Nike Hercules

[Johnnie]

A couple of years ago I bought the Nike Hercules Plan Pak from The Launch Pad, and built a Nike Hercules from scratch. Someone made me an offer on that Bird that I could not refuse, so I sold it. A year later I decided to build it again, only as an upscale;

An upscale of that rocket Plan Pak would have me builing a 6' Nike with 3" dia booster tubes, and a 4" sustainer tube. But the more I studied the Hercules across the net, the more I wanted to build a Hercules as close to scale as possible. The following is what I have complete after 2 years of building it when I can.
90% scale Diamond airfoil booster fins; Booster tubes mounted with offset centering rings and motor mount tubes, to mount (4) 38mm motors closer to the center of thrust; Booster to sustainer transistion section is completed except for final fiberglass skin; motor mount and body tubing cut to length, and 5.5" outer bodytubing is cut to length (sustainer is actually a cigar shape, and an inner 4" dia tube w/ a 5.5" outer tube w/ transistions on either end will create this body line).

The flight plan when completed:
(4) 38 mm experimental fast Blue motors, or commercial H180 motors staging to:
(1) experimental J whitelightning clone, or commercial J350 or J275

The booster recovered by timer ejection w/ motor back-up, and sustainer with dual deployment using an RRC2 altimeter.

The staging will use PET2 timer to ignite upper stage, at booster motor burnout, and lighting an ejection charge to simulate Drag Separation...

All in theory of course, as I have many moons of building yet to be done.

My Wife is hooking up a Flatbed all~in~one scanner today, so I hope to post pics of the old Nike, as well as progress pics of the current build.

Ask me and I'll tell ya all about it...

Johnnie Paul

 

[MarkABrown]

Have you got any pictures yet? I'd love to see what you've got completed. The Hercules is one of my favorites.

 

[matt_taylor]

try https://www.rocketreviews.com/rocksim/scratch_big_nike.RKT its a link to a rocksim file on EMRR that is like your one

 

[Johnnie]

My wife has her all~n~one flat bed scanner loaded now, so maybe I will try to get some pics scanned in soon. I have my own RocSim file as well, but I have not posted it, as I have not flown this rocket yet, and would not want to post a file that would not fly. The rocketreview file referred to in the last post, I believe is Wedge Oldhams Nike, and what a file it is 8)

Johnnie

 

[Johnnie]

Here is the start of multiple posts regrading the construction on the TLP Plan Pak Nike Hercules. I am sorry for any poor quality, as I am paying more attention to the recent events of the Loss of the Columbia Crew and Vehicle over Texas:

Picture #1 in this series is of the Sustainer with surface mounted fins and a lay-up 6oz. fiberglass. The bodytubing used was Estes 2.6" tubing, and the fin material was Basswood.

Johnnie

 

[Johnnie]

Photo #2 is of an Estes 2.6" Phoenix nosecone with the extension shroud epoxied in place. Also seen are the surface mounted fins, and the addition of an electronics bay for the altimeter.

Johnnie

 

[Johnnie]

Photo #3 Is of the rear of the sustainer. Note the 2 smaller holes in the centering ring next to the motor tube. These were small conduit channels added to route wiring. One for an ejection charge, and one for an igniter to ignite the upper stage simultaneously as the ejection charged fired, seperating the 2 vehicle halves.

Johnnie

 

[Johnnie]

Photo #4 is of the (4) 29mm booster motor mounts. This photo also shows the 1/4" launch lug mounted as close to the center of thrust as possible.

Johnnie

 

[Johnnie]

Photo #5 is a close up view of the Booster as it is mounted on a 1/4" launch rod. If you look just to the left of the coupler, you will see the rod exiting through the booster transistion section. This was planned to keep the thrust of (4) G motors as close to the Rod as possible, or in other terms, to try an keep the rod as close to the center of thrust as possible.

Note the left fin, with light shining thru it, you can see the 1/8" plywood spar used to give the fin its shape. This photo also shows the detail of the Diamond airfoil shape of the fins.

Johnnie

 

[Johnnie]

Photo #6 is a dress rehearsal of the completed unpainted Mighty Hercules.

The height of this model is right at 48"

Johnnie

 

[Johnnie]

Photo #7 is yet another dress rehearsal of the Nike. Most notable feature in this view is one of the booster fins shows clearly the Kevlar used to help give strength to the surface mounted fins.

Johnnie

 

[Johnnie]

Photo #8 is a pic taken with me laying underneath the launcher. This photo clearly shows the the rod entering the lug in the booster, and exiting next to the sustainer.

Johnnie

 

[Johnnie]

Photo #9 is of the booster in its 1st coat primer state, this really brought out the Diamond arfoil shape of the booster fins. You will also notice the exit location of the upper launch lug.

Johnnie

 

[Johnnie]

Photo #10 is of the Nike hercules with nosecone primered, and my dog watching the primer dry...

Johnnie

 

[Johnnie]

Photo #11 is the 1st coat of white paint to the booster.

Johnnie

 

[Johnnie]

Photo #12 is of 7 months worth of labor and love...

Johnnie

 

[Johnnie]

Final in this series of the TLP Plan Pak.

Photo #13 is a closer view of the Finished Nike Hercules. I never flew this one, instead, I posted her on ROL auctions and sold her for a mere $175.00.

"If you love her let her go, if she comes back then it was meant to be..."

My passion for the Nike Hercules has returned, and this time will be 80 - 90% scale, standing over 6'...she came Back!!

Thanks

Johnnie Paul
NAR #73740 SR L2
TRA #08705 SR L2
HARA, NAR #403
TRA #80

BAR since 97'

 

[sandman]

Very sharp!

sandman

 

[matt_taylor]

very cool! im will be seeing a bigger nike on 4 K600s stage to a K600 ill try and post some pic for you guys

matt

 

[MarkABrown]

Johnnie,
All I can say is Wow! That is beautiful!

 

[sixx]

I like the project. Turned out great! I had to go to San Francisco Oct of 2001 and got to tour an old Nike Missile Site during my down time. Tour was Complete with tour guide, working launchers and several Nikes. It's in the Golden Gate State Park just North of the Golden Gate. I highly recommend this tour if ever in SFO. I will look for my pics and post em if I can find em.

I have wanted to build one ever since this trip. Yours is truly inspiring! Guess I know what my next project will be!

 

[dluders]

Since the Nike Hercules has HUGE forward fins, what kind of nose weight do you need to keep it stable? If the rocket becomes too heavy, you'll need to upsize your motors, and (as a result) increase your rocket's scale size.

I too have seen Wedge Oldham's Nike Hercules launch DVD from LDRS 21, and there's nothing like it. Airstarting the 2nd stage of a realistic missile is cool to watch. There used to be actual Nike missiles surrounding Fairchild AFB near Spokane, WA (my hometown), so I may want to build one of these someday!