"Natural Green" Fiberglass Kits

AlnessW · Jul 7, 2014

I'm wondering if anyone nowadays sells Performance Rocketry kits (Competitors, Intimidators, etc) in the original "natural green" fiberglass? As I understand Curtis' designs are now available through Wildman, but it would seem as though Wildman kits are now ALL in black fiberglass.

crossfire · Jul 7, 2014

Give WM a call he might to able to get you one. Or maybe there is a kit Mad Cow sells you may like, I think he still has the green FG.

AlnessW · Jul 7, 2014

crossfire said:
Give WM a call he might to able to get you one. Or maybe there is a kit Mad Cow sells you may like, I think he still has the green FG.

Cool, thank you!
Hmm, Madcow's got some nice stuff too...

ChrisAttebery · Jul 7, 2014

Out of curiosity, what advantage do you get out of green FG over black FG?

EeebeeE · Jul 7, 2014

ChrisAttebery said:
Out of curiosity, what advantage do you get out of green FG over black FG?

Easier to paint white?

Fdog · Jul 7, 2014

I like natural green, because I can see the epoxy and internal structure as the airframe is built.

Here the epoxy is visible as it is injected above the centering ring

...I wish it was something we still saw in kits...the last kit I received from Wildman, I asked for natural green; it wasn't available in anything but black.

All the best, James

AlnessW · Jul 7, 2014

ChrisAttebery said:
Out of curiosity, what advantage do you get out of green FG over black FG?

Also black attracts heat.

Fdog said:
...I wish it was something we still saw in kits...the last kit I received from Wildman, I asked for natural green; it wasn't available in anything but black.

All the best, James

That's a bummer...

codysmith · Jul 7, 2014

Fdog said:
I like natural green, because I can see the epoxy and internal structure as the airframe is built.

Here the epoxy is visible as it is injected above the centering ring

...I wish it was something we still saw in kits...the last kit I received from Wildman, I asked for natural green; it wasn't available in anything but black.

All the best, James

Whaat kit is this?

AlnessW · Jul 7, 2014

codysmith said:
Whaat kit is this?

Looks like an Extreme Wildman?

stealth6 · Jul 7, 2014

Gotta admit - I really like the black fiberglass simply for the cool factor. But all things considered, I'd prefer that they still came in natural/green as standard.

I had grand designs of painting accents on black fiberglass for my 3" DarkStar, but in the end that proved to be much more difficult than simply painting the whole rocket. Which sort of negates the whole "black fiberglass" thing. The actual builds are easier with green, or at least somewhat translucent, parts.

I also kit-bashed a RW Rascal that came with a old-school molded nose cone. This cone also came in black. But all sanding/smoothing/fitting that was required pretty much made a mess of the gelcoat finish on it so, again, in the end I had to paint it anyway. And again, the fact that it was black was a moot point.

s6

mikec · Jul 7, 2014

I agree, most of the time I'd prefer natural. I'd also prefer G10 over G12 tubes, but nobody seems to be making those any more either.

dixontj93060 · Jul 7, 2014

Ah, the "good old days."

AfterBurners · Jul 7, 2014

EeebeeE said:
Easier to paint white?

Couldn't you just primer it first with gray primer and paint it white? I mean that's what I would do

AlnessW · Jul 7, 2014

stealth6 said:
But all things considered, I'd prefer that they still came in natural/green as standard.

Likewise.

dixontj93060 said:
Ah, the "good old days."

But back to the question at hand...

I'm wondering if anyone nowadays sells Performance Rocketry kits (Competitors, Intimidators, etc) in the original "natural green" fiberglass?

AfterBurners said:
Couldn't you just primer it first with gray primer and paint it white? I mean that's what I would do

Yes, I always prime with a flat coat of gray or white before shooting color.

g zilla · Jul 7, 2014

Ya I prefer the natual color just called wildman today to order a mini darkstar kit still on special only had black. he said all his kits are all black. I wanted the natual green color for a night rocket for the opacity for the color to shine thru. Kinda bummed out:cry:

blackjack2564 · Jul 7, 2014

AlnessW said:
I'm wondering if anyone nowadays sells Performance Rocketry kits (Competitors, Intimidators, etc) in the original "natural green" fiberglass? As I understand Curtis' designs are now available through Wildman, but it would seem as though Wildman kits are now ALL in black fiberglass.

