BBBlimp

09/10/2026

A small update to our airship animation. What could possibly take 31 versions? 🙂

A revised envelope, six tilting propeller nacelles, a few discussions about where their arms should go… and Airbender is ready to take the scenic route.

This is a Blender concept animation, not flight footage. Behind it is our ongoing exploration of hydrogen lift and energy, electric propulsion, and a quieter way of getting around. Still plenty to build, test and occasionally rethink.

For now, a little river, some forest, and somewhere new to explore. Sound on for the gentle propeller hum and woodland ambience.

🎬 https://youtu.be/O5Reqn0WOLU

The sky is our ocean.

Meet the updated Airbender 2026: a revised envelope, six tilting pr...

07/10/2026

Just a few quick checks” of our blimp frame… and somehow we’re at version 135 😅

We’ve been putting the design through its paces in SkyCiv: moving batteries, rearranging tethers and finding out which clever ideas actually behave themselves.

Huge thanks to SkyCiv - their software has been incredibly useful - and to Serge for suggesting we lower the gondola and battery.

Still plenty to build and test, but we’ve learned a lot. Here’s the story, including a few things that didn’t quite go to plan:

https://h2use.com/2026/10/07/fun-with-skyciv/

07/09/2026

Meet Grond - our heated, serviceable mould for developing the 400 mm carbon-fibre keel tubes planned for the Phase II airship.

It is a 2.5 m workshop test section with internal heater belts, removable partitions and a winding support system. We’re using it to learn our way toward a continuous 19 m structural keel, one practical process test at a time.

The name is a nod to Tolkien’s formidable battering ram. Ours is hopefully a little friendlier.

Read the full update:

Our Phase I tube experiments are growing into a heated, serviceable mould for the 400 mm carbon-fibre keels planned for the Phase II airship.

02/03/2026

Phase II CFD results are in ✅
We iterated our bi-lobe envelope geometry Mk1 → Mk2 → Mk3 to quantify how the center “cleavage” interface drives turbulence + parasitic drag.

Key takeaway: Mk1 is lowest drag overall, while Mk2 cleans up the center flow and is slightly best per-volume at 40 km/h in our AWS hi-res set.

Blog (full plots + numbers): https://h2use.com/2026/03/02/phase-ii-envelope-iteration-mk1-mk2-mk3-aerodynamics-focus/

Video: https://youtu.be/doJn7A2Z1fM

This video shows a continuous FluidX3D speed sweep for our Phase II airship envelope (Mk1, Mk2, Mk3 composite), using one run from 0 to 50 km/h and back to 0...

12/02/2026

New CFD update from our dual-hull airship program: a FluidX3D speed sweep at 10/30/40/50 kph, centered around our 40 kph design target. Great to see the flow behavior side-by-side.

This video shows a 2x2 FluidX3D speed sweep for our dual-hull airship envelope project (HyUse / BBBlimp / LowAltTech).Quadrants:- Top-left: 10 kph- Top-right...