Little John Build

[kbfrazier]

Hello,

After cleaning a spare room, I just found my copy of NARTS Fourteen US Army Missiles of the Cold War. After looking over I've decided to build a Mid Power Little John, both versions the production and the prototypes.

Scale 1:4.083 (3" OD Body Tube from BMS)

I'm a mechanical designer by trade so I use Solidworks for my cad work and use a HAAS CNC TM-1 mill and an Epilog CO2 laser etcher/cutter. I'm planning machining tooling for the nose and transitions as if I was going to go into production.

Over the next couple of weeks, I'll be posting pictures of the cad renderings and pictures of the tooling.

One question. I've heard that the prototype is an unstable design for models. Has anyone made a model of it?

Thanks,

Keith

[kbfrazier]

Here is a quick schetch of my 1st concept. I was thinking of creating either a balsa or bass wood nose cone. The transitions I'm thinking of using delrin and using either a 24mm or 29mm motor mount.

Let me know what you think.

Keith

[TheAviator]

Looks good. I saw one of these fly in BT-50 size at NARAM last week. Probably needs a fair amount of nose weight.

[AndyC]

Keith,

The Little John is one of my favorites. I've built different size scale models of the earlier version (MGR-3), since it is easier to get stable. The small fins on the 3a mean you may need a lot of noseweight. Check it out in openrocket or your favorite sim.

Here's my most recent, based on 7.5" tube, flight is on a 98mm EX M1770 (still used a 1/2 pound of noseweight):