Orbital Transport Update...

  

Finally, I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel (not that of an oncoming train) on this project.

Two weeks ago, both sections of the model received their finish coats of gloss white spray, top surfaces only.

I am determined to go with a radically different color scheme from the usual all-white.

The intervening time has been spent brush-painting the undersides of the vehicles.

The booster gets a 1:4 mix of black and white to get a nice grey color, while the orbiter wing gets a black covering.

After this, some creative masking and painting of the nose cones are in order.

Finally, some silver trim on the ram jet tubes and other details will be applied.

Stay tuned...

 

Back In The Day, Part 33 - A Very Funky Citation Patriot

 As I was writing yesterday's post about the newly built Citation Patriot, I was reminded that, somewhere in my photo files, I had a picture of one of the original Patriots that a Skywatchers/ROMAR member had flown at a sport meet in Colorado Springs sometime around 1975 or so.

I found that photo.  Can anyone tell me what's wrong with this picture?

Yep, you got it.....the fins were glued on wrong!

Apparently, this model must have been built by a younger member or a visitor.  

One who wasn't versed in the 'grain runs with the leading edge' rule of model rocket building.

My question is:  Where was the acting club RSO for this one?

Fortunately, I don't remember the outcome of this flight....

BAR Fleet #128 - Citation Patriot

Source: Estes Industries

Kit # 000652

Sport Model - Single stage 

18mm motor type

Diameter: 41.5mm

Length: 65.5cm

Empty weight: 89.2g

Nose: 4 caliber tangent olive

Fins: (3) modified tapered swept.

Color Scheme: white, black, with gold, red, and blue trim.

Date completed: September 24, 2020

A Classic Estes Model Rocket

The new Patriot kit was a Christmas present last year from one of my daughters, but I just now got around to building it.  Even though I greatly admired the rocket back in the old days, one was never built as part of the fleet.

This model was a lot of fun to build.  The original intent was to install a 24mm motor mount, however, since the lion's share of my flying is done on smaller fields, I stuck with the stock 18mm version.  I still anticipate that it will be a kick to fly on B and C motors, perhaps taking a keychain cam along for the occasional ride.

One item of note: while most of the model was painted with spray enamel, the single black fin was brush painted with gloss black acrylic.  It takes a really close examination to detect any difference in the two finishes!

I am increasingly becoming a fan of brush painting model rockets, and will likely be choosing that method for other upcoming builds.

I highly anticipating seeing this Patriot in flight!

Yet Another Shop Project

 Having on hand a second surplus cabinet shelf identical to the one used for the laptop workbench, I came up with another rocket-building application:

With the addition of a couple of 1x3 poplar boards screwed to opposite bottom edges, the shelf became a dandy project surface for the BlastFromThePast La-BOR-atory microscope!

The table surface is at the right height to place objects at the bottom of the instrument's focusing range.

The addition of a clamp-on desk lamp completes the project.

I now have a great work surface on which to perform precision marking and cutting operations for several upcoming scale and plastic conversion projects.

The fixture will also be useful for other purposes as well - examining tiny details and variations on collectable postage stamps and coins, tiny electronics soldering tasks, and one of my favorites - extracting those irritatingly minute wood and metal slivers that I seem to consistently and painfully get stuck in my fingers!

With grand-kiddos around quite often, the microscope will likely get pressed into service to look closely at such things as dead bugs and slides containing pond water complete with all the little critters swimming therein.

But, mostly, it's for rocket stuff....

A Minor Hobby Lobby Gripe...

 Don't get me wrong here - I am generally very happy that Hobby Lobby stores carry Estes model rocket products, and that I have a local store here in Castle Rock, Colorado a mere mile and a half from my home.

I like that there are rocket kits exclusive to HL that are unavailable elsewhere.

My concern is with the greatly reduced selection of motor types available.

It is understandable that, with the new order of things between Estes and Hobby Lobby, an attempt is made to match motor types with the selection of kits hanging on the nearby pegs.  

This is all well and good, and the most commonly used motor types: A8-3, B6- 4, and C6-X are readily available.  

But I have noticed the disappearance of several motor types that I have been accustomed to purchasing frequently at Hobby Lobby in the past: 1/2A -2T, A10-3T, A10-0T, and any of the other 18mm zero delay booster motors smaller than a C6.

In my opinion, it would be nice to see a more rounded selection of motors on the peg board at Hobby Lobby.

Besides the types mentioned above, it would be cool to also have a D12-0, D12-7, the little 1/4A mini, and maybe even the new C5s.

We'll wait and see as things unfold.

Gripe over.....

Rocket Building Mobility

Last weekend, a little time was spent in the BlastFromThePast shop in order to build a quick rocket building accessory:

This is a small portable laptop 'workbench' made from a surplus cabinet shelf.

This project was driven by desire to work on model rockets somewhere else around the house apart from the deep, dark, and mysterious basement la-BOR-atory. 

With this device, I can hang out in the living room with the Missus while she's watching her movies/TV shows, work on models while keeping an eye on the football games, or enjoy the outdoors on the back deck.

The 15x18 workspace includes sides and tool compartments made from Home Depot paint stir sticks, a plastic small-parts container, and a removable stop on the front of the panel to keep things from falling off.  The tool holder features a block of hard foam in which to stick frequently used modeling tools.

With this workspace, I've been able to perform many model building operations including fin cutting, model marking and assembly, brush painting, decaling, parachute construction - anything that doesn't require sanding or use of stinky paints/glues, or is otherwise messy.

Gotta keep Mrs. BFTP happy, you know.

