A SHOT DOG Find and a Question

This design goes back to 2008, and entry in the old EMRR Odd Ball Design Contest.

A flying Hot Dog, or SHOT DOG.

Open bun, with empty condiment packages surrounding the balsa fins.

You can read about the ups and downs of the Shot Dog here - 
https://www.rocketreviews.com/scratch-shot-dog-by-hans-chris-michielssen.html 

I was looking at some 3D parts on Makerspace and came across a 3D printed Shot Dog by Scott Dee. Scott also drew up the 3D Centuri Skylab parts I was interested in.

Scott Dee (Mills)

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3272143

Scott's model looks to be a bit taller with four fins instead of three. This would make it more stable!

3D PRINT QUESTION: Anybody interested in printing the Centuri Skylab parts for me?

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2881947

Looking for all the 3D printed parts, as smooth as possible (no real ridges). Resin print preferred.

Send a price estimate to oddlrockets@bellsouth.net

New Kit? Robot!

Had some inspiration last night - 

I've been playing around with this idea for a while. 

This is the first build of the ROBOT.

I wanted it to reflect the wind-up tin robot toys from the 1950s and 60s.

18mm powered, much like the Odd'l Rockets Little Green Man and Pigasus.

It is different with a rear eject of a 12" parachute.

The robot arms are bent to the front on the left, and turned back on the right side. This should give it some spin stabilization. 

Note I wrote "should".

The fins are based on a "track" for movement much like the Robot from Lost In Space. I borrowed the idea of the multi-fin design from the pre-production art of the Estes R2D2: CLICK HERE

In initial sketches, I couldn't get the head right! That was until I remembered Rosie the Robot maid from the Jetson's. The side set body tube works well.

New designs go through many changes before production, no balsa filling or color for now. I've learned not to spend a lot of time finishing a test model. Will it be a kit? 

Now comes the flight testing.

Jay Jarris' Mini Honest John Kit Bashes

KITBASHING: Creation of a new model by combining elements of multiple commercial kit models.

For everybody that bought multiples of the Estes Mini Honest John when WalMart was clearing them out - Here's some ideas on how to customize all those extra kits!

 

From Jay Harris' post on Facebook - 

"They haven’t been back on sale for a while on Walmart but when they were, 

I bought a bunch at $3.13 each! The Estes Mini-Honest John. I used each kit to build something scratch unique!"

E12 Power HJ

The Estes EAC Firecat

Nike HJ Ajax

Nike HJ X

Nike HJ Concept

Nike HJ Hercules

Buck Rogers 13mm

Dave Combs Candy Rockets

Dave Combs posted his candy tube rockets on the 

NAR Facebook page;

"The Candy Fam

The Candy Fam can…

The Candy Fam can when we mix a little thrust

And make the sky look goooooood"

I really like the fins shaped like the candy!

Dave wrote the lyrics.

Andy Northern's Semroc Ruskie

From the Estes Model Rocket Facebook page,

Andy Northern posted - 

"Recently completed this one. It started out as a Semroc Ruskie but I wanted to try something different. This is my first attempt at a camo pattern. The decals are from the Revell 1/48 scale Spitfire and the wheels and cockpit were made on my Cricut."

The Wood Max

Stan Lee McKiernan's build.

Presenting DER WOOD MAX

"I wrapped the body with a Zebrawood veneer, turned the nosecone from Paduak,  and made the fins from Wenge wood. If you look close, even the launch lugs are wooden. 24mm mount because it does come out on the heavy side, even with the nose being hollowed out as much as I could." 

 

Les' Rockets on TRF

On TRF, Les posted pictures of his rocketry collection after his 25 year BAR anniversary.

 And I thought I had a lot of finished builds . . . 

"A quarter of a Century..... 25 Years! Wow!!
In 1998 I became a BAR. Two of my kids, in different activities, got to build a rocket. I recalled my fun from the 60's and got more kits for them to build, plus a few for me. Unfortunately, they both lost interest but I continued.
I became one of those "crazy folks" who went overboard. My spreadsheet shows I have 781 rockets/kits. These are from over 60 different manufacturers. Many of which are no longer in business. And several rockets are scratch/bash builds.

My wife knows I have many, but not how many rockets. Fortunately, she is on a trip with her sister so she wasn't around when I did a family portrait.
It took me two days to haul everything out, set up, take the pictures, bring back in, and re-shelve (that took the longest)"

Of course I looked for some Odd'l Rockets.

