As a newcomer to the forum I hope you will all bare with me as I post my first build thread. A boost glide Interceptor E. - Sounds dicey, maybe a little but I think I've worked it out. Big problems were CP-CG challenges. Some mechanics.Wind loading and trying to keep the old bird as true to form as possible so I did'nt upset the purists out there. Lets just say she's the evolution.The insperation for the build was my previous Interceptor E " ARCTIC WOLF"that was slightly modified .The pictures will begin to flow 5/28 in the evening so stay tuned. About 40% done at this time.:smile:
A great project to tackle.
Long ago I considered making a gliding version myself (from the original BT-55 model).
Wish you'd mentioned this before you got going (you say you're 40% done). The wings are pretty small, I was going to make them larger.
I never did figure out a good way to get good pitch stability. Had I built it, I probably would have added a left and right horizontal stabilizer to the back end. And would have had hinged elevators attached to those horizontal stabilizers, rigged to be flat on boost and pop up at ejection.
The wing would been moved somewhat more forward. And the model would have used a an ejecting internal pod (with noseweight in the front of the ejecting pod), as with the old Sky Dart and some other Estes rear-ejection glide models (Scissor-wing, Bomarc, etc.)
One thing I can suggest, if you’ve not done it yet. Do not attach the wings with negative dihedral (droop down) like the original. Negative dihedral will make it almost impossible to make it glide without ending up in a tight spiral dive into the ground. Thanks to the long “strakes” ahead of the wing if you build it with the wings flat, then the strakes might help to provide the kind of dihedral effect that swept-back wings produce (which is why the old Estes sky Dart had some roll stability despite a flat wing).
Something else I would suggest is to build a very crude small copy to test out the glide problems (testing by hand throws, not rocket boost). Say 1/2 size using a BT-50. The sort of thing that should take no more than one hour to throw together (using instant glue, and do not worry about the nose cone shape). So you can crash and bash and smash the heck out of it during glide tests, till you work out what it takes to get it to glide. Rather than let the “real” model end up being the Guinea Pig.
The Interceptor is my favorite kit of all time. Period. Attached is an image from the 1971 catalog cover, inside the catalog, and the back cover ad that ran in Model Rocketry Magazine.
- George Gassaway