Ok so, first task. Measurements and sims. Kind of difficult without any fins handy. If anyone that has this kit would like to send me some accurate fin measurements and/or a drawing, that'd be much appreciated. As-is, I extrapolated the dimensions by taking a screenshot of the PDF directions, loading it up into Paint, rotating until the fin edge was aligned with the bottom of the frame, and started measuring everything in Paint. Then, I converted those using a conversion factor I calculated based on the difference between the root edge of the JPG, and the measured area where the root edge used to be. Scaled up the fins, carefully measured everything else I have on-hand, et voila:
A standard 12" chute came down a little fast for my liking, so after adding a 15" chute (using my JLCR set to 200' deployment altitude) and a much longer shock cord, I got these results:
I highlighted the ones that are of interest to me. Looks like a B6-4 for a shakedown, and maxing out at a low/slow 630ish on a C6-5.
Of course, since I didn't stick with the factory paint scheme in 1989, no reason to start now:
....although I'm strongly considering something like Duplicolor Inferno Red Metallic.
Looks like I have some work ahead of me, but it shouldn't be too bad. Now that I've found a nosecone, and have some workable fins, the next big hurdle will actually be the decals. I *love* stickershock and I'll be using them for another project soon, but I want to stay true to the original as much as possible. So I'll be printing this on some Testors decal paper:
I know the Red/Black/Gold stripes are out of order (they're Black/Red/Gold on the original)...but that's either easily lived with, or easily changed.
That's actually all for tonight. I'll be measuring and cutting the BT tomorrow, and possibly making the motor mount and starting on the fins.
I should also add that I briefly tossed around the idea of modernizing it a bit. I prefer baffles and pistons where possible, and the small chute packing area made me consider a backwards piston (with the parachute in the cupped end, and the bulkhead directly against the motor mount). I also considered tossing the flat retention spring for my favorite, the Rocketarium 18mm screw-on. However, in the interest of keeping it as close to original as possible, I'll be doing this old-school, and using both traditional wadding/barf as well as a steel retention spring.
