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  #1  
Old 06-09-2017, 07:57 PM
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Sprint60 Sprint60 is offline
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Default Oddl Rockets F16

I saw this kit on Chris's blog; I'm not sure he believed me when I told him I wanted four kits.

Thought these might make a good family project. So far so good (although I did a lot of the building on the teenage daughter's). We're off to a club launch in the morning; the plan is to drag race the "team." Here's a teaser photo - if I did this right (it's not showing up in the preview).

Tim Burger
(Greater Kansas City area)
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  #2  
Old 06-09-2017, 11:19 PM
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hcmbanjo hcmbanjo is offline
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FOUR?
Those look great Tim!
I like the extra work you did on the missiles. I hope the builds went well so far -
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  #3  
Old 06-11-2017, 01:57 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hcmbanjo
FOUR?

Yes! Four!
Quote:
Originally Posted by hcmbanjo
Those look great Tim!
I like the extra work you did on the missiles.

Thanks! We have both edges here with one of the kits being built by a thirteen year-old at one end and an old well practiced model builder at the other. The mark of a great kit - looks good stock yet has potential to be much more. Good stuff. My wife and daughter built the other two, although a lot of my daughter's was done by me (work, training, make-up, et al).

Quote:
Originally Posted by hcmbanjo
I hope the builds went well so far -

The builds went well. I intended this to be a family thing and it worked out well with all of us getting into it. It was gratifying to see my son interested in something without a screen - his was finished first. The kits went together easily, parts fit, nothing hard to do (especially when certain young people read the instructions or at least look at the pictures.) I like that the fin was the last thing on so there was nothing interfering with the details on the bottom. Logical. I'll put up a more thorough review later in the week.

We were a little pressed for time to get ready for the club launch this weekend so no paint or cockpits. We flew them twice on B6-4s - drag race! They fly great! We got a lot of attention on the range.

So, for an encore may I suggest the F104, Chris? I'm also kicking around and idea of getting another four kits and kit-bashing a set of F9F-6 Cougars for a matching set of Blue Angels.
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  #4  
Old 06-23-2017, 10:40 PM
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Default Build and Review (times four)

This build was intended to be a family exercise; Chris ran a series on his blog while developing the prototype and the idea hit me that it would be fun to fly a “wing” of models at once and from there it was downhill.

There was some anticipation waiting for the kits to become available and some more waiting for them to show and then a weeks long delay due to other higher priority family activities. You know, hurry up and wait.

First impressions are very good. At some point in my career I flew model airplanes so I always look at the wood first. Good reasonably dense A-grain balsa in all four kits. Not contest grade double extra soft (good for gliders but not so much rocket fins) but also not rock-hard heavy as slabs of oak either - nice clear grain with good crisp laser cutting. A nice big plastic cut-to-size ‘chute is included in each kit. The nose cones are the seamless two-part plastic ones - the kind that you glue the shoulder into the nose. Also included are clear vacuum formed canopies, two sheets of neat decals protected by tissue paper and white body tubes with small spirals. I’m impressed with the quality. I could wish for longer Kevlar shock-cord anchors, though. The instructions are excellent; clear and well illustrated. I had no fears that my family could each produce a good model that both looks and flies well.

We finally got started together at the dining room table with a pair of newly purchased building mats (in addition to an old one), some Gorilla-glue wood glue and some sharp X-actos. We’re off! Sorry, I didn’t get a photo of the kit parts or a lot of the sub-assemblies. It was a bit of an exercise for me to help three builders and build my own. My daughter has built a few simple rockets over the years as has my wife, but my son has built only one or two school rockets. Ironically his was the first completed.

