How many RG's can I make from a Cosmic Interceptor Kit?

The Rocketry Forum

Help Support The Rocketry Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Funny! Had a nice break, lots of hiking, up steep terrain..but great views.
I did get my stickershock decals to video my Hypersonic 2, based on the X-15-3 Delta configuration, and which uses the standard PS2 nose cone with a cardstock canopy and a mid mounted wing, I did need to trim the wingtips a bit to clear the ground on landing, but still has a nice look.


[video=youtube;XtVQ1NixNDk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtVQ1NixNDk[/video]

Frank
 
I've been working on/thinking about this one for a while, I found a spare cosmic interceptor kit in my box that wasn't allocated to kits, and put this together. Based on an F-16, of course with a longer nose due to the interceptor cone. I went with a mid mounted wing and full flying tail only. I had to cut off one of the speed brake tabs on one side so that I could slide the wing in the slot, then glued it back in place, then slide the stabilators on and glued on the capture rings to hold them in place. Did some glide tests in the house before equipment install and took a swag at the boost CG. RTF weight came out right at 11.25 ounces before finishing. Did two test flights today in about 10mph winds, handled it really well, and I was able to move the CG back slightly.

I started using some vinyl to do the markings and so far she is coming out pretty nicely. I had to modify the thunderbird scheme slightly since I'm cutting this freehand and the nose being long, I did some nose and mid stripes so the middle wouldn't seem too plain. It's about half done with markings and panel lines.

WP_20160910_13_31_33_Pro.jpg

WP_20160911_08_39_21_Pro.jpg

WP_20160911_08_39_34_Pro.jpg

WP_20160911_08_45_47_Pro.jpg

WP_20160911_08_57_04_Pro.jpg

WP_20160911_09_44_32_Pro.jpg

WP_20160911_12_32_45_Pro.jpg

WP_20160911_12_32_52_Pro.jpg

WP_20160911_12_32_57_Pro.jpg

WP_20160911_12_33_15_Pro.jpg
 
Last edited:
Here is the rest of the progress so far this weekend. I was a little aprehensive about doing the bird on the bottom, but I just looked at a picture and traced it out on my wing pattern and made each half in two sections and it worked out ok.

Frank

WP_20160911_23_11_52_Pro.jpg

WP_20160911_23_11_37_Pro.jpg

WP_20160911_23_11_30_Pro.jpg

WP_20160911_12_33_42_Pro.jpg

WP_20160911_12_33_34_Pro.jpg

WP_20160911_12_33_27_Pro.jpg
 
Got my stickershock vinyl stars/bars and lettering and finished it up. Flies very nicely, rolls and four point rolls on boost were very easy.

[video=youtube;i4QNJMk5DtI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4QNJMk5DtI[/video]

WP_20160920_08_01_02_Pro.jpg

WP_20160920_08_00_45_Pro.jpg
 
Last edited:
The F-16 really looks cool, especially with the bird design on the bottom. I noticed that the rolls are done toward the end of boost and not during the glide. Is there a reason for this? Are these models like the F-16 for sale?
 
Hi, I did the rolls during boost when I have airspeed and the controls are more crisp, once in glide the model is fairly slow, so to get crisp rolls you'd need to dive to gain airspeed, then lose out on altitude/glide time.

I have not planned a kit. The last few I did (valkryie, avro arrow, Delta Dart F-106 and tube based sr-71) did not get any interest, like 0, so for the F-105 I asked for 3-4 pre-orders before I did a kit and made instructions/photos etc and that worked better. I could do something like that if I could get 3-4 that were interested.

Frank


The F-16 really looks cool, especially with the bird design on the bottom. I noticed that the rolls are done toward the end of boost and not during the glide. Is there a reason for this? Are these models like the F-16 for sale?
 
I need more gizmos like I need a hole in the head. Your designs are so great, I may need to by a tx/rx/servo kit...
 
Yup, there are a bunch of others that could be made, foxbat, F111, Vigilante, tsr-2, backfire...I've been focusing on the planes that really grabbed my interest.....and that had something a little different. Right now I'm out of spare Cosmic Interceptors, the rest I have are allocated for kits.

Frank
 
Great models, Frank. Very inspirational to those of us who also fly RC!

I don't know if you have ever seen this one or not, but a few of your designs are perilously close to looking like the Angel Interceptors from the old "Captain Scarlett" TV series. It wasn't widely seen here in the U.S., but it was done by the same folks who did the "Thunderbirds" program. Lots of great looking vehicles!