Can you find the F-18 Starfighter?

Enlarge the picture and look close for the very appropriate placement of the Odd'l Pigasus.

Reimagined Estes Explorer

From the Facebook Estes Model Rocket page:

Jack Hydrazine posted pictures of a build by Burton John Larson:

"I built a reimagined Estes Explorer with a wide fuselage."

The original kit is on the left, the custom Explorer is on the right.

The wide body is carried through the nose cone! The changes look much better than the original design!

Maybe somebody knows -

Was that nose cone on the left ever used in any other Estes kit?

Leo Nutz Rail Button Adapter

On the Facebook Estes Model Rocket page, James JM asked: 

"Do they make 1010 rail buttons to put on Rockets like the Ascender and Mammoth that don't require drilling a hole?"

 

Leo Nutz answered: "I made my own by mounting a rail button to a dowel that fits snug in the launch lug. 

Has never failed me."

Questions: "So thats a 1010 button glued onto a dowel that slides into the original lug?"

Leo went on the explain: "Not glued (would never hold) but screwed into the dowel."

Question: "So the button is screwed into the dowel but is the dowel glued into the lug?"

Leo answered: "No, it is not glued into the launch lug but as I mentioned in my first post friction fitted."

Andy Nothern's Rocket Stand

Andy Northern posted this on the Facebook Estes Model Rocket page:

"I made this display stand for the Estes Wolverine clone I am working on. It is a wood base from Hobby Lobby, the rod is a metal straw cut to length, an old, used engine that is epoxied to the rod, and a star cut on my Cricut. Super cheap and super easy."

Fin "Ink"- spiration

Richard L. Thompson posted on the Facebook Estes Model Rocket page:

   

 "Just a little DIY Fin detailing without paint. Just Sharpies over a few coats of yellow Krylon."

That's a great fin treatment! It looks to be a pretty even color coat from a felt tip Sharpie!

Don't expect a perfect even color when using marker pens.

This would work best when used over a light background color like this yellow.

Centuri Quasar, Kit #KC-7, Background

The Quasar was introduced in the 1971 Centuri catalog.

A "Classic Space Ship Design!"

My Mother liked this one, she said: "It reminds me of the old Buck Rogers rocket."

The fin pod tubes had vacu-form ram-jet tops and bottom nozzle inserts. The same pieces were used in the Centuri SST Shuttle-1 kit. 

I won't be using vacu-formed or molded resin parts. I know Sirius Rocketry has them available, that'd be an easier way to go. I'll be assembling them from pieces and parts - old school. This build will be a "close" clone.

The first catalog colors were an overall white with two red fins. Later, Centuri recommended painting the body silver. I'll be home printing decals so the main body will be white. Home print decals are somewhat translucent, the red decals don't look very good when set over silver paint.

The Centuri "punched plate" style baffle was new and included in the Quasar, Centurion and Long Tom kits.

The more complex Estes "Ducted Ejection" (forward, back, forward) baffle was included in the new Bandit model first shown in the 1972 catalog.

From the NAR Facebook page, 

Glen Swanson posted a possible design influence:

"A conceptual drawing of an air-breathing boost vehicle. Turbojet engines are located in the body of the vehicle and the three pods. The first stage may be detached, as shown in the upper portion of the illustration, landed and used again. GE Electric, 1960."

I have to wonder if the Centuri Quasar inspired the more recent Estes Protostar. 

The fins have similar curved leading and trailing edges. The Quasar ramjet tube style engine pods have been replaced with three Alien Invader nose cones.

Joel Shepherd's STM-012 Inspiration

From the Estes Model Rockets Facebook page:

Joel Shepherd posted -

"This is an old Estes STM-012 that my daughter picked out of the free pile at our first club launch, about a year ago. I wasn’t crazy about it but then saw some posts by someone who converted theirs to dual deploy. That seems like a good thing to learn about so that’s the plan for this one. The electronics bay, etc., is all ready to go: just need to learn how to do it. Color scheme was inspired by the Terrier Mk70 Improved Malemute sounding rocket."

I like the paint treatment! Gives it a real scale look.

Here's my kitbash of the STM-012, called the B32-M Spike:

This one borrowed some design elements from the Madcow AGM-33 Pike.

Here's my B32-M Spike build from repairs, the finished model to the start of the build: CLICK HERE

Here's what the original STM-012 looked like:

I originally was going to make a sport-scale Amramm.

