VonMises
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The Red Max, MARK II, A-20 Demon and renegade were perhaps my favorite rockets as a kid. So about a year ago, I decided to upscale all four at the same time. I sat down with my favorite program, Open Rocket, and commenced with the work.
All of the rockets were originally scaled at 1:1, then upscaled. Of course all the material specifications had to be changed. Still, it wasn’t long before I had a bill of material, and all the parts on order from Public Missiles.
These rockets have a quantum airframe, G10 fins, plywood centering rings, phenolic motor mounts, and all have PM plastic nose cones, except A-20 which is balsa.
MARK II:
MARK II was my first and second rocket. Still have my second one. But that’s a story for another time. The MARK II was one of those rockets that always flew great without any surprises and it would fly over and over until the engines were gone. A few years ago, I upscaled a 2.6 inch from Estes Executioner parts and some scrap birch plywood. I painted it with enamel and clearcoated it with lacquer just to see if I could, then flew it repeatedly on Aerotech F24-4W motors
MARK II is finished in Dupli-Color, Paint Shop Chrome Yellow, which is only available in premixed quart cans. Pre mixed? No thinning? We’ll see about that. Turns out they have the viscosity dead on. I strained it into the gun and shot it over white primer. It came out brighter than I had expected. In fact, it’s as bright as the fluorescent yellow I used on the 2.6 inch upscale once it was clear coated. So I was very pleased with the color and the paint in general.
The black and clear is Dupli-Color Perfect Match rattle cans, and the decal is from our friends at Sticker Shock 23. This is the first MARK II decal from Sticker Shock.
Red Max:
This isn’t really true to scale. I had to weigh the cost of a Public Missiles NC against the ridiculously expensive scale nose from roachwerks. The difference in scale was less than the difference in wallet, so the PM unit won out. In the end, no one will mistake this for something else anyway.
Red Max had a 2.6 inch upscale from Estes Executioner parts like MARK II, but it never really flew all that well. Three crashes before we finally made it fly. Three crashes without damage, and it was damaged on the only good flight it had. UGH! Really? Oh well, with a little luck and a CTI 4 grain H, perhaps this one will fly correctly. At least once.
Finished in Dupli-Color Perfect Match rattle can lacquer. The Nose Cone is clear coated with the same line of clear, but the airframe is clearcoated with Dupli-Color clear Enamel. Decals are waterslide. I’ll hope to be making these soon.
Over the years, I’ve built 4 other Red Maxs’ and none of them had a finish I was happy with. Number 5 is no exception. There’s way too many flaws, and although I’ll probably be the only one to see most of them, well, you know how that goes.
A-20 Demon:
As a kid, the A-20 was my only successful pay-loader. X-Ray was a disaster as detailed in another thread. Very ugly. Anyway, I hope this one flies as good as the original.
Since I couldn’t fake a PM NC work in this case, I had to cough up the ridiculous sum to get one in balsa. I’ll be making my own now. In order to make the ridiculously expensive nose cone crashworthy, or at least accident worthy, it was slipped into a Kevlar sock and laminated with a very high quality resin designed for impact resistance. Please, I know every nerd in rocket land has their favorite resin for this or that, and there’s always someone that has to try to prove they know more about composites than anyone else. Take it to someone who cares, I'm not that someone, and neither is 99% of the TRF community.
This one is finished in the same Dupli-Color, Paint Shop Chrome Yellow as Mark II. The black and white is Dupli-Color rattle can, as is the clearcoat. Sticker Shock 23 supplied the decals. Oddly enough this is the first A-20 decal set Mark made, but not the first one built.
renegade:
My first D powered Rocket was renegade. It was my workhorse. Like the MARK II, it flew until the motors were gone, and like the MARK II and Red Max, I made a 2.6 inch upscale from Estes Executioner parts. Ok, so I found them on clearance and bought 4.
One thing about renegade is how much it’s over stable. On the second launch, renegade 2.6 caught a gust and turned downrange hitting the ground under power. After cutting away the damaged body tube, it’s now a 2.6 inch Estes re.
Looking back, I guess my upscale attempts haven’t fared so well.
Nathan and I had been discussing the merits of various paint types, and he convinced me to give enamels another try. So for the 3 inch renegade, all the paint is rattle can enamel. I painted it fluorescent orange rather than red. Just thought it looked better. The black and clear is Dupli-Color. Not sure what the fluorescent orange is, can’t remember. It’s not like there’s a plethora of choices in rattle can fluorescent paints.
