The old Estes WAC was one of my absolute favorites back in the day. It was the second rocket I ever built (Got the WAC and an Alpha III at the same time) and I ALWAYS had one in the fleet. It flew every time I went to the field. If one was lost or wrecked (Often lost, rarely wrecked) it was replaced immediately.
A few years ago I decided that my BAR fleet was missing my old got-to and cloned one from plans downloaded from JimZ. It has been sitting in primer for over two years awaiting it's final paint. It was built as per the original except for a kevlar thread shock cord mounted through the tube and anchored along the launch lug/conduit. I wanted to do an accurate k-11 kit build as opposed to an accurate scale WAC Corporal, so the fins were sanded as per the plan, with beveled edges, and the paint is as described in the assembly drawing.
I never put this much effort into any of my earlier Estes WACs! I usually just slightly rounded the fin edges, later builds may have got a coat or two of sanding sealer, then were brush painted with whatever Testors enamel I had at hand. My previous incarnation as an impatient kid would never have allowed the time required to build one as Estes intended!
Now older (much), hopefully wiser (maybe a little), and marginally more patient than I was at ten years of age, there now is, at long last, a properly done Estes K-11 WAC Corporal in my fleet! There are a few touch-ups to do but for the most part it is good to go:
Joining a few of it's new brethren!
Thanks for looking!
A few years ago I decided that my BAR fleet was missing my old got-to and cloned one from plans downloaded from JimZ. It has been sitting in primer for over two years awaiting it's final paint. It was built as per the original except for a kevlar thread shock cord mounted through the tube and anchored along the launch lug/conduit. I wanted to do an accurate k-11 kit build as opposed to an accurate scale WAC Corporal, so the fins were sanded as per the plan, with beveled edges, and the paint is as described in the assembly drawing.
I never put this much effort into any of my earlier Estes WACs! I usually just slightly rounded the fin edges, later builds may have got a coat or two of sanding sealer, then were brush painted with whatever Testors enamel I had at hand. My previous incarnation as an impatient kid would never have allowed the time required to build one as Estes intended!
Now older (much), hopefully wiser (maybe a little), and marginally more patient than I was at ten years of age, there now is, at long last, a properly done Estes K-11 WAC Corporal in my fleet! There are a few touch-ups to do but for the most part it is good to go:
Joining a few of it's new brethren!
Thanks for looking!
I ordered a new nose cone for the WAC (plus a couple of spares) and rounded off the broken tip of the old cone for use on something else. After seeing the result, I realized it was pretty much a dead ringer for the nose of a Skybolt (pic below), so I found a some pics and data and built the model to go with the nose cone! It has a 13mm motor mount, the fins are 1/32" ply (two layers of 1/64" laminated) and it recovers on a streamer. Really scoots on an A10!
