Mean Machine Clone

So I had decided to make an Estes Mean Machine. Yes, it's an OOP kit. No biggie. I'll just make a clone. But I ran into a hitch. The PNC-60AH is not available outside a kit. So I bit the bullet and come to the conclusion that is just have to accept a balsa cone. It was as close as I was going to get.

But a hero rose up amongst us. Goose_in_co came to the rescue. He sent me a plastic cone for the simple price of shipping! Now I have a true Mean Machine. A little paint and a couple of decals and she'll be flight ready.

I did make one mod. I'm going to make her DD eventually. If you look closely at the pic, you'll see the screws for the AV bay already installed. For now it's just a coupler, but soon…

Thanks so much goose_in_co for the help. I definitely owe you one here.

Fun stuff.

The "real" mean machine used some sort of quick connect couplers, allowing it to be broken down in half/thirds or some such for transport, right? Did you replicate that, or does your screw system take care of that?

Would love to see some more closeup pictures.

What color scheme are you thinking to go with?

Marc

The second version used a twist lock to break it in half. The original didn't. The screw together coupler solves this.

I'm going with the original paint. Solid black with decals. Though I'm going to try printing my own decals for this one. I can't print white so I'm going to play in the light grey range and see if I can get close enough to pass. If not I'll just order some.

I'm also cloning the Mini Mean Machine but the scan I have shows the decals to be a pale light blue.

Be careful how you store that thing. I had mine hanging horizontally above a window on two brackets, similarly to how a long gun might be displayed.
It warped into a nice banana shape over the course of just a few months. Of course, turning it over made it wavy, rather than cancelling out the banana shape.

I'm actually going to build a box to store it. I was worried such could happen. So it's either a box or suspended upside down. I'm hoping to do a 3" upscale from G12 tubing for this fall but no promises yet.

How did this icon ever end up oop?

Flyfalcons said:

How did this icon ever end up oop?

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Ummm...Estes can't seem to interest enough kids anymore to actually sit still and build a rocket so they are offering more RTF and E2X kits for todays short attention span children.

Well this is one that should come back. I'm building my mini mean this week. It's way too wet to paint right now. Guess I'll lower the build pile and increase the paint pile. Ho hum.

Kruegon said:

Well this is one that should come back. I'm building my mini mean this week. It's way too wet to paint right now. Guess I'll lower the build pile and increase the paint pile. Ho hum.

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I kind of feel the same way about the Estes kit#1927 Aries SST, I want one so I'm going to clone it.

I'd also like to see the pro series I return built like the PSII. Also, I'd love a refocus on nasa and military missile kits.

The mean machine would be a great relaunch kit. Even if they made it an E2X. I think I could even design an E2X version. Estes needs a forum for us old timers to input about kits.

Kruegon said:

I'd also like to see the pro series I return built like the PSII. Also, I'd love a refocus on nasa and military missile kits.

The mean machine would be a great relaunch kit. Even if they made it an E2X. I think I could even design an E2X version. Estes needs a forum for us old timers to input about kits.

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Look for the thread started by JumpJet about what people would like Estes to bring back, BTW your not too far from my old hometown of Cleveland, Tn.

Looks like about 3 hours from there. I'm going to a launch in TN next month. Hoping to get my L1 there.

My Mean Machine back in the 80s' had the blue decals.
Sadly, it got its body tube crumpled during a move in 91' and I never rebuilt it.

I'm ashamed of you Top. Letting such an awesome rocket go to Rocket Valhalla.

Dear friends. Though it saddens me, I fear we must shun TopRamen. He hath offended the rocket gods and may no longer linger in our presence. 😜

On another note, the Machine bug has bitten me. I ordered the parts for a Mini Mean Machine. I'm now considering a Midi Mean Machine. I've got a 24mm and soon a 13mm. I think an 18mm is required. BT-20 mount, BT-50 body. Now the search for the nose cone. Anyone know which NC is equal to the pnc-60ah in a 50 size? If not, I'll just start calculating and looking.

Kruegon said:

I'm ashamed of you Top. Letting such an awesome rocket go to Rocket Valhalla.

Dear friends. Though it saddens me, I fear we must shun TopRamen. He hath offended the rocket gods and may no longer linger in our presence. 

