AVI Nike Tomahawk Build Finished

I wanted to build this model since seeing it in the AVI Astroport Catalog in the mid 1970s.
I don't know if this kit was ever produced. Obviously the MPC Tomahawk and Nike Smoke plastic fin cans were used. I pieced most of it together from a Quest order. The metric tubes (those made in the US) are very strong.
As shown in earlier blog posts, the adapter was made from card stock shrouds.

This one is tall! It is 30.85" from tip to tail.
While it could fly with a B6-2 or C6-3 with an adapter, the engine mount is a 24mm.
As the catalog copy says: "The parachute recovery system is packed into the Tomahawk section."

Every builder has one model that seems to be cursed!
This one was my problem model.








The decals had to be printed twice.
The first print of the "UNITED STATES" was too bold.





On the first try, I couldn't get the Tomahawk fin masks right! After it sat for two and a half years I succeeded with small half circle Scotch tape masks.

Originally I made screw decals to be wrapped around the upper end of the Tomahawk. They printed too light and looked translucent. I might try them again later.

I'm just glad it's finished.
Oh crap! I forgot the launch Lug. See, I told you it was cursed.

AVI Nike Tomahawk Build Part 25, Dry Fit Assembly

The upper 20mm body tube is fitted to the fin can with a yellow coupler that came with the fin unit.

Early on I made a tube to fit connect the Tomahawk to the transition shroud assembly.
A few wraps of glued card stock got a friction fit.







The fit was good and tight.

AVI Nike Tomahawk Build Part 24, Upper Fin masking

My first attempt at masking the Tomahawk fin can was a disaster!
That's one of the reasons it took so long to finish this one up. I was frustrated and set it aside for two years.
It finally came to me how to pull off the mask around the raised fin attachments -
Cut a small half circle with my rotary punch!

I chose a punch about the same size as the fin attachment nub.

Scotch tape was marked while still on the dispenser.

Slip the punch base under the sticky side of the tape and punch out a circle. Pull out some tape, mark and punch three more holes.

Now the punched tape is set on my patio glass.

Look close and you can see the "wedge" pieces cut around the holes.
Just under half a hole is used on each side of the fin.






The first picture shows the wedge pieces around the attachment lug.
The inset picture has the additional Scotch tape pieces set on the top and bottom of the lug masks.




After pulling up the masks, here's the finished piece.

It looks like the mask was placed too high outside the root edge area. Actually, it's in the center. The "root" edge is a bit rounded, not a tight sharp corner.

AVI Nike Tomahawk Build Part 23, Lower Fin Masking

This is the mask for the fourth, fluorescent yellow fin.

Each fin took eight pieces of Scotch tape to match the root edge diamond shape.

Here's the mask after the tape was pulled.

TIP: Fluorescent paint is almost translucent. Be sure to paint it over a white undercoat. Any dust, lint or marks will show through the fluorescent color.

AVI Nike Tomahawk Build Part 22, Tomahawk Nose Cone Paint Masks

Right above the Bakelite brown band is a thin cream stripe.
Rather than masking it, make a decal!

TIP: You can spray a clear decal sheet with any color. Don't run it through your printer, just spray the sheet with color paint!

I had an old can of WalMart cheap paint in a cream color.
Behind the can is the sheet of decal paper, just a 1/4" wide band of decal paper is exposed over the masking tape.

After spraying and removal of the tape I had a band of cream ready for transfer. No clear coat is needed, the color coat seals the paper.

Thin strips of the the cream "decal" were cut with a knife and straightedge.
The inset picture shows the cream band right above the brown.
It was easy to line up the cream decal. The lower edge of the cream decal sits right on the paint ridge of the brown paint.

AVI Nike Tomahawk Build Part 21, Tomahawk Paint Masks

Here's one I started a long time ago and set it aside.
I had a hard time trying to mask the upper stage Tomahawk fins. The fins were a plastic MPC fin can. 
If you want to see the start of the build, CLICK HERE
This model was first shown in the 1973 AVI catalog - CLICK HERE
It's about time I finished it up . . .
Note: Some of these blog posts were written 2 1/2 years ago. I'm probably going to repeat things I've written about since then.

I know, others use Tamiya specialty masking tapes and get great results. I won't pay the high prices for the small roll of tape.

I've heard from a few that they've had good results with the Scotch tape masks.

Enlarge the picture and you can better see the piece of tape on the glass.

A black line is drawn down the center with a wide tip permanent marker. 

The tape is cut down the middle of the line with a metal straightedge and sharp knife.

Why not just mark and use the sides right off the roll? 

Typically the sides of a tape roll aren't clean. Cut the down the middle and you'll have two sharp, clean edges of tape for masking.

The black marking makes it easier to see against the rocket body.

The upper Tomahawk rocket has a red and silver body, the red mask is at the top.