Anyway, here they are with all their faults
All of the rockets were originally scaled at 1:1, then upscaled. Of course all the material specifications had to be changed. Still, it wasn’t long before I had a bill of material, and all the parts on order from Public Missiles.
These rockets have a quantum airframe, G10 fins, plywood centering rings, phenolic motor mounts, and all have PM plastic nose cones, except A-20 which is balsa.
MARK II:
MARK II was my first and second rocket. Still have my second one. But that’s a story for another time. The MARK II was one of those rockets that always flew great without any surprises and it would fly over and over until the engines were gone. A few years ago, I upscaled a 2.6 inch from Estes Executioner parts and some scrap birch plywood. I painted it with enamel and clearcoated it with lacquer just to see if I could, then flew it repeatedly on Aerotech F24-4W motors
MARK II is finished in Dupli-Color, Paint Shop Chrome Yellow, which is only available in premixed quart cans. Pre mixed? No thinning? We’ll see about that. Turns out they have the viscosity dead on. I strained it into the gun and shot it over white primer. It came out brighter than I had expected. In fact, it’s as bright as the fluorescent yellow I used on the 2.6 inch upscale once it was clear coated. So I was very pleased with the color and the paint in general.
The black and clear is Dupli-Color Perfect Match rattle cans, and the decal is from our friends at Sticker Shock 23. This is the first MARK II decal from Sticker Shock.
Red Max:
This isn’t really true to scale. I had to weigh the cost of a Public Missiles NC against the ridiculously expensive scale nose from roachwerks. The difference in scale was less than the difference in wallet, so the PM unit won out. In the end, no one will mistake this for something else anyway.
Red Max had a 2.6 inch upscale from Estes Executioner parts like MARK II, but it never really flew all that well. Three crashes before we finally made it fly. Three crashes without damage, and it was damaged on the only good flight it had. UGH! Really? Oh well, with a little luck and a CTI 4 grain H, perhaps this one will fly correctly. At least once.
Finished in Dupli-Color Perfect Match rattle can lacquer. The Nose Cone is clear coated with the same line of clear, but the airframe is clearcoated with Dupli-Color clear Enamel. Decals are waterslide. I’ll hope to be making these soon.
Over the years, I’ve built 4 other Red Maxs’ and none of them had a finish I was happy with. Number 5 is no exception. There’s way too many flaws, and although I’ll probably be the only one to see most of them, well, you know how that goes.
A-20 Demon:
As a kid, the A-20 was my only successful pay-loader. X-Ray was a disaster as detailed in another thread. Very ugly. Anyway, I hope this one flies as good as the original.
Since I couldn’t fake a PM NC work in this case, I had to cough up the ridiculous sum to get one in balsa. I’ll be making my own now. In order to make the ridiculously expensive nose cone crashworthy, or at least accident worthy, it was slipped into a Kevlar sock and laminated with a very high quality resin designed for impact resistance. Please, I know every nerd in rocket land has their favorite resin for this or that, and there’s always someone that has to try to prove they know more about composites than anyone else. Take it to someone who cares, I'm not that someone, and neither is 99% of the TRF community.
This one is finished in the same Dupli-Color, Paint Shop Chrome Yellow as Mark II. The black and white is Dupli-Color rattle can, as is the clearcoat. Sticker Shock 23 supplied the decals. Oddly enough this is the first A-20 decal set Mark made, but not the first one built.
renegade:
My first D powered Rocket was renegade. It was my workhorse. Like the MARK II, it flew until the motors were gone, and like the MARK II and Red Max, I made a 2.6 inch upscale from Estes Executioner parts. Ok, so I found them on clearance and bought 4.
One thing about renegade is how much it’s over stable. On the second launch, renegade 2.6 caught a gust and turned downrange hitting the ground under power. After cutting away the damaged body tube, it’s now a 2.6 inch Estes re.
Looking back, I guess my upscale attempts haven’t fared so well.
Nathan and I had been discussing the merits of various paint types, and he convinced me to give enamels another try. So for the 3 inch renegade, all the paint is rattle can enamel. I painted it fluorescent orange rather than red. Just thought it looked better. The black and clear is Dupli-Color. Not sure what the fluorescent orange is, can’t remember. It’s not like there’s a plethora of choices in rattle can fluorescent paints.
Anyway, here they are with all their faults
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