Naturally the motor mount goes first. It’s a standard mount with a good springy hook and a Kevlar line for the shock-cord anchor. I added a piece of tubing between the centering rings and tied the Kevlar to the bottom of the mount so it can be more easily replaced on all four rockets. The kits come with a chrome self-adhesive strip that is wrapped around the bottom of the motor tube for some bling. We had a little bit of trouble getting them glued in - the rings were a little too tight and mine grabbed before it was in position and I wound up cutting it out and using a section of body tube from my parts box. So I spent some time sanding rings on the others so that the mounts would slide in readily and there were no more troubles with mounts.

While all that was going on balsa parts were being cut from the slabs and the two part wings and rudders were assembled over some wax paper. Then some sanding was done. My wife was reading the instructions and sanded her fins and wings as shown. Zeke wasn’t the least interested in the instructions and sanded nothing. I sanded mine and my daughter’s because she had to work (which I heartily endorse) and I rounded all of the edges except the roots and the tips.

The next step was to mark the body tube and add tank/bomb standoffs to the wings. The wings were then glued to the body tube. We ran ahead a little and cut out the air scoops while we were waiting for glue to dry. We used a length of aluminum angle for a cutting guide and it worked well. I found cutting the second side of the tube out the hardest part of the build. It’s hard to do because the tube wants to flop around. I also cut out Hannah’s for her since she was working or had swim practice or something.

The build preceded over the next few days, though not necessarily together. Zeke got into it and couldn’t wait to do the next step and was ‘way ahead of all of us. My wife and I built ours mostly together but there were times where she had time on her hands (such as at swim meets) and did the drop tank sanding and things like that on her own. Hannah’s just sort of sat there untouched.

The lower fins are added, then the launch lugs and then the scoops were set down over the lugs. When all that’s dry the model is turned over and the top fin goes on.

We were all over the place at this stage, Zeke’s was pretty well done. Hannah hadn’t glued on anything yet. Natalie’s was a little more complete than was mine. Z had managed some how to glue the wings on the wrong-way-round so his drop tanks were on top. (No comment was made.) He did get his wings and fins on straight so good marks for that at least. He realized his mistake and on Friday night was seen cutting the pods off and gluing them to the bottom. You can see the scars in the photos.

I spent an evening or two shaping drop tanks and missiles. I wanted my tanks to look like tanks and the missiles to look like missiles so I fashioned extra parts out of scrap balsa. I cut a drop tank fin that looked about right free-hand; then trimmed it as needed until it looked proper and used it for a pattern to make five more. These are really too small to sand and shape so I glued the six of them on and when dry used a fresh knife blade to trim and shape and then used the sanding block to finish. The missile nose cones are two layers of balsa fin stock scrap, rough cut and whittled to fit into the end of the launch lugs and then whittled and sanded to shape. The missile fins are card stock, cut out whole, slotted together to form a cruciform and then glued into the slotted end of the lug.

As the build drew towards completeness the models really did look impressive. On Friday night before the launch, I glued three of the four nose cone shoulders in (I used slow CA even though the instructions indicate plastic cement). Zeke used wood glue on his (it seems to be holding). I cut out all the ‘chutes and tied on the lines and then tied all knots for the shock cords.

There wasn’t time for me to paint them, so we went to the launch and flew them as they were. It’s normal for me to fly a model a few times before I put on a finish anyway. We did get a lot of attention on the range. We flew all four together twice - though one misfired on the first round (and was flown while the rest of us were retrieving). I want it said: I totally won both drag races! (And don’t listen to any of my trash-talking family members!) These are very fun, stand-way-back scale models and flying them in a group is a blast.

So at home afterward we needed a little fleet maintenance (didn’t I say the wadding goes in FIRST?) And then some filling and sanding. I used Tamiya putty on the scars and Brodak balsa sealer (since I’m out of Aero-gloss which is sadly no longer in production). I’m going to use Duplicolor white sandable primer and Duplicolor White lacquer for a base coat. Then I'll follow that with Testor’s Acrylic from an airbrush for the highlights. Pics of that will follow as it gets done.

