Klatuso
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jan 18, 2018
- Messages
- 154
- Reaction score
- 18
I think we are living in just the beginning of a special time in suborbital and beyond private rockets. So, in my quest for more information I visited the SpaceX website and found that they have a products page for consumers. Dang! More opportunities to spend money. In my excessive enthusiasm I bought their polo shirt hoping it might have a large logo on the back. Nope. But I sprang for it anyway. It is smooth and light. A nice black polo with small but visible white embroidery "SPACEX" over my heart (I would've prefered a pocket but that isn't cool anymore) and a swoop on the end of the X. OK. Well made, and I definitely recommend getting the next larger size up or you will have a rather slim shirt. As a man in his 50's I prefer something...a bit more roomy. It has actual embroidery and not some decals or other cheap stuff. Soft and thin and comfortable.
Anyway, back to to the actual reason I started this thread, I bought their rocket kit. A scale model of their faclon 9 and when I received this it was like no other rocket kit. First it came in a box. Second, the entire body tube (2 parts) was already detailed and ready and more stout than anything I have built before (and I have built MPR rockets less thick). Full body decal pre-applied. Plastic molded nose cone, transition and tail cone. Premolded and ready to go (after struggling with paper transitions and tail cones this was a relief). Clear plastic fins for stability (obviously this does not have onboard guidance control). But there was enough left over for to say, "Yea, I built this!" and smile. I need to apply wood filler to the wraps on the short section between the nose cone and the transition to the main body tube. Prime sand prime and sand...you know the drill. That whole upper section is without decals. So I already have in mind what I will do to customize it. It is a small "tabula rasa."
In a fit of excitement I also ordered the upgrade components from boyceaerospacehobbies.com which includes a far more detailed leg section (only a padded sticker on the original kit) and hyper-sonic grid fins which are only a flat image on the decal of the stock kit.
The kit recommends D and E motors (includes a spacer for D engines) with an engine hook. Still debating whether I will install that or go for a cleaner friction fit.
One negative: the launch lug (if you can call it that, is a small plastic ring at the base of the fat forward faring), a single plastic loop on the base of the forward faring. That is at the top of the rocket. Well, I am not about to go out and buy some 3/16th inch (or less, didn't bother to check) 6 foot steel rod. That is taller than I am for crying out loud. So I will replace that (as I do with all my rockets for D engines) with a generously long 1/4 inch launch lug. I use that for all my larger and heavier LPR rockets.It will destroy the "scale" aspect but so what? Am I in some kind of contest? I already cheated with a kit pre-prepped with decals.
I want to show pictures but I am still trying to understand how to post those. I either show a clickable link to the picture or some over-sized picture in the post. If anyone has figured out how to post those nice small pics and clicking on them they expand; if you can explain this to me send me a PM so this doesn't become a tutorial on how to post pictures.
So far, I am happy and cannot wait to receive my upgrade from https://boyceaerospacehobbies.com.
Anyway, back to to the actual reason I started this thread, I bought their rocket kit. A scale model of their faclon 9 and when I received this it was like no other rocket kit. First it came in a box. Second, the entire body tube (2 parts) was already detailed and ready and more stout than anything I have built before (and I have built MPR rockets less thick). Full body decal pre-applied. Plastic molded nose cone, transition and tail cone. Premolded and ready to go (after struggling with paper transitions and tail cones this was a relief). Clear plastic fins for stability (obviously this does not have onboard guidance control). But there was enough left over for to say, "Yea, I built this!" and smile. I need to apply wood filler to the wraps on the short section between the nose cone and the transition to the main body tube. Prime sand prime and sand...you know the drill. That whole upper section is without decals. So I already have in mind what I will do to customize it. It is a small "tabula rasa."
In a fit of excitement I also ordered the upgrade components from boyceaerospacehobbies.com which includes a far more detailed leg section (only a padded sticker on the original kit) and hyper-sonic grid fins which are only a flat image on the decal of the stock kit.
The kit recommends D and E motors (includes a spacer for D engines) with an engine hook. Still debating whether I will install that or go for a cleaner friction fit.
One negative: the launch lug (if you can call it that, is a small plastic ring at the base of the fat forward faring), a single plastic loop on the base of the forward faring. That is at the top of the rocket. Well, I am not about to go out and buy some 3/16th inch (or less, didn't bother to check) 6 foot steel rod. That is taller than I am for crying out loud. So I will replace that (as I do with all my rockets for D engines) with a generously long 1/4 inch launch lug. I use that for all my larger and heavier LPR rockets.It will destroy the "scale" aspect but so what? Am I in some kind of contest? I already cheated with a kit pre-prepped with decals.
I want to show pictures but I am still trying to understand how to post those. I either show a clickable link to the picture or some over-sized picture in the post. If anyone has figured out how to post those nice small pics and clicking on them they expand; if you can explain this to me send me a PM so this doesn't become a tutorial on how to post pictures.
So far, I am happy and cannot wait to receive my upgrade from https://boyceaerospacehobbies.com.