While going through my unbuilt Pile of Potential Plastic Model Conversion Kits looking for Give away stuff for the clubs annual Christmas party raffle. I came across a very old OOP Revell kit I wasn't sure I'd ever be able to convert.
This U.S. Army Tactical Rockets Set, I picked up several years ago at auction contains an Army Little John Tactical Nuke Missle with launcher and 4 tiny Dart anti-Tank wire guided missiles.
On opening the kit I was a bit disappointed as the Little John body tube was just a tad to small to allow removing enough wall thickness to pass a T2+ tube. At that point I resealed the box and put it out of sight and mind.
This time I decided darn it I was going to find a way to convert the Little John. Working several evenings with a 1/4" round file only, the body wall thickness was reduced to less then 1/32". Even at this we still did not have enough space for a nomal T2+ (.281" OD) tube. I decided to hand roll a 2 wrap .010" paper body sleeve around a couple spent motor casings (to ensure the motor would fit). this worked out great. Using the stock kit nose cone a 1/2" piece of T2 (.246") tube and 50lb kevlar/stainless steel thread loop were epoxy joined. Cutting a 3/16" section of spent motor casing as a motor block/shockline anchor I added 30" of 50lb Kevlar/3strand St. Stl. shockline and a 1/4" x 9" yellow Military grade Teflon wadding/streamer. The completed Model less paint,decals and launch shoes only tipped the scale at 2.2grams.
My Plan was to add a .049" x 9" stainless launch rail to the kit provided scale Launcher but the Launch shoes prevent clean passage of the fins. SO will use the kit launch shoes on the slide short Launch rail which is only 5-1/4" long. With the model being as light as it is I'm confident she'll have plenty of speed leaving the rail for a safe and stable flight.
Will update after paint and decaling.
This U.S. Army Tactical Rockets Set, I picked up several years ago at auction contains an Army Little John Tactical Nuke Missle with launcher and 4 tiny Dart anti-Tank wire guided missiles.
On opening the kit I was a bit disappointed as the Little John body tube was just a tad to small to allow removing enough wall thickness to pass a T2+ tube. At that point I resealed the box and put it out of sight and mind.
This time I decided darn it I was going to find a way to convert the Little John. Working several evenings with a 1/4" round file only, the body wall thickness was reduced to less then 1/32". Even at this we still did not have enough space for a nomal T2+ (.281" OD) tube. I decided to hand roll a 2 wrap .010" paper body sleeve around a couple spent motor casings (to ensure the motor would fit). this worked out great. Using the stock kit nose cone a 1/2" piece of T2 (.246") tube and 50lb kevlar/stainless steel thread loop were epoxy joined. Cutting a 3/16" section of spent motor casing as a motor block/shockline anchor I added 30" of 50lb Kevlar/3strand St. Stl. shockline and a 1/4" x 9" yellow Military grade Teflon wadding/streamer. The completed Model less paint,decals and launch shoes only tipped the scale at 2.2grams.
My Plan was to add a .049" x 9" stainless launch rail to the kit provided scale Launcher but the Launch shoes prevent clean passage of the fins. SO will use the kit launch shoes on the slide short Launch rail which is only 5-1/4" long. With the model being as light as it is I'm confident she'll have plenty of speed leaving the rail for a safe and stable flight.
Will update after paint and decaling.
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