swatkat
Down these mean skies, a kat must fly!
With all the rainy weather and lack of any high power launches this year for Northern California (last one was Dec. 2018) I've had a LOT of time to build some high power birds. Hoping to have TEN new high power vehicles ready for next weekend's LUNAR launch. Steve has a few new kits and these new 54mm ones are MUCH thinner fiberglass than my prior Portia build, but more on that later. These latest ones also include Steve's Newest and AMAZING aluminum tipped nose cones. These have quite a bit more aluminum in the tip and are snap in. The nose cones themselves are also nicely finished. Photos in the build below. The newest kits also come with a small shim adapter with the motor mount tube, as these are also the new thin-wall and need just a little more OD to fit Aeropack retainers. (which is what I used). So... photos and build below!
After Washing in Dawn and letting things dry out, the total weight of the kit minus recovery and retention/electronics was just over 36OZ! The shoulder on the nose cone is also removable, I just left it in for these photos. More on that later. For comparison, my Portia at this stage was close to 63 Oz. but that also included recovery. I'm estimating that this kit will be a full pound lighter when completed. (73.2 Oz finish weight on the Portia) I'll call this one around 56-58 Oz. Fit and finish was impeccable with every fin tab sliding right in firmly and every coupler having just the right amount of resistance!
