Aerobee-Hi

[JSP]

I'm finally finishing my AAA Model Aviation Fuels Aerobee-Hi that I started in 1989. I've painted it, now I just need to make the decals. I've looked in Alway's book and on the web, but I can't seem to find out if the "NRL 42" was on both sides of all three fins. Anybody know? Thanks!

By the way, here's the Aerobee so far...

[DeanHFox]

I *love* that little part of a Centuri Skylab peeking out from the shelf behind the Aerobee!

Great Aerobee, too! :D

[JSP]

Thanks!
I also noticed that my pic of John Dyer's plastic model Saturn V taking off is on the wall too. It was the cover of am American Spacemodeling... My claim to fame :)

[A Fish Named Wallyum]

I'm finally finishing my AAA Model Aviation Fuels Aerobee-Hi that I started in 1989. I've painted it, now I just need to make the decals. I've looked in Alway's book and on the web, but I can't seem to find out if the "NRL 42" was on both sides of all three fins. Anybody know? Thanks!

By the way, here's the Aerobee so far...

I just built and flew the Semroc version, but none of my pictures show a good view of two fins. I want to say that it was on all sides, but I can't remember.
Sorry. :o

[stefanj]

Wow . . . you beat me to it. I haven't not-built my AAA Aerobee since only 1991!

My kit still has the decals. There are four black "NRL-42" and two white "NRL-42." This suggests that there may have been names on both sides of each fin.

You could try writing to Peter Alway to confirm this. He might have photos that show the rocket from other angles.

Let us know what you find!

The big hang-up that has kept me from completing the kit is shaping the fins. I just put a fine grit belt on my sander, so maybe this is the year I finally get it done!

Stefan

[JSP]

Cool! That makes me think it's on all sides....I'll keep looking to make sure and let you know.
Actually, I did all the fin and vane sanding back in '89. I was hung up on wanting to do the first stage, but I finally figured I liked it better as a one stager....mainly because it's simpler. Thanks!

[dwmzmm]

Although not exactly the same (but "rich" in model rocketry history), I still have the model of Estes Aerobee 300 kit "in-the-bag" awaiting assembly.

[JSP]

I built an Estes Aerobee 300 as a kid. I thought it looked totally cool with it's silver body and very pointy nose. It also seemed to be exactly the right scale. Any bigger and it would have lost some charm somehow... I've toyed with building a clone of the same scale....

[JSP]

I finished my decals!!!!
I'm pretty sure they're the right scale. I used several sources, including the Estes decal and the Revell plastic model decal. I measured them in pics of the real NRL 42, and scaled from there, so if math works they should be about right... :rolleyes:

[JSP]

Crud! I didn't put the pic with it....
Here ya go...

[JSP]

I finished!!!! My AAA Aerobee-Hi is done!
It only took me 17 years!!!!!
Hey, I'm quick!

[stefanj]

Very spiffy!

A D12-5 should really make it move. Maybe even a C11-5 (get 'em before the stores run out!).

You are inspiring me to get off my but and work on mine.

I just put finished filling / sealing / sanding my Semroc Aerobee. Maybe I'll work on the AAA version next, and paint them together.

[JSP]

Why, thankee! :D

Yeah, I've always been amazed that they put a 29mm mount in this sucker. I'm NOT using one! A D12 would probably be really good... I MIGHT go with a E9...

Of course I DID fly my Scamp upscale on an G80....and got it back....at NSL,
but then again it was pretty much luck (it came down on the street a mile or so away in front of another guy's wife who was driving back to the field. She called him on the cell and asked him if she should stop and pick it up. He said yes, thankfully!)

[Green Dragon]

Why, thankee! :D

Yeah, I've always been amazed that they put a 29mm mount in this sucker. I'm NOT using one! A D12 would probably be really good... I MIGHT go with a E9...

Of course I DID fly my Scamp upscale on an G80....and got it back....at NSL,
but then again it was pretty much luck (it came down on the street a mile or so away in front of another guy's wife who was driving back to the field. She called him on the cell and asked him if she should stop and pick it up. He said yes, thankfully!)

