launch lug standoff on air commander?

[walterb]

I pulled the Estes air commander out of my build box from when they where cleared out a few years ago. I noticed that it has launch lug standoffs. I understand on some models with larger payload bays or odd noses (Honest John, Nikes, Redstone) it is necessary.
I was also reading old instructions and saw the original Cherokee D had them. is there a performance reason? It seems and less possible "rod drag" would be mitigated by more "air drag" Also the standoffs seem to break off more than tube mounted lug.

 

[kuririn]

A quick check of the old Astron Cherokee D K47 instructions don't show any standoffs.
At one time some kits had standoffs even though none was needed so that it would fit the "C" rails that were being sold at the time as well as the normal rods.
An old school method to eliminate standoffs with bulbous nose cones/payload sections is to glue one launch lug to the nose cone/payload section and glue the other lug to a fin parallel to the main tube and a distance equal to the offset. Use a launch rod to align when gluing. And you will have to align the nose lug to the fin lug when you launch. Cheers.

 

[walterb]

I thought there was standoff on the Cherokee because the view looks like they mount the lug on the fin but not on the tube on the picture by step 5. rear view shows it differently. i still wonder why the commander has one.