What are you getting ready for the Spring flying season?

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NjCo

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The weather has been gradually improving here in Colorado lately and that means painting is at last possible again! Despite some recent heavy snow the temps for the next several days will be in the mid to upper 70s! So what are you guys building/waiting to finish for the Spring flying season? I've got a few things going that I thought I'd share.

1. Couple of old Goonies that I refinished last year. I built these in late middle school many years ago and just pulled them out of a box last year. The finishes were nothing short of horrendous so I decided to break out the sandpaper and redo them. They are just waiting for some decals and a coat of Future and they will be ready to go. On the left is my Gangrene Missile Toe :) and on the right my Star Snoop.

2. My 18mm Interceptor. Working it's way through the build process. I papered the fins for some added strength. I have to do a bit of filling on the edges of the thick fins but other than that this one is ready for primer. The plastic parts are also prepped for their paint. I should be able to have this one ready for decals by the end of the week.

3. Big Daddy. I had this done last year but was holding off getting it in the air till I had the finish completed. Finally said screw it and decided to launch only to discover I had forgotten the damn launch lug!! :( I've since fixed that and now this one needs another coat of red, some feathering of the grey down onto the body tube and some yellow details on the fins. I've decided to forgo the Estes yellow decals and just mask off all the fins and spray in the same pattern.

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i'm itching to get my V2 (public enemy) and scartch upscale of a mosquito in the air.
but at the moment i'm trying to get the rockets built early for the 2010 EMMR competition.
and i've just got two sets of plans and decals for two goonies - goonydent and cloud hopper from Gordy at excelsiorrocketry, i've been bit by the goony bug and have also order 5 baby bertha kits.
your goonies look great.
 
Couple more things I'm working on:

4. Tomcat Swing-Wing Fighter. I bought this years ago and built a little of it (basically what you see in the picture). I keep forgetting I have this! I rediscovered this one a couple days ago in the bottom of one of my rocket boxes. With the build of the Interceptor winding down I guess I'll start work on this one again.

5. Estes Guardian. I built this one last Summer and it snapped off a fin on it's maiden flight. Good old Estes dent! Only I'd replaced the shock cord with a longer elastic one. Can't win them all I guess. Looked like the nose cone snapped back and hit the BT about mid way down and cracked the finish. The NC then bounced up and clipped the fin and took it off. Luckily the fin came floating out of the sky and landed right in front of me. I didn't see the fin come off and never would have found it otherwise. Anyway, I got it back on and am in the process of sanding the area down for some refinishing.

6. D-Region Tomahawk. This thing has been a pain in the a#% since last Summer. Pretty quick build. Nice fin can. Really sturdy as long as you use a plastic welder instead of plastic cement like the instructions advise. I've been having a bear of a time with the 1st finish coat on this one though. I get lots of crinkling of the paint around the fin can. I've tried twice so far with some spot fixes but am now to the point where I'll have to take it all off and reprime! :( And this is with the same brand of primer and top coat. I'd love to get this one finished since it's a sweet looking rocket!

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I need to get my Delta IV heavy (which should be here by Friday) and my Madcow honest John into the air
 
Svetlana - Big Daddy upgraded to 29mm mount, no-wadding ejection, and the ability to fly up to baby Hs. No glass, just paper skins on the fins.

SpaceShipOne - stripped and repainted, plus fixed a broken boom.

Heli-roc

Multi-goon... a Goony with 12 fins and 3 interchangable motor mounts

Lots of other stuff, too.
 
Svetlana - Big Daddy upgraded to 29mm mount, no-wadding ejection, and the ability to fly up to baby Hs. No glass, just paper skins on the fins.

SpaceShipOne - stripped and repainted, plus fixed a broken boom.

Heli-roc

Multi-goon... a Goony with 12 fins and 3 interchangable motor mounts

Lots of other stuff, too.