Good looking Scamp ( have one of those, original size, in my que - always thought a nice 4" version would be neat )

Re: the AAA Aerobee HI

this is the 1.6" dia version, from what I can tell ( he also did a 2.6" , iirc ). Nice looking bird - I had the D-Region they did in 1.6" and it also has 29mm mount.
nice flier on F14 blackjacks, but lost on an F50 :-( ... would be easy enough to clone,as it used the actual Estes decal, far as I recall, those are posted.

Have all the parts collected and cut for my AAA American Dream clone, so someday......

~ AL

[JSP]

Thanks!
Yeah, the American Dream would be cool. I like the three diameter look. I'd like to see it when you get done :D
My only other AAA bird is the Sentry HVTV. It's the 3 29mm cluster with the weird "in the nose" payload section. . I've only flown it once, and then only two of the three F's lit. (I tried flashbulb ignition, and it didn't work too well) . Still, it screamed!
I was always tempted by their Bandit 3X, but I never could get 64.95 together to buy the monster. At 83" long, it was certainly worth it, though! :eek:

[JSP]

Here's my HVTV, by the way...

[Green Dragon]

Thanks!
Yeah, the American Dream would be cool. I like the three diameter look. I'd like to see it when you get done :D
My only other AAA bird is the Sentry HVTV. It's the 3 29mm cluster with the weird "in the nose" payload section. . I've only flown it once, and then only two of the three F's lit. (I tried flashbulb ignition, and it didn't work too well) . Still, it screamed!
I was always tempted by their Bandit 3X, but I never could get 64.95 together to buy the monster. At 83" long, it was certainly worth it, though! :eek:


Will of course post when it's ever done, lol ... been a while coming, after I got pics and info from Sean L , likely be fall until I get time to build ( where's the summer going / gone to ? )

I've never seen that kit in your pic .

My brother had a kit, I thought was the 'Sentry' - super heavy duty 3.5" od tubing, used the top half of a Maxi HOJO cone.
I remember he crashed it at LDRS 5, and we wound up cutting up the cone to my old HOJO for repairs.

He used a lot of estes 'cast-offs' like that, for example, the lower half of the HOJO cone transitions from a BT80 to the AAA 3.2" tubing - I used those tubes for my 2 times Pathfinder upscale.

AL's shop ( AAA ) was only about an hour from me, our club guys used to make trips down there a lot to pick up supplies ,etc.. he used to have lots of non-cataloged items, too ( like a whiole wall of oop kits :-)
Not sure what happened to all the leftover items ( to include hundreds of Crown and early Aerotech single use motors ), I've thought of looking him up and see, since I've been to his home as well, so could drop in, lol .

As for the 4" Bandit = nice kit, especially with the 2.6" host mount interchange - I've thought of 'cloning' one for a while ( is it really a clone, since it was an upscale originally ? ).

I do have some plans / patterns for AAA kits , if anyone needs them ( Transonic 775, Lasersonics 1.2, PA Crude, Nike-Ram, etc).

~ AL

[Ltvscout]

I do have some plans / patterns for AAA kits , if anyone needs them ( Transonic 775, Lasersonics 1.2, PA Crude, Nike-Ram, etc).
Ahem! (raises hand) :D

[barone]

Ahem! (raises hand) :D


Seconded......All in favor...

Don
NAR 53455

[Green Dragon]

Will, again, see what I can do ... I thought this had come up before and was one of the company / plans that for whatever reason could not / were asked to not be postred, possibly AAA wasn't one of those.
( that's more or less what I meant is if ppl needed info directly, due to compywrite issues or somesuch, ala the NCR plans I got from nameless sources ;) )

not sure if I have the actual instruction sheets and all documentation, but definately have info such as fin patterns and tube lengths so a clone could be builtup .

if anyone is in a rush for info, drop me a line ( pm here, or else to sailordoode * at * stny.rr.com ), and I can get info on out .

~ AL

goes off to hunt down plans to scan .......

[Ltvscout]

Will, again, see what I can do ... I thought this had come up before and was one of the company / plans that for whatever reason could not / were asked to not be postred, possibly AAA wasn't one of those.
( that's more or less what I meant is if ppl needed info directly, due to compywrite issues or somesuch, ala the NCR plans I got from nameless sources ;) )
NCR plans can't be posted due to Matt wanting to sell plan packs. That's something I'm supposed to be working on for him. :o

AAA and Pine Cap are good to go though.

