Cool. Lets see all those PS II kit bashes!
Estes PS II Kit Bashing
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Cool. Lets see all those PS II kit bashes!
Twas on Easter Sunday in the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Fourteen the clouds did part and the light shone upon the Partizon Tomahawk. It flew and they rejoiced and it was good.
Another picture showing all three chutes. Brought her down nice and soft with out breaking off one plastic fin! Thanks to Dave Hanson for the Photos.
Here are three Level Twos supervising the launch, thus giving me the required six levels of odd roc supervision.
Here are some photos of another naughty Estes Kit bash. A three motor SR 71. C6-0 X2 in pods, C6-5 in core. The F-15 Screaming Eagle next to my SR 71 was not mine, but it too was modified to rip off the pad on a D12-5, naughty, naughty, naughty boys.
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beautiful!!! every time I look at an SR 71....it is just hard to believe that thing was designed in the late 50's and early 60's......talk about being ahead of its time....
And it is so easy to kit bash to a cluster!
They all flew today. The first flight of the Argent/Super Alphas was a success. The F15 -4 was a tad early. Got a lot of kick when four somewhat lame BP motors all go off at once. Good news is the 6 second F15s are available at Hobby Lobby. When the three E9 6's finally went pop, pop, pop and the three smaller chutes deployed, giving a four chute swinging effect, I called out "Four chutes and Poor Boy Dual Deploy" which brought out a solitary giggle from the Pad Fuhrer. The Partizon/Tomahawk flew just fine and popped two fins on landing, but that was expected, just get out the super glue and put them back on. And then there was the Ventris - Titan.
After burning well over 1,500 store bought BP motors it finally happened to me, an E9 6 CATO. BANG, off went the right side nose cone and parachute as a big ball of flame poofed up under the wadding. Up it went on two motors. Flew fine and one chute managed to deploy bringing it down safely with no landing damage. I guess if your are going to have a CATO this is the way to do it. Blew out the motor mount but I can salvage one centering ring and the hook. Tied the rubber shock cord back on to the nose cone and it will be easy to reinstall a motor mount. The E9 that was left was a very nice hollow casing with a bit of scorching on the inside.
After burning well over 1,500 store bought BP motors it finally happened to me, an E9 6 CATO. BANG, off went the right side nose cone and parachute as a big ball of flame poofed up under the wadding. Up it went on two motors. Flew fine and one chute managed to deploy bringing it down safely with no landing damage. I guess if your are going to have a CATO this is the way to do it. Blew out the motor mount but I can salvage one centering ring and the hook. Tied the rubber shock cord back on to the nose cone and it will be easy to reinstall a motor mount. The E9 that was left was a very nice hollow casing with a bit of scorching on the inside.
marwady
Build twice, Launch once
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Absolutely incredible stuff!!
I know when I open one of your threads that I will be amazed, entertained, and educated.
Well done!!
ThirstyBarbarian
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Estes is having a crazy sale again this Memorial Day weekend, so I may be stocking up on some kits for kit bashing.
The Argent was modified by adding Super Alpha's, correct? But the motor mounts in the boosters are 24 mm? Did you cannibalize 24 mm mounts out of some other kits? I'm thinking about getting the Super Neon XL's for about 10 bucks each and using those on my Argent in a similar way. They are longer than the Super Alphas, but they have the 24 mm mounts. This would be my first kit bash, so I just want to be sure I get all the parts I will need for the kit bash in a single order of rockets, and I won't have to go back for other parts.
Any advice would be great!
The Argent was modified by adding Super Alpha's, correct? But the motor mounts in the boosters are 24 mm? Did you cannibalize 24 mm mounts out of some other kits? I'm thinking about getting the Super Neon XL's for about 10 bucks each and using those on my Argent in a similar way. They are longer than the Super Alphas, but they have the 24 mm mounts. This would be my first kit bash, so I just want to be sure I get all the parts I will need for the kit bash in a single order of rockets, and I won't have to go back for other parts.
Any advice would be great!
Thanks! It is all about the entertainment! Or is it all about the science? I never seem to get it right.
The Super Alphas have 24mm mounts, so gluing three to an Argent gives you a 3X24mm, 1X29mm cluster. Three E9-4/6 and one F15-6 is the cheap Hobby Lobby motor combo. That puts you on the high power range unless you are really bad at math. The 24 mm have to be friction fit unless you have some spare E motor hooks.
Using the upper half of The Super Neons give you a longer tube and nose cone, plus lots of spare parts. That will be one bad looking, kit bashed rocket! The Super Neons also have the E motor hooks for positive motor retention, a nice safety feature you can point out to the RSO. The Super Neons are more expensive but you are worth it!
My kitbashers use all stock parts so there are lots of silly chutes deployed and the Poor Boy Dual Deploy will draw a chuckle from the steely eyed missile men wondering why you did not use a single big composite motor, a single larger nylon chute and a real electronic dual deploy.
