The Firecat was an interesting design, the parts and decals certainly looked familiar.
It was the second design available only to members of the Estes Aerospace Club. The first EAC kit came with your membership kit - the EAC Viper.
The Firecat was introduced June 1974 in the first issue of the EAC Spectra newsletter for $2.75.
Last advertised in the July/August 1975 Spectra.
“Offer good only with EAC order form
Offer expires 12/1/75 or when supply is exhausted.
Hurry! Supplies are limited.”
This one has an interesting back story.
The Firecat was a redesign "kitbash" made up from parts from the discontinued Estes/Vashon Honest John.
Freon was outlawed because it depleted the Earth's ozone layer. The Vashon Cold Power line was cut - Estes was stuck with some parts inventory.
By 1975 some Freon powered rockets were eventually redesigned into "Cold Power Convertibles". You could fly them with the Vashon Freon engine or use the 20/50 standard engine mount and launch with 18mm standard motors. These three kits were Shark, Marauder and Yankee 5. (I don't know why it was named the Yankee "5". If it had five fins, maybe. The rocket only had four fins.)
I built and launched the cold power Shark rocket.
When fueled, the tank pressure swelled out small rubber gaskets (note the small black dots in the engine in the lower right of the picture) This held down the compressed spring and BT-48 tube until it was released at apogee.
The launch button housing was connected to a metal cable that released the fueling adapter inside the nozzle.
To see the Shark instructions: CLICK HERE
Instructions provided by Leo Nutz
One thing I hated about the design - When the rocket was on the shelf, that spring was always extended looking like a cliché broken toy.
This smaller Freon motor performance was like a B6-4. If the outside temperature was cold, Freon performance was poor. I eventually added the 20/50 adapter to the Shark for the black powder conversion.
The Firecat build starts tomorrow!
Oh... this is really cool that you are building the Firecat. One of the few rockets I wish I had. I'm curious as to the parts you will be using for the build.
ReplyDeleteHi Leo,
DeleteThe BT-48 work-around is upcoming. I could have used a BT-50, but what fun is that?
Chris, I going to guess that you'll be using a yellow colored tube :-)
DeleteNope!
DeleteNo yellow (easy way) tube for me!
In that case, perhaps using method one might use for making coupler from a section of the base tube?
DeleteThat's what I did!
DeleteHi, Chris, Please delete that last fumble-finger attempt at a reply!
ReplyDeleteAny. A Firecat is on my build agenda this year, as I have scored one of the LJ kits.
Also, I had a ColdPower Yankee-5 back in the day. It was a kick to fly. I may build a new BP clone in the near future.
Great job on that last build. Looks like there were a lot of difficulties involved!
Hi Ed,
DeleteThe abundance of cheap Little Joe kits (and workable nose cone) is why I decided to do this build. Hopefully it'll inspire some other builds.
Yep, the Mini Honest John kit is nice start for a kitbash (kitbash -- technique of using existing model kit and modifying it to turn it into something else).
DeleteThe "EXPERIMENTAL" lettering in white would be a challenge to reproduce. One possible "cheat" is to use white decal sheet and print the background part in red -- though there will be a bit of a challenge to match that red to the red paint.
Hi Naoto,
DeleteI've tried something like that in the past, but the printer ink never matches the base paint color.
I had printed off a black "EXPIRIMENTAL" but my placement of the roll decal didn't give me enough room for it.
I've often wondered if the Stiletto was a rework of the Shark. Aside from the number of fins, they look much alike.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.spacemodeling.org/jimz/est1323.htm
Hi Naoto,
DeleteThey both look alike!
I would think the Stiletto design was based off the Shark. Along with one less fin - the Stiletto didn't have the Interceptor style USAF, red, white and blue stars fin decal.