Thanks for the kits, Chris! I’d love to see an expanded line of these. I’m not in marketing nor do I play one on TV but I think that you’ve got a hit on your hands here. I’m thinking about getting another four and doing an F9F kit bash. Maybe an F104, too. So many rockets, so little time!
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  #5  
Old 06-24-2017, 11:40 AM
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hcmbanjo hcmbanjo is offline
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Hi Sprint60,
Thanks for the great report! Sounds like a great family activity.
I'm glad they built and flew well for everybody.
The Kevlar isn't real long, I don't want it to extend beyond the end
of the body tube preventing zippers. The body tubes are heavy wall BT-50
and a Kevlar snap back might still cut through it.

One point before you paint -
That yellow nose cone is hard to cover with just a white coat of paint.
Use a grey primer first, then a few coats of white.
For some reason that yellow plastic can show through a light coat of paint.
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Hans "Chris" Michielssen
Old/New NAR # 19086 SR

www.oddlrockets.com
www.modelrocketbuilding.blogspot.com
http://www.nar.org/educational-reso...ing-techniques/
Your results may vary
"Nose cones roll, be careful with that."
Every spaceman needs a ray gun.
Look out - I'm the Meister Shyster!
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  #6  
Old 06-26-2017, 08:35 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hcmbanjo
The Kevlar isn't real long, I don't want it to extend beyond the end
of the body tube preventing zippers. The body tubes are heavy wall BT-50
and a Kevlar snap back might still cut through it.


Logical - also I've noticed that the Kevlar will fray on the tube edge if it's unprotected.

Quote:
Originally Posted by hcmbanjo
One point before you paint -
That yellow nose cone is hard to cover with just a white coat of paint.
Use a grey primer first, then a few coats of white.
For some reason that yellow plastic can show through a light coat of paint.


Right - saw the addendum to the instructions. I prefer a white primer over grey, especially when the base color will be light. I guess everyone's having problems with rattle can whites these days. I tried airbrushing acrylics with some success; large areas give me trouble so I'm going to try a base coat from a rattle can and then do the trim/highlights with an airbrush. Using an airbrush takes some practice.

Managed to get a layer of primer on the four of them over the weekend. This is Duplicolor's White Sandable. It appears to fill pretty well without getting it so heavy that it runs. It isn't as opaque as Restoleum's 2X product. There's a bit of work to do before I'm ready for the base coat; I'll get some detail pics and post them later.
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  #7  
Old 09-28-2018, 12:07 PM
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Here's a brief update. We've flown these a number of times now, drag racing fun; the last time at NARAM 60. I finally have the paint finished, decals placed and canopies installed. I don't have a pic of all four and one of them is still missing the nose cone.

Fun rockets with lots of potential. Some of the decals are kit decals, the rest are from Sirius Rocketry.

I'm still thinking about buying four more and kit-bashing F6Fs with a Blue Angels scheme.
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Old 09-28-2018, 12:16 PM
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Cool. I didn't see a canopy in the earlier build report. Is it vac formed from thin material (think coke bottle) or is it a commercial style heavy plastic canopy like used to come in plastic models and the Centuri kits?
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  #9  
Old 09-28-2018, 12:31 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tbzep
Cool. I didn't see a canopy in the earlier build report. Is it vac formed from thin material (think coke bottle) or is it a commercial style heavy plastic canopy like used to come in plastic models and the Centuri kits?


Thin plastic vacuum formed part.
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Old 09-28-2018, 01:29 PM
BARGeezer BARGeezer is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sprint60
Here's a brief update. We've flown these a number of times now, drag racing fun; the last time at NARAM 60. I finally have the paint finished, decals placed and canopies installed. I don't have a pic of all four and one of them is still missing the nose cone.

Fun rockets with lots of potential. Some of the decals are kit decals, the rest are from Sirius Rocketry.

I'm still thinking about buying four more and kit-bashing F6Fs with a Blue Angels scheme.



Love the Thunderbirds motif. Did you do the belly bird also? The F-104 Starfighter is also out. Are you planning to get that as well?
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