K'Tesh's OpenRocket Files...

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Here's today's addition... The Estes AIM-45A Sentinel Missile (1987). This was one of the rockets that I fell in love with, and have built a number of times (and likely will again, as soon as I can). I've got it in four varieties, the Stock, an E powered clone, a D-to-E-powered two stage mod with payload section, and an E-to-E powered two stage payload version.

Estes Sentinel Missle (1987) Stock:


Estes Sentinel Missile (1987) E Powered clone:


Estes Sentinel Missile (1987) D-to-E-Powered, Two-Staged, Payload version:



Estes Sentinel Missile (1987) E Powered, Two-Staged, Payload version:
 

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  • Estes Sentinel (1987) two stage payload mod.ork
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  • Estes Sentinel (1987) (E Powered Mod).ork
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  • Estes Sentinel Missile (1987) D to E powered Two Stage Mod with Payload.ork
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  • Estes Sentinel (1987) (Stock) (Decaled).ork
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Paint.net is much smaller and simpler (but still quite capable). If you're looking for a lot of hardcore Photoshop-like capabilities, you might find Gimp more suited to your needs. For me, I find that Paint.net is a perfect fit for most of my usage. For serious photo editing I'll probably go elsewhere, but for stuff like editing these decal files it's absolutely perfect. I'm in a long-term search to find something for the Mac that is as capable and comfortable to use, but no luck yet.

*No one* should be using Microsoft Paint for any but the most rudimentary tasks (and even then probably not). Gimp (or Photoshop) is overkill for many purposes. Paint.net is a nice program and is free. Give it a try.
 
Here's today's addition... The Estes AIM-45A Sentinel Missile (1987). ...
Thanks. This is another one I would like to clone and/or upscale/downscale.

Looks decal-heavy though. For a proper clone it would require having a good set of decals made.
 
Well, it's about time I put this one up... One of my favorites... The Estes Black Brant II (1958)


I'm finally happy with the roll pattern, and thanks to GuySmith, I'm happy with the fin dimensions. The old .ork needed "Air Fins" for the "CC II A 10 decals" to appear correctly on the fins. So, you had to delete them if you wanted to use this .ork for flight performance. The updated sim has been updated to OR 22.02, and as such, the air fins and the associated PBT have been deleted. I never used the wooden tooth picks that Estes included. Opting instead to replace them with paperclips (which is what I'm showing in these sims).


1679064764451.png1679065326752.png


More on the roll pattern can be found here. The moment that clarified it for me was the Madcow's instructions that indicated that the bottom of the roll pattern was made of 8 equally spaced bands of black and white.

For more of my BBII love... you can always check out my BT-60 upscale (currently unfinished, and stuck in the USA).


Today... It's the Estes Black Brant II (7243) kit



There are a number of variants on the original BBII... With both 3 and 4 fins, I've simmed some of them using the decals from Estes's kits (using some cutting and pasting). These would need some really good masking skills to pull off well, but it can be done.




1679065913750.png


This next one is based on the photo below it...





1679066286488.png


In this sim, to make it resemble the actual rocket, you cut off the bottom of the fin straight (removing all that would protrude below the major length of it), and make another (OR you could track down the fin shape from photos online and make 4 completely scale accurate fins. You toss the tail cone, and cut a longer body tube segment to make up for it. I've also added another centering ring, and an engine hook. I opted to sim it with the bird in the silver paint instead of just the bird on white, as this would be an easy modification to the existing decal (I also added one on the underside (might as well use it too). I also replaced the plastic tooth picks with metal paperclips.

Here's another 4 finned BBII paint scheme... But I haven't simmed it... (Yet)

1679066512752.png

If you download any of my files, please give me a like on that post. Likes are appreciated and give me an idea of what people are looking for. If you find any errors, or have feedback, please use my new feedback thread. Please follow the link to and direct your questions, or comments to it or send me a PM. Thanks!
 

