Balsa Machine Arcas kit

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RodRocket

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I ordered some parts for other projects and also picked out one of their Arcas kits. I am impressed by the kit on first inspection. Balsa nose cone, laser cut wood rings and fins. Nice metallic decal and the Arcas data plate.

Very nice kit for the price. Includes rocket data sheet for scale builders. Will get some kit pics later in the weekend.

If you have built any of the Balsa Machine kits, please share.

See ya,
Rod
 
Sounds very nice, I hope you share some pictures ,I`d like to see the kit !

Cheers


Paul T
 
Yup, built one several years ago. IIRC, aren't the fins basswood? In any event, high quality parts that produced a very nice model. The only drawback, and this is obviously only my opinion, is the 13mm power. In that scale, I know it had to be limited to that, too bad we don't have a 13mm B out there.
 
Here is what I have done on the BMS Arcas so far. It is ready for primer. Will probably go with the Model Masters line of paints for this little model. Still have some sealing and sanding to do on the nose cone. This is a light model only .6 oz as it is now. Made up a kevlar harness that wraps around the motor tube and cut a small notch in the upper ring to pass cord through. Tied a loop on the end and should make a nice harness for whatever shock cord I use. This rocket will probably scoot off the pad pretty quick and go really high for it's size, so I am thinking a long thin streamer to help track and find it.

The fins are basswood, very little sanding was needed to fit them. Motor mount assembly with the tail cone took the most time. Slow bending and shaping of the paper tail cone gets the best results in a smooth bend.

Nice little kit. Might just order some of the other kits next time I order parts from BMS.

19 5/8 inches long-- 498 mm
BT-50 body tube

Mini Arcas.jpg

Mini Arcas aft.jpg

Mini Arcas fins.jpg

Mini Arcas nose.jpg
 
Yep, BMS makes some fine kits! My favorite rocketry vendor.
 
I consider their Astrobee 1500 to be one of the masterpiece scale kits of all time! You can still find them...

Cheers,
Michael
 
Just one of those cardboard displays from Hobby Lobby and a simple Sony point and shoot camera. Doesn't take fancy gear for Internet pics. I take the pic, then using the simple editing with my Mac mini, I reduce the large image file down to a size I can upload easy with my dial up Internet. I can handle the smaller 50k or so size files much easier than the full size mutli mega pix files right out of the camera.

Pics still look good in the posts even with the small file size.

Now just got to figure out how to get these files moved into a folder that I can use with my profile. Just haven't taken the time to figure it out.

Too busy building and launching rockets.

See ya,
Rod
 
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