TIP: Spray the red first and the silver second. The adhesive on the back of the tape will transfer onto most metallic spray paints. 

The picture shows the tape line after the Scotch tape mask was removed. You'll never get a clean mask line if the underlying surface isn't dried and smooth before the tape is set down. 

The Quest (AVI) nose cone is 2.50" tall.
The Tomahawk nose cone is scaled at 2.26" tall.

There is a Bakelite brown band below the nose cone. At scale, this band is .40" wide.
I'm making a compromise on this one, I'll paint the band on the low end of the nose cone. It won't be the full .40" wide, but closer to .25" wide.

The tape strip was cut thin to conform to the start of the nose cone curve.
The second inset picture shows the tape overlap. Be sure the overlap is pressed down and well sealed.

The upper white end of the nose cone was covered with masking tape.
The first picture shows the masking tape being pulled.

The inset picture shows how to pull back the Scotch tape mask.
When pulling the tape, fold it back over itself, not straight up but over and on top of the tape still on the nose cone.

AVI Nike Tomahawk Build Part 20 Transition Edges

I haven't given up on the Nike Tomahawk!
I'm just taking a little break. I want to get back on this one again when I return on December 10 after four weeks on the cruise ships.

Again, I ran into paint problems.
While applying white undercoats to the plastic fin cans, I had more problems with the paint crinkling.
Careful sanding followed, I didn't want to sand off the raised screw heads on the Tomahawk fin can.
Another coat of white - more wrinkling of the paint!
Time to set it aside for a while.

I was never really happy with the way the adapter turned out.
It doesn't show very well in this picture, but the width of the center strip is uneven around the adapter.

I had to figure out how to sharpen the edges and make the flatt center "ring" the same width all the way around.

I took the easy way out, the same way I fixed the Quest Nike Smoke nose cone.

A thin strip of scrap vinyl was cut and set down around the flat center ring.

When rubbed down, the ring gives the illusion of a sharper, squared edge.

Any uneven width of the center section is covered by the edge of the vinyl strip.

AVI Nike Tomahawk Build Part 19 Fin Can Fin Prep

The leading edges of both plastic fin cans had some rough edges.

This is the before shot. The upper right corner looks almost rounded off.

And after squaring up with 400 grit.

Most all the flat surfaces were fine, only one fin needed some molding "dots" sanding off.

Behind every fin was a molding line that needed to be taken off.

This one was the largest.
A simple sanding with a block took it down to surface.
Be sure to check the fin unit after the first color coats to see if the sanding scratches show through the paint.

The rear of the fin can squared up with 220 and then 400 grit.

This back end of the fin can was uneven and rounded on one side.

AVI Nike Tomahawk Build Part 18 Body Tube Prime

Before this picture was taken, the tube seams were filled with CWF mixed a little thicker than the filler used on balsa. This thicker mix stays in the seams better.
Both tubes were sanded to surface leaving the CWF filler in the seams.

Both tubes got a single heavy coat of gray primer.

This is the top end of the tubes, small pieces of masking tape were stuck inside the ends to keep out the primer over spray.

Top tube: I usually knock down the bulk of the primer, light sanding with 220 grit.
220 grit is used until the white layer just starts to show through the primer coat.

Bottom tube: I switch to 400 grit to take the primer down closer to the surface.
Enlarge the picture and you can see the gray primer filling in the remaining seam lines.
You can even see some of the yellow CWF in the seams.

AVI Nike Tomahawk Build Part 17 Decal Draw

The upper half of the adapter has a recess area with two large bolts.

To get an approximate size of the area, I took a picture of the Alway drawing.
This picture was set into Corel Draw and reduced until the lower tube width was 35 mm., the same diameter of the lower tube on the model.

From this reduction I could draw a simulated recess, shown to the right of the Alway drawing.


The screw and adapter decals were set on a master sheet for printing on a half sheeet of decal paper.

Patreon members: If you'd like a copy of this drawing in a PDF format, send a request for the Nike Tomahawk decal to:
oddlrockets@bellsouth.net


After looking at the first print, I went back and made the screws smaller. The picture to the left shows the larger screw heads.

I make no claim that these screws and decals are true scale. At best, they are "close". The model is a semi scale build anyway!

AVI Nike Tomahawk Build Part 16 Decal Draw

Just so you know, I haven't given up on the AVI Nike Tomahawk build!
The weather and my work schedule weren't good for paint and primer so I'm working on the decal drawings for now.

There are many rows of screws shown on the Peter Alway drawing.
From the top down:
One row of 12 round head Allen screws, then
Eight rows of 8 flat head slotted screws, then
Two rows of 12 flat head Phillips screwsround head Allen screws

The three styles of screws were drawn oversize in Corel Draw.
I went back and made the center recesses a lighter gray after this blog entry.

