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  #41  
Old 10-15-2010, 09:42 PM
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I made some revisions to the decals for the Vampire, and printed them out on Hammermill glossy laser paper, which came out with a nice matte finish similar to what's left of the original decals. I cut them out, and touched up the paper edges with black sharpie and one of my daughters' red crayola markers, and put them on with 3M spray.

Here's a quick snapshot. Forgive the low light & poor color balance. The decal print is actually sharp, with black blacks and red tones that match what was described to me.

Vampire launches tomorrow at the Pittsburgh PA Tripoli October launch. I'll post some pics tomorrow night. Wish the Vampire luck!
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  #42  
Old 10-16-2010, 09:15 PM
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Vampire flew quite nicely twice today on A10-T3 engines, making about 500 feet and the vintage 'chute survived just fine.

I flew it on the A10-T3s because EMRR had that listed as one of the engines for it and because that's the only small engines I had handy. But I think that might need some correction. The heat from the ejection charge actually dimpled one side of the rocket's body a tiny bit, even though I used the '4 sheets of recovery wadding' as specified in the original instructions. The vintage engine I pulled out of it was an "A3-4T". The decal on the side indicates a "1/2 A3-2T".

So, I'm satisfied with the repro decals at this point, and it flew rather nicely. I'll work up a file people can download & print out if they wish, along with some printing notes.
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  #43  
Old 10-17-2010, 11:27 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AcroRay
But I think that might need some correction. The heat from the ejection charge actually dimpled one side of the rocket's body a tiny bit, even though I used the '4 sheets of recovery wadding' as specified in the original instructions. The vintage engine I pulled out of it was an "A3-4T". The decal on the side indicates a "1/2 A3-2T".


The ejection charge damage has become almost normal for Estes motors. Many of the charges are very strong compared to those of decades past.
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  #44  
Old 10-18-2010, 01:11 AM
joeld1212 joeld1212 is offline
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AcroRay: I really like how your Vampire came out. I especially like the revised Estes logo. Seems much more appropriate. Great work!
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  #45  
Old 10-18-2010, 09:01 AM
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Thanks for the feedback! I think I'll consider the label design completed, and work out a way to share it.
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  #46  
Old 10-19-2010, 08:54 PM
PaulK PaulK is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AcroRay
...So, I'm satisfied with the repro decals at this point, and it flew rather nicely. I'll work up a file people can download & print out if they wish, along with some printing notes.
Excellent, thanks Ray. Nice job.
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  #47  
Old 02-12-2011, 10:47 AM
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Thanks to the Rocket Doc's recent sale, I have a Jinx to go with my Vampire.

While it appears to use the same tooling as the original Vampire, the production quality on the Jinx is definately a notch or two down. The Jinx plastic doesn't have that mirror-smooth surface the Vampire has. One half of the two-part, pre-assembled body is a bit smooth, but the other is largely matte. The rocket is unevenly assembled with a lot of more prominent seams and flash. And it only comes with one locking cap for the motor mount, while the Vampire had two.

On the whole, it feels much more cheap than the Vampire, and not nearly as well-made. Perhaps the tooling didn't survive the years so well, and this is the best they could get from it.

A small tab has been added to the nose-cone shoulder and a slot in the BT, apparently for the sole purpose of keeping the NC's decal side aligned. Unfortunately, the decals are thick and don't seem to stick well to the body tube.

Note that the Jinx is actually a slightly darker purple than my photo shows.

I got one for my wife as well, but she doen't like the "Jinx" name and deco, and will probably come up with something different herself.
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