Anyone Remember The Eggspress???

[astronwolf]

The Semroc Retro-Repro of that Centuri Egg Crate you posted up (that is original, isn't it?).

I found that pic on the ye old rocket forum - it's the Semroc kit. I have one on the top of my build queue.

Nice work on it and all of 'em.

Lol... not my work. I was just trying to save a nice thread from death, so I posted up a few random pics. The first one is an old pic of a Roc Egglofter powered by "the poor man's F," i.e. clustered black powder - an F100 and 3 C6 sideboards for nearly 80 N-s total impulse. Can do the same thing today with an Estes F15 and three C6 motors. That would make for a very showy flight.

I don't know what the second pic is - an egglofter, big, composite power... neat. I think that those are Launch Crue t-shirts.

Last pic is a standard 2-minute eggloft duration bird. It's one of the kits from ASP.

The Eggspress is in good company. It even has a history.

-Wolf

 

[K'Tesh]

I do like flying egglofters. They are fun. I hope anyone reading this likes them too.

Nice looking work Wolf!

That yellow rocket's decals... Aftermarket? I'm looking for some waterslide decals for my AstroCam 110 builds, and if I can't find originals, or replicas of them, that might just work. [edit] I found out they're from the Semroc Egg Crate kit. [/edit]

Thanks
Jim

 

[K'Tesh]

@astronwolf

I'm curious about that yellow rocket's nose cone... Would it fit a ST-20 body tube? Where did you find it?

Nice job on the rocket!

Thanks!
Jim

 

[Greg Young]

Thanks for the post. I had almost forgotten I built one, and never flew it.
I found it last night, and look forward to putting it through its egglofting paces at a launch later this spring/early summer.

 

[LW Bercini]

I had this Estes Rocket back in the Eighties, and like my 80's Vintage D-Region Tomahawk, it was one of my "Frequent Flyers".
As a Kid, I found it amusing that it not only could loft an Egg, but Smelled like Rotten Eggs. I got many Flights out of it, and infact, it never got Treed, simply lost somewhere in my Teenage Wasteland.
Anyhow, I painted mine Gloss Light Blue instead of White.
The Design was unique. I confess to never having "Lofted an Egg" in it. It flew great without one.
I never see anyone reference this Rocket, so I wonder if anyone else here had one???

This was the only Pic' I could find online:

I dug into my boneyard and found what appears to be the same kit but with different name and decals. Look at the attached pic. That's the same capsule, right?

 

[K'Tesh]

I dug into my boneyard and found what appears to be the same kit but with different name and decals. Look at the attached pic. That's the same capsule, right?

View attachment 254219

The Estes Scrambler and the Eggspress are the same rocket, just different decals and painting. The EnerJet Egg Crate also shipped with a black version of the same nose cone, but there are photos of the Egg Crate that show a different shape used for the catalog. I suspect that they only made the one (out of balsa) and then went with the ellipsoid shape when it came time to put it into production.

 

[TopRamen]

I dug into my boneyard and found what appears to be the same kit but with different name and decals. Look at the attached pic. That's the same capsule, right?

View attachment 254219

That's it alright, in all its yellow plastic glory!

 

[rocketron1948]

One of my favorite kits. Here's a picture of mine.



Rocketron

 

[TopRamen]

LW Bercini has graciously decided to send me his Nose Cone for just the price of shipping, so it looks like I'll finally be able start building one!
Looking forward to doing it up just like the one I had as a kid, only this time she'll be riding on 24mm power and get the glass cloth treatment.
Now to get some BT-56....

 

[TopRamen]

Man, BT-56 is elusive. It comes in the TARC Parts, but Estes does'nt sell just the tubes.
I checked BMS to see if they had an Equivalent Tube but they do not.

 

[kjohnson]

last time I got a parts set from red arrow hobbies it had bt-56 in it.

https://redarrowhobbies.com/kits/body_tube_assortment/body_tubes.htm

 

[TopRamen]

last time I got a parts set from red arrow hobbies it had bt-56 in it.

https://redarrowhobbies.com/kits/body_tube_assortment/body_tubes.htm

I've heard bad things about that vendor so I won't even take a chance ordering anything from them.

 

[K'Tesh]

Uncle Mike has them on eBay

https://www.ebay.com/itm/like/350847719791?lpid=82&chn=ps

Sunward has them too:

https://www.sunward1.com/06056-body-tubes.htm

Then there's Morerockets.com. Though they don't have BT-56, their 20" BT-60 body tubes can't be beat...

https://morerockets.com/index.php?cPath=28_36&osCsid=fkg4au1tk82hqc6a7tsnf1aav7

 

[TopRamen]

Thanks K'Tesh.

