Some LP clones and whatnot for this summer

[novahobbies]

I've had a bug in me to do some clones of old 90's LP rockets I miss launching from when I was a teen, so rather than chase ebay prices (when you can even find 'em), I'm just going to clone them. First up is actually a little older than your standard 90's kit, and has a little bit of a backstory.....
When I was in 5th grade thru the end of 6th, my dad was.....away. Let's not discuss details, but he was away. Coincidentally, that was also the time I got into modeling, and was just starting to get into rocketry.
Fast forward into the summer before 7th grade, and Dad was back. He was eager to reconnect with us as kids, and he was an old modeler as well from when he was a kid, so building a model rocket was a perfect fit.
It was the late 80's, the Hercules was easily available, and as a 2- stage rocket it was the most advanced this little 12 year old had tried. Pre-teen ME was happy to have his dad back, and happy to be building a model with him.
Funny thing is, almost 35 years later, I have clear memories of us building the Hercules.....but I have absolutely no memories of *flying* it. I have no recollection of it being launched. Recently I got a bug to build another. The model is long OOP, but the Super Nova uses the same body tube, nose cone, and payload bay, so it wasn't a huge stretch to download the instructions and fin pattern for the Hercules and clone it.
It's not perfect, but it'll fly. Definitely needs nose weight with those big fins. And flying this feels like a small part of me rebuilding a memory that I lost. Complicated tho my relationship with dad was, I had great memories of other launches later in life.....so I know some part of him will be hanging around to watch this one fly, too.

 

[novahobbies]

Next one up, that's much less along at the moment, is the old Estes Star Rider. It was one of those fun space models that was out around the same time as the Explorer Aquarius. I have an E.A. fully built and flown (my profile pic in fact), but I missed the zippiness of the Star Rider. Thankfully the nose cone is an easy thing to print on a 3d printer, and everything else can be found in the JimZ plans. I've got the fins cut out, and the inner fins glued, and now I'm just waiting for my BT-80 couplers to arrive today so I can make the outer rings. I've heard different stories of if the original rings were true BT80 tubes or if they were couplers, but my particular build with the fin pattern I found, the BT80 is a tiny bit too big. The tiny piece of spare coupler fit perfect though, so I just ordered a pair of those and I'll paper the outside so it doesn't look so rough.

 

[BDB]

I love the Hercules! I only launched mine once as a teen. It few completely out of sight. I assume it’s still orbiting the earth.

 

[loopy]

I still have my Hercules from the '80s! Although I've had to rebuild the booster a couple times, it's still the original fins. Great job!

 

[novahobbies]

I've neglected this thread a little....and to be honest, the models too. Those two midpower kits arbitrarily took center stage, but these two have had some love also. The Star Rider got her inner wings sealed and painted, and the rings glued down this morning. I'll glue the outer fins on and start sealing those tonight.




Right now our weather is so humid. It's taking twice as long to paint anything. So I dare not mess with masking off the black canopy on this until I'm SURE the white is dry.

 

[novahobbies]

I need to paint the red part of the fins, but the Herc is looking decent:

 

[novahobbies]

The outer fins of the Star Rider are on! Thick'n'Quick fillets are drying.

 

[Back_at_it]

The outer fins of the Star Rider are on! Thick'n'Quick fillets are drying.
View attachment 592332

I've wanted to do a Star Rider for years and have never gotten around to it. Nice build.

 

[PDawg]

The outer fins of the Star Rider are on! Thick'n'Quick fillets are drying.
View attachment 592332

Is that the same nosecone as the Spitfire? EDIT- Spitfire has a much shorter Canopy.

 

[allensmith]

The outer fins of the Star Rider are on! Thick'n'Quick fillets are drying.
View attachment 592332

That looks awesome, and that's a good-looking bunch there with it. I have to admit I've been distracted by your display stands. Did you print those or purchase them somewhere?

 

[Sandy H.]

I need to paint the red part of the fins, but the Herc is looking decent:
View attachment 592331

I had one, built it as a kid and never flew it. I still have it! Since I've joined clubs vs. just flying in the back yard, I need to finish it and fly it. A very cool rocket for sure!

 

[novahobbies]

That looks awesome, and that's a good-looking bunch there with it. I have to admit I've been distracted by your display stands. Did you print those or purchase them somewhere?

I found them on thingiverse and printed them on my Neptune Max. The one I like most (straight up) I needed to modify because I didn't see a nice 24mm or 29mm version so I just changed them in Meshmixer. Easypeasy.

 

[novahobbies]

One more step for Star Rider! I need to get the decals sorted. Sadly it seems like Stickershock doesn't make them for the OG size. I'll just redraw them myself.

 

[novahobbies]

Decals for the SDI and the Star Rider! I printed extra of the Star Rider because I want my red and blue panels for the BT-80 rings to go all the way around, not just the two sides. I haven't done much construction on the SDI Interceptor yet, just marked the BT and glued all the upper pods, and printed the nose cone parts. I'll be cutting fins later this week.

