I didn't want to hijack the other BT-60 Nike Smoke thread, so here we are!
I feel I should apologize to Jump Jet and others since I have already deviated from the kit as packaged, so this will not be an "honest" build of the new kit (if anything I'm just making it more complicated! ). The kit as designed is great and will build up into a very nice rocket. The mods I'm doing come only from a desire to add some extra scale detail and to fly larger motors. I will most likely build another one "out of the bag" (with a different paint scheme) for smaller fields.
I want to do something different than the usual white with red and yellow fins, so I'm going with the OD green like the round in the pic. I have only ever seen two pics of a Smoke in OD green, this one and another one of the same round (that I now can't find for the life of me). Neither one is clear enough to see the stencils on the motor or any close detail of the fin can, but there is a ton of info on Nike fins, so no problem there, and I'll just go with the typical Nike stencils placed in a position that looks something like the pic. This isn't intended to be a competition level scale model by any means, but I do get a little too geeky about scale details sometimes!
The other thing I noticed on the round in the pic is that it used the smaller fins (2.0 sq. ft.) than the ones provided in the kit (2.75 sq. ft.). Again, there is plenty of info on Nike fins, so no problem. I was considering going with built-up fins anyway, and a quick Rocksim cook up shows that it will have a good stability margin even with no nose weight, though I will most likely add a bit just to be safe.
Here are a few pics of what I have done so far.
I went with a 24mm motor mount and extended it a bit to allow longer motors to be used. The extra centering rings are just paranoia...
Through the wall fins will make it a bit easier to add details to the fin can area and everything can be painted before the fins are attached, so I went that way. Might make it a bit more rugged as well, I reckon.
I added scale weld lines to the tube using thread glued on with thin CA, then wiped with medium CA to make a tiny fillet. Right now it looks like, well, thread glued to the tube, but when painted it makes a convincing weld line.
I got a LOT of good ideas on the other Smoke thread on ways to do the bare metal fins (Thanks guys...). Not sure which way I'll go yet, but I'll probably do some tests and see which gives the best result.
Thanks for looking!
Mike
I feel I should apologize to Jump Jet and others since I have already deviated from the kit as packaged, so this will not be an "honest" build of the new kit (if anything I'm just making it more complicated! ). The kit as designed is great and will build up into a very nice rocket. The mods I'm doing come only from a desire to add some extra scale detail and to fly larger motors. I will most likely build another one "out of the bag" (with a different paint scheme) for smaller fields.
I want to do something different than the usual white with red and yellow fins, so I'm going with the OD green like the round in the pic. I have only ever seen two pics of a Smoke in OD green, this one and another one of the same round (that I now can't find for the life of me). Neither one is clear enough to see the stencils on the motor or any close detail of the fin can, but there is a ton of info on Nike fins, so no problem there, and I'll just go with the typical Nike stencils placed in a position that looks something like the pic. This isn't intended to be a competition level scale model by any means, but I do get a little too geeky about scale details sometimes!
The other thing I noticed on the round in the pic is that it used the smaller fins (2.0 sq. ft.) than the ones provided in the kit (2.75 sq. ft.). Again, there is plenty of info on Nike fins, so no problem. I was considering going with built-up fins anyway, and a quick Rocksim cook up shows that it will have a good stability margin even with no nose weight, though I will most likely add a bit just to be safe.
Here are a few pics of what I have done so far.
I went with a 24mm motor mount and extended it a bit to allow longer motors to be used. The extra centering rings are just paranoia...
Through the wall fins will make it a bit easier to add details to the fin can area and everything can be painted before the fins are attached, so I went that way. Might make it a bit more rugged as well, I reckon.
I added scale weld lines to the tube using thread glued on with thin CA, then wiped with medium CA to make a tiny fillet. Right now it looks like, well, thread glued to the tube, but when painted it makes a convincing weld line.
I got a LOT of good ideas on the other Smoke thread on ways to do the bare metal fins (Thanks guys...). Not sure which way I'll go yet, but I'll probably do some tests and see which gives the best result.
Thanks for looking!
Mike