Clay For Nose Weight?

Some Estes kits (and maybe other manufacturer's) require some small amount of clay added to the nose cone for stability. If you're a plans or scratch builder, and especially in Boost gliders or Rocket Gliders, you may also need to add weight.

What type of clay do you use, and where do you get it?

https://www.hobbylobby.com/Crafts-H...ing/Clay/Creative-Art-Modeling-Clay/p/CL50260

That's the stuff that I use. As far as I can tell, it's the same as the stuff from Estes. Never had a problem with it. Any of the oil based cheap clays will work, and they're all about the same price. Figure about $5 worth is a lifetime supply.

The stuff feels like an oily artificial clay that is non-drying, the type sold various stores in a single package with different color bars and its about 3"x4"x1". I have some that I have been using to temporarily fill screw hole in gun actions an stock while epoxy glass bedding actions.

You can also cut off a wee bit of Wallace and/or Gromit (or Shaun).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasticine

I tried "plasticine". Got a good chunk of it. But it didn't stick too well inside the NC.. Ended up adding a 'glue cap' to hold it in..

What I do / what I have done, is using the foamy 'Urethane' type glue, glue a nut, a washer, a screw, fishing weights, whatever needed for the weight into the NC. I have a small jeweler's scale to I know how much I'm adding.. I've since resorted to #6 lead shot. (Cuze I got a 20lb bag, and have been using a little bit here & there in various models..) Urethane glue, not epoxy, and it stick better to the plastic.

I would imagine you could use it if you cap it with epoxy, but I prefer BBB's and epoxy and then 2 part foam optional.

Yep. Hobby Lobby with the 40% off coupon. You can by modeling clay in blocks. Can add in BB's of lead shot if more density needed. Can be removed or added to at any time. I use a lot, pound it in hard. The early 20th century name was Pasticine, one of the great toys of the century, non drying petro clay.

RSO deems the kid's rocket unstable, he sends them to me for a fix. Blob of Plasticine over the nose, secure the hot glued fins and wet Elmers glue on the launch lug, secure the motor and shock cord mounts, then back to the line they go.

If totally desperate for nose weight in a limited area, use it as a plug to hold in powdered Tungsten. It holds it in and can be removed to recover the precious metal if needed.

Banzai88 said:

Any of the oil based cheap clays will work, and

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Now is not then but in 1970s I used some for sandbags on model tanks, by mid 1980s it had reacted with model plastic, even though painted, and dissolved the plastic under the sandbags.

Craft Smart is a brand sold at Micheals Crafts stores, Hobby Lobby shows a never hardening clay called ClayToon, most any non-hardening Plasticine type clay will work I believe, and to boot a single $2 or $3 dollar package will be enough for an entire fleet of rockets.

dr wogz said:

I tried "plasticine". Got a good chunk of it. But it didn't stick too well inside the NC.. Ended up adding a 'glue cap' to hold it in..

What I do / what I have done, is using the foamy 'Urethane' type glue, glue a nut, a washer, a screw, fishing weights, whatever needed for the weight into the NC. I have a small jeweler's scale to I know how much I'm adding.. I've since resorted to #6 lead shot. (Cuze I got a 20lb bag, and have been using a little bit here & there in various models..) Urethane glue, not epoxy, and it stick better to the plastic.

Click to expand...

For all my LPR ad MPR (E-30 motors) I have never had it fall out, even with BB's mixed in. Just launched Skeeterrific on an F-51 and it stayed in w/o a Gorilla glue cap. That was a standard plastic 2.6" cone. Maybe I was lucky having pounded it in so hard? Maybe time for a Gorilla glue cap just to be sure.

I know it wont' stick to the HPR waxy plastic stuff, all nose weight in those cones need to be shaft anchored.

I have gone through two of the big bricks of clay from HL. I need huge quantities of stinking, no good, performance robbing nose weight.

Daddyisabar said:

For all my LPR ad MPR (E-30 motors) I have never had it fall out, even with BB's mixed in. Just launched Skeeterrific on an F-51 and it stayed in w/o a Gorilla glue cap. That was a standard plastic 2.6" cone. Maybe I was lucky having pounded it in so hard? Maybe time for a Gorilla glue cap just to be sure.

I know it wont' stick to the HPR waxy plastic stuff, all nose weight in those cones need to be shaft anchored.

Click to expand...

I have an original built by me 1985ish era Estes Space Shuttle Columbia that still has the plasticine stuck firmly where I put it 30 years ago. Flew it last summer for kicks.

I know it is hard to trust in anything invented in the late 1800's, but it is still stuck in my Maxi Brute V2 from '75. Still waiting for it to dry!

If you don't like colors, Sunward sells the white stuff.
It's the same as Estes uses.
The pieces Estes puts in their kits are .25oz pieces.
Estes sells it "HERE" 10 pc package.
Sunward's is "HERE" 1oz package.
I bought my colored stuff from the local dollar store.
I always wipe the inside of the nose cone out with a little lacquer thinner on paper towel wrapped around a dowel.
Just to make sure.

The colored stuff is awful messy. That is what the old Estes kits had back in the 70's. Buy a white brick at the craft store and it will last a long time. I think it was $13 - 40% or $7.80 for a King Size Block.

Thanks everyone. I'll stop at HL after work this evening.