Flyfalcons
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Thanks to this thread about the Leviathan, and the following comment from Rich Harshberger.......
......my barely-creative juices started flowing. I have a couple Scion kits, and have decided to dedicate one of them to a kitbash into a Patriot. Because the kit wasn't meant to have a super scale nose cone for an unrelated missile, nor boat tail or anything of the sort, I figured a fun way to do this would be to just get the point across with a fun scale Patriot. I've had a ton of fun with my Estes BT-60 based Patriot, seriously it's one of my all-time favorites to bring to the field, that the decision was made to take measurements off that kit and do a fun scale upscale of the Estes. I even worked with Stickershock to modify their Patriot vinyl package to be less scale and imitate the Estes decals. So that should be fun! You guys get the idea - if someone comes up to me and says "Hey your Patriot isn't very scale", I get to say, "Yep, but you know that it's a Patriot which is good enough for me!"
For Leviathan owners who want to do the conversion (though with them now OOP it would be a gutsy move), you're in luck too. I started my plans for the Patriot based on an Open Rocket file for the Leviathan, so the precut tube slots should work perfectly with the fins I drew. The only mod I did besides the fins was to cut the lower body tube by 1", and this caused me to move the upper motor mount centering ring down just a little to help keep the tube coupler centered between the two body tubes.
The OR file shows the design as stable even with an H128W, however, it looks like the original designer of the Leviathan file that I started with had the weight of the nose at something like 7 ounces. So I'll have to play with that some, based on what my cone actually weighs. I have a feeling we'll see some BBs and epoxy finding their way into my nose cone before this thing flies. Additionally, I am planning on using rail buttons instead of the launch lugs in the file (and in the kit), and some sort of upgraded shock cord anchoring (eye bolt, kevlar, etc) to get experience before building something more in the L1-L2 size range (yes I have the kit picked out for that one). Keeping this one simple, no avionics bay, but I'll drill some holes for an altimeter or to use a Chute Release.
My plan is to mostly fly this with mid power as designed, but I am hoping given the right field and flying conditions to put an H in there and get an L1 certification. Build is going to be off to a slow start since I have a short vacation starting tomorrow, and a work trip the day after I get home. I am excited though, to get started on this as soon as time allows.
View attachment Estes Scion to Patriot.ork
Its also a great starting point for several upscales, or a ProSeries Patriot Missle (same nose cone, or close enough). All the PSII kits are can be kitbashed easily into something else, like a Partizon to a Cherokee-D.
......my barely-creative juices started flowing. I have a couple Scion kits, and have decided to dedicate one of them to a kitbash into a Patriot. Because the kit wasn't meant to have a super scale nose cone for an unrelated missile, nor boat tail or anything of the sort, I figured a fun way to do this would be to just get the point across with a fun scale Patriot. I've had a ton of fun with my Estes BT-60 based Patriot, seriously it's one of my all-time favorites to bring to the field, that the decision was made to take measurements off that kit and do a fun scale upscale of the Estes. I even worked with Stickershock to modify their Patriot vinyl package to be less scale and imitate the Estes decals. So that should be fun! You guys get the idea - if someone comes up to me and says "Hey your Patriot isn't very scale", I get to say, "Yep, but you know that it's a Patriot which is good enough for me!"
For Leviathan owners who want to do the conversion (though with them now OOP it would be a gutsy move), you're in luck too. I started my plans for the Patriot based on an Open Rocket file for the Leviathan, so the precut tube slots should work perfectly with the fins I drew. The only mod I did besides the fins was to cut the lower body tube by 1", and this caused me to move the upper motor mount centering ring down just a little to help keep the tube coupler centered between the two body tubes.
The OR file shows the design as stable even with an H128W, however, it looks like the original designer of the Leviathan file that I started with had the weight of the nose at something like 7 ounces. So I'll have to play with that some, based on what my cone actually weighs. I have a feeling we'll see some BBs and epoxy finding their way into my nose cone before this thing flies. Additionally, I am planning on using rail buttons instead of the launch lugs in the file (and in the kit), and some sort of upgraded shock cord anchoring (eye bolt, kevlar, etc) to get experience before building something more in the L1-L2 size range (yes I have the kit picked out for that one). Keeping this one simple, no avionics bay, but I'll drill some holes for an altimeter or to use a Chute Release.
My plan is to mostly fly this with mid power as designed, but I am hoping given the right field and flying conditions to put an H in there and get an L1 certification. Build is going to be off to a slow start since I have a short vacation starting tomorrow, and a work trip the day after I get home. I am excited though, to get started on this as soon as time allows.
View attachment Estes Scion to Patriot.ork