Let me know when you are building and I will tell you how to quickly and sturdily put these things together.
Have fun a Kit Bashin'!
ThirstyBarbarian
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Sounds good. If I go forward with this, I'll definitely check back with you for some tips. Thanks!
Looking back I must have hacked the Super Alpha motor mounts to 24 mm with an Xacto knife:y:
ThirstyBarbarian
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Yikes! A Hack 'n' Bash!
I'm thinking about maybe getting my feet wet by ordering the Super Alphas and using those for boosters on a Maxi Alpha III in a similar way to your Argent. That would be 3x18mm in the boosters and a central 24mm. That would be cheaper than the Argent/Super Neon option, and would not be high power.
Winston
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I agree. I've seen his creations in person. Beautiful. I'd be afraid to launch anything like them after as much effort as he puts in them. Plus, he flies so much stuff in the "so very far away from 3FNC" category that flies successfully.
Winston
Lorenzo von Matterhorn
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Now, you had to go and remind me of that. CRAZY prices on some of those kits. Translation: I will be increasing my unbuilt kit collection which is already beyond reason.
Thanks. This latest round is more traditional 4F3NC and 3F4NC with the motors and fins all at the back of the rocket. The Argent flew with no nose weight. Even with a CATO and flying on two motors the Ventris Titan wasn't that scary.
The Partizon Tomahawk flew again on Saturday. All went fine and it landed on the hard gravel parking lot and no fins popped off! Some of the kids went a bit crazy as it was coming down so we had to yell them off from any idea of trying to catch it. The last flight of the day was the Argent/Alpha and BANG! Another freaking E9 CATO - I got a real bad batch from Hobby Lobby. This time it was not good. Up went one booster nose cone and parachute followed by the wadding with a big bright orange ball of fire under it. On the bottom it blew the clip whip away and the central F-15 did not light. Going up on only two motors with 6 second delays I knew it was going to be bad, real bad. Lawn dart, then ejection into the green green grass of home. No fire. Good bye sweet Argent:sad:
It was still a good day because the North Korean Unha 3 from Aggressor Aerospace flew great on an E12 4. Fins on rockets are over rated, Time for an F24! Good thing I hacked more of the balsa nose cone and crammed in more nose weight. More power will rule!
Me so happy! Weez puts up new satellite so fearwess weeder can watch NBA finals in Pyongyang!
It was still a good day because the North Korean Unha 3 from Aggressor Aerospace flew great on an E12 4. Fins on rockets are over rated, Time for an F24! Good thing I hacked more of the balsa nose cone and crammed in more nose weight. More power will rule!
Me so happy! Weez puts up new satellite so fearwess weeder can watch NBA finals in Pyongyang!
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You do nice work!!
Really sorry to hear about the Argent.
I now have the solution on how to build the Argent I just got on the Estes Memorial Day sale thanks to you.
I really like the Argent/Redstone look so I will do it that way. I will however use BT50 tubes and nosecones for dummy boosters,, I know I know the clusters are more fun but I can always add the motor mounts in those later.
Did you use any specific decal set or did you make your own?
Thanks again for the idea.
Ed
The decals were very old Estes Mercury Redstone decals that were very brittle even with a couple coats of clear before application. The roll patterns are combinations of black electrical tape, Pactra striping tape and Estes Patriot peel and stick decals.
Much more sane not to cluster.
Much more sane not to cluster.
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Sorry to hear about the CATO... That was a pretty sweet looking build.
ThirstyBarbarian
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Sorry to hear about the Argent. That was a really sweet rocket! I still hope to duplicate something similar.
I got myself all primed to pick up some of the Super Alphas and super Neons at the Estes sale for kit bashing. But waited until the last minute, then had a glitch with the order process. Maybe it's for the best --- maybe I'd better focus on building some of the many many unbuilt kits I have in the garage before buying any more...
I got myself all primed to pick up some of the Super Alphas and super Neons at the Estes sale for kit bashing. But waited until the last minute, then had a glitch with the order process. Maybe it's for the best --- maybe I'd better focus on building some of the many many unbuilt kits I have in the garage before buying any more...
I bet they have a Father's Day Sale and you will not be able to resist!
Always good to get the dust off the stash!
Yeah but unfortunately no dust ever grows on the $$$$ "Stash"
Winston
Lorenzo von Matterhorn
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That sucks, especially when it happens in one of your creations! Did you submit a MESS report (https://www.nar.org/NARmessform.html) and mention somewhere in this forum the date code?
I will have to do that after a good cry and healing from the deep emotional scars!
Tell me more about the pod chutes please.
If I read your posts with you kit bashing right the pods just deploy the chutes normally as if they were flying singly. Do you do anything to make sure the 4, 3 or 2 chutes from the pods don't tangle up with with each other, I can see that there would be no problem tangling with the main. Also as far as the Argent goes (I plan to use 2 pods only) how does it ride on the way down with the multiple chutes..... straight (vertical descent) or sideways?
Thanks
Ed
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