Going for the one.....Fliskits Mako Build

[Astro-Baby]

Next up the transition cone was added - a bit of glue on the blue tube coupler - the book says to fit it and then put a smear of white glue round the upper section (narrow bit) but I like to over enginner everything so I marked out where the upper part of the cone would be and put some glue on the tube so that as the cone went into position the glue would be underneath - I also added a white glue band on the outside.

If you do the glue underneath thing make damn sure the cone will fit perfectly on the lower part first or it will be tears before bedtime. Heres the cone in place.

 

[Astro-Baby]

Next up was the cut the fins out using the paper template. These were then sanded to the final shape with knife edges front and rear (at least part knife edges), filled and sanded, filled and sanded again. Each fin was matched agaisnt the paper template while sanding to get it as good as was possible (which if I say so myself was pretty good).

I used basswood instead of the supplied balsa - my feeling was such long, relatively thin fins might be at risk from a rough landing and again I always build over the top.

The finished fin is laid to rest on a nice book cover - its a novel by VG Lee - I saw her give a reading in the morning ans she was very funny, bittersweet and tender and I could do no less than buy a book of hers at the reading - patron of the arts, scientist, mother - no end to my talents it seems - wish I could get a good finsih on a rocket though - thats one that eluding me right now

 

[Astro-Baby]

Time to gum some fins onto the main tube - this turned out to be easier than I had thought but it also had its challenges. The upside is that with the paper scoops and their bases cut accurately the fins are supported so I didn't need any Prof. Brainstawm 2 cent jigs - the down side was that the scoops, although they looked good and accurate at the time were in fact slightly out of kilter which meant the fins sont quite perfectly align on either side of the rocket. Its barely noticeable unless you look for it - I think if I were building again I might do the fins firts and laye the scoops over them - maybe that would work.

I also found that the slightly fatter basswood replete with filler tended to be a bit bigger than the balsa stock and as a result the super accurate cut out had to be widened a little bit with some small scissors.

I also used a ruler to make sure each fin was correct with respect to front/back position in case any oif the scoops were slightly out with this respect.

It all sounds a bit hellish but in fact with a bit of patience, lots of tea and chill it all came together pretty well. Maybe not as well as I would have liked but at the end of the day the thing will end up in the rocket eating tree sooner or later so no point being upset cos a fin is slightly mis aligned. (thats me getting a bit of perspective in here )

The odd shape of the bird also made a fin jig hard work - in the end I just rested it over the end of a table and used a pair of Ikea table condiment holders to keep the nose down - the Ikea salt and pepper mills by the way are utterly useless - $100 a piece for some stylish looking tabelware thats dreadful - cant grind pepper with it (or salt) worst designed products in the history of the world but I just couldnt face the thought iof another trip to the Ikea mouse maze - I have no idea what their US stores are like but their UK ones are like some kind of intelligence test designed by a sadist with a vested interet in proving you stupid. A totally hellish experience - I would rather walk across Antarctica barefoot with an anvil on my back than face another trip to Ikea and their weird shop.

 

[Astro-Baby]

Next up the transition cone was give a zap of superglue to make the card a bit firmer - its quite a fragile thing - and then given a hit of filler at the join lines. As things turned out the decals covers any joins anyway but also I could not seem to lose the seam along the transition cones join line. In the end I just decided to accept it rather than risk overdoing it and causing a worse problem.

 

[Astro-Baby]

And finally the launch lug was added. The instructions ay to place this along the join line of one of the scoops but what with all the filler I had added (and sanded down) I wasnt altogether sure the glue would hold well againts filler and opeted for putting the lug dead centre between the scoops. Its worked ok on other rockets so I couldnt see any issues here. Once dry it was given some fillets of glue and later some filler to fair it in a bit better.

 

[Astro-Baby]

Finally the bird was given some sanding over several days - I like to work slowly like that to make sure I pick up on any issues. Then given a hit of grey automotive primer. The nose cone was done seperately with some white enamel. Heres some pics of the whole thing....

 

[Astro-Baby]

A bit more rubbing down once the primer had dried and shown up some defects, another shot of primer and finally the first coat. The color scheme is supposed to be a ghost greay which I couldnt source so I went for a Ford White which is a slightly offwhite - it would (in theory) contrast with the pure white of the nose cone. As things turned out the main body is not really greay enough - certainly not enough for the camera to detect. It still looked pretty good when completed as you will see.

 

[Astro-Baby]

Finally transfers were added...

 

[Astro-Baby]

The transfers were great but there is a small flaw in the transfer sheet and instructions - the pic below marks out the ones that are not quite right (tch tch Jim ) the lower transfer SHOULD read Propulsion Section and the upper one should read Guidance Section - but in fact they are the wriong way round on the sheet. With my poor eyesight I didndt notice until my smart ass youngest pointed it out. Its hardly a disaster but the obsessive should be aware. At the end of the day ITS A MODEL - no airforce techy is going to get blown up or electrocuted. Oddly thats what my youngest wants to do - be an airforce weapons tech so maybe he has chosen the right carre as he was so quick to spot it

Worse I screwed up - I put the transfers on with the bird standing vertically and rotated it - so the trasfers read correctly as the rocket rolls round - as this is a weapon the trasfers should read right with the bird laying on its side from both sides of the bird so I managed to screw it up as well - DOH !!!

