SSM-N-8 Regulus Cruise Missile

Wondering if anyone offers a kit for the SSM-N-8 Regulus Cruise Missile? This is a late 1950's U.S. Navy nuclear-capable missile launched from ships and submarines. Also interested in anyone who has attempted a scratch build.

Or if anyone has scale data for this missile, that would be helpful as well.

This is off the subject a little bit, but I can't help but remember the control line Regulus I and I thing the Regulus II from about 60 years ago. I got these gas-powered mdoels as Christmas presents, but they were beyond me and we ended up giving them away completely unused. Below is a link to the Regulus I gas-powered model built by Cox. This was long before Cox got into model rockets. Actually, it looks like the model was made by Comet while Cox made the engine.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/VERY-RARE-...ddbBnCYKOtIT7h0YuVj1E%3D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc

I did a Google search of Regulus II and found one simple drawing here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SSM-N-9_Regulus_II#/media/File:SSM-N-9_Regulus_II_drawings.PNG

To be clear, I'm interested in the Regulus SSM-N-8 (original model) not the Regulus II. The gas powered Cox models are interesting. I'm kind of surprised that this missile hasn't attracted more attention from model rocketry buffs--the dual JATO engines would make for a spectacular cluster.

lowga said:

To be clear, I'm interested in the Regulus SSM-N-8 (original model) not the Regulus II. The gas powered Cox models are interesting. I'm kind of surprised that this missile hasn't attracted more attention from model rocketry buffs--the dual JATO engines would make for a spectacular cluster.

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You are right. It looks like if might make a good model rocket. Browsing on Google it looks like drawings are hard to come by. I don't recall anyone building a model rocket of this. Here is a very ting plastic model that can be purchased:

https://www.shapeways.com/product/L55P4XK2N/vought-ssm-n-8-regulus-i-6mm-1-285

Thanks for passing along the Shapeways model. There is a great documentary about this missile on Amazon (free to view if you have Prime), called "Regulus: The First Nuclear Missile Submarines.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074TKG8GH/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

It might be great to build this as a Dual Deploy rocket. Using two motors in cluster and then a separate black powder charge for ejection. You could launch it from a rail at a nice angle, and end up with something that looks a lot like the prototype. No joy with drawings or Rocksim files yet here either.

Here is someone building a paper version of the Regulus I on a old TRF thread:

https://www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?102194-Strengthening-Paper-Model-Rockets

There is another old TRF thread from 2005 for a micro Regulus I, but the links no longer work.

https://www.rocketryforum.com/showt...-are-finally-available-FREE&highlight=regulus

Found a link to some high resolution line drawings on the Chance Vought web site.

https://www.vought.org/photo/html/pimages/down/1532_006_22.gif

how hard would it be to kitbash a Snark into a Reg? There are some differences; nosecone, air intake, etc, but they're both airplane-based cruise missiles. The designs have a lot in common.

Ha, Ha. Great minds think alike. I was looking at that kit last night and thinking that it might be easy enough to kitbash into the Regulus II.

Full disclosure. My plan was to build a replica of the Regulus Missile that was involved in the first use of a guided missile to deliver U.S. Mail. This occurred on June 8, 1959. But as I researched the missile, and the event--I found out that was not quite the truth.

https://postalmuseum.si.edu/collections/object-spotlight/regulus-mail.html

The actual first event occurred on Sept. 16, 1958 onboard the USS Grayback (SSG-547) off the coast of California using a Regulus II missile during it's one submarine test. The later event was more of a PR stunt between the Department of Defense, and the Post Office Department.

So now, I'm back to the drawing board looking for scale data on the Regulus II. That lead me to the Snark kit late last night. It certainly seems like a great starting point.

Found lots more goodies on the Chance Vought Regulus II. Including these gems:

Here is a declassified report detailing the performance of 0.12 Scale Model of the missile! Basically, a model rocket!
https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc53013/m2/1/high_res_d/19650073469.pdf

A line drawing of the weapon produced by Chance Vought:
https://www.vought.org/photo/html/pimages/down/1532_029_22.gif

A fairly recent and well reviewed book on the weapon, and it's deployment. Pricy on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1563112779/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

The more I study, the more I think a Snark kitbash is the way to go. Thanks for the great idea Sooner-Boomer. (Hard for an Alabama Fan to say that.

Either Regulus is going to be difficult to fly as a rocket because there is little or no tail and the wings are far forward. For a rocket trying to get the c.g. ahead of the c.p. will be a challenge.

Spot on Aerostadt. Reading through the company's report on the 0.12 scale version of the Regulus II, they had to enlarge the canards on model #3 to get reasonable flight performance. I suspect that I'll need to make some compromises from scale to make it a reliable flyer. "Sport Scale" is certainly going to be good enough for my needs.

Here's a wacky idea; build it as a glider. You could use a power pod that goes inside the body and provides correct CG/CP location for boost, as well as fins for stability on the aft end. At ejection, it's kicked out and the rocket reverts to glider configuration. It's a fairly common way to solve a lot of problems.

That was an interesting documentary by the way.

