Saturday, February 11, 2017

Nike Goon Build, Part 1, Background and Parts

Goony conversions are somewhat based on the Estes Goonybirds from 1973. They were short, goofy BT-60 based models that flew on 13mm "T" engines.
Excelsior Rockets brought out new 18mm plan kits that included instructions and decals. These new Goonys weren't flying brooms and fish but were based on Estes kit designs. A Baby Bertha kit is used for parts. On some of the designs you just cut out new fins.

Excelsior has cut back on decal production, the Alps printers are old and beyond repair. This kitbash is based on one of their Goony models, The Nike Goon. Sandmandecals.com might still have the plan pack and decal sets still available.


Here's all the Big Bertha parts, This picture came from the Estes website.

Look at all the extra balsa outside the laser cut fin borders. I'm going to try to cut the Nike Goon fins using just this kit balsa.







With everybody excited about the reissued Estes Nike X, it seemed like a good candidate to "Goon".

The upcoming build posts will show the process I used to shorten and fatten up the Nike X.

4 comments:

  1. I built Sandman's, Goonybird Zero, and Goony Max. I still have Excelsior Rocketry's Honest Goon, Der V 10/6, Goonydent, and a host of Micro Goony decal patterns. As many as I have I wish I saw the coming of the end if just to get the rest.

    The day he comes back, he has a buyer in me. I'm stuck locally with low altitude fields, so Goonies fit that to a tee.

    Loving this build already.

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    1. Hi Scott,
      My Honest Goon is a favorite. The nose section is huge! You're right, they are perfect for smaller fields with a B6-4.

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  2. Good thing about "goon-i-fying" a Nike-X is you don't really need decals since most of the style comes from the fins and roll patterns.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Openroad,
      On this one, I think the decals make the model. An upcoming post will show how I did them, but I didn't use water slides on it.

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