[Green Dragon]

NCR plans can't be posted due to Matt wanting to sell plan packs. That's something I'm supposed to be working on for him. :o

AAA and Pine Cap are good to go though.

OK, that's what I wasn;t sure of, was what was ok and what wasn't ... I figured Pine Cap was ok, just nobody has em :( .

It would be nice if Matt produced a plan-pak or plans book of plans, I'd certainly buy one, some of the early NCR designs are neat ( like the Spoil Sports,etc - and of course the futuristic stuff liek the Black Hole Betty,etc ) .

WIll get some scans for you when I get time , lol .

~ AL

[Ltvscout]

It would be nice if Matt produced a plan-pak or plans book of plans, I'd certainly buy one, some of the early NCR designs are neat ( like the Spoil Sports,etc - and of course the futuristic stuff liek the Black Hole Betty,etc ) .
I've got a huge box sitting here that he sent me just before NARCON this year full of all the NCR plans and decals. I have to get things scanned so that PDF plan packs can then be put up for sale on a new domain that he owns. I'm trying to find (good) software that will allow an online purchase and then allow the file to be immediately downloaded.

[Ltvscout]

WIll get some scans for you when I get time , lol .
Sounds like something we're both short of. :D

[Rocketking]

Re: AAA's Aerobee-Hi -

I've got one in the collection for someone if they 'Just Can't Wait for Carl' or other cloning.

I also have a copy of Peter Alway's article on the gap-staged two-staged version. I even had one constructed, but it didn't survive one of my moves. Dang!

Anyone interested in this can PM me here or on TRF.

Glen A.

[Green Dragon]

I also have a copy of Peter Alway's article on the gap-staged two-staged version. I even had one constructed, but it didn't survive one of my moves. Dang!

Anyone interested in this can PM me here or on TRF.

Glen A.

I have that gap-staged Aerobee built and 75% painted.

Don't recall what AMSpam issue the plans were in, but I've had it constructed,unpainted for years, finally getting it painted and nice in my 'return to vintage'. lol....
( I'm not a BAR, since I've been active in some form of rocketry, but maybe ' BAFH' = BAck From High-power ? ..... lol... although I do fly HPR,including L3 stuff. so just lost in space, I guess, lol )

Still curious how the gap-stager will fly, anyone ever built and flown one ?

~ AL

[Rocketking]

I had sent Peter an email asking about that issue, and he got back to me quite quickly.

Peter Alway, “1/9 Scale Aerobee-Hi with Booster,” P. 5, American
Spacemodeling, June, 1989.

Ask and it shall be given.

I'm still looking for the photocopy, however...

Glen

[JSP]

I have the issue right here...
I think it's funny that he states, "Staging has been successful when the booster stage fit into the upper stage about as tightly as a typical nose cone..." Notice he didn't say that staging was ALWAYS successful, just that it had been ;) Of course, I'm sure it's actually pretty reliable. I'm just putting my own paranoia on things....
By the way, he also points out that this version is the same skill as the old Model Missiles versio, and that there are collecors who would kill for one....and this was 17 years ago!

[JSP]

Make that "scale" not "skill." I really gotta start proofing things before I hit send...

[Tweener]

Make that "scale" not "skill." I really gotta start proofing things before I hit send...Don't you see an edit button on all your posts? That's how I fix 'em. ;) I try to do it quick so nobody notices. :D

[Green Dragon]

Peter Alway, “1/9 Scale Aerobee-Hi with Booster,” P. 5, American
Spacemodeling, June, 1989.

Ask and it shall be given.

I'm still looking for the photocopy, however...

Glen


Glen - thanks for the info, I checked and I * DO * have that issue still, so I'm good to go .

like I mentioned, I'm in the process of painting the one I built 10+ years ago ( my bad, same as others on the list .. lol :p ).

will certainly get LOTS of photos before flight.

~ AL

[Rocketking]

Yes, Al, I know what you mean on that count!

I am wading through about 35 years of rocketry, saying "What's worth keeping?" Of course, the answer I get tells me to keep it all! I do demonstrations for scouting groups & such, and lay out quite a table of rockets for the kids to 'nose around'. I have to finish an Initiator to have a legitimate mid power rocket to show off. I lost one Initiator in the top of a huge tree about a dozen years ago...

Glen A.