Upscale Midnight Express?

[wwattles]

As long as the high interest item seems to be upscaling everything but the kitchen sink (anybody doing one of those yet?), I'm considering doing an upscale of the cleverly-priced Midnight Express by FlisKits. I'll be using posterboard for the material. Anybody done one yet?

WW

 

[slim_t]

Not yet, but I might.
How much of an upscale you talking about?
Good Luck.
Let us know how it goes.

Tim

 

[jflis]

ooooohhhhh, kewl idea

I've acutally thought of *down* scaling it for MMX as it would be a perfect subject for those small motors and get the most out of them.

An upscale would be incredible!

Heck, go far enough and someone will do an L1 cert ME for a buck, two eighty three... LOL

 

[wwattles]

Well, I'm probably only going to go up to a 29mm mount, since I'm dubious of posterboard's ability to handle much more than that without reinforcement.

WW

 

[OKTurbo]

I've been toying with the idea of doing an upscale "Caution, Rocket Launch in Progress" using Coroplast. Coroplast is a plastic corrugated material....you often see it used for garage sale / political signs. I've already called the local sign shop and they can get it in most of the primary colors (yellow&black in this case). It comes in 4'x8' sheets for about $15 a sheet.

I'm not sure how well the Coroplast would bend, but it would be excellent for a big CRLIP.

https://www.coroplast.com/

John

 

[jflis]

I would venture to say that if you constructed it the *same* way (ie: triple layering on the fins and such), that you should do just fine. Make sure you get a proper CG on that beast!

and pictures! lots of pictures!

jim

 

[jetra2]

I know it kinda misses the point, but how hard could it be to just build the darned thing with standard components? I would think that BT-70 would be a great size for a 29mm mount. Sandman could turn the nose cone, then you could pring out some kind of body wrap that looks just like the original, then cover the fins with the same style of wrap...but then again, that kinda misses the point!

Someone should upscale a CRLIP using a triangular shipping "tube." Then you could make the fins out of foam board, and it would be easier to print the wrap. The nosecone could be made out of thick balsa using the triangular patterns upscaled, then glued together with cardstock hinges, then exteriorly fiberglassed on the joints. The centering "rings" would be pretty simple to make out of ply or basswood, or maybe a balsa plywood.

Just rambling...

Jason

 

[eugenefl]

Originally posted by jetra2
Someone should upscale a CRLIP ..... Just rambling...

Jason

Jason, don't tempt Carl now! Jason and I had actually discussed this on the drive down from Alabama. I don't see that it would be too difficult. As a matter of fact, doing the whole thing out of project foam board wouldn't be too difficult nor expensive.

(Oh jeez, now you're giving me ideas....)