For better spacing, a 1 space by 12 space retangle box was drawn.
The (reduced) screws were set in the corners of the long divided box.
The 1 X 12 and 1 X 8 boxes are 2.50" wide, which fits aroung the upper 20mm Quest tube.

After the screws were set into the segmented box, the box was erased leaving the screws in the evenly spaced positions.

AVI Nike Tomahawk Build Part 15 Nose Cone and Fin Units

After getting the adapter close, time to prepare the plastic parts.

The top 20mm plastic nose cone is how it comes direct from Quest.

The bottom nose cone has had the seams sanded down and the tip tapered to a more scale profile.

The Tomahawk fin units are very clean, except for the outside edges.

The top unit shows a little molding flash on the right fin.

The bottom unit has been cleaned up with 220 then 400 grit on sanding blocks.
The yellow coupler joins the fin unit to the upper 20mm tube.

Finishing of the Nike Tomahawk will be continued when I return home.
I'm on a cruise until October 3!

The next build turned out to be more interesting than I had thought -
the Estes Mk109 Stingray.

AVI Nike Tomahawk Build Part 14 Internal Adapter Tubes

Two wraps of 110 lb. cardstock gave a good fit of the BT-19 into the 20 mm tube.

Here I'm spreading out the white glue with the back side of a razor blade. Any flat card could be used.
Over the years I've learned it takes very little glue to adhere cardstock whether it's a should or a build up wrap.

The two complete wraps are on and the ends almost meet.

A peeled engine casing was slid in the BT-19 tube for support when I rolled a clean dowel over the wraps.

This is all the parts dry fit before sliding and butting together the joints.

From the bottom up -
20mm tube slid into the Adapter centering rings.
The BT-19 tube with two wraps of cardstock slid into the Tomahawk plastic fin can.
Out the top is the yellow coupler to join up the long 20mm Tomahawk tube.

AVI Nike Tomahawk Build Part 13 Internal Adapter Tubes

The adapter actually fits over the low end of the plastic Tomahawk fin can.

The overlap is only about 1/8", not enough support for me.

I had bought a BT-19 tube from Semroc a while back, thinking it could be used for a smooth adapter.
This tube was a tight fit into the rear of the fin can and a loose fit into the 20mm Quest tube.
I'll have to build up the 20mm end with a card stock wrap.

Nike Tomahawk Build Part 12 Adapter Seam Fill

Some may wonder why I didn't do a "but seam" with an internal glue tab on this shroud.
I find that works better on larger shrouds. the smaller shrouds get the overlapping wrap glue tab.

One advantage of the double thickness shroud is you can sand a little into the cardstock without it getting too thin.

Some CWF was applied over the shroud overlap and a low area on the lower shroud. This CWF wasn't thinned, it was used straight from the tub.



The thicker CWF sticks better and dries harder than the thin CWF you'd use to fill balsa grain.

This is the adapter after two coats of primer and sanding, then the CWF to fill the bump of the seam overlap.





The four sided nail file was perfect for sanding the sides of the adapters.

It's almost like a small sanding block for tighter areas.

The high side of the shroud seams were sanded down a bit and left rough paper.

Medium CA was applied using a Q-tip, then sanded glass smooth with 400 grit.

AVI Nike Tomahawk Build Part 11 Adapter Sand and Fill

To make the mat board rings easier to sand, they got a coat of medium CA applied with a Q-tip.

This hardens the rings and helps fill any cracks and seams.

The rings were sanded to the outside diameter of the two shrouds.

Keep an eye on the black border lines. I knew I was getting too close when I started sanding off the lines.

The first coat of primer has been applied.

The card stock and rings are still rough but that will sand smooth with some 400 grit sandpaper.

AVI Nike Tomahawk Build Part 10 Gluing Shrouds

The laminated mats were cut just outside the penciled (final) diameter to allow for a custom fit to the shrouds. The rings aren't glued to the 20mm tube. Just slide them down dry.

A line of white glue was set inside the edge of the upper shroud and the shroud slid onto the rings.

When the shroud made contact with the rings it was turned to even out the internal glue fillet.

After the upper glue had dried, the lower assembly was glued on the bottom of the rings.







Here's the finished assembly before sanding the central rings to size and filling the shroud joints.

AVI Nike Tomahawk Build Part 9 Lower Adapter

This is how the adapter dry fits together.

The two center (ring) pieces are the thick mat board.

The two mat board squares were glued together with white glue.
Plenty of clothespins held them together when drying.

Notice the rings are on the 20mm tube. This helps keep them in line and perpendicular to the tube center line.

The low end of the adapter needed an interior support ring.
The shroud is already over the 35mm coupler.
The inside ring was pressed in place and a glue fillet applied.

This is the lower half of the adapter assembly slid into the 35mm tube.