Mike,
Nooooooooooooooo....don't cancel...far too much of that in British aviation....!!!
You just needed a fresh approach. OK, this would be my take - just bear with me......;-
1) Build the model around a mandrel. A bit of old broomstick or PVC piping, anything light-ish and rigid. You may need to profile the ends or use a smaller OD extension from a drilled hole in the end.
2) Draw out a few sections at your desired profile. Cut the formers out of card or even plastic, with a centre-hole to suit the mandrel. Iced-cream containers or fast-food tupperware-style will be ideal. Use a modelling knife or even just scissors if you have a steady hand. This may seem a bit flimsy, but trust me, as you assemble this it will become light and strong.
3) Source some sheet insulation-foam. Not the naff white polystyrene used for packaging, but the dense stuff used in modern buildings. You'll find offcuts gratis on any building site - this is usually either blue or green. It has a similar density to lightweight Balsa, but obviously, no grain. This cuts really beautifully with a sharp knife, and can be sawn or sanded in a trice. You will need to slice it to a suitable thickness to fit between your formers. Cut these discs to suit the profiled formers, but a fraction oversize. Use white PVA adhesive, but not anything volatile, as it will attack the foam. Sand it all to shape with a flat block to get the fake witness marks from the internal structure. Finally, use some finer paper free-hand to get the 'panting' between the formers.
4) When you are happy, cover it all with tissue. Do not use dope. Once it is sealed with a primer you can paint it.
5) When you come to attach your pods etc, you can cut the slots etc into the foam. Use Devcon (A good five-minut epoxy.) and pin if necessary.
All of the above is harder to write than do, as working with this foam is very quick and easy, and LIGHT-YEARS less work than actually trying to build a structure....! All the pods etc will take much longer than the actual body of the airship. Trust me, for a static model, this is the way to go, as the foam is absurdly easy to shape....! Once you have used this, you find a million other ways to use it. Just treat it like high-quality Balsa that comes FOC....
You might even build-in some LED's.....
Can't wait to see this photos....!
Good Luck
PS;-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSIw09oqsYo ..........lol....