Ditch The Decor??

 Last night, I read an interesting thread in the Model Rocketry History category of Ye Olde Rocketry Forum.

The late Mike Dorffler, long-time Estes R&D designer, lamented about how many decor schemes of his kit designs were 'hi-jacked' by company management or marketing, and converted into ridiculous alternate versions.

This got me to thinking (a quite dangerous prospect at best).

Firing up the ol' PC, I pulled up PDFs of Estes catalogs from the past 30 years. Sure enough, a large number of models offered in the catalog pages possess downright gaudy and gimmicky decoration schemes.  The vast majority of these rocket models are 3/4FNC birds populating starter sets and the beginners' skill level pages, clearly targeting the younger crowd, who apparently are drawn to that sort of thing.

But then, I began examining the birds with a different perspective: looking past the overly bright decor and concentrating on the overall physical design of the models themselves.  I found that many of the designs are quite aesthetically pleasing in their own right.  Nice fin shapes, nose sections, transitions, etc.

If painted and decaled in a more traditional manner, while trashing the oftentimes garish and oversized kit name markings, many of these models could be made much more attractive - at least to a grumpy old curmudgeon such as myself...

Binge-Building At The Blastfromthepast Shop!

 Even though I have not been doing any model rocket flying as of late, things have certainly not been idle in the work shop.

The Viking re-build is complete: those flimsy card stock fins have been ripped off and replaced with sturdier basswood versions.  A little brushed-on yellow paint finished things up nicely.

The Orbital Transport received its first primer coat yesterday.

A small boost/glider project is ready for finishing.

Finally, a Citation Patriot is built and ready for primer.

Even more kits and gliders are in the build queue, as well as more progress on the Protostar.

Stay tuned....

Orbital Transport Update

 I finished up building the Orbiter glider today.  Next operation entails touching up random small gaps and grain.  I expect to get both parts of the model in primer this weekend.

Fun build!

Orbital Transport Build Update

As promised in an earlier post, here is the first update of my current scratch-built OT project.

This morning, I glued on the forward canard pieces, the final two of the twenty-eight balsa parts on the booster rocket.

That's a lot of cutting, shaping, sealing, sanding, gluing, and filleting!

Aside from the huge amount of balsa parts, there are the four ram jet tubes, three launch lug pieces, two standoffs, the main tube, and the motor mount to deal with.

Back in the day, Estes gave this model a rating of Skill Level 4.

I prefer to rate it as 'Patience Level 4" instead.

Anyway, all that is left for the booster is to round off a few more fin edges, fill and sand a few gaps and residual balsa grain areas, and shoot some primer.

The parts for the orbiter glider are all cut out and ready for assembly next week. 

I greatly look forward to finishing this build and getting an Orbital Transport into the fleet.