Gondola Turntable

Work has already begun on a gondola turntable, but I want to start a dedicated thread to it.
 What would make a practical gondola turntable? I have been looking for an OTS solution, but I haven't found anything that quite makes sense yet.

How do we turn it? We can use thrust to spin it or electrical power with a belt or gearing. 

It would be nice to only vector thrust up or down for control and spin the gondola with another method. That way the vectoring system is really simple. 

Also, the turntable needs some type of damping so that its spin is easy to control. 

Ideas?

A 21 inch  Motorcycle front rim  with disk brake  .  Trike / gondola  mounted to  the bearing supported axle  and  the rim  itself  the mounting  platform  to  the envelope .  Caliper for  the disk brake  mounted to  the trike   / gondola frame   Motorcycle  axles  are hardened steel  with castle nuts  and cotter pined  to not  back off .  A very robust design   just look  at  what  they  endure  .  A safety line  should be used  between  the  envelope  and  trike / gondola  that is long  enough  to allow a 360 degree rotation   with a  watchful mind  to  not  keep spinning the same direction  all  the time  and wad it up .
    Off  the  rim  could be mounted  a hand wheel   that projects  downward  to  the pilots  grasp   to  pull  the  trike / gondola around   to  the proper heading . release  disk  brake to pull to  desired heading ,  engage brake  to lock it in .  

  Go back to the original South American guy flying his powered balloon over some Myan pyramid. He used a controllable rudder behind the prop to swivel the gondola. Don't think he really needed a brake, the rudder had a good control of direction.
  If you have a brake, and a rudder, they are going to get into an argument, and try to wind up the shrouds from the gondola to the ship. Remember, the gondola rotates, not the ship. This only works with a ship that can fly sideways, backwards, a lenticular.

Good Idea. I suppose the rim is strong enough to hold the connection to the envelope.

I have considered the hand rotation method, but I don't think I want my hands above my head all the time.

I guess you could lower the control ring to shoulder level or lower. You could even integrate a windscreen into it. I am not sure I want to be enclosed that much either. But it would work. 

That is probably a good design for a first airship. You could move to electric rotation (or something else) later. 

Mike, that rudder system leaves out vertical thrust. He had to dump sand and gas to control altitude. I think we need to reserve the rudder area to yield vertical control. Call it an elevator maybe?

The  Myan   airship  had   thrust vectoring  for down  wash , and  a rudder for turns , He was   loaded  slightly  heavy  to  the  lift of  the  envelope and used  down wash  to  gain  altitude .  
   When  he forgot to turn  the key back on   to  start , he panicked  and  started dumping gas and   throwing ballast  because  he thought  he  was  falling to  fast ,  Almost  threw  to much and became LTA !
   Powered  rotation  could be easy  with  a rear motorcycle  rim with sprocket  and disk  brake . along  with  the caliper  being mounted to  the  trike / gondola  frame  , so would  a  small  starter motor with  sprocket  and  chain to  the  motorcycle rim  sprocket  (  could be  a belt  drive   too)  .     

Yah, I forgot the whole cage tilted. Not sure if he could tilt it to thrust down. That might be nice to have if you get an excessive super heat going. 

The other day I was standing on a swivel chair hanging up something. Each time I moved my arm a little bit the swivel turned the chair in response to the inertia change.

Now you want a turntable with a prop spinning off center from the swivel turn center, which in a cross wind due to the propeller "P Factor"  will spin you around faster than a monkey in orbit?

I think this idea and the physics behind it needs strict review.

We have seen it used in the Mayan video, so we know it can work in the conditions of the video. Also, IM, suggested using a motorcycle break system to lock it when we don't want it to spin. 

Yes  Up  wash  could be a good  thing  too.  (  Up  wash pushed down ,  Down wash pushes Up . )
 I haven't reviewed  the Myan  vid  again  yet ,  But it  seems like  they used a  Cloud Hopper  solo hot air balloon  turntable   on   this  bird .  Their  turn table  is a bit complicated  as it  also  incorperates  a  swiveling  propane  gas coupler  as  the  burner is mounted  directly on top  of it .
 Note to  Swampie   DONT DO  THAT !!!    Or  You  could be  the monkey in short orbit   with a crash landing on  the  floor .