Sorry on BT-52.

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Model rocketry is as safe as safe can be defined in human existence. Bow and pray: GH Stine, Orville, Vern, Lee, Lonnie, Carl, etc. No, really.

I'm not sure. I have never had a Thor-Agena B kit, nor was I aware--until I looked up its instructions *here* http://www.spacemodeling.org/jimz/estes/k-28.pdf just now, after reading the above postings--that it used/uses BT-52 tubing for the Agena B second stage (it could be cut shorter to make a Thor-Agena A [Thor-Hustler, so called because the JP-4/nitric acid-burning second stage engine was originally designed to power the cancelled "powered bomb pod" for the B-58 Hustler])...but:

I had previously seen BT-52 tubing listed, many years ago, and it wasn't in a regular Estes catalog. I may have seen it listed in Estes' "Custom Parts Catalog" (which dates to 1974), but I think I saw it listed in the instructions of an Estes kit that I once built--but I can't remember which one it might have been. ALSO--speaking of the Estes Thor-Agena B kit, *here* http://www.google.com/search?q=Este...iw=1440&bih=794 is a set of nice color photographs of Hans "Chris" Michielssen’s beautifully-built-and-detailed Thor-Agena B model.

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Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see:
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NAR #54895 SR

About the only places that I have seen the BT-52 used as an external tube are the Thor-Agena B (K-28), the Semi-Scale Saturn V (K-39/1239), and the Colonial Viper (1310) kits. BT-52 was more often used as a sleeve over the BT-50 motor tubes in several 'D'-powered kits. John Brohm's Estes tube reference goes into a bit more detail about which kits used the BT-52 as a sleeve. An interesting note is that the BT-52 used on the K-39 is actually a bit too small for the correct scale (1.014" as opposed to 1.081"). I suspect that Estes just used the closest available tube for that kit to save money.

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'Til next time,

Mike Toelle

NAR 31692 L1

SAM 0373

The Semi-Scale (1:242 scale) Saturn V was a "budget" version of the 1:100 scale one, so if they did use BT-52 for that reason, it was "in that spirit." :-)

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Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see:
http://www.lulu.com/content/paperba...an-form/8075185
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6122050
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6126511
All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com.
NAR #54895 SR

I just noticed today the Super Big Bertha and Astron Explorer are listed in stock. Order away!

https://www.estesrockets.com/new/00...er-big-berthatm

https://www.estesrockets.com/new/00...tron-explorertm

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BT-52 was used in the SPEV also.

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If I got the Explorer, I'd kitbash it, to make it more of a Sci-Fi spaceship.

Make the connecting tubes longer.

Make the upper tube shorter.

Cut the nose cone apart and add transparent tubing . . . that is what that cone was designed for originally, as I recall!

Turn the fins around. Maybe add pods on the tips.

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NAR #27085 - Oregon Rocketry - SAM

I might kitbash mine with ducted ejection—Trident style.

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NAR# 94042
SAM# 0078

Explain.

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Bill Eichelberger
NAR 79563

http://wallyum.blogspot.com/

I was SAM 0058

On the build floor: Estes Rigel 3, Estes R2D2, MRI Theta 37, Centuri Stellar Starlifter, Bo-Mar Spartan, MRI Lambda 8

Ready to fly: FRW Rat Bite, Estes D.O.M. Long John Silver, SAI Mini Bat, Estes Screaming Mimi, Centuri Sky Devil, MRI Zeus, Canaroc Maxi Challenger

The earliest kit I know of that used that nose cone--or one very similar to it--was Estes' Odyssey (see: http://www.ninfinger.org/rockets/no...a/77est024.html ), which first appeared in their 1977 catalog. The Odyssey was--judging by the "real" vehicle's description in the catalog listing--part of Estes' "Star Trek canon" that began with their licensed Starship Enterprise and Klingon Battle Cruiser kits in 1975 (see: http://www.ninfinger.org/rockets/ca...75/75est22.html ), and was continued in 1976 with their Alien Invader (see: http://www.ninfinger.org/rockets/no...a/76est028.html ), Photon Disruptor, and U.S.S. Atlantis kits (see: http://www.ninfinger.org/rockets/no...a/76est024.html ). (Their Andromeda [see: http://www.ninfinger.org/rockets/ca...5/75est24h.html ], another starship kit that also first appeared in the 1975 Estes catalog, may have been inspired by this, although to me, it "felt" more like it was from the SF universe in which "The Starlost" occurred.)

__________________
Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see:
http://www.lulu.com/content/paperba...an-form/8075185
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6122050
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6126511
All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com.
NAR #54895 SR