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.....

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.