OOP Quest Nike Smoke Build Part 9

That dried CA is very hard and will take some careful sanding with 220 grit on a block, followed by 400 grit.

While sanding the CA down to the seams I took a little off the plastic "transitional" edges. Those edges lost their sharpness.

The picture at the right shows a strip of 20 lb. paper I cut for a wrap. It is taped on the cardboard for spraying with self adhesive.

Directly to the left is the nose cone area where the wrap will be positioned.

Between the base of the cover plates and above transition at the shoulder.

While this strip will raise the area slightly, it'll look better than the rounded off edges.

On the left is the nose cone with the paper strip added. On the right is an original nose cone half.

After priming, I sanded the paper edge very lightly with 400 grit to take down any fuzziness and a bit of the edge.

OOP Quest Nike Smoke Build Part 8

Here you can see the deep seams down the sides of the nose cone.

I'm going to fill the seams the same way I did the scratches on the fin can.

Before filling, I used 220 grit sandpaper on a block, sanding down the raised side of the seam. I then ran a thick bead of CA over the recessed seam. In the picture you can see the wet CA bead laying on top of the seam. Before even thinking of sanding, let the CA dry thoroughly.

OOP Quest Nike Smoke Build Part 7

The nose cone replacement came quickly from Quest.

When I joined the two sides there was a pretty evident seam.

I don't know if it's an old piece of plastic or an old mold. There was a warp and the tip didn't line up very well.

This one is going to take some work. It is fixable though.

Here's the cap that fits over the tip of the two joined halves.

It doesn't really taper all the way up, but bulges out at the top.

That point on the right took a bit of shaping for that cap to fit.

A Little (Personal) Rocketry History

Even though I'd seen an Estes catalog in my seventh grade homeroom class, I was drawn to the Centuri ads I'd seen in comic books.
Centuri's ads were flashier and looking back, maybe a little darker. Look at the width of the border, that'll stand out on a page featuring 20 different vendors.

This ad goes back to 1969, the year I got started.

The first order was for the Centuri Javelin.
I actually got the kit, minus the engines, for $1.50
We couldn't get engines by mail back then, the California fireworks code was strict.

If I'd spent as much time in school books as I did studying the Estes "Yellow Pages" I could have been a straight A student.

FLIC A10-3T SUCCESS!

I flew my (F2G2) Quest FLIC Shuttle with an A10-3T engine this morning.
F2G2 stands for FLIC Two, Generation Two.

In this second version, I glued a 10 1/2" BT-5 right down the middle of the normally rubber band launched FLIC. A plastic nose cone half filled with clay was my stability guarantee.

What a great, stable, high flight from such a cheap, simple, cool rocket!

I thought there might be a little lean with the slight offset of the engine, but it went straight up.

Full deploy of the streamer while it was slowing down, the nose cone still pointing up.
I just might have to make a few more of these.

Also flown at today's today "Lone Wolf" launch:
MMX Carded Zoom Broom, Carded Cherokee T Downscale on a 1/2 A3-2T, MMX Downscale Sky Writer and Downscale Carded MMX Red Max.

What's Wrong With This Engine?

Take a close look at this engine.

Click on the picture to enlarge it.

The production date is November 11, 1974.

It was flown this morning, July 19, 2010

For a 35 year old engine it performed beautifully.

What's wrong? Can you figure it out?

The answer will be posted in a day or so.

OOP Quest Nike Smoke Build Part 6

Those bright orange centering rings won't look great on a scale model. Well, if on any rocket, the orange might go along with the fluorescent red and yellow fins on the Nike Smoke!

Still, I didn't want the orange centering ring to take away from the finished model.

Here is the mask for the black. I first tried to blacken the area with a Sharpie pen but it wouldn't reach far enough inside. I'll have to spray it.

An engine casing was set into the mount and masking tape wrapped around it and the engine hook. The outside of the ring was masked forward of the rear edge to be sure no orange would be peeking through.

Here's the finished mask after removing the tape. I don't paint over engine hooks. Chances are, paint will eventually chip off the metal.

To me, the shiny metal hook "accent" is almost like a little bit of chrome trim on a car.