The launch pad kits.

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Scott Nokes

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Does anyone know we're I might find TLP kit for the Seawolf.
I know the company is out now but I didn't know if there's any floating about anywhere
Thank you
 
Does anyone know we're I might find TLP kit for the Seawolf.
I know the company is out now but I didn't know if there's any floating about anywhere

TLP show up on eBay, once in a while. Scoring the exact model you want will take time.
Alternatively, there is a guy who seams to have bought out rights to the TLP plan packs, and who sells them on eBay (used to be on unclemikesrocketshack.com but that domain is now parked). Maybe ping him and see if he has a plan pack for Seawolf?

https://www.ebay.com/str/unclemikesrocketshack?_trksid=p2047675.m3561.l2563
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Put a query in Yard Sale / Wanted - you might find someone willing to part with a kit. Their scarcity has driven up value, IIRC they routinely go for over $100. The bag of parts weren't anything special, as anything out of the ordinary was made from cardstock, the real value was in the plans.
 
I only have one of their kits-Indigo.
I wasn't aware when I bought it that they just give you a sheet of balsa and you have to cut all of your fins out all from a pattern. So it is still in the original package which I never opened up. I just never put it on the priority list to start building it and had it for 10 years now
 
Yeah Marty, they are definitely "builder's kits"!! Like Paul said above, the real value is in the pans.

That said, I always had fun with them. They used some interesting building techniques...
 
I wanted their Sidewinder because it's the only kit I know of that has those gyro spinny thingies at the fin tips (... just checking if everyone else remembers the real name ... yeah ...).

That said, if anyone has a high resolution drawing or picture of how it was made, or what it looks like when finished (the kit, not so much the real thing), may I remind you that it is technically possible to post it here.

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(is anyone even selling the plans anymore?)
 
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Rollerons?

Exactly.

I hesitate to buy a plan pack because with my luck, the instructions will send me on a 6-month quest to find unobtanium and when I find it, I'll have to send my entire shipping fleet to have it delivered.

I'll certainly watch the video though.
 
I bought a few TLP kits, but I never found them to be anything special. They were decent kits, but nothing that couldn't be replicated with a little research and some creative modeling.
 
I think I bought six of the TLP kits before they stopped selling. Pretty well hooked me. Now I've gotten so bad as to downscale their kits based on the pics on the website. They build up fairly nicely and occasionally take a flight or two to shake out the gremlins.
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I'm always amazed at how much discontinued kits are going for when listed on FB Rocketry for Sale Group. usually $100 If I thought I could get that for my Indigo kit, it would be listed quickly.
 
I bought a few TLP kits, but I never found them to be anything special. They were decent kits, but nothing that couldn't be replicated with a little research and some creative modeling.

Objectively speaking - you are absolutely right.
Subjectively - the "cool" thing about TLP kits for me has been the typically excessive application of fins (something that really tickles my fancy), scale nature of somewhat unique and rare real world missiles (usually, but not always), and the relative rawness of the kits themselves. You get fin cut-outs, balsa sheets and some balsa dowels, and somewhat incomplete instructions of how to put it all together. Call me a glutton for punishment, but that was just the thing for me last year.

TLP's reliance of paper tubes and balsa fins yields fairly large in size yet light mid-power kits that fly well anything from D12 to H-motors. So I also fly them in the local park when the mood strikes, and during Scouts' rocket flying events. Kids really like them too.

Just beware of the cluster kits...

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I still have the Nike-Ajax. It is a nice looking kit. I had the plan-pack for the two-stage Standard Missile. I built the first stage following the instructions, which involved rolling the body tube from poster board using inside tabs. It was difficult. I bought the standard missile from the TLP for the second stage. The ignition system for the second stage used a pressure switch, which for me turned out to be a bad idea. After crashing I finally found an odd size tube for the first stage and converted the second stage to electronic ignition.
 

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My favorite rocket was a TLP Harpoon. I loved the build and it flew like a champ in the local park (low apogee) and at the club launches (high apogee with a JLCR). Would like to get another one.
 
I’ve built a number of their kits and really enjoyed them. The holy trinity of the Nike Hercules, Nike Ajax and the Pershing. (The Hercules is my avatar photo) All great fliers as well. And I thought they had good directions.
I’ll look in my pile and see if I still have a Seawolf.
 
I built several of their kits years ago, probably 20 years ago. The website shows a copyright of 2012. There is a contact address and a price list. I remember hearing years ago that the owner Chuck Barndt had a bad accident and was no longer actively running the business. There is an email address on the website. It would be wise to try and contact them before ordering anything.
 
I built several of their kits years ago, probably 20 years ago. The website shows a copyright of 2012. There is a contact address and a price list. I remember hearing years ago that the owner Chuck Barndt had a bad accident and was no longer actively running the business. There is an email address on the website. It would be wise to try and contact them before ordering anything.
They are OOP unless someone buys the company and starts it up again. I've read stories of people inquiring about purchasing the rights/assets, but the asking price is too high to make an eventual profit likely.
 
And reconstituting dried out potters' clay.
And snipping off pin heads for rivets.

And soaking squishy, hand cut balsa with thin CA.

And building silly harness systems with handmade mylar chutes and discount store swivels.

And gluing big metal washers on balsa nose cones for no good, stinking, performance robbing nose weight.

And improvising your own decals.

And staining your hands and white clothes black while sanding back fiberboard engine rings and parachute retention rings.

And attaching black underwear elastic with obsolete, old style three fold paper shock cord mounts.

And many more I can't remember, having suppressed the memories to remain on the straight and narrow path of safe, traditionally constructed 3-4FNC!

Oh the horror of TLP construction techniques and material quality. The directions say to do what? Sports scale nightmares when the RSO would see a real rocket science dude having performed many bulletproofing mods with no clue about model rocket balance. "I gots me a bigger motor and glassed it up for true mid power strength! I don't need no stinking nose weight cause I'm a gonna fly it high and fast and I know what the heck I am doing. In fact darling, I AM A ROCKET SCIENTIST!" DANG! It crashed again! Took out the minivan this time. No good TLP kits! Bad design, all unstable like. Gonna get on that fancy internet and write a scathing review. Oh how I miss reading those back in the good ole days!

No good TLP kits! Just junk parts and hard to build! Gonna sell the lot on this new fangled EBAY fer cheap! Some crazy dude will buy them. :)
 
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