Thrustline Aerobee 300

The Rocketry Forum

Help Support The Rocketry Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Aerobee300

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 19, 2004
Messages
305
Reaction score
0
I'm getting ready to win a Aerobee 300 clone kit from Thrustline on ebay. This kit was my all time favorite waaaaaayyyyyy back in the early 70's. Anyone built this kit from Thrustline ??? Pics please !!!

Only thing missing would be the decals ... can anyone clone the decals as well ?

Looks like Thrustline will be getting plenty of business from me ! I love the clones Honest John, Goblin, Sprint. These were also old favorites. Looks like Johns original designs are pretty awesome too ! Mighty Mick and the Alien Troop Transport are also on my wish list.

I would love to see the old Centuri kit "Russian SAM III" cloned ! Awesome 2 stage kit. I built one in the mid 80's.
 
I've built the Thrustline Aerobee 300 and it's a good kit. No decals but you can go to Ye Ole Rocket Shop and look under Kirt's Decals and there is an Aerobee 300. Search TRF, there should be a picture.

Keith
 
One thing to remember. The Estes creation department at the time made a very horrific mistake.

They call for the model to be silver...they looked at the drawings and the early black/white print wrong.

Don't paint it silver if you want it scale. The scale color is "White"!

Or paint it silver if ya want it to look like an original Estes model...I did!

sandman
 
Ye Ole Rocket Shop ??? Got a link ??? Remember I'm new ! :)

White .... hmmm .... I always thought it was silver as Estes had it ! Got a picture of the proper paint sceme ?
 
Well, I hope Peter Alway doesn't mind. I scanned this from his book.

Sorry, I guess I didn't quite have it in the scanner square!

See...no silver on the 300!

sandman
 
So the correct paint sceme would be all white with one black fin and the transistion in black as well .... is the top of the payload section and nose cone a different shade of white .... or does it just match the rest of the body ?

Sorry, can't quite read your scan .... old eyes !
 
Yep, that's it all the same white. I did substitue a larger image...heck I couldn't even see it!

One fin and the transition are black.

Oh, yea! it looks like one red stripe along one conduit.

sandman
 
hmmm .... even though I really like the "Estes" paint sceme I just might go ahead and try to make the kit look "correct". Maybe I'll just have to buy a second kit :)

Anyone ever tried making the Aerobee kit with a booster stage ? Y'know ... for true scale appearance !!!

Really wish I could find a really good color picture of a real one .... no luck on the net so far.
 
You could easily make the 1st stage "for looks" and just for display.

The large gap between stages might be a proplem...maybe clear tubing?

The actual rocket fired both stages simultainiously but the 1st stage burned out before the rocket left the tower.

I believe the Aerobee was literally launched from inside a building with the tower coming out of the roof.

I didn't include the dimensional drawings for the Aerobee 300. The first stage was smaller (12.75" in diam.) than the upper stage (15.0" in diam.).

I can post that pic if you want.

sandman
 
Here's a couple of pages from an old book called "sounding Rocket Study of Eighteen Vehicles" that can be found and downloaded somewhere on the web. I forgot exactly where but apparently it is a book that helped to inspire Peter Alway.

Dimensions

B+W Photo
 
I got my Aerobee 300 kit today from Thrustline ! Looks great !!! Can't wait start building it !

If all of Johns kits look this good I'll definatly be doing some more business with him !!!!!
 
Originally posted by Aerobee300
I got my Aerobee 300 kit today from Thrustline ! Looks great !!! Can't wait start building it !

If all of Johns kits look this good I'll definatly be doing some more business with him !!!!!

You know I never can seem to connect a TRF name with a customers name...but I am glad to hear it arrived in great shape! Post a pic if you can whe it's done!! Would love to see it!!:D
 
Hey ... that's OK ... but since I've gotten you to look at this thread .... ever tried a D engine in one of these Aerobee kits ??? I won't do that to this first kit I've gotten from Ya .... but ... maybe a future Aerobee !
 
OH Yeah .... someone .... PLEASE help me find a set of decals for my Aerobee 300 !!!!
 
The rest of the process is easy. If you have gotten this far...it's just a matter of assembling the rest of the parts which is totally feasible. I would need a relative length of the bidy tube, everything else should be easy.
:D
 
Originally posted by Aerobee300
OH Yeah .... someone .... PLEASE help me find a set of decals for my Aerobee 300 !!!!

The best bet I think is Tango Papa but be sure to call...often. If you e-mail you may not recieve a response!
 
Tango Papa actually responded to my initial email and then stopped .......... I guess I'll have to call him !

But if we work out the details on the Aerobee HI varient ... well then we'll need different decals !!!
 
Originally posted by Aerobee300
John, your clone of the Estes Aerobee 300 is approx a 1/15 th scale model .... sooooooo .... by my figurin' the bidy tube should be 1.0 inches and the nose cone should be 5.85" long .... based on the dimensions given at https://www.rocketryforum.com/attachment.php?s=&postid=59130 for the Navy NRL42 .... sound right or am I all screwed up ???
by my figurin' the bidy tube should be 1.0 inches and the nose cone should be 5.85" long .... based on the dimensions given at

Did you mean 10" on the 'body" tube. The nose cone seems a little long. How long is the full scale cone? Also, If the BNC 50Y isn't long enough, we can always adjust the Body tube to match the nose cone! Also, looks like this would be a great canidate for gap stageing! What da ya think?

Sandman--?-- any input here?:confused:
 
The "real" nose cone on the Navy NRL42 is 87.81" long .... the "real" payload section is only 15" long .... SO if you divide 87.81 by 15 you come up with 5.854" for the nosecone and 1" for the payload section .... But YES ... I believe that a slightly shorter nosecone coupled to a slightly longer payload tube should be fine ! I don't think anyone will sue if the scale is off a bit ... lol

And ... HEC YES .... lets make a scale 2 stager out of it !!!!
 
Originally posted by Aerobee300
The "real" nose cone on the Navy NRL42 is 87.81" long .... the "real" payload section is only 15" long .... SO if you divide 87.81 by 15 you come up with 5.854" for the nosecone and 1" for the payload section .... But YES ... I believe that a slightly shorter nosecone coupled to a slightly longer payload tube should be fine ! I don't think anyone will sue if the scale is off a bit ... lol

And ... HEC YES .... lets make a scale 2 stager out of it !!!!

I will start working on the proto soon...
 
COOL !!!

I started working on my Aerobee 300 kit today .... didn't get too far .... but those finished pics shouldn't be too far off !
 
Back
Top