Building a blimp in ShipCrafter is a little different from building a normal ship. The game doesn’t actually let your airship fly through the sky, but with the right combination of submarine ballast, propeller shafts, engines, and careful design, you can create something that looks and moves surprisingly close to a real rigid airship.
In this guide, I’ll show you how to build a basic blimp from the ground up. We’ll go through the hull, vertical structure, balloon, nose, stabilizing fins, engines, weapons, and the small details that help keep the whole thing stable.
If you want to build your own airship in ShipCrafter, you don’t need to start with a massive complicated design. I’ll keep things beginner-friendly and explain the important tricks so you can build a functional blimp and then improve it as you get more comfortable.
ShipCrafter Blimp Building Guide for Beginners
The first thing to understand is that your blimp isn’t actually flying.
ShipCrafter doesn’t currently allow you to build a true flying vehicle, so the trick is to create the appearance of an airship while keeping the functional parts underwater.
The small propeller shafts are difficult to see from a normal distance, which allows you to create the illusion that your ship is floating in the sky.
The basic blimp is made up of four main parts:
- The base or hull
- The vertical rod
- The central structure
- The balloon
The trick is to keep most of the weight down in the hull while making the upper structure look as light and skeletal as possible.
Building the Blimp Hull
I recommend starting with the base of the airship before working on the balloon.
The hull acts as the foundation for everything else.
Use Submarine Ballast for the Base
Create a large, flat hull using submarine ballast.
Making the base relatively wide is important because it helps the blimp remain stable.
The ballast also gives you another useful advantage: you can lower the base beneath the water, making it much harder to see and potentially protecting it from enemy fire.
This is an important part of the illusion because most of the functional weight can stay hidden underneath the water.
Add Hull Blocks
You can also add some normal hull blocks around the ballast.
This gives you more control over how quickly the base sinks and rises.
You don’t want the ship to move between depths too aggressively, so having a little extra control over its buoyancy can make the blimp easier to operate.
Adding the Engines
One of the most important parts of the design is keeping the center of gravity low.
Place a large number of U-boat engines underneath the hull.
There are two main reasons for doing this.
First, you need enough power to move a large airship.
Second, putting the engines underneath the hull keeps the heavy components low, which helps prevent the blimp from becoming top-heavy.
This is especially important because the balloon and upper structure can become quite large.
Building the Vertical Rod
Next, create the central vertical structure.
This part is actually quite simple.
Use a long vertical line of propeller shafts extending upward from the hull.
A good starting height is around 40 to 100 blocks.
The exact height is up to you, but the idea is to create enough distance between the hidden functional hull and the visible airship structure.
The propeller shafts are useful here because they are difficult to see from a normal viewing distance.
Building the Main Structure
Now we can start building the part that actually looks like an airship.
Create a long central structure and add platforms where you want your weapons, rooms, and other components to go.
Don’t Make Too Many Decks
For a blimp design, I recommend keeping the structure relatively minimal.
Try to use no more than two decks.
A huge multi-level structure can make the airship look more like a normal ship hanging from a balloon.
A simpler design gives you that classic rigid-airship appearance.
Keep the Structure Lightweight
This is one of the most important tips when building a blimp.
Your upper structure should look almost skeletal.
Use decorative blocks for the walls instead of covering everything in heavy armor.
You generally want little to no armor on the upper structure.
The goal is to keep most of the weight down in the lower hull.
If you start adding heavy blocks everywhere, the ship can become much harder to control and maintain at the desired depth.
Building the Balloon
Now comes the fun part: creating the actual balloon.
Create the Main Cross
Start by making a large cross on top of the main structure using hull blocks.
This cross acts as the foundation for the balloon.
Add a small extension around the middle of the cross arms. This gives you the central mounting point for the curved balloon pieces.
Add Bent Metal Sheets
Use Bended Metal Sheets to create the main body of the balloon.
The width and height should match the dimensions of your cross, with an additional block accounting for the center point.
This gives you the basic framework for creating the large rounded balloon.
Building the Balloon Nose
Once you have the main balloon structure, you can start shaping the front and rear.
Extend the small arms from the main cross longitudinally.
These extensions give you more mounting points for additional curved sheets.
They can also be useful for decorative engines and working ship propellers.
Create the Rounded Nose
For the front and rear of the balloon, use the Half Rounded Block Corner.
Try to match its height and width to the bent metal sheets you are already using.
For the length, make it roughly twice the height.
This helps create a rounded but pointed nose, giving the balloon a much more convincing airship shape.
Adding the Rear Stabilizing Fins
There is one more fun detail you can add to the balloon.
Run a one-block-wide line from the center of your main cross toward the back of the balloon.
This gives you a mounting point for the stabilizing fins.
Use Rudders for Vertical Fins
For the vertical stabilizers, use large rudders.
The interesting part is that these aren’t purely decorative.
They can actually help steer the airship while it is moving.
This makes the rear fins both functional and visually useful.