On another note, the Machine bug has bitten me. I ordered the parts for a Mini Mean Machine. I'm now considering a Midi Mean Machine. I've got a 24mm and soon a 13mm. I think an 18mm is required. BT-20 mount, BT-50 body. Now the search for the nose cone. Anyone know which NC is equal to the pnc-60ah in a 50 size? If not, I'll just start calculating and looking.

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I thnk that there's a nosecone that would work out there... Problem is, I don't know its part number. It has been found in the Estes Plastic Nosecone Assortment 3162 (but the assortment changes from time to time). I found this image on JonRocket.com. The nosecone I'm thinking of is 2nd from the top.

rharshberger said:

Ummm...Estes can't seem to interest enough kids anymore to actually sit still and build a rocket so they are offering more RTF and E2X kits for todays short attention span children.

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Yeah I get that but they continue to produce many of their legacy designs in kit form. Many of those legacy kits are simple 3fnc designs which don't offer much reward versus buying one of the other 3fnc designs ready to go. Give someone a reason to build (like having a six foot rocket that pees on a puny hijinks RTF) and suddenly they become more motivated to do so.

Flyfalcons said:

Yeah I get that but they continue to produce many of their legacy designs in kit form. Many of those legacy kits are simple 3fnc designs which don't offer much reward versus buying one of the other 3fnc designs ready to go. Give someone a reason to build (like having a six foot rocket that pees on a puny hijinks RTF) and suddenly they become more motivated to do so.

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I totally agree, I love building my rockets from scratch, just gathering information on an Aries SST now

Kruegon said:

I'm ashamed of you Top. Letting such an awesome rocket go to Rocket Valhalla.

Dear friends. Though it saddens me, I fear we must shun TopRamen. He hath offended the rocket gods and may no longer linger in our presence. ��

On another note, the Machine bug has bitten me. I ordered the parts for a Mini Mean Machine. I'm now considering a Midi Mean Machine. I've got a 24mm and soon a 13mm. I think an 18mm is required. BT-20 mount, BT-50 body. Now the search for the nose cone. Anyone know which NC is equal to the pnc-60ah in a 50 size? If not, I'll just start calculating and looking.

Click to expand...

It was right around the time I was getting more into mountain biking and girls, so you'll have to try to understand.
A young teen has to have his priorities.

All right, y'all have done it now. I had the original MM...no breaking it down. White decals. I flew that thing so many times...built it before I even had a driver's permit. I went/drove to so many launches with that rocket sticking up between the seats, parallel to the drive shaft. It was great

When I finally lost it, due to a combination of flight stress and travel crunching, there was nothing left worth salvaging aside from the NC. So I have that. I probably have enough BTs around here to make it fly again. Dang it, it MUST fly again (Eldrad MUST live...there's an obscure reference)

RFMan said:

All right, y'all have done it now. I had the original MM...no breaking it down. White decals. I flew that thing so many times...built it before I even had a driver's permit. I went/drove to so many launches with that rocket sticking up between the seats, parallel to the drive shaft. It was great

When I finally lost it, due to a combination of flight stress and travel crunching, there was nothing left worth salvaging aside from the NC. So I have that. I probably have enough BTs around here to make it fly again. Dang it, it MUST fly again (Eldrad MUST live...there's an obscure reference)

Click to expand...

Now double tube that baby with full length couplers and fly it on G motors...yee hah! Make it dual deploy as well or you will never see it again on a G.

I'm not going any higher than an F39 will take it. I'm working on an upscale for 29mm soon. The 13mm and 18mm respectively, come first.

29mm in a 2.14 BT. I guess I need to sim it and post it. BTW, I have accurate rkt files for both the Mean and Mini Mean Machines. I've almost finished the file for the Midi Mean Machine. I'm being very meticulous about dimensions and placement. Takes a lot of time, but then the data is preserved forever on the net.

I built my extended Mean Machine with a 29mm mount. I've flown it a few times on F23-7FJ single use motors, which work great for the application. According to Rocksim, that's good for about 1400 feet. Mine splits apart in the middle using a nose block, with separate recovery of both parts on separate chutes. I do have the twist-lock connector pieces that came with it originally if someone wanted them...

I want them. PMing you about it.