 

[BABAR]

I've neglected this thread a little....and to be honest, the models too. Those two midpower kits arbitrarily took center stage, but these two have had some love also. The Star Rider got her inner wings sealed and painted, and the rings glued down this morning. I'll glue the outer fins on and start sealing those tonight.
View attachment 592275
View attachment 592276
View attachment 592277

Right now our weather is so humid. It's taking twice as long to paint anything. So I dare not mess with masking off the black canopy on this until I'm SURE the white is dry.

Looks great.

Given you prepainted the insides of the rings, is there paint in the pylon-ring joint?

 

[novahobbies]

Looks great.

Given you prepainted the insides of the rings, is there paint in the pylon-ring joint?

Little strips of tape kept that from happening. Doesn't even need to be as wide as the actual joint, just SOMETHING to keep some bare paper-to-wood on the glue joint. I barely remembered that being an issue when I was a kid. Built it completely, and THEN painted, so the inner fins didn't get sanding sealer, and the ring interiors did not get a solid coat of paint.

 

[novahobbies]

This fell off the build desk for WAY too long, but I finally got a wild hair to cut the fins for the SDI clone last night. Glued them on today, along with the solar panels...it's finally starting to look like an SDI Satellite!


It's silly but I might just put epoxy filets on the lower fins. I remember them being really prone to cracking. Something about the leading edge chord length in relation to the root chord, I'd bet.

 

[bjphoenix]

Cloning old designs is a lot of fun, I've cloned quite a few designs that I always liked. This also allows you to scale a design up or down to better suit the size rockets you like to launch.

 

[BDB]

This fell off the build desk for WAY too long, but I finally got a wild hair to cut the fins for the SDI clone last night. Glued them on today, along with the solar panels...it's finally starting to look like an SDI Satellite!
View attachment 631173

It's silly but I might just put epoxy filets on the lower fins. I remember them being really prone to cracking. Something about the leading edge chord length in relation to the root chord, I'd bet.

Is that a 3D printed nosecone for the SDI/

 

[novahobbies]

Is that a 3D printed nosecone for the SDI/

Yes, in pla+. I tried printing it in resin (much smoother detail) but it was much heavier than I'd like, so I chose pla+ with 10% infill.
I printed a second one so I can clone a Geosat later down the road, but other than cutting tubes and printing the geosat nose cones, etc, I haven't started that. Too many other things that I'd rather do first.

 

[novahobbies]

Ha! So...funny story:
I was snooping around online this morning, looking for some reference to some of the Star Rider decal placement (there are a couple decals on the film that you don't see in any of the finished model pics) when I came across a comment on Ye Olde Rocket Forum that made me laugh.
Ya see, when I cut my ring fins from the BT-80 tube, I discovered that it did not match the internal fins. The tube was too big, just by a hair! But.....if I used a BT80 COUPLER, it fit perfectly. Naturally I figured I'd just messed up my cuts on my fins. I just shrugged, wrote it off as a no biggie, and actually used both (bonded the coupler to the bt80 to make ever so slightly thicker rings). But then I came across this:


The original rings were apparently NOT BT80 tubes like I thought, after all! It was always supposed to be a coupler. Ha! Guess I'm not half as stupid as I am dumb!

 

[novahobbies]

A little bit more on the SDI tonight. Going to have to wait a few days for the white to cure before I do the silver on the bottom fins, tho. Rustoleum gloss, so.....yeah. A few days at least.

 

[Bluegrass Rocket]

The Star Rider rings, like those on the Manta Bomber, were coupler tubes. Back then the 1” long coupler rings were made the same as regular tubes, with an outer glassine wrap. Which is why they looked like body tubes. Nice build.

 

[BDB]

Yes, in pla+. I tried printing it in resin (much smoother detail) but it was much heavier than I'd like, so I chose pla+ with 10% infill.
I printed a second one so I can clone a Geosat later down the road, but other than cutting tubes and printing the geosat nose cones, etc, I haven't started that. Too many other things that I'd rather do first.

That's fantastic! I hunted and finally found SDI and Geosat kits with the intention of 3D scanning the "satellites." Are the files available? If not, I'll get around to it someday.

 

[novahobbies]

Well that didn't take long at all! After nearly 9 months, I'm finally calling the Star Rider & the SDI Satellite done and ready for flight. The SDI has a TEENY bit of paint work left, but let's just say it's done enough for pictures. Let's start with the Star Rider. As I'd mentioned above, I printed the S.R. decals as a double, because I wanted the blue and red ring decals to go all the way around, and not just the sides. I prefer this look. Makes it look like the rings are some kind of FTL propulsion.


The SDI Satellite was more or less a straight stock clone, with no modifications. No decal changes were made, but a couple placement locations were modified. It's a really weird bird but one I am absolutely happy to have back in the flight queue after all these years. 14 yo me would be VERY happy for this model. 47 year old me is looking with a critical eye at a couple paint runs that happened, but then again, 47 year old me chose to put those 2 paint runs on the "underside" of the ship, so they won't get noticed as much from the top.



And there you have it. I should take some pics of this next to the Explorer Aquarius. Looking forward to the flights!

 

[novahobbies]

Took a few more photos of the SDI Satellite after I did a little painting updates and some decal additions.