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  • Estes Black Brant II (1958).ork
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  • Estes Black Brant II (7243).ork
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  • Estes Black Brant II (1958, BT-60 Upscale).ork
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  • Estes Black Brant II (7243)(3 Fin Mod Livery).ork
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  • Estes Black Brant II (7243)(4 Finned Mod With Checkerboard Fins).ork
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Excellent!(in Mr. Burns voice)

I'm currently assembling parts for the BT-50 downscale that was recently posted - thanks Flyfalcons, K'Tesh.

I just need to print a pattern for the tail cone and fin set and I'm ready to start building one of these bad boys.
 
That's awesome! Keep us posted with the build! I have three flights on the downscale and it's a terrific performer, even with a little A8-3. I didn't know K'Tesh had a BT-60 plan available. I might have to send him some original fin measurements to dial those in and build one for myself.
 
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That's awesome! Keep us posted with the build! I have three flights on the downscale and it's a terrific performer, even with a little A8-3. I didn't know K'Tesh had a BT-60 plan available. I might have to send him some original fin measurements to dial those in and build one for myself.

Please do... I'd love to finish this .ork and post it. I just posted a request for a scan with a ruler (and matrix if possible) over in yard sale.
 
Looks decal-heavy though. For a proper clone it would require having a good set of decals made.

The ONLY people I trust for high-quality, aftermarket decals are:

For Waterslide:
Tango Papa
and
eRockets.biz

For Vinyl:
Stickershock23
(except for stock decals from manufacturers)

I've tried others and they *SUCKED*!!! Things like: Fingerprints ruining the decals, or suffering from bad color quality AND (not "or") streaks in the decals.
 
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That does look much better on the fins. Now upscale those for the BT-60 size and I might have my next project. Though I do want to get going on my big foamy build as well.....too many projects, not enough time.
 
Adding the Estes Alpha (1225) today. It's the 1980's variant that I build sometime around 1985.



In the 1983 catalog, the Alpha shows it has a plastic nosecone, as did mine. The fins I measured for this .ork were scanned by BEC, and the instructions he uploaded showed a balsa nosecone. That said, it has the same red and black decals as my kit. Beginning in 1991, the decals changed to red and blue.



Several years later there was a change in the nosecone's shape, and (possibly in 2009) the painting instructions changed the fin color to red (though the catalogs from 1991 through 2016 still show a blue fin). The motor mount was also changed to move it from flush with the end of the body tube to having 3/8" exposed.



A new facecard version of the Alpha is out now... It has a blue fin and white nosecone (eliminating the need for red paint altogether). However, in my sample (copyright 2016), the instructions still call for a red nosecone.



I should point out that for this image, I didn't scan the decals (yet), so I'm using the older sim's "decals" for it. The actual decals (dated 11/24/16) are darker (and the facecard looks darker still). When I get them scanned, I'll post an updated sim and image for it.

I needed to add a phantom body tube for the engine hooks, but other than that, there are no other special hidden features.

Enjoy!

Oh, and here's the scan of the decals I used as a foundation for the 1991 version's markings:

 

Attachments

  • Estes Alpha (1225)(1980's Livery, PNC-50K, Decaled).ork
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  • Estes Alpha (1225)(1991 Livery, PNC-50K, Decaled).ork
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Working on the Estes "Rocket Red" Crayon (1102)



Problem is, I don't have hard numbers for anything other than the nosecone (and the dimensions of the motor mount).
 
Today, thanks to Cabernut's request (and information), it's the Estes Mega Mosquito (1335):



The fins are based on the scans he provided me for the .ork file. However, due to the limitations of OR, I wasn't able to sim the hollows in the core of the fins. The fins are simulated with a 3/32" core, and would have 1/16" thick skins applied to those cores (making them 7/32" thick overall).

As I don't have a nosecone here to measure against, I upscaled the PNC-60L (Big Bertha type nosecone), its shoulder is a guess. Still, I think it looks pretty good.

For some oddball reason, the 3D rendering of the rocket has the centering rings visible through the body tube, despite them being set for the ID of the body tube. I edited this out of the visual above. I omitted the Estes decal as it wasn't seen in the catalog, and I didn't want to create an air fin for this sim (outside of the "solid" cores).

