This is my first such post here, so be kind...I am not so much a BAR as I am a BABAR, and I'm sure you can figure that out. Anyway, during my tenure as a BAR, I built an Estes Nemesis at my son's urging and was really surprised as how much I enjoyed the build and the finishing process. The bird got some nice compliments at the Rocket City Blastoff several years ago and became one of my favorite flyers. Then I took it to a Cub Scout launch and loaned it to a youngster who cocked it badly on the pad which resulted in a drift into a forest, never to be seen again. I looked around for a kit to replace it and couldn't find another short of buying one on eBay, which I was reluctant to do for fear of it arriving mangled.
Years pass. I am bit by the rocketry bug again, and while I have something like 30 kits in my build box I could assemble, I really wanted to rebuild that Nemesis. So I ended up turning to eBay, where I found one at a reasonable price, and waited anxiously for it to arrive. When it did, I was not surprised to find a crimped tube. Disappointed, but not surprised. I did have tubing left over from a Comanche refit that would work, but...
...we can rebuild it...we can make it better than it was before...
What I ended up with is pretty much a standard Nemesis, except that it is an inch longer, it carries an ejection baffle (tube couplers, well-perforated balsa disks coated with CA, and some Chore Boy) and it has "antennas"--or lasers, take your pick--on the fins. Flat toothpicks make dandy lasers.
And I had some tubing left over, so I immediately thought: air scoop for atmospheric travel. It was the first time I'd tried anything like that, and it didn't seat completely right, but it doesn't look too bad, I think, and once painted it will look pretty gnarly. I'll eventually post pictures of the finished product as soon as I can figure out how to do so...
Years pass. I am bit by the rocketry bug again, and while I have something like 30 kits in my build box I could assemble, I really wanted to rebuild that Nemesis. So I ended up turning to eBay, where I found one at a reasonable price, and waited anxiously for it to arrive. When it did, I was not surprised to find a crimped tube. Disappointed, but not surprised. I did have tubing left over from a Comanche refit that would work, but...
...we can rebuild it...we can make it better than it was before...
What I ended up with is pretty much a standard Nemesis, except that it is an inch longer, it carries an ejection baffle (tube couplers, well-perforated balsa disks coated with CA, and some Chore Boy) and it has "antennas"--or lasers, take your pick--on the fins. Flat toothpicks make dandy lasers.
And I had some tubing left over, so I immediately thought: air scoop for atmospheric travel. It was the first time I'd tried anything like that, and it didn't seat completely right, but it doesn't look too bad, I think, and once painted it will look pretty gnarly. I'll eventually post pictures of the finished product as soon as I can figure out how to do so...
