So who is planning to enter the upscale contest at NSL?
 

There is going to be an upscale contest at NSL -- the object is to build and fly an upscale model of any commerical model rocket kit that is at least two motor classes larger than the original. Entries will be judged on appearance and flight performance. If there are enough entries the contest will be divided into mid power and high power divisions.. Who's in -- or at least considering?

I've got three models I could enter, 1 for sure.



John Boren

I'm in. Well, assuming weather holds. We may get snow at end of week, just when I was planning to paint! I really do not want to paint and add decals in the hotel the night before ... :)

I've scratchbuilt a "Super Orbital Transport", a 1.6x upscale of the Estes classic. It will fly on 24mm E/F reloads, so definitely mid-power.

Interesting...didn't know about that. I have BT-60-based upscales of the original Alpha (so 167%) done in the 1967 paint scheme, and the Semroc Aphelion (157%) - this latter just got the last coat of sealer on the fins a few minutes ago. I was dithering about whether or not to try to squeeze my 256% Nova Payloader (built for NSL 2013 and entered in Classic Model at NARAM 56) into the car as it will complicate things but I can try a little harder to bring it along.

By "two motor classes higher" do you mean a model the was designed for As to Cs has to fly on an E? I'll probably want to use a Chute Release aboard the Alpha or Aphelion - but both have mounts that are long enough for Estes 24mm Es. No problem forthe big Nova Payloader.....as it's a kitbashed Estes Partizon - so it wants at least full F.

The easily portable ones would be the Mini-Brutes. Designed for no larger than an A3-xT or A10-xT, they could be slightly upscaled and flown on C6's or C11's and you'd need very little room to pack them for the trip.

Bernard,


"Old Jedi Mind Trick" -"You Don't Want to Enter this Contest to Compete Against John" :D


I don't expect to win anything but I'm going to enter anyway.



John Boren

.....I can't compete with John.....I can't compete with John.....I can't compete.......


It might be working. :)


On transportability...Upscale Mini-Brutes is a good idea, or anything that is designed for mini or shorty motors. But I'd want to do the original K-31 Star Blazer then. Too late to embark on that project now, at least for this year's NSL, seeing as we start driving next Tuesday and there are things besides rockets that need to be done (unfortunately).

Correct - if the original was designed to fly on up to a C, then the upscale needs to fly on at least an E. We could have said "two motor mount sizes larger", but we're choosing to keep it simple.

The entire rules of the contest are posted on the NSL website, but they're patterned after "Sport Scale" rules in NAR competition -- we're not going to actually measure the entries, we're just going to eyeball them. You just need to provide some sort of documentation of the original -- an catalog listing of the original kit, the package label from the original kit, etc. You just need to provide something to show that the original rocket you're upscaling is a commercially produced rocket kit, and what it looks like.

We didn't specifially rule out entries that are themselves upscale kits -- for example, we're not prohibiting entering a Mega Der Red Max as an upscale Der Red Max. Because the static judging is going to take into account difficulty of construction, and because an upscale kit is an easier build than a scratch built, anyone who takes that approach will be penalizing themselves in the static judging -- but they can still do it that way if they want. This is NSL, not NARAM, so we're not going to get nit-picky about what entries to allow and what entries to disallow. We mainly just want people to have fun with it -- and an upscale contest provides an extra measure of fun for spectators as well.

To me, two motor classes larger means either impulse or diameter.
13mm would have to be scaled up to use 24mm, 18mm up to 29mm, 24mm up to 38mm.
OR
A-thru-C would have to use at least an E, D would have to use at least F, E at least G, F at least H.

The posted rules say "at least two motor classes". That means impulse. Again, it comes down to difficulty of construction in static judging. Upscaling one motor mount size (mini A to C, or C to E) won't earn you as many static points as upscaling two motor mount sizes (C to G).

That's also why we want to split into divisions (mid power and high power) if we get enough participants. Upscaling from a C to K is such a huge jump in difficulty of build (and I've seen it done) that it's not really a fair comparison with C to E, or even C to G. Based on different people I've talked to I'm pretty sure we're going to get at least 3 HPR entries; the question mark is whether we're going to get at least 3 mid power entries in order to create the lower division. And there's no rule saying that one person can't enter both divisions.