But, the Amraam had two sets of four fins, the STM-012 body tube was slotted for two sets of three. 

Rob Caswell's Goony - Inspiration

Some builder's get their scratch build design ideas from places you wouldn't expect.

Rob Caswell shows how it's done! 

"My long range build plans were snafued by once again (obsessively) catching the Goony Bug. Like my v-1/2 (aka “Missile Toe”) built earlier in the year, this takes its inspiration from the original Estes concept sketches of the Goonybirds from the early 70’s, where they were all “chibi” interpretations of WW1 and WW2 aircraft… perhaps to follow up on the popular success of the relatively recently released Der Red Max."

The original Estes Design Concept - Note the small red rocket in the upper right

I call this one “Baron von Liftoffen” and it capitalizes on the sketch done for what would become the Sky Shriek. There are TWO vehicles in the original sketch. It the foreground a British biplane inspired work, but in the background a “design twin” that was clearly aiming at the Fokker triplane. Since the release version of that Goony featured the scalloped trailing fin edges, it seems like it must have come from details for the background bird, so that’s the direction I went… though it could be fun to try the Brit version at a later date!

With Bad Boy Rocketry’s recent Goonybird clone releases, I asked to by a laser cut fin set from James as trimming those scalloped edges would be a pain… and I’m all about The Lazy. I mashed that with an Estes Mini Fat Boy. I did cut down the main body tube to the originally spec’d 5” length, but I threw a quarter ounce of nose weight just for good measure.

The guns are off an old Cox gas powered Fokker triplane. They worked perfectly, as far as the scale I wanted. I was lucky enough to find someone selling it – JUST the guns – on ebay. The rocket fates were smiling on me!

The decals were my own design and production, using an inkjet and decal stock from Micro Mark. I made a decal for the brass data plate that would have been on the Fokker’s engine cowl and placed it atop a small rectangle of gold Monokote Trim Sheet… but I should have doubled the size as it’s illegible. I’ve included a better view of the decal in the pics. The brushed silver ring behind the nose is also Monokote trim.

I’ll also call attention to the aft text string. The original Fokker DR-1 carried the string “Fok. DRI 425/17”. I mutated it to “Est. (for Estes instead of Fokker) GRI (“G” for Goony) 812/40 (Estes’ Penrose zipcode)”. And of course I HAD to include Snoopy head kill marks!

von Liftoffen’s maiden flight is next weekend at the CMASS launch in Amesbury, MA."

Inspiration - Baby Bertha to Cigar Rocket

Todd Nichols posted his Baby Bertha conversion 

on the Facebook Estes Model Rocket page - 

Don't know about you guys but occasionally I like a good cigar. Now I can launch one. Lol

Modified Baby Bertha. I call this one, "Slow Burn".

* I am only showing my cigar rocket.

* I am not promoting the use of tobacco.

* I am not promoting any particular cigar company.

- Just to be clear.- Lol

Master Modeler Aluminum Can Recycling

John Bishop shared this video on Facebook - CLICK HERE

I was never a fan of Transformers, but I can sure appreciate the workmanship. 

Most Model Rocket builders hate making cardstock shrouds.

Lots of similar building techniques are shown in this recycled aluminum can video.

Check out the hand rolled tubes, aluminum cone and shroud forming.

This is cardstock modeling taken to the next level!

Finally - Actual Featherweight Recovery!

A BIG Water Rocket from Japan going for a Guiness Book Record!

To see the video: CLICK HERE

Inspiration - Don Thomas' Inter-X-ceptor ... E Power Intergalactic Rocket.

From the Estes Model Rocket Facebook page:

Here's Don Thomas' take on the Estes Interceptor - 

Inter-X-ceptor . . .  Power Intergalactic Rocket.

Sometimes throwing out the face card paint suggestions are a good thing!

Joe Barnard Lands It!

Vertical launch and 

 Vertical landing! 

CONGRATULATIONS JOE!

Seven years and success! The above picture shows the moment of touchdown.

Watch the entire video to appreciate the dedication that went into this project.

To see the video: CLICK HERE

Inspiration - Robert McNamee's Space Station

From the Facebook Estes Model Rockets page,

Robert McNamee's Space Station

Here is the launch: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/BVugjua1mvw

In 1973, this was a close as we got - 

The Centuri Sky Lab. Solar panel fins and lot of vacu-formed details.