Should an Honest John need nose weight?

[bjphoenix]

I'm building a BT55 Honest John, using the plastic nose cone from an old Estes kit that I can't name right now. (I'm building it as the earlier HJ with the larger fins.)

[kjohnson]

My gut answer since you're doing the older version is no.

Since you've got the plastic cone it will be easy to add any noseweight if you need to after doing a swing test.

kj

[mwtoelle]

The older MGR-1A (M31) probably will not need nose weight. The MGR-1B (M50) will probably need some nose weight if it is built to scale. IIRC, neither the Estes BT-50 version (K-27) or the larger BT-80 version (1269/2166) needed nose weight.

If you are using the plastic Estes nose cone for the BT-55 Honest John, it will need some extra work to look correct for M31 version.

[Ez2cDave]

ALWAYS check the CG / CP relationship or at least "Swing-Test" the model !

Dave Fitch