Pratt Hobbies Super Six kit
 

Hello All,

I have three questions about the Pratt Hobbies Super Six model rocket kit. It now has four fins (see: www.pratthobbies.com/proddetail.asp?prod=K%2D11 ), but a few years ago the kit had three fins.

Each of these two EMRR reviews (see: http://www.rocketreviews.com/review..._supersix.shtml ) pertains to two different three-finned variants of the Super Six. The first one covers the original version that had three pre-cut styrene plastic fins, while the version in the second review had three laser-cut 1/8" thick balsa fins.

Were the fins in both of the three-finned earlier versions of the kit the same planform shape (although different in thickness) and have the same dimensions? If so, does the current (four-finned) version of the Super Six have the same fin planform shape and dimensions as those of the earlier three-finned versions? Also, were the Simple-6 fins the same shape and size as the Super Six fins?

Many thanks in advance to anyone who can help.

There were stability problems and he added a fin to make it more stable. he uses VERY lightweight nose cones, so he needs big fins, or lots of fins/fin area. And he already has a nice long body tube which helps a LOT.

Nothing is as bad as a beginner model that is unstable.

Beginners often glue fins on crooked or not equally spaced, so beginner models need extra large stability margins. 4 fins are easier to align visually. The fins on the current website look identical to the previoius 3 finned version fins. They are extra thick to make them easier to glue - lots of root surface for the yellow glue to stick to and "grab".

Definitive answers are available directly from Doug Pratt.

http://www.pratthobbies.com/info_pa...ions_latest.doc

I'm surprised he still has people glueing the nose cone shoulder to the styrene nose cone with white glue. It does not and it will not stick.

I just ordered a Super Six and a Polaris as gifts for a friend. I also noticed that oddity in the Super Six instructions (gluing the kraft paper tube shoulder to the plastic nose cone using *white* glue). I'm going to suggest to my friend that he first apply at least two or three paper tape strips on the inside edge of the plastic cone, to give the white glue something porous & fibrous to adhere to.

Mr. Pratt confirmed that all versions of the Super Six used/use the same fin planform, 12" body tube length, and nose cone, and that the Simple Six used the Super Six fin planform with a shorter body tube (8" long, as listed in his book "Basics of Model Rocketry"). I've never seen a Simple Six kit, but the drawing in his book shows it with a long balsa ogive nose cone.

He added a funny (and practical) comment. He found that since some children were gluing the fin alignment guides of his Quark Star kits to the rockets' body tubes, why not, he reasoned, include a self-adhesive fin guide that doubles as a decal? He soon added this feature to the Super Six kits. The guide's adhesive allows for five minutes of repositioning time before it "grabs," and white glue soaks into and adheres well to its vellum-like paper.

That's so clever! Absolutely the neatest trick that I have seen in quite awhile. :)

MarkII

The only other model rocket kit I've seen that used this was an 18 mm motor minimum-diameter rocket that was part of the Canadian "Aeronautical Exploration Outfit" that was made by Logix and sold through the Sears catalog in the 1970s.

Their rocket had a pressure-sensitive, self-adhesive checkerboard fin alignment guide/decal that gave you only *one* chance to put it on straight (guess how I know! Douglas Pratt's "slow-grab" decal is a blessing), and die-cut strips of the decal (where the four fins went) were peeled out before the wrap was applied to the body tube.

It was an unusual little rocket with equally unusual launching equipment (all made of white styrofoam!). The rocket had four clipped delta fins and a thick-walled, dark brown paper body tube that looked like a miniature carpet roll core tube. The motor was friction-fitted in the body tube. Oddly, the rocket had a 10" or 12" parachute for the body and a 4" or 6" parachute for its (approximately Estes Wizard-size) red plastic nose cone! The rocket had been in production long enough that one of its recommended motors was the A5-2.

The launch pad was a styrofoam rectangle with a recess for the flat rectangular metal jet deflector, and it used a two-piece 36" launch rod with a narrower upper section. The launch controller was a palm-size styrofoam box with a red plastic front cover that housed the continuity light. Instead of a safety key, it had a three-position slide switch ("Arm," "Safe," and "Test," if memory serves). ("We like to live dangerously up here, eh?") :-)

White glue and Styrene huh ?
That sounds like a dreadfully inadequate adhesion method.
Then again, I don't like white glue for ANYTHING as far as an adhesive.
There isn't any gluing job other than mounting wraps that Epoxy or Titebond will not perform BETTER than white goo (glue) !

I did a quick search, I seem to remember something about that set. The ones I knew were from Radio Shack:
http://www.samstoybox.com/toys/Aeronautic.html

I wanted one of those sooo badly as a kid and never got it.

(Don't look on eBay, Roger ... don't look .......)

-- Roger

I still have my set I got in the early 70's in the garage attic.