The instructions have you cut up the HoJo die-cut balsa to make the unusual Firecat fins. The raceway and pod standoff pieces were cut by hand from the leftover balsa.
The nose cone was not from the earlier Honest John kit, the Firecat part number was BNC-50BD. It was all balsa, not a combination of a card stock shroud and upper balsa nose cone from the original K-27 HoJo.
This was probably the one-piece balsa cone from the "Cold Power" Honest John rocket. The parts choices make me think this might have been a S.P.E.V.
The Cold Power Honest John kit made one appearance in the 1973 Estes catalog and was discontinued. The EAC Firecat was introduced in 1974.
The decals are (of course) from the Estes Bandit.
The Firecat was the second Estes Aerospace Club "members only" kit. The first kit was the Viper, included in the EAC membership package.
The beautiful build shown above is from Bill Cookes blog: http://billsrockets.blogspot.com
Here's the Firecat instructions: http://www.spacemodeling.org/jimz/estes/est0821.pdf
Thank you for the parts origin clarification. I received a Firecat when I was an EAC member but never got around to finishing it (I think I mucked up a step and put it aside and it eventually disappeared). A few years ago I was sourcing the parts to try building it again but could not find the nose cone. Now I see why.
ReplyDeleteHi Lonnie,
DeleteSemroc has the parts - NOSE CONE -
http://www.erockets.biz/semroc-balsa-nose-cone-bt-50-4-5-flared-ogive-sem-bnc-50bd/
FINS -
http://www.erockets.biz/semroc-laser-cut-fins-eac-firecat-3-32-balsa-sheet-sem-fes-0821/
Thank you!
ReplyDelete