It's nice to see you got your heli-roc up and running
 
I've just got a small scratch-built rocket that I'm working on. It needs final sanding and paint. I don't have any pics yet :mad:
 
Finally the North Carolina Snows have receded with the kids having twenty days of cancellations or delays due to snow!

I now have a painted Estes Guardian.

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A painted and decalled Red River Predator

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A Semroc Laser X waiting decals.

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And and Estes Screaming Eagle

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This was the first time using an air brush. I think it turned out O.K.

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Bye for now.

John
 
NjCo, good luck on the F14 swing wing. My brother only got one steep diving glide out of it. A guy I used to fly with had better luck, but it makes the shuttle look like a high performance glider. Make sure every thing is very square when you attach the fins and wings. Hopefully you'll have some better luck with it.
 
NjCo, good luck on the F14 swing wing. My brother only got one steep diving glide out of it. A guy I used to fly with had better luck, but it makes the shuttle look like a high performance glider. Make sure every thing is very square when you attach the fins and wings. Hopefully you'll have some better luck with it.

Thanks. I've been looking through all the build and flight tips I could find on this one. Seems like a real finicky flier (if you could call it that). I'm taking care to weigh all the matching fins and make sure I have the weight evenly distributed. I bought it more than 15 years ago when I was a BAR the first time around and have only built bits and pieces of it over the years. Hopefully it'll turn out OK.
 
I've got a couple things.

I've got OSD to finish fiberglassing and painting.

as well as my crayon that I have all the parts for, just need to put it together.

First launch is saturday (weather permitting) so they won't be ready for it, maybe the next launch though.
 
Let's see...

Finishing up repairs on my Comanche and Semroc Hydra 7. That should be done this week. Then on to painting my Giant Leap Escape Velocity and finishing the EBay and painting on my scratch-build from some PML parts.

I've just gotten started on the Ultimate Wildman for my L3 project, but I'm waiting on a replacement airframe for that one as the one I got has some layup defects in the fiberglass.

Finally, the build pile contains the Fliskits Nell, L3 and Acme Spitfire, along with a PemTech King Kraken and an Aerotech Arreaux.
 
Started working on a Semroc Saturn 1B
Going with the cluster option :cyclops:


...and some alpha tests

Inflight Honest John (M50 version). I finally got around to using those nose cones Carl. :neener:

Inflight Gemini Titan III (based off Peter Alway's drawings)

.
 
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I built about 9 rockets this winter and am now busy finishing and painting. I do all the painting outdoors so I welcome spring.
 
I have an Acme Sptifire ready to fly when the winds calm down. Also a SAAB 05A scale 18mm. Will post pictures soon.
 
I have two new glider that will be going up.
Quest:Shuttle Intrepid
Edmund's Aerospace: CICI Glider

I think I am also going to scratch build a SR71 Blackbird. Well, I going to try....
 
An extremely overbuilt Estes Guardian.























Just kidding. :D


Mark K.
 
I've been working on:
- A Flis ACME Spitfire that still needs some "weathering" to make it look old.
- An Excelsior "Honest Goon" that still needs decals.
- 4 rocket donations for the NARAM-52 FI/TI (3 Estes Patriots and a Semroc Squire) that are in various stages of painting.

NjCo - I like the way your Big Daddy is looking... don't forget to post pictures after the paint is done.
 
I also have an Estes SWAT, Andromeda clone, Scissor-Wing Trans, sustainer of my Centuri Black Widow clone and Estes Tandom that all need paint. wow, I didn't realize how much I've done...
 
I've been working on:
- A Flis ACME Spitfire that still needs some "weathering" to make it look old.
- An Excelsior "Honest Goon" that still needs decals.
- 4 rocket donations for the NARAM-52 FI/TI (3 Estes Patriots and a Semroc Squire) that are in various stages of painting.

NjCo - I like the way your Big Daddy is looking... don't forget to post pictures after the paint is done.
Your steampunked ACME Spitfire rocks, btw.
 