 

[TopRamen]

I printed the Picture of the Fins and to my surprise they come out true to scale, so I have my Fin Template.
I got the Pic' from this Link mentioned earlier: www.oldrocketplans.com/estes/est1996/est1996.htm
I simply had to draw in the lines with a pencil to make them stand out.

 

[TopRamen]

Happy Day!
I just recieved the Nose from LW Bercini, and decided to see if it would fit in the BT-55 that I already have on hand. Fits PERFECT!!!
LW had a wrap of masking tape on the shoulder, but I removed it and found it slid right in just as well as any BT-55 nose cone should fit!
Looks like it's a good thing that I was waiting to order BT-56, as now I don't need it.

Thanks again LW!!!

 

[TopRamen]

Got my Tube and Fins cut and matched up.

 

[TopRamen]

A BT-80 Upscale is suddenly looking like a fun Idea. It would be a piece of cake and a fun challenge at the same time to make that Transition out of FG.
Have it go from BT-55 on the Booster to BT-80, and make the Payload Bay 4".
Or make it a Rocket Boosted Glider with Avionics/Electronics, to look like the GBU 44?

[video=youtube;IuAYfTbtBh8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuAYfTbtBh8[/video]

 

[USAFmissileer]

I'm planning to remake my Omloid into a 24 mm bird. Already simmed in OR and it is stable....in theory at least. Horrible flier on 18 mm, curious how she'll fly on a D.

Mike

 

[TopRamen]

I'm planning to remake my Omloid into a 24 mm bird. Already simmed in OR and it is stable....in theory at least. Horrible flier on 18 mm, curious how she'll fly on a D.

Mike

I've had good results making my Patriot and Crossfire into 24mm Birds, so I'm sure the Eggspress and other birds originally designed for 18mm will do just fine on 24mm.
The simple fact that these birds can be flown with or without Eggs means there is a fairly broad stability margin to play with.

 

[TopRamen]

I got the bottom of the Nose Cone Shoulder cut off so I can start making up a Bulkhead for it. The stock way has this goofy little tiny circle loop molded into the plastic, and while it worked just fine on the one I had as a kid, my tastes and building style have progressed to the point that I rarely use the plastic molded in loops on Cones.
I'm actually out of suitable MMT, and need to order some more ply CRs from BMS, and might just as well go with a 24mm Aero Pack Retainer, as I really like the way the one of theirs works on my Blue Bird Zero.
I should get around to doing the tube layup later on today or this evening, and might get one side of the fins glassed too if I feel up to it.

 

[K'Tesh]

Glassed up? What are shoving inside of that thing?

I can see it now... TopRamen is planning on getting fresh eggs to the ISS. :wink:

 

[TopRamen]

Glassed up? What are shoving inside of that thing?

I can see it now... TopRamen is planning on getting fresh eggs to the ISS. :wink:

I just love the feel of working with the light weight Glass Cloth, and it barely adds any weight, so now I glass everything.
It adds so much more enjoyment to my building experience!
Largest Motor it will likely fly will be E20, but I'm sure that eventually when I get a big enough field to fly in I might like to put an F32 in it.

Anyway, I got 1 layer of 2.3oz. Cloth on the Body Tube and the section that couples the two NC parts together.
I also got one side of the Fins done, but they are on my granite surface plate under books to dry/cure for a day.

 

[USAFmissileer]

Glassed up? What are shoving inside of that thing?

I can see it now... TopRamen is planning on getting fresh eggs to the ISS. :wink:

That would be an egg-stra special feat!

 

[TopRamen]

I just got done trimming the egg-cess FG Cloth from the tubing sections.
I had worried that the little bit of adhesive residue from the Aluminum Foil Tape that I was unnable to remove may inhibit the ability of the cloth to adhere properly.
I rubbed the epoxy onto the section quite liberally, and it seemed to smooth everything out, and now that it has hardened up a bit it looks like it worked out just fine. If it had not, I'de have had to order a new tube just to make that tiny little section, or "Roll my own".

 

[TopRamen]

Weight after glassing. 29g.



I'll need to sand them lightly ofcourse, and clean up the edges, but that needs to happen outdoors, so there won't be any progress in that regard til' it gets a lot warmer out.

 

[KidRockET]

...so there won't be any progress in that regard til' it gets a lot warmer out.

I hear ya, winter finally showed up in Kentucky...

 

[TopRamen]

I cut away the excess FG on the first side of the Fins and got the Glass on the other side.

 

[TopRamen]

I decided that I could go outside for long enough to get the Tubes and their edges sanded, so those are sealed and done. The Fins came out great, but I need to sand and seal the edges on them another day.
I'm extremely satisfied with how the tubes came out, and they will not require any filling on the seams before primer.

 

[K'Tesh]

Did you FG the nosecone too?