First of all, this is not a tutorial. This is merely a description of how I build, as requested by 'DemoDwarfz'.

I try as hard as possible to not get complacent with on method of building. While I have been fairly successful in my current style of airship building (Those which I will cover) if I continue to do so without expanding my horizons, without changing things up and being creative in my methods, it will be boring. Not only for me but also for those of you who might, on the off chance, care somewhat.

These are the general methods through which I build my 'traditional' airships, such as my adventurer airship, research airship, diplomatic airship , yacht airship, bounty hunter airship, trader airship, and creeper bomber airship.

I start with an idea as to its function, exceedingly vague. I do not draw plans, I merely form in my head a list of rooms I want, and a very rough shape.

Then I go into MCedit and make myself a shape with the 'brush' function. (Generally I make the height an odd number if I intend to have two floors: The middle block is needed for a floor.The width is inconsequential, simply whatever looks right.) Often, this brush shape will look weird with both ends exactly the same. I make another shape with the same diameter but with a longer or shorter length, MCedit off the end and paste it (With air!) over one end of my main shape.

Then I enter minecraft, obsess over the shape, and repeat the posses with different proportions until I am reasonably satisfied.

I then begin the outer framework. Starting on the center of the bow/nose I work place one layer of some sort of planks all the way to the back, then section off the hull/fuselage with vertical planks (Conforming to the shape of the cylinder). Often, I use wooden stairs to make it look less blocky. I am only doing this on ONE side of the hull, mind you.

Following that I make windows and surrounded them with whatever looks good and adds interest to the shape: a simple cylinder looks boring and should be avoided. If the hull diameter is small, or I don't have space to stand in front of the windows inside, I push out the wall, making it vertical. When unsubtle this can look bad, so use your own judgment as to whether or not this is essential. Avoid embellishing the sides too much (As I may have did with my trader airship). It needs to look marginally plausible. (Note: You may not have to add windows all the way along the the hull, further back are the engines, which do not provide a pleasing view. Windows may also interfere with anchoring the engines to the side.)

Next: Engines. Pretty loose. Propellers, jet engines, exotic air channels, magnetic accelerators, nether portals, whatever. Do not be afraid to get creative! Thus far I am not greatly pleased by my engines, and seek to improve. Engines can be places over the main fuselage/hull, on either side, in the back/on the back,asymmetrically, or even slung underneath. (As with my response ship, which feels sad and unloved btw). Some things to remember: Keep them proportional to the rest of your ship, make sure propellers have adequate clearance (When not the case suspension of disbelief is strained).
Another thing I'd like to point out is 'smoke' While I have yet to have a smoke maker in one of my engines that would probably look cool. Cobwebs can also look good, if a bit steampunk.

After that you can either begin the interior or a gondola. Contrary to popular belief, gondolas aren't really essential. I have made my way quite well without them for may ships, but when I do include one I generally place it about midships (On very large vessels it can be near the front, a RL airship demonstrating this is the Graf Zeppelin
, among others) My gondolas are all very open, with windows everywhere (I have not yet had an excuse to make an armoured gondola). It's also a good idea to have viewports in the floor. Interior is up to you, remember that a gondola doesn't necessarily have to house the cockpit.

Fins: You can do these anytime. If you are going for extensive modifications of the exterior to fit an interior you may want to make. All I can say for fins is don't make them too tall or big: They are best as subtle examples that your vessel can kind of make sense. If the scale of your ship is so, you may be able to fit a cool insignia on it. A littly colored wool can allude to detail, should the previous not be possible. While a vertical, upper tail fin is pretty much required you can get away without ailerons, and I have myself never included a lower tail fin

For me, this is the most important by far. The Interior (with capitols). What use is a ship without one? It is compulsory. You have the highest leeway with this, though. I myself try to cram as much in as possible (Remember the list of functions I mentioned earlier? If you can't fit them all in you can just lengthen your ship a little with MCedit. Note that if you make it too long you can risk making it look out of proportion..) but you might like stark modern interiors, spartan hellholes, homely warm cabins (I highly suggest you disable firespread on your building world. You can do that with /gamerule doFireTick false, I think.), or anything and everything in between. It depends much on size. I might get into that in detail later, but this blog is much to small for me to get into interior ideas. Paintings+hatches+item frames+signs are your very best friends for this, especially with limited space. Good luck.

And that is all. I likely made many mistakes, I have neither the time nor inclination to proofread this now. I hope this helps.