Aside from building rockets, the work board has been useful as well for LEGO building and tinkering with other small projects.

It's quite surprising to see how much can be accomplished on such a compact workspace.

The best aspect, though, is the added time for rocket building that the device affords.

Glider Trimming Day!

 Today's weather forecast showed nearly non-existant wind conditions, making it a great time to get out to a park and trim the newly built Wasp for glide.

So, lunchtime was spent on the grassy expanse of Redstone Park in Highlands Ranch, Colorado.  The park is only a two minute drive from my workplace.

Armed with the Wasp and a chunk of trim clay, it took a dozen or so tosses to get it to glide beautifully.  I couldn't get it high enough to see exactly what its turn radius is - that may have to wait for adjustment after a maiden flight under power.

Nevertheless, all indicators point to a well-performing boost/glider.

I suspect the real challenge for this model will be avoiding another fly-away loss!

Walking In A Winter Wonderland...

 ...on September 8th !!

Just two days ago, temps were kissing 100 degrees around here.

Today - freezing and snow!

We tied a record low for September 7th yesterday that dates back to 1962.  Today we could break a September 8th low temperature record that goes back to the 1800s.

Anyway I don't  mind the snow.  It's much better than the pall of smoke and ashes from all of the nearby mountain wildfires still burning out of control.

Back In The Day, Part 32 - The Old Fleet Wasp

 Having just finished a build of a Wasp boost/glider, I decide to dust off the large binder containing the ancient archives of my 'old fleet' days.

A Wasp was one of my earlier glider models, built at a time when I was still but a neophyte rocketeer.

The records show a total of seven flights on the bird, none of which were particularly successful.  Written commentaries described the model's glide performance with such terms as 'flip', 'flop', 'flutter', and 'stall'.

At least the word 'prang' was never employed. 

I do recall that old number 29 would glide very nicely during hand launch tosses, but never worked properly under rocket power.

Again, in those days, I didn't know a heck of a lot about glider construction and trimming.

The Wasp was likely built without any negative incidence on the horizontal stab, plus I strongly suspect that the main wing panels were warped.  Add to this the fact that the glider was finished with spray enamel paint.

With all of that going against it, the poor bird didn't stand a chance at transitioning into a good glide.

Boost phase was no problem, since I built the pop pod longer than what the plans called out.  Boost CG was well ahead of the glider wings, making the model very stable.

A short anecdote involving my Wasp B/G was written up in a sport meet report published in a 1975 issue of the Skywatchers/ROMAR club newsletter.

Members of the Rapihawks Rocket Club of Colorado Springs were guest visitors to this particular Skywatchers meet.   

Dr. Warren Layfield and I both happened to be off to the side of the launch pad area lobbing gliders around  to adjust the trim.  Mine, of course, was the Wasp.  A little friendly discussion ensued about whose glider would perform better.  A small competition was in the making....

Unfortunately, both of us chickened out from flying our gliders under power because of windy conditions that had begun to pick up.  We agreed to pursue the dispute another day.

Warren, if you are reading this, the challenge is still on....

BAR Fleet #129 - Wasp B/G

Model Name: Wasp

Model Type: Front engine boost glider.

Designed by Marc McReynolds.  Published in Model Rocketry Magazine, Dec. 1970.

Motor Type: 18mm

Glider length: 26.7cm

Wing Span: 20.3cm

Glider weight: 8.6g

Pod length: 15.8cm

Pod diameter: 19mm

Pod weight: 6.0g

Overall model length: 35.9cm

Overall weight: 14.6g

Color scheme: Yellow and black with silver trim.

Completion date: September 7, 2020

A 50 Year Old Boost/Glider Design

The Wasp B/G is built from the plans published in the December 1970 issue of Model Rocketry Magazine.  This is my second build of the model, the first being rendered back in 1974, fleet #29.

The bird was designed for small-field boost/glider flying using 1/2A motors.  An unusual feature of the glider is the use of 1/32" balsa stock for the rudder and horizontal stabilizer.  The thin stock can be used because of the low aspect ratio of these parts.  The model employs the standard pop-pod design popular in the late 60s-early 70s.

Since the model is named the "Wasp", I deemed it appropriate to color it to look like the insect. The glider portion was rendered with yellow and black permanent markers applied over a light coat of Duplicolor white primer.  The pod is brush painted with acrylic hobby paint.

The nose used on this version of the Wasp isn't exactly that called out in the plans.  I just happened to have a conical one rattling around in the spare parts box that could be pressed into service. It will work quite nicely.

This re-build of one of my "old fleet" boost/gliders is a welcome new addition to the growing BAR collection.

Here are more pictures:

Back In The Day, Part 31 - Those Old Hobby Shops

In the 1970s and early 80s, the city of Colorado Springs was blessed to have several good hobby shops stocked with model rocket goodies.
I rarely had to buy rocket kits, motors, or supplies via mail order simply because we could get it all from the local brick and mortar establishments.
Such places as Custom Hobbies, Ru-Jan Party and Hobby, Levine's, Miniature World, and Hobby Hub carried everything a respectable rocketeer of that era needed.
Besides the abundant products of the popular Estes and Centuri lines, we even had access to Flight Systems, Inc. And Competition Model Rockets products right off the shelf at a couple of the local stores.
That means in a single afternoon of driving about town, one could pick up that new  Cineroc here, and a Laser-X kit there.
 Across town could be found a CMR dual egg capsule and a Manta boost/glider kit for that upcoming contest.
Oh, and maybe pick up a couple F100 motors a few miles further down the road, for that big bird at home on the workbench.
Ahh, them was the good ol' days.....