Semroc - Tau Zero (KN-2) Gallery

The Rocketry Forum

Help Support The Rocketry Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Blades

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 18, 2009
Messages
579
Reaction score
1
You know how it is. You've got a favorite rocket design and you can't build just one. But why build exactly the same? There's other possibilities, upscales, downscales, or goonies, to name a few. Here's some of my variations on a theme.


View attachment 35253

Semrocs Tau Zero has such pretty lines, I just had to play with it.


What families have you built?
Share.......


------------
With Blade's permission, I have copied this post over and edited it for this thread.

Thanks, Blades!

JAL
 

Attachments

  • Tau Zeros.JPG
    Tau Zeros.JPG
    103.7 KB · Views: 80
Last edited by a moderator:
A bump to bring this new gallery to the top
 
Here's my rendition, including an alternative fin orientation. After the fact, this is a designer-approved option :)

tau zero (Large).jpg
 
Thanks. It was another use what ya' got paint job! But I do like metallic purple and silver anyway...
 
Thanks. It was another use what ya' got paint job! But I do like metallic purple and silver anyway...

Metallic purple is one of my favorites but I have yet to get a good result.
 
I've had good luck on small surfaces like this, but larger rockets often tend to look blotchy. Seems sensitive to the environment as some times it looks uniform and other times it doesn't. This was Duplicolor Metalcast and the silver is actually just the base coat.
 
I've had good luck on small surfaces like this, but larger rockets often tend to look blotchy. Seems sensitive to the environment as some times it looks uniform and other times it doesn't. This was Duplicolor Metalcast and the silver is actually just the base coat.

I've tried the Duplicolor on various surfaces. My problem is not the blotchiness. I just can't get it to look metalic.
 
I think that it looks as much like anodized metal as any gold or silver looks like actual gold or silver. Not bad for a rattle can.
 
I think that it looks as much like anodized metal as any gold or silver looks like actual gold or silver. Not bad for a rattle can.

Yours does. Mine never has. I know why that was so in the early attempts since I was spraying over other colors. Over white, I just get a better looking purple. I does not look anodized.
 
You can't shoot the Metalcast color coat over white or another color. It requires their silver base coat/primer. I haven't tried it over other silvers.

:eek: this is a gallery thread not a painting thread...oops.
 
You can't shoot the Metalcast color coat over white or another color. It requires their silver base coat/primer. I haven't tried it over other silvers.

:eek: this is a gallery thread not a painting thread...oops.

You're right about the thread.

I'll finish with this. I should read the directions. Shooting over white was based on some advice on TRF 1 way back when. I guess not everything you read on the internet is true. Go figure. I guess I'll read some instruction (but they're always too small!)
 
Mine is an early pre-production version.:cool::D

TauZeroglamourshotvegetation.jpg
 
I just finished my Tau Zero. (It's been sitting in 2 pieces waiting good weather for painting and final assembly for far too long.) I primered it last weekend and painted it yesterday. I applied decals and future/green polish today.

I opted for a color scheme similar to rstaff3's above. I had initially been thinking of a lighter grey, as well as doing forward blue ring in white, but I'm happy with the way this turned out. As is common, the blue really shines more than I was able to capture in the photo.

My only (tiny) reget is that the decals don't show up too well on the blue. (Oh, and I had a couple of masking issues not apparent in the photo.)

Rustolem 2x white primer
Model Master 1920 "Intermediate Blue (the grey)
Boyd 52906 "True blue Pearl"
Testors brush-on white enamel

The attached photos are post decal, pre-final polish. (I also took the opportunity to do a little image post-processing. It's been a while.)

TauZero on Stick.jpg
Original Photo "Tau Zero on Stick"

TauZero in Flight.jpg
Retouched Photo "Tau Zero in Flight"
 
Last edited:
Welcome to the Semroc Tau Zero (KN-2) Gallery on TRF.

This gallery showcases the Semroc Tau Zero (KN-2) and those rockets derived from it. Particularly appropriate in this thread are the following:


Semroc: Tau Zero: KN-2



as well as any upscales, downscales, clones, kitbashes or other derivative works. Even Goonies qualify!



 
Last edited:
Semroc Tau Zero (KN-2 Basic Information.

semroc.gif
Semroc Astronautics

MODEL NAME: Tau Zero Also known as:

NUMBER: KN-2

Introduced: 2008
Final Year:
Designer: Jay "Centuri Guy" Goemmer

Type: Exotic
Motor Mount: 1x18mm
Recovery: Parachute
Stages: 1
Length: 16.0" (40.6 cm)
Diameter: 0.759" (1.9 cm)
Span: 5.3" (13.4 cm)
Weight: 1.0 oz (28.4 g)

Mfg. Description: The Tau Zero™ is the first original Semroc kit to be designed by Jay "Centuri Guy" Goemmer of Twin Falls, Idaho, who says he's "an incurable Semroc fan." Released in 2008, the Tau Zero combines an unusually-shaped nose cone, forward-swept outer fins, and an unexpected ring fin. These features add up to a futuristic sport rocket with some minor building challenges for the intermediate rocketeer. The Tau Zero kit is rated a Skill Level 2 for construction, or as much as a Skill Level 3, depending on the complexity of your chosen paint scheme. The phrase "Tau Zero" is borrowed from the 1970 Poul Anderson novel of the same name. (Semroc 2012 Web Ad)


Advertising Liveries

semroc-tau%20zero%20kn2-2008%20web%20livery.jpg
2008 Web Ad


Face Card(s)

semroc-tau%20zero%20kn2-face%201.jpg


Instruction Header(s)

semroc-tau%20zero%20kn2-face%201.jpg




First post in this thread featuring this rocket.

See Also: LINKS
EMRR
RocketReviews
Mfg. Page


If you have any additional information on this rocket and/or catalog photos please let us know.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top