Estes_Mega_Mosquito_decals.jpgEstes_Mega_Mosquito_fins.jpg

[EDIT] I should never upload anything when I'm tired. Before Cabernut told me that the skins were 1/16" thick, I had guessed that they were all 3/32". When I got the info, I updated the thicknesses of the fins, but forgot to correct the labels. I caught that, and have corrected the file. So if you're one of the four people who downloaded it earlier, the fins are the correct thickness, but the labels on two of the fins are wrong. You can either fix that yourself, or just download the file again. Again, it's only the labels, and not the fin thicknesses that I fouled up.
 

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  • Estes Mega Mosquito (1335).ork
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Thanks for posting that K'Tesh. With it no longer on the Estes website, you never know how long they'll be available.

I bought one of these for my son. He picked it out as his next rocket. He was so excited to open the shipping box when it arrived - but once opened he stops and disappointedly says "Awww, you mean I have to put it together?".

He loves to fly them, just not build them. "No problem son, I'll build it!" :)
 
Of course to combat the Estes Mega Mosquito, you need Deep Space OFFl (Puns and Jokes)



And no... that's not OFF! that's an L... as in Awful (Puns and Jokes).

Here's the full main decal...

attachment.php


The lesser decals are just chrome Trim Monokote that was wrapped around the bottom band, and just above and below the main decal (to give that appearance of the rocket being made from a metal can), as well as a short strip around the top edge of the nosecone's shoulder.

This is my L1 Certification rocket.
 
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Wow that's awesome! How long did it take you to write all that up?
:rofl:
 
Wow that's awesome! How long did it take you to write all that up?
:rofl:

The bulk of it was done in about 3 hours, but it took weeks of tweaking and proofing. The emails between Stickershock and me ended up being larger than Hotmail was able to do as a reply, and a 2nd thread needed to be started.
 
Plugged away on my Binder Design Velociraptor (Líng Dào Lóng) .ork file again. Finally managed to get "decals" on it.



This is the full sized version, and not my downscale. It is certainly not stock as it has a custom retainer, a Cineroc style periscope intended for a camera, and has been reverse engineered to closely resemble the prototype (a 38mm powered version), which means that there is no ring for the AV Bay, and screws have been added to match what is seen on the prototype. Another change to the kit is the addition of a drogue chute (to simulate it tumbling) and a pair of Jolly Logic Chute Releases for the main chutes' release (and redundancy).

Oh... And as far as the silver "paint" in the sims, I opted for a solid grey instead of the silver texture to greatly reduce the file size. You might also note a slight grey tint to the talon fins. I did that deliberately to indicate the carved area otherwise it just blends in.

And now here's the "Stock" Single Deploy version of the kit:



One difference to the Stock version is the removal of the bolts that were intended to hold the baffle into the fin can. Mike told me that people don't really use them (opting to epoxy in the baffle), and there has been instances where the body tube was damaged by them when the rocket deployed the parachute after reaching apogee.

[EDIT] Due to problems with OR undoing some of my settings (namely changing the baffles inner diameter to the default diameter, and other updates (like detailed eyebolts, etc.)). I've corrected the .ork files. If you've already downloaded it, I'd recommend downloading them again.
 

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  • Binder Design Velociraptor (Líng Dào Lóng)(Custom Retainer).ork
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  • Binder Design Velociraptor (54mm Powered, Stock).ork
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Ok... Here's one that should be added to the inventory... The Estes Cougar (1923):



Fins are a tad suspect, as the root edge of the fin template are not indicated in the .pdf found on plans.rocketshoppe.com I'm presuming that they're 1 7/8" at the root. All the error messages (Discontinuity, Thick fins, and Jagged-edged fins) are all due to the engine hook. Delete it (and the phantom body tube associated with it), and they'll go away.

View attachment Estes Cougar (1923) Stock.ork
 
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Jim... this thread got a shoutout on the OpenRocket development list earlier today. :)
 
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