Getting the Right Blimp Proportions
Proportions are extremely important if you want the ship to actually look like a blimp.
A good rule is to keep the main structure no more than half the length of the balloon.
However, making the structure closer to one-third of the balloon’s length will usually give you a more convincing airship appearance.
In my opinion, less structure generally looks better.
You want the balloon to dominate the design rather than having a huge amount of ship underneath it.
Choosing Guns for Your Blimp
Weapons require a little more planning than simply placing whatever guns you have available.
When selecting a gun, right-click it and check its Minimum Depression Angle.
You want a weapon that can aim downward enough to hit targets that are closer to the airship.
A minimum depression angle around 8 to 15 degrees is recommended.
Don’t Put Guns Upside Down
You also need to be careful with how you mount your weapons.
Guns may not aim correctly when placed upside down or sideways.
This can affect both manual aiming and AI behavior.
So before putting a large number of guns onto your blimp, test their firing angles and make sure they can actually cover the areas you want to attack.
Using Torpedoes on a Blimp
Torpedoes can be a fun addition to an airship.
The recommended approach is to mount them sideways.
This is because they may fail to fire if the game considers your base platform to be directly in their firing path.
So make sure the launchers have enough clear space around them.
Using Mines and Depth Charges
Mines and depth charges can also be used in large numbers.
However, you need to be careful about their placement.
If mines or depth charges are too far forward, too low, or your airship is moving too slowly, they can end up dropping onto your own base.
And since the base is one of the most important parts keeping your airship functional, you definitely don’t want your own weapons damaging it.
Give these weapons enough distance from the hull and make sure the ship is moving fast enough for them to clear the base.
How Fast Should a Blimp Be?
Even though the design looks like a giant floating airship, you don’t want it to move too slowly.
A good target is around 40 knots, which is roughly 70 miles per hour.
Reaching this speed requires quite a lot of engines, especially because you’re building a large structure.
Fortunately, placing those engines underneath the hull has another advantage: it keeps the weight low and helps the overall balance of the ship.
Controlling Your Blimp’s Depth
One of the trickiest parts of this design is keeping the upper structure above the water while the base stays hidden underneath it.
When changing your depth, you can hold Space to make smaller adjustments.
There are three smaller increments between the main depth settings.
This makes it easier to fine-tune the position of your blimp instead of jumping too far up or down.
Surface and Periscope Depth
For this type of design, you will generally want the base to stay somewhere between Surface and Periscopic depth.
If the ship has trouble maintaining this position, you may need to adjust its density.
Small changes to the balance can make a big difference in keeping the airship at the depth you want.
How to Stop Your Blimp From Tipping Over
This is one of the biggest problems you can encounter with a blimp.
Even if your airship is normally very stable, hitting the ocean floor or another ship can cause it to tilt.
Once it starts falling over, it can be surprisingly difficult to recover.
Keep the Hull Clear
Try to keep your hull away from other ships and terrain.
Even if the hull is hidden underneath the water, it can still collide with objects.
A collision can push the airship sideways and cause it to slowly tip over.
If your structure has enough buoyancy, you may be able to let the ship sink slightly and allow the buoyant upper structure to pull itself back upright.
However, prevention is much better than trying to recover from a serious tilt.
Camouflaging Your Blimp
If you want to make the airship illusion more convincing, you can also use colors to hide the parts that aren’t supposed to be visible.
A Grünblau color can help camouflage the hull against the water.
For the vertical propeller shaft, a B20 or lighter blue can help it blend into the sky and waves.
This is especially useful when you are trying to make the ship look like a genuine airship from a distance.
Beginner Blimp Building Tips
Keep the Weight Low
The balloon and upper structure should stay as lightweight as possible.
Put your heavy components, especially engines, down in the hull.
Make the Balloon Bigger
The balloon should dominate the overall silhouette.
A larger balloon with a smaller structure underneath generally looks more convincing than a tiny balloon sitting above a huge ship.
Avoid Excess Armor
Armor adds weight and works against the basic design of a blimp.
Use decorative blocks for the upper structure whenever possible and keep important heavy components down below.
Test Before Adding Everything
Don’t build the entire airship and then test it for the first time.
Build the hull and engines first, check its movement and stability, and then gradually add the structure, balloon, weapons, and decorations.
This makes it much easier to find problems.
Building a blimp in ShipCrafter is more about creativity and clever construction than simply following normal ship-building rules. Since the game doesn’t allow traditional flight, the goal is to create the appearance of a flying airship while using underwater components to provide the actual propulsion and stability.
The most important things I would focus on are keeping the weight low, putting the engines underneath the hull, making the balloon large enough, and avoiding unnecessary armor on the upper structure.
Once you understand the basic setup, you can start experimenting with different balloon shapes, weapons, cabins, stabilizers, and decorative details. You don’t need to build a 500-meter monster immediately—start small, get the balance right, and then make your next airship bigger and crazier.