I've been working on a TLP Krypton on and off for 10 months now, and tonight I finished it. Oh man, am I happy with this one.
This is a heavily modified TLP kit, but will still be around 1.2 lb on the pad...so it's not that heavy. The mods were mostly made to come closer to the real Krypton missile and also make it look cool, these include:
- Ogive nosecone
- Ramjet nosecones from Semroc, blended into the side tubes
- New cardstock pieces at the aft end of the side tubes
- 24 mm Rocketarium Motor retainer
- Aluminum tape lined motor recess, not pictured but if you build TLP you know what I mean by motor recess.
- Myriad cardstock panels and straps (all these accents are painted lighter silver to highlight them
- Paint job closer to actual missile, but with embellishments
- Launch lugs and cardstocks spacers
- Extra noseweight (almost 2 oz between the shot, epoxy, and foam that holds it in...I have no idea where the CP on this is, but I got the CG sans motor about 2 in aft of the ramjets, so I think I'm safe.
- Basswood fins, sealed with label paper so no grain to deal with
There was so many bondo, sand, wood filler, sand, CA sand... cycles that I lost track, then there were at least 4 primer, sand, bondo, sand, repeat cycles before painting.
The paint used:
Dark Steel - body
Carbon Mist - nosecone
Titanium Silver - panels and accents
Anyhow, as you have probably gathered, I'm rather proud of this one. It will fly the first low wind day, and to help with stability it will go on an F39 off a 6 ft rod. It's also coming down on an oversized chute (24 or 30" pending wind)...there are no hanger queens, but some rockets get a more cautious return to Earth than others.
This is a heavily modified TLP kit, but will still be around 1.2 lb on the pad...so it's not that heavy. The mods were mostly made to come closer to the real Krypton missile and also make it look cool, these include:
- Ogive nosecone
- Ramjet nosecones from Semroc, blended into the side tubes
- New cardstock pieces at the aft end of the side tubes
- 24 mm Rocketarium Motor retainer
- Aluminum tape lined motor recess, not pictured but if you build TLP you know what I mean by motor recess.
- Myriad cardstock panels and straps (all these accents are painted lighter silver to highlight them
- Paint job closer to actual missile, but with embellishments
- Launch lugs and cardstocks spacers
- Extra noseweight (almost 2 oz between the shot, epoxy, and foam that holds it in...I have no idea where the CP on this is, but I got the CG sans motor about 2 in aft of the ramjets, so I think I'm safe.
- Basswood fins, sealed with label paper so no grain to deal with
There was so many bondo, sand, wood filler, sand, CA sand... cycles that I lost track, then there were at least 4 primer, sand, bondo, sand, repeat cycles before painting.
The paint used:
Dark Steel - body
Carbon Mist - nosecone
Titanium Silver - panels and accents
Anyhow, as you have probably gathered, I'm rather proud of this one. It will fly the first low wind day, and to help with stability it will go on an F39 off a 6 ft rod. It's also coming down on an oversized chute (24 or 30" pending wind)...there are no hanger queens, but some rockets get a more cautious return to Earth than others.
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