Nose Cone Suggestion for 6" Dia. Honest John?

If I scaled down from the original rocket plans, the nosecone would be about 7.8" at it's largest diameter and 2+ feet long. If I build the rocket, I would use 6" dia. Blue Tube.

Any thoughts as to how to make, or have custom-made? I've never made a nose cone before, so this probably is way beyond my fiberglassing abilities. Thanks!

-Use a long Coupler tube to insert to airframe and run through middle of nose.
-Internal ring in the airframe for the coupler to stop against.
-Put a 7.8" ring at the widest nose point.
-Glue and stack rings of pink or blue foam (peeled)
-Sand down to your profile.
-Glass over with thickness of your choice
-Optional: Have plywood dividing walls cut to your nose profile that run along the coupler tube and provide kind of a guide for shaping the foam.

If someone wants one and can design one to print in pieces, I might be able to print one.

Nytrunner said:

-Use a long Coupler tube to insert to airframe and run through middle of nose.
-Internal ring in the airframe for the coupler to stop against.
-Put a 7.8" ring at the widest nose point.
-Glue and stack rings of pink or blue foam (peeled)
-Sand down to your profile.
-Glass over with thickness of your choice
-Optional: Have plywood dividing walls cut to your nose profile that run along the coupler tube and provide kind of a guide for shaping the foam.

Click to expand...

Not unlike what I'm building right now with my "Marvin Martian Jr"- the solution was right in front of me all along. Thanks!

Instead of a one-piece cone, you could make it two pieces; a tapered adapter section and the ogive. I believe the original Estes HoJo was done like that

I don't know much about the rocket, other than seeing the name quite often. The nose almost looks as if they did the opposite of a secant ogive. In other words, instead of starting the radius at a tangent point, they started lower so the circle could curve out and then back toward the tip. To get a profile, measure from your 3.9" radius point, and try a circle diameter of 34-3/4" That should taper up about 16" to the point and down about 8" to the BT. I'm not quite up to working out the whole mechanic at the moment, but you might give it a try. would make an interesting profile. Or you could intersect the line where it mates to your 6" tube and see where you end up on length.
You don't need a giant compass. For these really big radii you can latch your tape measure onto something and then line up whatever you want to draw on at the right distance. Hold the tape and a pen and arc your line. Just make sure the end of the tape measure will only touch on one side through the whole arc. You don't want it to seat properly or you will get a weird flat. Hardly noticable, but it'll be there.

Off Grid Gecko said:

I don't know much about the rocket, other than seeing the name quite often.

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Its unique nose shape makes it a popular and challenging scale subject.

It was a tactical ballistic missile of cold war era that could either be nuclear tipped, or carry lots of clustered sub-munitions.

Thanks guys! The Honest John is planning ahead for my 2022 project.

2021 will be a 6" dia. Mercury Redstone. I already created the fins, and bought the capsule nosecone through Boyce Aerospace.

The OD of a 7.5" nose cone is 7.67", nearly perfect scale. You will need 2 nose cones and a length of 6" coupler tube. Cut the shoulder off one cone. Cut off most of the shoulder off the other. Cut off the pointed end where the diameter matches the OD of your main body and make sure the coupler tube fits. Use enough to go from the front nose cone, through the rear nose cone section, and out far enough to act as the nose shoulder. There is plenty of room for your main chute in this 6" coupler tube.
Warning! Blue Tube shrinks over time. Any removable joints containing dissimilar materials including bulkheads will require LOTS of sanding to fit. This applies to both versions, 1.0 and 2.0.

Rocketjunkie said:

The OD of a 7.5" nose cone is 7.67", nearly perfect scale. You will need 2 nose cones and a length of 6" coupler tube. Cut the shoulder off one cone. Cut off most of the shoulder off the other. Cut off the pointed end where the diameter matches the OD of your main body and make sure the coupler tube fits. Use enough to go from the front nose cone, through the rear nose cone section, and out far enough to act as the nose shoulder. There is plenty of room for your main chute in this 6" coupler tube.
Warning! Blue Tube shrinks over time. Any removable joints containing dissimilar materials including bulkheads will require LOTS of sanding to fit. This applies to both versions, 1.0 and 2.0.

Click to expand...

Thanks- this is another possibility that I hadn't considered.