Here's a tough one to clone - The Centuri Skylab. That strange plastic nose cone was re-used in a few designs. There are a few vacu-form wraps, nozzles and details where molds would have to be made.
In the Centuri kit, the thick card stock fins were covered in a metallic foil with a tight embossed square grid. They supplied a peel and stick covering.
The embossed sheet is shown on the left. You can see the tight square pattern that runs throughout.
On the right side is a scrap piece, turned over and taped to cardboard for some "77" adhesive spray. You can't really see the embossed squares on the backside.
The radiant barrier piece was set down over the leading edge and pressed onto the flat sides.
I was curious if the embossed squares would disappear when the thin foil was pressed down - they didn't! The lines did go away only over the leading edge. This foil could be used on a clone.
Now if somebody would produce the vacu-form wrap parts, I could make a Skylab! Even if you aren't building a Skylab, a embossed panel like this could look like a solar panel fin.
EDIT: I checked some Ebay listings and can't find this same square embossed radiant barrier sheets. The few I see now have small perforations throughout the sheet. Keep an eye out, it's out there somewhere -
Sorry - I won't be selling or mailing out this covering material.
I wonder if this is an effect that could be done with a laser cutter - not an exact replication but a close enough from a couple feet away simulation of the grid pattern. Nice find with the barrier material Chris - don’t you just love it when you find rocket building supplies in everyday stuff?
ReplyDeleteHi Openroad,
DeleteThe only time I've seen a laser cut Mylar was on the chrome wrap in the Semroc Andromeda kit. The laser lines cut too deep into the Mylar and broke it into many small lines. I couldn't use the wrap!
I would have probably used trim Monokote and a black print decal wrap over that.
Yep, always a surprise when you find something that could be used in place of the original kit materials. Like the metal spine of a windshield wiper blade for an spring steel engine hook -
I’ve seen/had that material before. Some type of cold/hot bag or tote possibly. I’m pretty sure it was in a local grocery.
ReplyDeleteThe Skylab is one I wish would get re-released by somebody Estes/Semroc. I would guess eRockets would have the rights to the design? I think they picked up the rights for the Centuri designs, but could be mistaken.
Cheers
Hi Anonymous,
DeleteThat hot/cold bag probably had some molded bubbles on the inside. Mine was a thin sheet.
I would assume Estes owns all the rights to the previous designs. If a design patent or trademark was never established, who knows who owns it all now. There is one small clone vendor that simply copies the Estes instructions and drops their logo on top of the Estes name! That should be fought in court.
I know it’s been discussed more than once on the forums but if I remember correctly Carl McLawhorn, the founder of Semroc, had a sort of gentleman’s agreement with Estes about which designs he would use for his retro-repro kits - unlike the unnamed vendor (I think I know which one you mean) in your reply above. Intellectual property rights should be strictly enforced - else what incentive would creative/productive people have to make the stuff we all enjoy!
Delete