My first Nike Smoke build.

After very (im)patiently waiting for my package to arrive via UPS, I very quickly ripped open the box and dry fitted the parts to get a glimpse of this awesome rocket. I had some extra tubing sitting around, which means I couldn't resist adding it on top for a few seconds just to carry a huge rocket around the house until I was tired of hitting the ceiling with the nose cone..

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SuperSmoke! :bangbang:

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To start off, I measured the alignment of the centering rings for the motor mount tube. Decided to use the fins to trace the placement of the center-centering ring since its placement needed to be exact otherwise I'd have a bad day tomorrow when I attempt to attach the fins.

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While the epoxy (unnecessary I am aware, but quite pleased with how all this practice is making me comfortable with using it) was in the leathery stage, I pushed in the fins to make an indent in the fillets around the tabbed centering ring that holds the fins.

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When the motor assembly was dry enough, I prepared the surfaces to be bonded and slid it in and epoxied it in place. I'll put some epoxy down on top centering ring tomorrow when everything is dry, and I need to tape two dowel rods together to reach down to the ring.

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After setting aside the airframe to finish drying, I turned my attention to the fins. The instructions asked for CA, and I recall reading somewhere recently that someone thought the type of plastic used didn't take CA well. So I opted to use a (very) small amount of epoxy after roughening up the inside of the plastic fins.

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They were then pressed together and any excess that squeezed out was dealt with like the problems of a drunk, some alcohol. I just wiped if off with some isopropyl alcohol, and then pinched the edges together to get rid of the gap between the two halves. A little sanding before primer and she'll be at her prime!

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And that is all that I have done so far on my first ever Nike Smoke, I can already tell this won't be by any means be my last. More to come, and feel free to make requests/suggestions on what you'd like to see in the build thread. (more pictures or less, it's up to you) I'd welcome any feedback on my building methods, as I aim to only improve. Cheers!
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JumpJet said:

I would use the fancy cloths Pins on the through the wall tab section as well to hold that error together.

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Yes, that would have been a good idea! In the process of getting the fins to fit onto the centering ring, I had to slide my hobby knife through the tab insides to be able to push them flush together. Learning done now will save me later..!

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Today I finished moving all my building supplies into a room that was cleared out. I'm much happier having a dedicated building space where I can have everything on hand, instead of searching through drawers for what I need. I might or might not have brought some rockets in for decoration and they might or might not have been "flown" in my hand with lots of unnecessary whooshing notices. (mental smoke trails optional!)

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The fins were finally put into their final resting places. I marked off which fins were attached, since I had all four sitting in their slots and didn't wish to pull one out just to find epoxy strings all over my body tube.

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After they were attached, I began masking off for the fillets. I used the tongue depressor/over-sized popsicle stick, which I would use to pull the fillets, as a guide for the width of the gap between the fin and the masking. Because of the tapering of the Nike style fins, I had to have the masking curve as well. I made a few marks in pencil using the width of the shaping tool at critical points along the fin to have an outline of the shape and then laid the tape down accordingly.

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Above you can see the central part of the masking and the pencil marks used for the leading and trailing edge tapers. Below is the final masking for the set of fillets to be completed at the time. Because of my ability to always mix too much epoxy, I masked off another rocket that also needed fillets, which was to be completed at the same time. I did all the masking after mixing the epoxy, giving it enough time to cure slightly and be a nice consistency to work with and not droop too much off the edges of the fins after application. Not pictured is the fact that I also masked off the area around the leading and trailing edges of the fins. Can't have the epoxy going crazy on me now..

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Here is a broad view of my workspace after masking. I thought the masking on the scion was interesting enough to be worth a cameo appearance in this thread.

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Here's a shot of the epoxy applied and still giving me some annoying bubbles. While doing the masking and letting the epoxy harden up I always try to spread it out thin in hopes of avoiding this. After letting the epoxy set a little, I'll pop the bubbles with the tip of my knife and then run a finger dripping in isopropyl over the fillet a few times to smooth out the dent.

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After pealing back the tape and revealing the super clean lines left behind, I used an alcohol soaked finger to round off the leading and trailing edges, which had square outlines thanks to the masking tape.

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I am rather proud of this leading edge fillet, so naturally I felt the need to post it here. I'm getting really confident with making these, finally!

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While the epoxy was left to complete its curing process, I sanded my nose cone's primer smooth and took it into the yard for a first coat of base color. Tried a different technique for spraying and I think it came out smoother. Always a work in progress. The mold lines were easily removed from this cone (thankfully), so after just a few coats it's already looking really good! I intend to get some model paint with a fine brush and color the bolts on the little access panels silver.

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And here is how she sits for the close of the day, Launch lugs attached, fins attached and filleted, and nose cone still drying. I have all the paint that I'll need to complete the build, even some silver for the tip of the cone. I will wait to attach the motor retainer to the mmt till after the rocket is painted. Its easier to mask off the exposed part of the mmt than the irregularly shaped retainer.

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As for recovery, I intend to use the supplied parachute. But have been considering adding a shelf or baffle to support the laundry. Perhaps also a chute protector. I really don't want to be throwing in 16ish wads of paper every time I go to launch. If I use a baffle I'd make it removable using non-shear screws so I can access the area below it for any reason that arises.

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