Over the winter I built clones of the FSI ****** Dart (with a faux RX-1 booster that will take 24mm motors), the FSI Hornet and the FSI Maverick. Sitting on my work table awaiting the last couple of assembly steps are clones of the Astron Cobra and the FSI Competitor. As is the case with the majority of my rockets, the first three are awaiting paint jobs. I'm waiting for the weather to warm up enough so that I can get going on that. I have a large number of scratch projects (clones mostly) that I am itching to get started on as well as an ever-growing pile of kits that I really want to build because they are so cool and I really want to start flying them. Additionally, several of my already-completed rockets, especially my Mini Brute clones, have not yet been introduced to the sky. So I have no shortage of new things to launch this spring. As a matter of fact, just about everything that I launch each year is new and is making its first or second flight. I don't have many rockets that I have launched more than 3 or 4 times because I am always putting new stuff on the pad.

Mark K.
 
Since we are going to the small field after April,,,

The Gee Hod and

Atomic Gee Hod 2.2x upscale are getting ready to fly.

Fin can,

ry%3D400


With airframe slid on,

ry%3D400


Oh the 75mm Stealth is in the back round of the second pic.

Tom
 
I have a bunch of "Secret Santa" goonies to paint. Plus, my
NOTMLAS: BT80x 3-13mm motor mount cluster. Slightly oversize rear fins.
Minute Man: Got the idea from the DVD series Minute Man. :roll:

nmlas.jpg

minuteman.jpg
 
Over the winter I built clones of the FSI ****** Dart (with a faux RX-1 booster that will take 24mm motors), the FSI Hornet and the FSI Maverick. Sitting on my work table awaiting the last couple of assembly steps are clones of the Astron Cobra and the FSI Competitor. As is the case with the majority of my rockets, the first three are awaiting paint jobs. I'm waiting for the weather to warm up enough so that I can get going on that. I have a large number of scratch projects (clones mostly) that I am itching to get started on as well as an ever-growing pile of kits that I really want to build because they are so cool and I really want to start flying them. Additionally, several of my already-completed rockets, especially my Mini Brute clones, have not yet been introduced to the sky. So I have no shortage of new things to launch this spring. As a matter of fact, just about everything that I launch each year is new and is making its first or second flight. I don't have many rockets that I have launched more than 3 or 4 times because I am always putting new stuff on the pad.

Mark K.
FSI ****** Dart (with a faux RX-1 booster)
Did I miss the build thread?
I'd love to see how you did it and parts you used.
Was on my "to do" list many years ago...had the oderform filled out but never sent it in.........
 
A few new and a few replacements for rockets lost last year:

Zubenelegenubi
Saturn 1B with interchangeable motor mount
Madcow Momba (replacement)
Mean Machine (replacement)
Sirius Cestris
TLP Anubis
Flis Corona
Flis Frik n Frak (replacement)
Flis Deuce Wild (replacement)

Thinking about but not started:
2-stage Fatboy
Semroc Mars Lander
2x Zubenelegenubi
Arapahoe E
 
FSI ****** Dart (with a faux RX-1 booster)
Did I miss the build thread?
I'd love to see how you did it and parts you used.
Was on my "to do" list many years ago...had the oderform filled out but never sent it in.........
I don't do build threads very often, but I'll put up some pictures of it in a new thread with a quick description of how I built it. I need to take a few pictures of it, but I want to shoot it tomorrow outdoors in the sunshine. :D

Mark K.
 
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I'll be flying my mars snooper and phoenix for the first time.
 
I've been working on:
- A Flis ACME Spitfire that still needs some "weathering" to make it look old.
- An Excelsior "Honest Goon" that still needs decals.
- 4 rocket donations for the NARAM-52 FI/TI (3 Estes Patriots and a Semroc Squire) that are in various stages of painting.

NjCo - I like the way your Big Daddy is looking... don't forget to post pictures after the paint is done.

oh! by the by :) Your funky ACME is in the mail. You should have it today or Monday. Keep us posted on the weathering work you do on that as I am MOST interested :)
 
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