Anyway, the Angels were jet fighters that were launched from an airborne aircraft carrier thing. When I saw the first IronHand pics, the Angel was the first thing that popped into my mind!

A few pics...

Angel5.JPG

angel6.jpg

Angel7.jpg

Angel8.jpg

angel_interceptor_elevations.jpg
 
Thanks Mike, that is neat, and agree, IronHand is sort of close, other than the cranked down wingtips which woujld get in the way of landing, that looks like a pretty good wing area to make flyable.

Frank
 
An F-16XL would be an excellent candidate. Lots of wing area with that cranked arrow wing planform. Also, the NASA two seater had a nice white, red and blue scheme when delivered, before they started modifying it. The scheme translates nicely to Depron.

image.jpg
 
Ok, over a week with no posts in this thread or in this forum.

Someone must have something going on!

Been thinking about the F-16XL. Might go ahead and do a profile of it.

We have a local launch on 10/29 and I ought to have the D-558-II and the Vindicator done by then, for sure.
 
Nothing new on my end, finished up my last rifle/pistol match for the year I run, weather turning rainy...may get to one more launch, no new rcrg plans as of now, orders have been slow this month.....we'll see how build season goes...

Frank
 
Wow. The forum has gone extremely dead!

I took my own advice and cut out a smallish profile F-16XL for the 18mm D2.3 last night while watching a movie. With the nose chine area, it will like need a little extra nose weight, but the planform has enough area to make it work. I used a sheet of the "bad" 6mm Depron and it is working out OK. The parts were easy to over-bend just a little and remove the warps in the Depron.

Hope to spend some time on it and the Vindicator today after doing other stuff.

I have several un-flown projects waiting for a launch. Fingers crossed for good weather at our Prairie Hill launch on Oct 29. Might get the D558-II and the Vindicator flown then, and perhaps the new F-16XL.

We still have some good launching weather here in Tx for at least another 6 weeks and often year around.
 
One other thing...Estes has put the PSII E2X Trajector on sale at a steal. The Interceptor nose come comes pre-painted silver and detailed. Might be an interesting RG project in there somewhere with this cone and the pre decorated tube.
 
That's interesting Tom, the little Trajector tip pods could be sort of neat. the tube is slightly shorter than the orbital interceptor so any glider design I retrofit would need a bit more nose weight or the wing move, but the price is good.

We have one more HP launch next week that I plan on flying an L motor again in my scratch built 7.5" diameter Redstone Missile, and at the end of the month a small launch that I can fly my gliders at. We just went through a storm here in the west with high winds, and some tornado action at the coast.

I've been a bit sidetracked by another of my interests, makings some videos describing some of the fine hand made french folding knives I have...

Frank
 
Had a great saturday of flying in Tri-cities. 63 degrees, 2mph winds, just perfect, pretty rare in the nw for november. Flew my F-16 Thunderbird, F-104 starfighter, F-105 thunderchief and Avro Arrow. They all flew great, nice straight boosts, nice glides and I was able to land them right on the dirt road along side the pads with no damage at all.

On another note, guy brought out a nice scratch built saturn V, about 3" diameter, flew great on an Estes E-9, flew great, nice moderate boost speed, I tried to warn him not to fly it again on those motors as my experience watching them fly is about 50% cato....of course the second flight it blew right through the model, hopefully rebuildable, but the intnernals were fried....

Frank
 
Had a great saturday of flying in Tri-cities. 63 degrees, 2mph winds, just perfect, pretty rare in the nw for november. Flew my F-16 Thunderbird, F-104 starfighter, F-105 thunderchief and Avro Arrow. They all flew great, nice straight boosts, nice glides and I was able to land them right on the dirt road along side the pads with no damage at all.

On another note, guy brought out a nice scratch built saturn V, about 3" diameter, flew great on an Estes E-9, flew great, nice moderate boost speed, I tried to warn him not to fly it again on those motors as my experience watching them fly is about 50% cato....of course the second flight it blew right through the model, hopefully rebuildable, but the intnernals were fried....

Frank

I checked out the Saturn V when we did a quick BOD review, the motor mount was blown out of the rocket an a few small tears along side the motor shrouds/fairings. A mmt built inside a couple should just about fix most of the damage. I swear NAR probably should de-certfy the E9 as we see at least one or more at every event.
 
Back
Top