Orbital Upscale Project

LAST ONE

The full stack assembled, sitting next to the full-scale version. This bird has been a real challenge to build, there's lots 'o' lumber in it.

I can attest that the 2.7X upscale is 2.7X MORE of a pain than the full-scale version...lol.

Everything is on it now, it's just lacking external fillets on the main wings and vertical stabilizers. And of course, there's still TONS of finish filling, and smoothing to do before I can even think about primer and paint.

That's it for now, more later.

Great build! Your techniques for gluing are, as they say, the "mother of invention". That's what I love about the build process. "How can I make this work?"

Very Nice!

What size motors are you planning on using? 29mm?

Cool project and thanks for sharing the photos. It looks great!

Originally posted by OKTurbo
Very Nice!

What size motors are you planning on using? 29mm?

Cool project and thanks for sharing the photos. It looks great!

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Thanks! Yes, she's 29MM. I thought that an H-128 would make a nice first flight. One of my friends and fellow TRF'er thinks it needs and I-200, but I think I'll stick to the smaller stuff!

I'm still struggling with delay selection though. This thing is just too 'exotic' to simulate properly in Rocksim. Maybe someone would have ideas on how to do that better. My gut tells me I'll need a short delay with such a draggy design.

You know, it may not be as "draggy" as you think. The original has no problems, so why should an upscale. You didin't change the design. A 4 or 6 second delay should be just about right so the glider can slide off just before ejection. Very nice job so far. Any thoughts of putting in some motors in the "fake" engine tubes?

Upscale OTs are waaaaay cool! I've never taken the time to do it, but there's a guy in my club who has. I've seen him fly it several times. He's had a couple of recovery issues that have been made worse by either the booster or glider landing on asphalt Anyway, here's a couple of pics of it. I don't know much about it other than it's based on a 4" diameter booster with a 38mm MMT. And as he has made repairs, it has flown to lower & lower altitudes. I think now with a Pro38 J330 it struggles to 900 feet. The glider has always performed marvelously though!

Here the owner is carrying it out to the pad (so you can get an idea of its scale)...

And here it is under thrust of a Pro38 J400SS...

(BTW, an anomaly with the exposure time allowed the rocket to be caught in perfect focus yet everything around it is blurred. I love this pic!)

Man, that's lookin' awesome! Great job!

Lance--I love the angle of that picture...It's great!

OK, now that last pic needs to be sent to Nick at EMRR!

That has GOT to be in next years calander!

Or maybe the cover of Sport Rocketry or something!

Could someone play in Photoshop and maybe copy and paste additional exhaust plumes coming out of the ram jets?

That would be EVEN COOLER!!!

That pic is SSSWWWEEEEEETTT!!

It's taken me a good long time, but I finally got the big OT finished up and ready for flight! I could have gotten it done sooner, I was just being lazy. Sometimes it just takes a while to get motivated enough to do something!

First pic shows the finished upscale on my workbench next to the full scale version.

Another angle.

Some dweeb holding both the upscale and fullscale models.

I hope to get some flight pics at next months launch.

Originally posted by asmqajm
Some dweeb holding both the upscale and fullscale models.

I hope to get some flight pics at next months launch.

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Wow. Nice work.

I hope you'll post some flight pics.....

Fantastic work Joe! I'll bet it flys as good as it looks.

You will definitely draw a lot of attention from fellow rocketeers at launches with that upscale! Nice job! You did a great job of documenting the build. I love the build pics - good attention to detail. Nice build! Good luck with the flight(s).

Absolutely beautiful! Wow! I'd love to be there to see it's flight...while perhaps not a totally 'original' upscale as you state - so what - it is impressive and a wonderful change from 3/4FNC that we all typically see & fly at HPR launches.

Great work...keep us posted on it's flight.

the OT has always been one of my favorites since my first one did a cruise missile routine 30-some years ago!

i can't wait to see the launch report/pics!

Fantastic job on the OT. Please post the launch pics after you fly it.

Just to get you excited here is a link to pics of my 3X upscale OT on an I211. The glider is radio controlled. A few other launch photos are mixed in.

https://img178.imageshack.us/gal.php?g=img0144filtered7kx.jpg

click "see full size image" for a larger view. Hit your "back" button to go back.


Kevin Trueblood

Originally posted by War Bird
Fantastic job on the OT. Please post the launch pics after you fly it.

Just to get you excited here is a link to pics of my 3X upscale OT on an I211. The glider is radio controlled. A few other launch photos are mixed in.

https://img178.imageshack.us/gal.php?g=img0144filtered7kx.jpg

click "see full size image" for a larger view. Hit your "back" button to go back.


Kevin Trueblood

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Very kewl warbird - but I gotta ask, what kinda sparky is the Iris flying on? Does not look like a Skidmark Squirrel...maybe an old Silver Streak??

Yep, a silver streak H220. That one was our Tripoli perfect Gary Buck's rocket.

Originally posted by War Bird
Fantastic job on the OT. Please post the launch pics after you fly it.

Just to get you excited here is a link to pics of my 3X upscale OT on an I211. The glider is radio controlled. A few other launch photos are mixed in.

https://img178.imageshack.us/gal.php?g=img0144filtered7kx.jpg

click "see full size image" for a larger view. Hit your "back" button to go back.


Kevin Trueblood

Click to expand...

Sweet! Thanks for the link. Just out of curiousity, what delay did you use?

Mine weighs 9 lbs loaded so it only flys 1000' on the I211. The delay was a medium but motor ejection was the apogee backup charge. I used a perfect flight MAWD for primary recovery. More than 1000' I'm not sure I could see the glider well enough to control it. Although at 2 lbs. the glider flys like a brick.