It still looks good though and from 1000' away who will ever know

The ones that are wrong on the trasfer sheet are highlighted below.

 

[Astro-Baby]

After all the decals/transfers were added the bird was given three light hits of satin acrylic clearcoat. I wanted it to be a bit more matt in finish than my other rockets. And here is the finished rocket - it came out pretty good I thought. Maybe not as good as some could do but I was pleased with it.

 

[Astro-Baby]

And finally the Mako with my other Fliskits bird...Thunderbird....Mako was perhaps not quite as challenging as Thunderbird but none the less quite a challenge to get it looking good. Its no 'build it in a day' job for sure so you get a lot of build fun for the buck with this one. Its fun to build, challenging without being near impossible and/or frustrating and the finished kit does look rather fine.

Verdict - Well worth a build and I have enjoyed the kit a lot, its challenging but fun and a bit different from anything else I have built so far. A great way to hone those paper folding skills and and a good transition between something dead easy and something a lot more awkward.

As soon as we get a launch I will post a video of it.



I am off to start work on my Fliskits Cheetah now - byeeeeeeee

 

[sodmeister]

Beautiful work ,as usual !

The Mako is a very handsome looking kit, one I must add to my fleet.

The plackards and their placement would not bother me at all ,who`s going to notice :wink:

I must add, the Mako sitting next to your wonderful Thunderbird(another superb job on your part) is very impressive indeed !

Mr. Jim will be pleased ,as should you :handshake:

Cheers


Paul T

 

[Marc_G]

Beautiful, precise work, with great documentation. I always enjoy your threads and look forward to the next one.

Interesting that you went with basswood on the fins... I did exactly the same thing when I built my Fliskits Praetor. My skills at the time (and likely now as well) weren't up to getting the bevel I wanted uniformly on balsa, while on basswood it's considerably easier.

Looking forward to flight reports!

Marc

 

[Astro-Baby]

Thanks guys...in the flesh they look less perfect by far (the camera DOES lie ) but I am happy with them. Marc I too have problems with balsa - When I built a few balsa planes it kind of worked out ok but I find sanding balsa a real headache, it either splits badly or I take too much off - I have had a fair bit of practice but I just cant seem to get the knack with it so mostly swap balsa for basswood on stuff these days.

I havent yet perfected getting basswood silky smooth - its close on Mako but still has some flaws so more work on my part needed there - the next build from a kit wil probably be a Sirius Deimos but I really want to get my home brew Rhine Maiden done firts - problem is its alwasy easier to order a kit than it is to do the skull work on making up drawings for something - oddly Mako uses almost execatly how I planned thge Rhine Maiden - with two (or maybe three Mako kits I could put the home brew together but that would be an expensive way of buying parts

Sighs - so much to build - so little time to do it all in.

I'd love to do the Richter Recker but I have no space to store such a large bird plus I would need extra launching gear and its all a struggle to find spavce when you live in a tiny flat.

 

[Madison Alum]

Two really great looking rockets! Fliskits does have a lot of really cool kits. Looking forward to you picking up on the Rhine Maiden.

 

[jflis]

Man you did a fine job on the MAKO and that Thunderbird is simply beautiful!

Great job!

 

[Astro-Baby]

Sorry - not been around much as I have been on holiday to Crete (I go to Greece every year).

We finally got to launch Mako a few days ago on Estes C11-5 motors...I will get a video up as soon as I have time.

Weather conditions were fine, overcast with the odd gust of wind at about 4mph. First launch she went up straight as an arrow. Very hard to estimate height as she went vertical over the top of us. At apogee I would swear she sat on her tail and came down tail first prior to ejection. It was hard to be sure but thats what it looked like to me. The bird seemed to decelerate and fall backwards. Maybe the motor just died but it seemed ok on inspection afterwards - all the powder had burnt out of it for sure.

Second launch she went up straight as a die again. Despite the wind gusting up. I wondered if the scoops acted as a kind of stabiliser to cancel out its big fins. On the second flight she clearly nosed over prior to ejection. Chute failed to open (got tangled) and she fell probably a few hundred feet straight onto the desk but lucky for me we fly off a field with a lot of long grass and she went straight into some very long grass which broke the fall nicely. Small bit of damage to one of the scoops but no big deal.

A really great flyer though and really looked like a missile due to the perfectly straight flight.

 

[TopRamen]

Very nice! Good write up too.

 

[Marc_G]

I've noticed the backslide effect with my BlueBird Zero on a C11-3. Looks kinda cool!

 

[Astro-Baby]

Here's our first launch of Mako earlier this year.

[video=youtube_share;7QYJeOzuPqs]https://youtu.be/7QYJeOzuPqs[/video]

 

[gdjsky01]

Love it. The music is perfect.

 

[jflis]

Very nice! The MAKO has become one of my fav designs

 

[Daddyisabar]

As Austin Powers would say "That's Groovy Baby!"

 

[boomtube]

I’ve flown this kit using an Aerotech 24/60 F35W reload and it flew great. Didn’t even need to add any nose weight.

To do the above you will need a really big field, good spotters and a locator device wouldn’t be out of line.

I cut a small segment of BT 70 coupler and used it to reinforce the rear of the rocket. This along with the fins being well forward of the end of the tube allows you to use smaller chutes than you would otherwise use for a rocket of this size/weight.