Frank

Found a great article in the December 2002 issue of "Wings" Magazine. It's called "Bird on a Wire" and it's about all the Regulus II missile. Extremely well researched and some 14 pages long. If you can track down a copy, it's great reading and has some amazing photographs. What a beautiful weapon. Especially since it never killed a single human being.

I watched that documentary, very interesting, got me thinking, never a good thing, got a $100 award from work so bought some servos and an rx and paint and decided I'd do a regulus. It will be an rc rg, body will be flow-through from nose to tail....Elevon controls only.

I'm using BMS 2.6" lightweight tubing and PNC-80BB since I have a lot of those and they were cheap.....Here's the nose and tail cones, I fit the motor mount into the tail cone today, the length will be longer than the scale length and the wing will have to be upsized and most likely the vertical stab as well, so won't be super scale, but will probably fly ok and look like a winged missile... maybe it will be more like a blue winged missile that I chose to call a Regulus....

Frank

Frank,

Wow! Can't wait to watch this build. I've flown my share of boost gliders as a boy--and always enjoyed it. RC was out of my budget then. I too had given some thought to an RG RC version of the Regulus II--but it's beyond my current skill set. Can you recommend a good first RG RC project for me to learn on? Maybe after that I'll try an RC version of this bird too. She certainly is a beauty.

Do you have any rc flight experience? If so, I do some kits, if you don't you should really get a simple electric motor glider and get some stick time. You can click on my sig link to see what some look like and how they fly and go together.

lowga said:

Frank,

Wow! Can't wait to watch this build. I've flown my share of boost gliders as a boy--and always enjoyed it. RC was out of my budget then. I too had given some thought to an RG RC version of the Regulus II--but it's beyond my current skill set. Can you recommend a good first RG RC project for me to learn on? Maybe after that I'll try an RC version of this bird too. She certainly is a beauty.

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No RC experience at all--except for a few hours playing with the "Real Flight" simulator and it's included controller. I'll follow your advice and purchase a simple glider. And I'm following your link right now.

Here's a quick openrocket sim just for mass balancing. This is scaled really for a 4" body tube diameter which would give the correct length, wingspan, wing and tail but using 2.6" tubing because there is just no way to get nose and tubing weights with 4" tubing to work at this scale, using 2.6" tubing and cones gives me light weight and gets me enough length and wing area...Decided I like the white wing red body test version....

Finished it up after lunch and did some indoor glide tests, CG wanted to be a bit further forward than I had calculated, meaning a bit more nose weight, it's at 12.25 oz rtf. 34" long, 21.5" wingspan.
CG is at about mid root chord.

Here she is painted, and panel lined, Stickershock will work on some markings and I'll wait for a few days till the weather improves to fly it. It's a bright red but it's sort of dark today so it looks darker than it is.

Got a couple of test flights in, actually flew ok for a semi tailless design, required some down trim for boost and a lot of up trim for nose heavy glide, wing loading is about 13 oz/sq foot which is high for a flat plate wing, but was a neat project.
I freaked my daughter out a bit on the first landing right at her feet My CEP was about 2' on that flight.

[video=youtube;vXKx0MirDH8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXKx0MirDH8[/video]

Nice flight! What engines have you sent her up on so far?

Frank,
Like usual a very fast build from concept to flight. I am thinking from watching the video that the glide time is shorter than your other models. It is interesting that there is only one vertical tail fin. What program option on the Spektrum transmitter do you use for elevons in the wings? Do you place the c.g. differently for this model compared to your other rocket gliders?

It is designed for the E-6 and that's the only thing it will fly on, anything else is too weak or much much too fast for the airframe.

lowga said:

Nice flight! What engines have you sent her up on so far?

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Yes, glide time is low and i knew that ahead of time, it's only 1 sq foot of wing area so about 1/2 to 1/3 of my normal gliders so has a wing loading of 12.5 oz/sq foot instead of 5-6.

Think of it as a flying wing with a tube stuck on it. Wings don't take to large cg shifts that well especially if it doesn't have a lot of sweep, you just don't have the elevon authority like on a delta wing with longer chord, think moment arm, so you can see how much up elevon I have for glide which also reduces glide due to drag. Its'set up for elevons just like the majority of my models in my xmitter.

If the motor was mounted at the trailing edge of the wing it wouldn't be so bad but due to the regulus design it's pretty far back so the shift is pretty far forward.

Frank

aerostadt said:

Frank,
Like usual a very fast build from concept to flight. I am thinking from watching the video that the glide time is shorter than your other models. It is interesting that there is only one vertical tail fin. What program option on the Spektrum transmitter do you use for elevons in the wings? Do you place the c.g. differently for this model compared to your other rocket gliders?

Click to expand...

Think of it as a flying wing with a tube stuck on it. Wings don't take to large cg shifts that well especially if it doesn't have a lot of sweep, you just don't have the elevon authority like on a delta wing with longer chord, think moment arm, so you can see how much up elevon I have for glide which also reduces glide due to drag. Its'set up for elevons just like the majority of my models in my xmitter.

Click to expand...

Frank,
I'm using the Spektrum DX6e on your models with the Acro/Airplane - Elevon Wing Type option. If you are using something similar, is this the option you are using rather than the sailplane/aileron option? Sorry, if I'm repeating the question, I just want to make sure I understand what you are doing.