Viking 7 Sounding Rocket.

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gna

average joe-overbuild member
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While reading about the early days of the V2 at White Sands, I learned about the Viking Rockets. I especially like the elegant looks of the early Vikings, so I've decided to build one. I have a big piece of BT-55 left over from a different project, and stumbled on a bunch of balsa nosecones in the clearance box at my local hobby shop.

The early Viking rockets were very narrow, only 32" in diameter:

300px-Viking_rocket_scheme.jpg


So if I divide that by 1.33" (BT-55 size), I get 24.060, so close enough to 1/24 scale. By happy accident, that is also the scale of the Estes V2 kit, so it would be possible to have a White Sands stable. The later Vikings scale out somewhere between 1/33 and 1/34 scale in BT-55 tubing.

While looking for info, I stumbled across this site: https://www.nielspapermodels.com/vik7.htm , which builds into a 1/96 scale rocket, so enlarging by 4 times should help me scale my rocket out.
I also found https://www.postwarv2.com/viking/viking.html, which has a many pictures as well as some larger models.

I developed an Open Rocket file on the Viking 7:

It looks good, but I'm thinking I'll cut the fin tabs separately and glue them so they don't break off.

View attachment viking 7 Sounding Rocket.ork
 
I have always liked the Viking 7 series. Did some sketches for a Viking 7 at 5.5" in diameter a long time ago. Recently picked up the Rocketarium Viking 7 kit as well. The Rocketarium kit is 1.64"/BT-60 in diameter.

That paper model of the Viking 7 is quite nice and I downloaded it a while back.

I also recommend the book "The Viking Story" by M. W. Rosen, if you can find a copy of it. Old and pretty rare these days.
 
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I always liked the design of the Viking with the triangular fins. In the 1950's there were a lot of movie clips on TV showing this rocket taking off. At LDRS 17 a UROC member, Fred Williams, used a Viking scale model for his L2 certification. I think it was a hybrid motor.

Viking 2 LDRS 17.jpg
 
I have always liked the Viking 7 series. Did some sketches for a Viking 7 at 5.5" in diameter a long time ago. Recently picked up the Rocketarium Viking 7 kit as well. The Rocketarium kit is 1.64"/BT-60 in diameter.

That paper model of the Viking 7 is quite nice and I downloaded it a while back.

I also recommend the book "The Viking Story" by M. W. Rosen, if you can find a copy of it. Old and pretty rare these days.

Aren't those paper models great? And he has many of them, including Viking and Vanguard models.

I found a sample of it on-line while I was Googling. Looks like a good read. Unfortunately, my library doesn't have it, it's out of print, and not cheap used. I'll keep looking, though.
 
I always liked the design of the Viking with the triangular fins. In the 1950's there were a lot of movie clips on TV showing this rocket taking off. At LDRS 17 a UROC member, Fred Williams, used a Viking scale model for his L2 certification. I think it was a hybrid motor.

The other nose cone I found is conical; I'm working on the triangular fin design, too. I'll post it when I get it done. The nose cone I found is a bit long, though.
 
I found a few more items of interest:

Here's a plan by G. Harry Stine for what looks like a BT-20 sized Viking. He includes the conduits, which I didn't bother with, mostly because I couldn't figure how to model them in Open Rocket:

View attachment VIKING_106.pdf

I tried to draw up a plan for the later, pointy finned Vikings:

View attachment Viking 9.ork

I don't know if that nosecone is available, though. To build in the same 1/24 scale it would need to be about 1.875", and I don't think there's a body tube that size.

The nosecone I have is 5.5" long, which isn't right for the Vikings, per se, but it is close to Viking 13, which was better know as Vanguard TV-0:

View attachment Vanguard TV-0.ork

I also thought it would be possible to buy a Partizon from Estes, cut new fins, and shorten a body tube and make a 2.5" Viking:

View attachment Estes Partizon(2)viking.ork
 
[video=youtube;ZW66W4sH7kA]https://youtu.be/ZW66W4sH7kA[/video]

Looks like the thrust is gimballed.

Here's video of Viking 4, launched from the USS Norton Sound on 11 May 1950. I have no idea what the hell this video is going on about:

[video=youtube;XOpXq2T__SU]https://youtu.be/XOpXq2T__SU[/video]
 
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Some footage at 0:30 sec and beyond:
[video=youtube;cv5pSolosQw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cv5pSolosQw[/video]

and here at 8:00 min and beyond:
[video=youtube;UaaHDtDjIHs]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaaHDtDjIHs[/video]
 
short segment at 10:20 min:
[video=youtube;9YyOwV30sIE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YyOwV30sIE[/video]
 
Launch at 8:14 min and some footage afterwards:
[video=youtube;ClQBYAOLZ_A]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClQBYAOLZ_A[/video]
 
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I finished designing and 3D printing parts (BT-55) of the Viking 10.
NASA_Hawk_1.jpg

NASA_Hawk_2.jpg

The nose cone was a bit of a challenge as it isn't just a normal conical shape. Looking at the pictures it seems to have a bulge which I tried to get into the design as accurate as possible.

Only thing I need to do is make a conduit going from the nose cone to the fin unit.
 
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Leo--
Are those parts available from Shapeways, or another 3D printing service?
 
No, they are not. Do you have a 3D printer?
Sadly, no. A friend's nephew has done some 3D printing for him; not sure if he has a printer or has access to one through school or work. I'll ask.
 
Leo-
Would you consider printing these parts for others? Your Viking looks amazing.
 
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