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I just got some killer old '92-'93 HPR mags from Eric Cayemberg and there are pics of everything from Vulcan Hellfires to Low Smokes and plenty of Silver Streaks, lest we forget those! JCato's Nike Smoke (referenced above) is in there too! Nike Tomahawk too...what a beaut that was!
Thank you for the compliment. Since you broached the issue, I was rummaging around and found a few pix of these 'old time' vehicles. The original post re: the Nike Smoke (N-S) was posted here:
https://www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?53618-Nike-Smoke&p=529380#post529380
... and here's a few more from LDRS 11 - the first was setting up on the pad (that's Earl Cagle on the left and (local flyer and travel companion) Tom Binford on the right with his back to the camera):
... and then (grimace) 5 minutes later:
As to the Nike Tomahawk (N-T), here's a general view (in front of the 'VAB' (Vehicle Assembly Building), which was an old 'packhouse' that my great grandparents built about a century ago - but in the 90's was where a lot of rockets got built). The 'Nike' here is what I called a 'Nike Sport' - dimensionally correct, but simply profile fins (1/8" G-10 'slabs', not scale thicknesses) and it didn't have the flare on the forward end for the thrust face. The Smoke (above) was true-to-scale in every particular - including having the forward end flare as part of the main airframe and not the nose cone - the separation plane being correct with the real prototype (which is really good as far as zipper prevention). After the crash of the true scale Smoke, I simply put together a simple booster and never rebuilt the true scale Nike. But, here's the N-T at any rate (this was after some additional (scale) painting and decals on the payload bay):
... and here's setting up for it's maiden flight (with TRA Prefect Bob Gennrich's son assisting here at our local field) - prior to the completion of the paint job (compare the red payload section with the above photo):
{edit: 3-14: The principle of this multi-stage approach was to utilize drag-separation of the Nike - the interstage had 4 carbon arrow shafts (about 10" long) that mated with some aluminum tubes in the Tomahawk. Tomahawk ignition was via an onboard timer - set to occur approx 2-3 seconds after Nike burnout. Separation and ignition worked without incident on the 4 flights the 'stack' made.}
... and then the liftoff (about twilight that day and I needed to 'tweak' the contrast to remove the milkiness (that's what happens with underexposure with silver based film - something most people today have no knowledge of
):
This was a J-800 Blue Thunder to an H-something (can't remember, but the flight was mainly to proof out staging and sustainer ignition electronics - I didn't want it to go all that high). Upon Nike burnout, the booster simply dropped away and arced over until the pyro delay ejected the chute - the Tomahawk coasted quite nicely for the 2-3 seconds until ignition occurred. I still remember the feeling when I saw the Tomahawk 'come to life' - it was quite nice. (Notice how far the sparks from that Blue Thunder spread from the pad - particularly on the right - something the low light helped delineate). It flew a year or two later (after a few more local flights) in Argonia on a K-1100 to a J-100 and the Tomahawk 'got lost' (got the Nike booster back OK). Ross Dunton of Magnum returned the Tomahawk the following spring (IIRC), but there wasn't much to return - just the main body (silver portion) of the Tomahawk. The parachute (the 'Auburn' chute - go check out my threads over in Recovery - see here:
https://www.rocketryforum.com/showt...Ringsail-Parachute-Canopy&p=751101#post751101 )
... the payload bay and nose cone never to be seen to this day. That wouldn't happen today with a GPS onboard.
Finally, here's a quick stack of a planned T-N-T (Taurus-Nike-Tomahawk), to get a feel for what that would be like (this simply setting the N-T into a length of PML 7.67" tube). Never got any farther than that - but would be an interesting project:
I still entertain plans to rebuild the true-to-scale Nike booster - including bolt-on, removeable fins per the real prototype (scale bolts in the scale locations) - with the mounting such that both the classic double wedge fins (N-T or T-N-T - 4x3 bolt pattern) or the modified double wedge fins (N-S - 2x5 bolt pattern) could be mounted. I believe the mounting bolt pattern would allow both on the same mount without any interference between the two patterns.
{edit:3-12 - 2:11am EDT}:
If I ever rebuild the Tomahawk, I'm considering using some of that 15ft piece of Titanium tubing (3" dia x 0.021" wall) that I got at the Boeing Surplus Sales yard there in Wichita - when the N-T flew in Argonia. Might as well go 'whole hog'.
-- john.
