Centuri Bulldog clone

[tonypv]

I had never seen or heard of the Bulldog until Craig (foose4string) posted his clone build thread on YORF. Craig did a great job!

I liked the looks of this model and and after a few months I decided to build a clone of my own.
After downloading the plans from JimZ's and some e-mails to Craig with a few questions I got started.
The only mod was to upgrade to a 24mm mount as Craig did. That meant I would have to add nose weight. The balsa NC has a paper shroud with an engine block on the tip for the front of the shroud to give it the scale shape. After I glue the engine block on and fit the shroud and marked the NC. I then carved away some of the balsa below the engine block and glue in some fishing weights. The shroud was then glued in place hiding the nose weight and putting as far forward as possible.
I make a Rocksim file and even with the nose weight it was marginally stable at best. So I drilled some holes the base of the NC and added some more weight. With a total of 2.9oz. of nose weight it's still marginally stable. So looks like this is one is only flown on no wind days.
After all that the finished weight is 7.5oz.

Hope to be flying it this Sat at the next CMASS launch.







View attachment Bullbog.rkt

 

[rosko_racer]

That is one beautifull Bulldog clone!!! I also like the job Craig did on his and hope to see it this comming weekend. I always like Centuri rockets. Great Job Tony!!! I am saving the rkt file for when I buy v9 since I still have v8.

 

[rokitflite]

Great build Tony! I've always loved that rocket! I own several of the kits, but have never gotten around to building one... I remember I got the kits at KB Toy & Hobby in the 80s for $4.99... Those were the days .

 

[rosko_racer]

Great build Tony! I've always loved that rocket! I own several of the kits, but have never gotten around to building one... I remember I got the kits at KB Toy & Hobby in the 80s for $4.99... Those were the days .

Hey, if you do not have the time I volunteer to put one of those together for you.

 

[tonypv]

Thanks guys.
I had fun building this one.

 

[Micromeister]

Great looking Bulldog Tony...

A question: One of the club guys had a model of the Bulldog some time ago. Not sure if it was a Centuri model or someones upscale? I seem to recall it was an internal staged C6 or D12-0 to C6-something.... not really sure of the motors involved. Is your model set up the same way?
It was a really KEWL flight profile, kicking out the spent booster casing with a little streamer and pod IIRC, it was a good while ago.
Again great looking Bulldog.

 

[sandman]

I now have decals finished for the Centuri Bulldog.

Untill the Excelsior site is up and running (that's my next job) they are available via my email or a PM.

My email is gagnello-at-yahoo-dot-com

 

[tonypv]

Great looking Bulldog Tony...

A question: One of the club guys had a model of the Bulldog some time ago. Not sure if it was a Centuri model or someones upscale? I seem to recall it was an internal staged C6 or D12-0 to C6-something.... not really sure of the motors involved. Is your model set up the same way?
It was a really KEWL flight profile, kicking out the spent booster casing with a little streamer and pod IIRC, it was a good while ago.
Again great looking Bulldog.

Thanks Micro.

Mine is a clone of the Centuri kit that I upgraded to 24mm. No other changes other than the nose weight.

I have an NCR AQM-127A SLAT that staged in a similar way. The first stage is the motor mount with a streamer.

 

[jflis]

As good as the pix look, you gotta see this thing in person. Really nice. I mean *really* nice

Tony, did it fly? I must have missed it...

 

[tonypv]

As good as the pix look, you gotta see this thing in person. Really nice. I mean *really* nice

Tony, did it fly? I must have missed it...

Thanks Jim.

Yes I did fly it.
I used a C11-3 and it had a nice straight boost. It did a tail stand at ejection with a nice easy deployment.

 

[tonypv]

Flew the Bulldog with a D12-5 Saturday.
Nice flight. Delay a little long, a 3 sec delay would probably be just a little short.

 

[foose4string]

Very Cool.

Me. You. NARAM51. Drag Race.

Someone had a real nice Bulldog at NARAM 50 which is what motivated me to build mine. Do you remember seeing it- across from the main registration tent? I think it was someone from SOJARS, but I may be wrong about that. Maybe he and it will be there again this year.

 

[tonypv]

Very Cool.

Me. You. NARAM51. Drag Race.

Someone had a real nice Bulldog at NARAM 50 which is what motivated me to build mine. Do you remember seeing it- across from the main registration tent? I think it was someone from SOJARS, but I may be wrong about that. Maybe he and it will be there again this year.

Sure! That would be fun.

I didn't notice the Bulldog at NARAM.

 

[foose4string]

Well, the drag race was awesome! Contending with the wind all weekend was not. The rockets did a little cris-cross action on the way up. Mine veered off a little to the left of the range- going with the wind and over the trees, and Tony's tipped slightly into the wind. Since Tony's Bulldog had significantly more nose weight than mine, his stayed at a manageable height(yet high enough!) and a little less influenced by the gusty winds we were dealing with. The trees and power lines on the right of the field claimed several rockets(of several flyers) over the weekend, my Bulldog included. The summer underbrush was thick and the rocket was not worth weeks of itching. I was unable to locate the rocket after it disappeared behind the trees. I was a little sad to see it go, as I think this was one of my better finish jobs. Considering the constraints of the sport flying field, the wind, and the number of flights during my time at NARAM, I'm not complaining too much as this was the only rocket I lost. As much as I like this design, I probably won't rush into building another. I've got way too many bagged and unfinished kits that need tending to.

First solo pic is Tony's Bulldog and the second one is mine. Tony's Bulldog is on the right in the first two pics.

 

[tonypv]

Yeah the drag race was great!
It's too bad you lost yours Craig. It was a nice model.
I have a few pics, not as good as Craig's though.

1) Craig with his Bulldog.
2) Bulldogs ready for launch. Craig's on the left mine on the right.
3) The race is on!

 

[John Brohm]

Very Cool.

Me. You. NARAM51. Drag Race.

Someone had a real nice Bulldog at NARAM 50 which is what motivated me to build mine. Do you remember seeing it- across from the main registration tent? I think it was someone from SOJARS, but I may be wrong about that. Maybe he and it will be there again this year.

The Bulldog you saw at NARAM-50 was built by fellow PSC member Mark Halinaty (of Toronto, Canada). Both he and the Bulldog were at NARAM-51, and he managed to get a great flight in. Would have been great if all of you Bulldog guys had got together at NARAM!

John

 

[foose4string]

The Bulldog you saw at NARAM-50 was built by fellow PSC member Mark Halinaty (of Toronto, Canada). Both he and the Bulldog were at NARAM-51, and he managed to get a great flight in. Would have been great if all of you Bulldog guys had got together at NARAM!

John

Thanks for the info John. I didn't make note of the gentleman's name but I did see him last week with Bulldog in hand heading for the sport range(after we flew ours). I spoke with him briefly and let him know he was the inspiration for building mine.

After coming home on Tuesday, I returned to Johnstown on Friday with Bravo52 to catch the last day of competition and get a few last flights in. I had written my Bulldog off as a total loss, but someone found my rocket and returned it to the lost and found. The cone shoulder swelled from the rain and doesn't fit the tube anymore, the tube was a little mushy, decals ruined, and the fin joints weakened. In reality, it's probably not worth fixing, but it feels good not to leave a soldier stranded out there. Thanks to whoever found it and turned it in!