Wildman has the exclusive rights to those kits [and many more] you mentioned above. If you are willing to wait till another run of tubes comes up, call him and ask how long it would take to get one in raw/green.

Otherwise black is where it's at.LOL

gerbs4me · Jul 7, 2014

I do see your point on the green fiberglass, about being about to see the epoxy. I do like the look of the black glass though. I just got my av bay tube and some bulkheads from Wildman. Ready to do some more building.

jd2cylman · Jul 7, 2014

So I should put my all green glass 4" Vindicator Dual deploy up for auction???
Cripes! I'd have to find the box it's hiding in.

Adrian (who's mostly kidding, but if you throw too much money at me... :confused2

dixontj93060 · Jul 7, 2014

Dang, I just built three 4" green glass kits. May have been worth their weight in gold!

Salvage-1 · Jul 7, 2014

[HINT] HINT HINT HINT

Dear Mr Wildman...... Pls have one of your upcoming specials which offers a couple of kits (3,4 or 4+") in OLD SKOOL Green!

HINT HINT HINT [ENDHINT]

H_Rocket · Jul 7, 2014

Funny thing is I'm starting to like night flying and the black kits would really bite for that use. C'mon CJ even you can see that!

AlnessW · Jul 8, 2014

g zilla said:
Ya I prefer the natual color just called wildman today to order a mini darkstar kit still on special only had black. he said all his kits are all black. I wanted the natual green color for a night rocket for the opacity for the color to shine thru. Kinda bummed out:cry:

That is a bummer! And like you mention, black fiberglass isn't much use for night rockets.

blackjack2564 said:
Wildman has the exclusive rights to those kits [and many more] you mentioned above. If you are willing to wait till another run of tubes comes up, call him and ask how long it would take to get one in raw/green.

Otherwise black is where it's at.LOL

That's exactly what I thought. I'll get in touch with him for sure...

jd2cylman said:
So I should put my all green glass 4" Vindicator Dual deploy up for auction???
Cripes! I'd have to find the box it's hiding in.)

Hehehe...

Salvage-1 said:
[HINT] HINT HINT HINT

Dear Mr Wildman...... Pls have one of your upcoming specials which offers a couple of kits (3,4 or 4+") in OLD SKOOL Green!

HINT HINT HINT [ENDHINT]

Oh yeah - now we're talking!! :wink: Hmm, maybe even 5"...

AlnessW · Jul 8, 2014

Just heard back from Tim at Wildman, he said that all of his kits are in black fiberglass now, just like many of you suspected. Harrrrrrrummmmph!

chuck5395 · Jul 8, 2014

To paraphrase Henry Ford, "You can have any color as long as it's black."

AlnessW · Jul 8, 2014

chuck5395 said:
To paraphrase Henry Ford, "You can have any color as long as it's black."

Hey, that works!

Salvage-1 · Jul 8, 2014

chuck5395 said:
To paraphrase Henry Ford, "You can have any color as long as it's black."

Then can we have opaque 'black' please. That would be tres kewl. Think about it, an opaque black rocket with a BRIGHT set of LEDs inside it. The glow would be real spooky.

dixontj93060 · Jul 8, 2014

Salvage-1 said:
Then can we have opaque 'black' please. That would be tres kewl. Think about it, an opaque black rocket with a BRIGHT set of LEDs inside it. The glow would be real spooky.

Opaque (adj) - not able to be seen through; not transparent.
"the windows were opaque with steam"
Synonyms: nontransparent, cloudy, filmy, blurred, smeared, smeary, misty, hazy.

rbelknap · Jul 8, 2014

dixontj93060 said:
Opaque (adj) - not able to be seen through; not transparent.
"the windows were opaque with steam"
Synonyms: nontransparent, cloudy, filmy, blurred, smeared, smeary, misty, hazy.

How about "translucent" black? (You could call it smoked glass.) Not sure if that's possible, as I'm not in the business of manufacturing FG tubing.

jmight · Jul 8, 2014

I built a Rocketry Warehouse tomahawk kit in December and that came in the natural green!

stealth6 · Jul 8, 2014

As to "translucent black" working in night/lighted rockets - not really.

All that would accomplish is to darken/dim whatever lights are inside. Which would mean for it to work, you would need VERY bright lights. And then the effect would be pretty much the same as using much less powerful lights (which would be cheaper/lighter/etc.) in a white or light-colored translucent airframe - like natural/green fibreglass.

s6

"Natural Green" Fiberglass Kits

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