ACME Spitfire Upscale

[scm86]

wow, very nice, i dont know that ive ever seen a metallic finish that smooth.

Scott McNeely

 

[bsexton]

Truly outstanding and thanks for all of the pictures!

 

[Justin]

That is one of the coolest upscales I've ever seen. I can't wait to see it painted. I want an Acme now!

 

[Stymye]

wow,great detail work ..very inspiring!

 

[g_boxwood]

Ok guys I decided to cut loose and left outside the last building touches prior to her maiden flight that took place yesterday (sunday) on an AT I195J-S...

She wobbled a bit as she cleared the 12' rod (super-safe side) but she suddenly straightened up to a guesstimated apogee of around 600'. I wasn't sure about the delay but I went short because of the draggy aerodinamic and because of the final weight: the airframe was around 2.6 lb without motor while the finished nosecone was 3.5 lb all by herself !!! recovery was via a LOC 36" for the a/f and a LOC 24" for the nosecone.

Things I worried about 'till the last moments were:
- rail button stand-offs breaking (the fore one is long, around 2");
- the last section of BT (which is canted) crushing under the weight of the hefty nosecone;

none of them happened so I'm pretty happy!!!

That's all, here are the pics (say 'Thank you' to Daniel Flury):

- here she is sitting on the mega-rail:

https://www.argoshpr.ch/Images/MIR_2004_Dany3/P7180145.JPG

- business-end view with Rowes polished aluminum retainer (which adds a lot):

https://www.argoshpr.ch/Images/MIR_2004_Dany3/P7180152.JPG

- igniter gone, 5 seconds to propellant ignition...

https://www.argoshpr.ch/Images/MIR_2004_Dany3/P7180177.JPG

- finally some thrust:

https://www.argoshpr.ch/Images/MIR_2004_Dany3/P7180178.JPG

- up and away:

https://www.argoshpr.ch/Images/MIR_2004_Dany3/P7180179.JPG

- airframe under 'chute (nosecone was faster being heavier with a smaller chute):

https://www.argoshpr.ch/Images/MIR_2004_Dany3/P7180185.JPG

A video is also available but I have to check where it is; I'll post the link ASAP. Hope you enjoyed as much as I did,

thanx and have a nice week,

 

[rstaff3]

Great photos, thanks for posting them! Great job on the rocket too, looks great. Maybe too great. Scuff that baby up a bit

 

[eugenefl]

Congrats on the maiden flight! It's always good to worry and at least be able to predict what *might* go wrong. All of the worries seem to fade away once the flight succeeds.

Nice looking rocket! Get it dirty and make that awesome nozzle rusty! Thanks for the picture post.

 

[jflis]

Outstanding! Nice to see her stable in a larger form looks good under that black smoke too!

 

[g_boxwood]

Here's the link to a small sized video (around 7.4 Mb) ... I couldn't open it, hope you'll be luckier !!!

https://www.razzimodellismo.org/lan...4_report/mir2004_avi/giacomo_acmespitfire.AVI

Ciao,

 

[Elapid]

it turned out to be quite a beast!!!
WooHooooo!!!!!!!!

 

[Austin]

Nice job on the Spitfire...

Great video and glad to see the effort was worth it!

Well done,

Carl

 

[g_boxwood]

Thank you all men! It was real fun in the end!

One thing I didn't mention is that when Swiss TRA Prefect Juergh Thuering saw the A.C.M.E. he was somehow spoiled 'cause he had in mind to build a bigger upscale himself !!! So it is probable that we'll team up to build another one around PML 7.5" tubing but this is a secret for the moment, so do not tell anyone...

 

[jflis]

Great job and I *love* the video