Weekend At The Office ACME Spitfire Build

[TangoJuliet]

The initial stages...

 

[FredA]

Variation of an FlisKit ACME Spitfire.

 

[TangoJuliet]

Variation of an FlisKit ACME Spitfire.

Not really a variation... It is the FlisKits ACME Spitfire.

And I'll be going for the "original" paint scheme...

View attachment 309823 :grin:

 

[MALBAR 70]

Hey, I got to hear the story of how this rocket came about today, first hand from The Man himself..... Jim Flis.

 

[TangoJuliet]

And what did he tell you? I'd like to hear the story.

 

[BuiltFromTrash]

op:op:op:

 

[TangoJuliet]

I've made quite a bit of progress, but unfortunately I'm having issues with my phone and taking photos . As soon as I can get it functioning properly again, I'll post images.

 

[TangoJuliet]

Here's where I am. All the BT sections are in place and will get additional glue added to each joint shortly. Then fins will be attached, one at a time.

 

[MALBAR 70]

And what did he tell you? I'd like to hear the story.

According to what Jim was saying, his son showed him that very same Farside cartoon and told him he couldn't make it fly. Not one to be told he can't, the challenge was accepted, and now we have the ACME Spitfire.

 

[TangoJuliet]

I assumed that The Far Side cartoon was the inspiration since it so closely resembles it. The real ambitious part of my build will happen later when I start the painting process. I want the colors to appear metallic when done. We'll see how that goes.

 

[TangoJuliet]

Fins going on... Using a cobbled together jig to keeps things aligned. Fitting, I think, for this kit. ��

 

[dhbarr]

Be fun to speedbuild these some morning, then drag race them in the afternoon.

 

[TangoJuliet]

Be fun to speedbuild these some morning...

Now that's ambitious!

It could be done I suppose using CA glues of various viscosity, but I'd never be able to do it. CA glue is more of a last resort glue for me. I used to use it all the time when I was younger, but I really prefer to slow down and use the Aliphatic glue as much as possible. Epoxy gets used where necessary (especially in my R/C hobby).

 

[K'Tesh]

So TJ, whaddya Crew Chief on?

Me I was a Weapons Crew Member on the F-111E and EF-111A

 

[TangoJuliet]

I started on B-52H's at Min(dr)ot AFB, ND, then on to the B-2A.

 

[TangoJuliet]

It's almost, almost a rocket.

I'm afraid that's as far as I'm going to get this weekend.

 

[neil_w]

Looking good! Sometimes I think a totally finished Spitfire is "almost a rocket".

 

[K'Tesh]

I have that cartoon posted up in my workplace, and would desperately love to build it (and an upscale) for a classroom decoration.

 

[Forever_Metal]

my father worked the B52s at Castle many years ago

fm

 

[TangoJuliet]

my father worked the B52s at Castle many years ago

fm

A great man, I'm sure!

Jim Flis of FlisKits has some of the best written instructions that I've seen, but I have run into one issue.

The instructions have you cut a toothpick to 1/2" to be used as a locator pin for the nose cone.


The problem is, that's too short.


The distance of the centering ring below the upper edge of the BT is about 7/8". The next diagram clearly shows that the toothpick protrudes above the BT.


Now to determine what the measurement should be.

 

[TangoJuliet]

I decided that I should add the 1/2" to the 7/8" and now it looks much more like the image in the instructions.


And if it's too long, then it can be easily trimmed. Much easier than adding it back if it's too short. 😉

 

[TangoJuliet]

I've now run into a couple of minor issues that would have been much easier to rectify earlier in the build than now.

First is the balsa plug that is essentially the shoulder of the nose cone. It fit beautifully into the opening in ring #7 which is the nose cone base. Unfortunately, it's too fat to fit the BT50! I didn't check this prior to gluing it to ring #7 and then adding the cone shroud. Sanding it to size now is just a bit trickier than it would have been.


Secondly, the BT50 is slightly too long. I actually made a mental note that it was about a 1/4" or more longer than the specified dimension in the instructions, but I was hesitant to trim it then, not sure where it would end up when fully assembled. You can see in this photo the difference in how much gap there is between the nose cone shoulder and the top of the BT50, and the remaining gap between the nose cone itself and the BT70.


Again, not difficult to fix, but it would have been easier to do before being assembled.

 

[jflis]

Hhmmmm, I will look into that measurement for the toothpick as well as the "bt-50 too long" problem there... will get that fixed! Thanks for brining that to my attention.

As for the inspiration, yep, the story about my son and the Larson toon is correct

Good stuff!

 

[TangoJuliet]

Thanks Jim. I'll need to trim down my toothpick a little bit as it's now slightly too long, but like I said, it's easier to remove some than add it back. :wink:

I remembered later that you actually added that story to the website. I like all the variations that people have done with it; the beer can theme is a favorite - not just because I'm a beer drinker, but it also reminded me of the beer can bazookas that guys used to make in the 70's to launch tennis balls; and the Steam Punk Spitfires are really cool too. I may have to build another one just to see how creative I can get.

 

[mjennings]

TagoJuliet
Had a similar issue with my BT-50 a while back here is the thread
https://www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?3316-ACME-Spitfire&highlight=spitfire
I miss measured slightly and that seemed to have been the source of the error

 

[TangoJuliet]

Well, I just measured the stuffer tube and I get 14.75".

Bottom of Engine Mount/Stuffer Tube to top of Engine Clip/Bottom of Thrust Ring = 2.5"; Thrust Ring = 0.25"; Top of Thrust Ring to Top of Stuffer Tube 12". The Bottom of the Engine Mount/Stuffer Tube is 0.25" (1/4") above the Bottom of the BT70 Section 1. It is at least 0.30" too long, according to the instructions, which say 14.45" long.

I should have trimmed it from the start when I made the mental note that it was long. But it's really not a big deal. I'll take it home and trim it with my Zona saw.

 

[GlenP]

I used some of the Rustoleum metallic chrome recently, and it tends to flake off with the tape, even after I thought it had totally cured for a couple of days. I think you might have better luck with the metallic silver. Or, maybe try to paint a clear-coat on top of the metallic before you mask for another trim color.

(hcmbanjo talked about this on his model rocket building blog recently regarding metallic chrome paints and masking over them, which I read about right after I discovered the problem first hand myself.)

 

[K'Tesh]

I used some of the Rustoleum metallic chrome recently, and it tends to flake off with the tape, even after I thought it had totally cured for a couple of days. I think you might have better luck with the metallic silver. Or, maybe try to paint a clear-coat on top of the metallic before you mask for another trim color.

(hcmbanjo talked about this on his model rocket building blog recently regarding metallic chrome paints and masking over them, which I read about right after I discovered the problem first hand myself.)

What about Trim Monokote? Would that work, or add too much weight to it?

Wait... I'm sure that the steampunked versions would weigh more (or have more drag) than the Monokote would.

 

[kcobbva]

Nice build. Always fun seeing folks build this one. I steampunked mine and it flew perfect.

 

[TangoJuliet]

I'm actually thinking about using some Alclad II on it, but I haven't made a decision yet on exactly what I'm going to use to get the effect I want.