I eventually want to build a 1:150 scale Space Shuttle, in the basic style of the old Estes shuttle with an engine in the external tank and the orbiter as a parasite glider. I'm not feeling brave enough to do the work on that without doing some prototyping first, so I'm putting together a quick version with off-the-shelf parts.
As with so many problems, this one can be solved by kit-bashing a Baby Bertha.
So here's a design for a kinda close 1:200 scale shuttle made from a Baby Bertha kit and a few extra bits.
Surprisingly, the only parts that's not close to scale is the shuttle nose, because Estes doesn't have a lot of good BT-50 nose cones. I could have gotten something better in balsa from eRockets probably, but at some point I got stubborn and decided "Only Estes plastic parts, and standard tube sizes"
I'll use this for working out some basic weight and balance issues, making sure the glider release mechanism is solid, and roughing out the aerodynamics of the glider (can I get away with fixed elevator position? can I get away without adding wing dihedral? etc) Then maybe build a better 1:200 orbiter for launch on the same booster, then think about doing the real scale 1:150 version.
As with so many problems, this one can be solved by kit-bashing a Baby Bertha.
So here's a design for a kinda close 1:200 scale shuttle made from a Baby Bertha kit and a few extra bits.
Surprisingly, the only parts that's not close to scale is the shuttle nose, because Estes doesn't have a lot of good BT-50 nose cones. I could have gotten something better in balsa from eRockets probably, but at some point I got stubborn and decided "Only Estes plastic parts, and standard tube sizes"
I'll use this for working out some basic weight and balance issues, making sure the glider release mechanism is solid, and roughing out the aerodynamics of the glider (can I get away with fixed elevator position? can I get away without adding wing dihedral? etc) Then maybe build a better 1:200 orbiter for launch on the same booster, then think about doing the real scale 1:150 version.