Little Green Man With Stand!

On the Facebook Model Rocketry Fanatics page, David Koo posted:

"This was a really fun build!!! Little Green Man by Odd'l Rockets. The stand was 3D printed. Can't wait to launch him!"

Great, clean build David! I've got to admit, that's a very appropriate display for the L.G.M.
The rocket always has vertical flights - except for this past Sunday! A wind gust and launch rod tip-off sent him West.








To get to the 3D print files: CLICK HERE

Centuri Vector V #KB-2 Build, Part 3, Those Viking Fins!

You could use the Viking fins, but it turned out they were a little short.
I'm building two different Vector Vs with different fin positions on each. One model will have the longest fin side glued to the lower BT-55 tube.
The BT-55 tube on the Vector V is 2.3" long, the Viking fin root length is closer to 2".

I drew up the fin tracing and enlarged it to the correct 2.3" root edge length. The interior dashed line is the Viking fin. I'll use this larger fin template on both builds.

I was curious if the Viking fin shapes were consistent. Older die-cut style fins weren't usually uniform, the blades in the die block could shift over time.

On the right is the back side of the fin sheet. the blades were probably old, they cut didn't go all the way through.

After some careful stacking -
You can see how off the cuts are. You could clean them up with a sanding block. I'll cut new fins using the slightly larger Vector V size.

Launch! L.A.S.E.R., Groveland, FL, May 17, 2020

This was my first club launch since the whole Corona Virus thing started.
A sunny day, easy social distancing with not too many fliers. The club is new -
Thanks to Shawn G. for launching my rockets so I could get pictures.

One of the Centuri VECTOR V builds was finished and had it's first launch with an Estes A8-3. Boost got it to 225'. I could see the engine blew out the back, the parachute did deploy. When the rocket was picked up I found the BT-20 engine mount tube torn. The engine eject tore the engine hook right out of the model!

The Excelsior HONEST GOON flew with an Estes C6-5 to about 450'. This launch and recovery was textbook - many of my following flights weren't so lucky.






The wind was starting to pick up a little. Jam Meridith checked the wind direction with her (make shift) meter.

Jan's husband Mike is the L.A.S.E.R. club president.
Here's a beautiful glide recovery of his Aurora Clipper. Boost was provided by a long burn E6 composite motor. 

Jim Lytle always brings the fun stuff!
He launched the Delta on the left with a D12 -
and a classic Mars Lander with a C6-3.






I've been experimenting with new kit ideas, this is a larger version of the Bruce Levison design CORKSCREW.
It uses the Odd'l heavy wall BT-20H and a 3" offset diameter ring. The off center ring make the low end "cone" as it goes up.

The Estes C6-5 really got some great altitude, with the spiral showing in the during the delay phase smoke. Estimated altitude was 700' with a tie-die rip stop streamer recovery. No damage.





Lonnie Buchanon launched his upscale Marauder with a C11-3 engine. Ejection was a bit early, but all was good for a close recovery.






Here's the second launch of the ORBITAL TRANSPORT LABORATORY, today with a B4-4 Q-Jet motor.
Altitude was estimated at 350'. Parachutes were tangling today. It had a bounce on touchdown and broke off one of the two glue point fins.





The Odd'l Rockets LITTLE GREEN MAN weather cocked and flew North! This was the first time it didn't go perfectly vertical. With the angle on boost it only got to 100' on the wasted Estes B6-4. No damage when picked up.




And another weird parachute recovery. The Seattle Rocket Works SLAT / S launched with an Estes B6-4 to 375'.

At ejection the rocket ended up shooting through the spill-hole in the parachute! Another hard landing, another cracked fin.





Here's how to finish up a launch day.

The New Way N-20 DEMON. This is one of those cool square rockets.
Today flown with an Estes D12-5 to around 650'.
Another tangled parachute and a fin cracked at the root edge.

Some days are diamonds, some days are tangled recoveries. Florida heat is back!
Seven launched, seven recovered with some fin repairs needed.
It felt good to drive if only for an hour.

Exocet / Tomahawk Shock Cord Anchor?

On the Facebook Model Rocketry USA page,
Robert Spillane posted a picture of his Estes Mini Scale Combo Pack.
These were sport scale mini engine rockets, two models in on kit package.

Follow up comments asked: What's the white blob near the nosecones?"







I did some searching and found out the kit number was 0874. Estes had offered a larger Exocet before this smaller, combo kit version. This two rockets in one kit was introduced in 1986.
A trip to Jim Zs brought up the instructions.

I had certainly used the old "two slits in the body tube" shock cord mount before, but this was a new one for me. This might allow an easier ejection in the small BT-5 tubes.
Maybe they thought it was less noticeable than the old slit and glue method.





Here's what they looked like in the 1986 Estes catalog page -

Centuri Vector V #KB-2 Build, Part 2, Decal Draw

The kit decals were a single color - black. These should be easy to print!

The scanned online decals were okay, but I wanted some sharper images.

The one tricky decal is the body wrap intake ducts. You'll usually go through a few tries to get the width right to match up after rolling it around the tube.
It looked like the outside circumference of the BT-20 tube was 2.35"

Don't print up a test sheet using the expensive decal paper!

TIP: Print a test on regular copy paper and test the fit with a wrap, taped around the body tube. This one came out on the first try.







Here's my draw of the decal sheet.
The Centuri logo is a dropped in copy, a bit fuzzy. A clean Centuri logo in this style is hard to find online.

I don't know why that 2.35" width is on the screen shot. That'll be deleted before the decals are printed.

Centuri Vector V #KB-2 Build, Part 1 Parts

The parts were assembled using Estes diameter tubing and the nose cone from the Viking kit. I thought I could use the Viking BT-20 tube, but ended up cutting some BT-20 tubes I had.
I could have gone the extra and ordered some Centuri ST tubes but this was really a spare parts/spare kit clone. More blog readers could build this model using the more easier to find Estes "BT" tubing.
The Vector V kit used two ST-7 tubes, one 3" and the upper 6" tube joined by a 1" long coupler.
SMART DESIGN FEATURE -  Why two BT-20 tubes? The coupler doubled as an engine block. No sliding the engine block (into some glue already in the tube) from the bottom!

The parts of interest:
Five heavy cardstock fins, I cut mine from framing mat board
Double walled "nested" super shroud (upgrade from the original kit single wall reducer)
The 1" long BT-20 coupler
2.3" long launch lug, as tall as the lower BT-55 tube
Basswood strip for the seven detail "vanes"

Centuri Vector V Research, Part 2

The Centuri Vector V was 12.8" tall.
The upper ST-7 tubing above the card stock shroud is 6" long. The engine mount tube was 3" long. The BT-20 tubing is a little smaller in diameter but will work for this build.
The short wider section at the bottom was a ST-13 tube at 1.34" diameter and 2.3" long. An Estes BT-55 is close at 1.325" diameter.


The other question was the height of the Paper Reducer shroud -





Jim Z had a good scan, the Catalog number was PR-7-13. A look at the  1973 Centuri catalog showed it was 1.3" tall. I'll make up a shroud by going to payloadbay.com: CLICK HERE





Piecing it all together, the Viking plastic nose cone (2.85"long) tubes (BT-20s at 3" & 6" exposed) and shroud height (1.3") gave me a length of 12.6". The Centuri kit was 12.8" tall.
My build would have been .2" short, using the shorter Estes Viking nose cone. I'll simply extend the length of the upper BT-20 by .2" to get it to the original Centuri 12.8" length.