This design was a real game changer.
Designed by Bret Simpkins it won the Estes Design of the Month competition. The plans were featured in the Model Rocket News (1973?) Volume 13, #2.
You can see the plans HERE
I remember the wing/fin arrangement was different than anything I'd ever seen in the catalogs. I also liked the model name "Top Secret" set in a big stencil font on the top of the wing.
The model shown above is a full size carded version drawn up by Eric Truax.
You can see the carded plans HERE
This one hasn't flown yet, the nose cone still needs paint.
If you build one, be sure to add nose weight. The MRN plan shows two of the old lead weights.
I'd just re-finished the Red Max.
In a previous blog entry I mentioned not knowing where to place the TOP SECRET decal, knowing I had seen it somewhere before.
There it was, on the back of the Top Secret design.
If you look at the rear tubes, the nozzle decals from the Orbital Transport are used again.
Cygnus Rocketry produced a near clone version of the Top Secret called the N.E.A.V. or Near Earth Attack Vehicle. You can see it HERE
This rocket reminds me of the Estes Firecat, which was available about the same time. It makes me wonder where the "top secret" decal originated, this rocket or the Red Max?
ReplyDeleteAlso, I remember seeing that same nozzle decal on the Cherokee D.
The "top secret" decal was first on the Red Max decal sheet. You can see it at JimZ's site at:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.spacemodeling.org/JimZ/est0651.htm
Yep, that repeated flipped "U" nozzle pattern was on the Cherokee D.
I can see that reversed fin arrangement on the Firecat. Speaking of re-used decals, the Firecat used the decals from the Bandit.