built in May of 2000, and five years later I started thinking about adding an appendage to it. "Nailed!" is the result of that brainstorming session. The original envelope weight was 80 pounds, and the nail appendages added only 12.5 pounds to the total weight.

Detail photo of the recycling bin basket in use under "Nailed!"

See the website for "Nailed!"

Artist's rendering - not a photo. You've probably already figured that out, since there's nobody in the basket!

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Here's an artist's rendition I drew up for a 72,000 cubic foot experimental tetrahedron-shaped hot air balloon envelope.
Final product constructed by Keith Sproul, completed August 2004.

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Over the Spring of 2004, I helped rebuild this FireFly 4.9 basket. It was horribly unairworthy and needed a new floor assembly and lower frame along with a total wicker rebuild. All of the rattan was replaced, unlike the 4.5 basket below which retained the original horizontal guide rattan. New suspension ropes, suede and scuff leather were installed. A total transformation... You would never guess this was at one time such an ugly basket!

Before

After

During

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Another artist's rendition, this time for a 73,000 cubic foot experimental hot air balloon envelope.
Final product constructed by Keith Sproul with panel dimensions by yours truly. Completed March 2004.

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Artist's rendition for a 140,000 cubic foot Custom Nine Designs hot air balloon envelope.
Final product constructed by Custom Nine Designs, Spring 2004.

Later that Spring, I constructed a nearly identical 140 envelope based on that design:

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Here is a 1978 FireFly 4.5 basket I helped rebuild/restore over the Spring/Summer of 2003. We started off repairing a number of small holes in the rattan, and decided the mix of old and new rattan would look unnatural. Eventually, we wound up reweaving all of it from the floor up (using the original horizontal rattan as a guide). The floor was sanded down and many coats of lacquer applied. New skids were installed. The basket suede, padding and scuff leather was replaced and tall uprights were introduced. New suspension ropes were also installed. The floor assembly, basket frame & uprights, horizontal rattan segments and corner console panels are the only original parts remaining.

Before / After Comparison That's the original floor in both photos!

Here is a detail view of the wicker weave pattern around the main upright support tubes of a 1978 Raven Classic Limited basket. The basket was donated to me as a severe fixer-upper (repairman's special), and I decided to reweave a horizontal section of wicker to replace a whole mess of broken pieces. I flew the basket for over four years before the parts I hadn't refurbished eventually got too cosmetically ugly to be seen in public with.

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