R/C conversion of the 2.6" Estes V2 into a semi scale manned A4b

The Rocketry Forum

Help Support The Rocketry Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Thanks for the nice comments.

If this early version of the manned A4b had ever actually been built and used operationally, I highly doubt it would have used these German army armor and artillery type RLS colors. The Luftwaffe would have adopted this thing. In any case, I always liked the look of this notional paint scheme, so that was the choice.

(Never would have worked as drawn in real life. Too many issues.)

Will report back after the launches this coming week.
 
Amazing!! Makes for a very beautiful display model. If Estes would make these, I would buy a bunch of them.

Well, Estes did make the vast majority of this one....;) if you wanted to do this model as a normal rocket and not RC it, you are looking at adding two 1/8" balsa wing panels, a carved balsa canopy and some minor fin extensions....plus some nose weight!

This Estes kit makes it easy to produce a stable model of the A4b as the fins are already significantly oversized so that little or no nose weight was needed on the stock V2 model.

Not a good kit for Estes to produce due to limited interest, but a very easy conversion for a rocketeer with some very basic skills.
 
The A4b will never be a kit by a volume producer. It fails the "idiot factor" test at first glance. Looks like an airplane, big fins way too far forward, it smells of pure danger. A standard V2 kit with over sized fins pushes the envelope for a major producer. Never again will we see the likes of a Cosmos Mariner or Space Ship One E. Leave it to the scratch builders/kit bashers because they know what they are doing. . .maybe?
 
Never again will we see the likes of a Cosmos Mariner or Space Ship One E.

I guess its a good thing for me that I have both of those down in the basement. I had to have the SS1-E when they first came out, but I wasn't actually an active modeler at the time so it was never built. I might have to pick up a third Estes V-2 to build an A4b conversion (just as a rocket, no RC) before it becomes a popular thing to do...
 
The A4b flew today on Estes E12 power! Pics and video coming soon.

Boost was nice and stable as expected. Launched at the same CG as the test glides were made at. Needs a tiny bit more up trim during the boost. Model was completely controllable in pitch and roll during the ascent. Pop pod worked as expected.

I use a programmed flight mode in the DX9 tx to set the glide trim with a toggle switch on the TX.

Did not have a chance to build a launcher for the A4b so temporarily added two 1/4" launch lugs for the flights this week.
 
Last edited:
I've been following this thread with interest. Looking forward to videos.

Ari.
 
While the video guys are working on the videos, here are some stills for you to see.

In order: Prep, launch, early boost, burnout and coasting just before delay train start, coasting while delay train is burning and post ejection early glide. Some of these are zoomed in a lot on a telephoto lens and cropped.

DSC_0064.jpg

DSC_0067.jpg

DSC_0068.jpg

DSC_0069.JPG

DSC_0070.jpg

DSC_0071.jpg
 
Last edited:
and the other half of the flight......

Glide, glide turning to base leg, final approach, short final and JUST before touchdown near the camera man, plus me happily walking back to the pit area with the glide portion of the A4b and the pop pod.

The flight is short but tons of fun!

A huge thank you to Richard Ng, my flying buddy and R/C photographer par excellence.

Enjoy

DSC_0072.JPG

DSC_0073.jpg

DSC_0074.jpg

DSC_0075.jpg

DSC_0079.jpg
 

Attachments

  • DSC_0071.jpg
    DSC_0071.jpg
    80.6 KB · Views: 57
Last edited:
Glad to see you got a chance to get these birds hashed out, and with great results!!
 
Very cool, great photos. It flew much better than the real one did!

For sure. The only two real airframes that were launched with wings were both unmanned, and the wings came off quite early in the flights, one a lot earlier than the other. My opinion is that they did not glide well after that....:)
 
Terrific project! Would it be possible to make a version without R/C or is the R/C necessary for the gliding? Where is the CG located after the pop-pad is ejected? Did you say that you needed something like 1/32" taileron for gliding?
 
Terrific project! Would it be possible to make a version without R/C or is the R/C necessary for the gliding? Where is the CG located after the pop-pad is ejected? Did you say that you needed something like 1/32" taileron for gliding?

It would work fine as a free flight model. I set the original glide CG on the bare framed up model by deflecting the elevons about 1/16" and throwing it across the yard. Once I had a good CG, I arranged the radio gear in the airframe so that no other ballast was needed.

I could probably post the CG and some tracings of the wings and modified fins here some day soon. Would be enough for any modeler to get a free flight one in the air.

I just might make molds and some light weight fiberglass copies of the nose cone and boat tail from my Maxi V2 and build a bigger RC A4b. This one I would do with water ballast in the nose cone that dispenses during boost, so that I could dispense with the pop pod.

So many projects, so little time.
 
Hi Tom
please give more info on the "pop tube". Do u had an inner and outer motor tube so the fin have an internal attachment point?
 
Last edited:
Finally put the second flight on the A4b yesterday at the DARS Frisco launch. Estes E12-4 again.

Boost was perfectly vertical with almost no control input needed during boost in a ground level wind of 5-10mph.

Pod ejection right as the model went level. Pod landed about 150 feet behind my table in the pit area.

Experimented at altitude with stalling it. The A4b gives a nice stall warning with a noticable wing wiggle before the nose drops. A stall in a turn gives an interesting version of a split S with a easy recovery if roll input is returned to neutral.

Landed back almost at the pad.

My cameraman was working, so no photos. Sure wish someone had gotten a video.
 
I am not going to make a kit. I have sort of been in the kit business before, so I know better.....;)

Don't hold your breath, but one of these days I might get around to making a conversion plan with templates for the parts so anyone could easily build it using the Estes V-2 kit.

Honestly, any modeler with some decent basic skills can do this kit bash from any of the many drawings or illustrations out there. If you want it to glide back, do the glide test described earlier in the thread and build around the CG that makes it glide. If you just want it to be a normal rocket, you could still do the glide test before making the fins permanent and the set the boost CG slightly ahead of the stable glide CG.

The needed CG position will obviously vary a bit depending on the exact wing size and location you choose.

I did pick another V-2 kit the other day and will likely do another variant of the manned V-2, either the narrow strake type wing or the other version with narrower swept wings and propulsion unit in the lower fin location.

image.jpg

image.jpg
 
Last edited:
I see that Discount Rocketry is selling the Estes 2.6" diameter V-2 for $19.99. How can a modeler go wrong with that price at trying one of these V-2 glider conversions?
 
While the video guys are working on the videos, here are some stills for you to see.

In order: Prep, launch, early boost, burnout and coasting just before delay train start, coasting while delay train is burning and post ejection early glide. Some of these are zoomed in a lot on a telephoto lens and cropped.

Any video yet?
 
Yep. I created a fairly large fin tab. About 3/4" of the front of the wing root and 3/4" of the rear fin root is not through the wall, but the rest of the wing root is.
 
Are the wings to scale for a A4b on your model and not a little bit over-size? It looks like they are to scale, but I thought I would ask.


Actually, I fairly massively scaled up the wing from that three view rendering in my first post.

These dims ought to get you close enough.

My wing root cord is 6 5/16"
The wing span from the tube root edge of the wing to the front of the wingtip is 4 1/2"
the wing tip cord is 4 3/8".
The wing LE true length is 6 11/16"
The wing TE true length is 5 5/8"

Wing sweep is the same or very close to the first rendering.

My wing root starts 3/16" from the front of the body tube, making the rear of the wing root about 1 1/16" from the rear of the body tube.

I added a 7/16" trailing edge extension to the fins and the fin tip extensions add 9/16" to the span of each fin.

Looking forward to seeing your model!
 
Back
Top