luke strawwalker
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Well, after some time and speculation by some folks here on the forums, I've been given the go-ahead from Wes at Dr. Zooch Rockets to do a build thread on the beta build I did for him last fall and early winter...
The rocket is called the "Crumman C3C" from some of the ant characters in some of his comic strips. It's part of his "value lineup" of low-cost kits that are still high quality and interesting, more than just the typical "3FNC" type kits in this price range, yet also within reach of rocketeers on a budget in this down economy...
It's a pretty simple kit to build, based on BT-20 tubes. It has a very "Titan III-C" appearance to it, although with external fins added for stability. The wraps are tailored for the kit with "Crumman" (aerospace company) symbols and fin numbers and stuff applied. It's a pretty quick build though it uses a novel means of attaching the motor hook.
So, lets get down to it...
The kit came in the standard 4x4x12 inch mailer box typical of Dr. Zooch kits... Inside you'll find 3 BT-20 size tubes-- (1) 8.5 inches long, (2) 6.75 inches long, 3 nosecones- 1 pre-ballasted, 2 unballasted SRB nosecones, a kit bag containing a snap swivel, a screw eye, a motor clip, a motor block ring, and a launch lug, 2 sheets of balsa fin stock, a wrap sheet with cutout wraps for the tubes, a recovery package of standard trash-bag chute, shroud lines, elastic shock cord, Kevlar cord, and a strip of sticky dots. You'll also need to get on your own standard building supplies like a hobby knife, sandpaper (I recommend 220 and 400 grits), white glue, yellow wood glue, small bottles of Testors 1181 "Aluminum" paint, copper, white or black paint, Krylon Crystal Clear acrylic spray, a good ruler, 1/2 inch masking tape or electrical tapes, emery board, a straight edge, and your brain and some building skill...
We'll dive into the build next... A note about this build thread... since the kit uses pretty straightforward building techniques, I didn't take a ton of build pics like usual. The most build pics I took were of the technique I use for "hardening" balsa nosecones and transitions and such with CA, since that has been a pretty frequent topic of discussion fairly lately here on the forum, and I try to use my build threads to illustrate these sort of techniques photographically and in print for those unfamiliar with the process... I didn't bother photographing stuff like assembling the parachute or gluing wraps on the tube, since those things are well illustrated in the Zooch instructions, and pretty straightforward anyway. I did photograph the more novel steps in building the kit, which folks might not be used to, and a few more generalized pics along the way of the build just to make it interesting.
More to come! OL JR
The rocket is called the "Crumman C3C" from some of the ant characters in some of his comic strips. It's part of his "value lineup" of low-cost kits that are still high quality and interesting, more than just the typical "3FNC" type kits in this price range, yet also within reach of rocketeers on a budget in this down economy...
It's a pretty simple kit to build, based on BT-20 tubes. It has a very "Titan III-C" appearance to it, although with external fins added for stability. The wraps are tailored for the kit with "Crumman" (aerospace company) symbols and fin numbers and stuff applied. It's a pretty quick build though it uses a novel means of attaching the motor hook.
So, lets get down to it...
The kit came in the standard 4x4x12 inch mailer box typical of Dr. Zooch kits... Inside you'll find 3 BT-20 size tubes-- (1) 8.5 inches long, (2) 6.75 inches long, 3 nosecones- 1 pre-ballasted, 2 unballasted SRB nosecones, a kit bag containing a snap swivel, a screw eye, a motor clip, a motor block ring, and a launch lug, 2 sheets of balsa fin stock, a wrap sheet with cutout wraps for the tubes, a recovery package of standard trash-bag chute, shroud lines, elastic shock cord, Kevlar cord, and a strip of sticky dots. You'll also need to get on your own standard building supplies like a hobby knife, sandpaper (I recommend 220 and 400 grits), white glue, yellow wood glue, small bottles of Testors 1181 "Aluminum" paint, copper, white or black paint, Krylon Crystal Clear acrylic spray, a good ruler, 1/2 inch masking tape or electrical tapes, emery board, a straight edge, and your brain and some building skill...
We'll dive into the build next... A note about this build thread... since the kit uses pretty straightforward building techniques, I didn't take a ton of build pics like usual. The most build pics I took were of the technique I use for "hardening" balsa nosecones and transitions and such with CA, since that has been a pretty frequent topic of discussion fairly lately here on the forum, and I try to use my build threads to illustrate these sort of techniques photographically and in print for those unfamiliar with the process... I didn't bother photographing stuff like assembling the parachute or gluing wraps on the tube, since those things are well illustrated in the Zooch instructions, and pretty straightforward anyway. I did photograph the more novel steps in building the kit, which folks might not be used to, and a few more generalized pics along the way of the build just to make it interesting.
More to come! OL JR