World Cup Special Shape for Rio

This NEW larger-than-the-actual-statue, special-shape hot-air balloon was built by Cameron Balloons in Bristol. In fact to give you an idea of scale it would need over 574,525 footballs to fill the whole hot-air balloon envelope!

‘Technically this project has been very challenging, crafting over 3 kilometres of fabric and nearly 8 kilometres of thread into an aeronautically designed, fully-functional special-shape lighter-than-air aerostat all within 4months.’ Lindsay Sadler Production Director at Cameron Balloons explains.

The balloon was commissioned as part of the controversial advertising campaign promoted by Sports Bet Australia whose engaging and viral marketing ideas hit headlines around the world and we suspect that this is going to be no exception, as the replica of the famous Rio statue wears a seemingly supportive Australian football t-shirt in place of the white robes.

The balloon was made in the Bristol factory under strict confidentiality rules so as not to spoil the Sports Bet media splash and we are delighted to say that even when we completed the test flight, we were still able to keep it ‘under wraps’ – which is not easy, when the balloon is over 42 metres tall and from finger-tip to finger-tip stretches in a span of 41 metres .

The actual statue was built in 1931 and as one of the new wonders of the world, voted by over 100 million people and we are proud to have produced such an accurate replica in flying fabric.

The FIFA World Cup will no doubt make history but as the enormous balloon flies to celebrate the game and the fun and entertainment surrounding the sport, we hope the skills of our expert team in Bristol, will be well-regarded too.

Vital statistics for the famous Rio de Janeiro statue hot-air balloon built by Cameron Balloons.

Gross Volume = 3327cu.m which is 117,500cu.ft
Envelope (Fabric elements of the balloon) weight 335 kg
Fabric usage = 3286metres
Total length of all the seams approximately 7.6 kilometres
Envelope Dimensions = 42m tall with a span of finger-tip to finger 41m
Statue Dims = 30m high with a Span 28m