Diamonds revisited

[SEL]

I'm FINALLY putting the floor down in my office/rocket room and, while cleaning, took this group photo of three more gems I picked up on ebay. The first is a older (1966 -ish) Skyhook. It has the old balsa engine block and came with the older parachute that has the rocket plane design. The second, I affecionately call the MiniMax 'Buck-Nekkid'. It's a scratch build using the Centuri LS series parts with the older type three-rings-and-no-tube motor mount. The third is a Composite Dynamics 'Sonics 40' with a resin nose cone.

[SEL]

I'm FINALLY putting the floor down in my office/rocket room and, while cleaning, took this group photo of three more gems I picked up on ebay. The first is a older (1966 -ish) Skyhook. It has the old balsa engine block and came with the older parachute that has the rocket plane design. The second, I affecionately call the MiniMax 'Buck-Nekkid'. It's a scratch build using the Centuri LS series parts with the older type three-rings-and-no-tube motor mount. The third is a Composite Dynamis 'Sonics 40' with a resin nose cone.

Forgot to mention: On the Skyhook I had to replace the fins with SEMROC's lasor cut set. I need to give them the silver paint that the original builder used.

[stefanj]

What were the rings made of in the SLS kit? Balsa? Thick cardboard?

I hypothesized, after looking in the catalog, that the forward ring has a smaller diameter hole, to act as a thrust ring.

Any idea how those Mini-Max motors were supposed to be mounted? Just lots of tape? I'd love to see the instruction sheet for those some day.

[SEL]

What were the rings made of in the SLS kit? Balsa? Thick cardboard?

If you mean the LS, these are thick balsa, just about 3/4". I think there are pics in the old Centuri catalogues.


I hypothesized, after looking in the catalog, that the forward ring has a smaller diameter hole, to act as a thrust ring.

Correct, the same as my Centuri Hustler kit.

Any idea how those Mini-Max motors were supposed to be mounted? Just lots of tape? I'd love to see the instruction sheet for those some day.

That's my assumption as well. If anyone has those MM instructions, I'd love to see them too.

Sean

[snaquin]

.....The third is a Composite Dynamis 'Sonics 40' with a resin nose cone.

Hello Sean. How heavy are those solid resin cones that CD used on that kit? I have never seen one of those before. As with some of the other rocket kits designed for composite motors around that time I'd imagine the Composite Dynamics kits would also benefit from a little added weight up front.

Definitely not something you see everyday. The Sonics 40 is a cool one to have in your collection :)

[SEL]

Hello Sean. How heavy are those solid resin cones that CD used on that kit? I have never seen one of those before. As with some of the other rocket kits designed for composite motors around that time I'd imagine the Composite Dynamics kits would also benefit from a little added weight up front.

Definitely not something you see everyday. The Sonics 40 is a cool one to have in your collection :)

Yeah, it's got some weight to it - the catalogue lists it at 18 grams.

[snaquin]

Yeah, it's got some weight to it - the catalogue lists it at 18 grams.


Nice :)

How's your Centuri Chuter-Two sounding rocket coming? What exactly are those little "thingys" nestled at each of the joints where the fins meet the body tube?

I loved the early payloaders .....

[Green Dragon]

Nice looking find - :)

Wish I could find some nice goodies on e*^%$#.......


Those CD cones are neat, I wish I had some left - lost my last one a few years back when it seperated from the Longstar ( which pranged )...
I still have the original fins from that, so a rebuilc could be in order ( and yes, plans to Scott soon ).

Any chance you have a spare cone, or want to loan one so I can make a mold ? :D

( and please send / post any cd fin patterns or info, would like to get the fin tracing and tube length for that Sonics 40 shown - iirc there were 4 kits ? Sonics 40, Sonics 80, Transonic and the Longstar ?
I;ve never owned any of the others, but lost a lot of Longstars in the day :p )

~ AL

[Ltvscout]

Nice looking find - :)

Wish I could find some nice goodies on e*^%$#.......


Those CD cones are neat, I wish I had some left - lost my last one a few years back when it seperated from the Longstar ( which pranged )...
I still have the original fins from that, so a rebuilc could be in order ( and yes, plans to Scott soon ).

Any chance you have a spare cone, or want to loan one so I can make a mold ? :D

( and please send / post any cd fin patterns or info, would like to get the fin tracing and tube length for that Sonics 40 shown - iirc there were 4 kits ? Sonics 40, Sonics 80, Transonic and the Longstar ?
I;ve never owned any of the others, but lost a lot of Longstars in the day :p )
I have a few Composite Dynamic kits still sealed in the bag with the resin cones. They came with a big lot of stuff I bought on eBay about five years ago. I never saw a CD kit till then and thought those cones looked real cool. Alas, they're gonna stay sealed till I sell the kits someday. ;)

[snaquin]

I have a few Composite Dynamic kits still sealed in the bag with the resin cones. They came with a big lot of stuff I bought on eBay about five years ago. I never saw a CD kit till then and thought those cones looked real cool. Alas, they're gonna stay sealed till I sell the kits someday. ;)

I never had a CD kit. Only parts. I had a couple of the BT72C large body tubes, a coupler and some BT-10/15's that I used to build an EnerJet clone. I purchased those from Larry Broadbent way back in the day .....

[Green Dragon]

I never had a CD kit. Only parts. I had a couple of the BT72C large body tubes, a coupler and some BT-10/15's that I used to build an EnerJet clone. I purchased those from Larry Broadbent way back in the day .....


Larry Broadbent purchased the remaining stock ( less motors, I belive due to problems getting them into Canada ) of CD.
As far as I know, Al Andrake ( AAA ) got the motors, including many prototypes such as the original F10's and a few 29mm H-I motors ( these I've seen with my own eyes, neat items ).

Larry had operated as Stargate for a while, I purchased items from him myself... although lost my Aero-Ram kit a few years back at a middle school club launch :(

I believe you will find the BMS BT70 HD a near match for the CD / Stargate tubing, as it'ss real close to the tubing I have left from AAA, which was made to match Cd's.

I do have one Stargate cone left - the 2.25" hollow black foam cone, very unusual.. might have to do up an Aero-Ram clone myself.

~ AL

[Ltvscout]

I never had a CD kit. Only parts. I had a couple of the BT72C large body tubes, a coupler and some BT-10/15's that I used to build an EnerJet clone. I purchased those from Larry Broadbent way back in the day .....
Whatever happened to Larry? I haven't seen him around the past couple of years.

[snaquin]

Larry Broadbent purchased the remaining stock ( less motors, I belive due to problems getting them into Canada ) of CD.
As far as I know, Al Andrake ( AAA ) got the motors, including many prototypes such as the original F10's and a few 29mm H-I motors ( these I've seen with my own eyes, neat items ).

Larry had operated as Stargate for a while, I purchased items from him myself... although lost my Aero-Ram kit a few years back at a middle school club launch :(

I believe you will find the BMS BT70 HD a near match for the CD / Stargate tubing, as it'ss real close to the tubing I have left from AAA, which was made to match Cd's.

I do have one Stargate cone left - the 2.25" hollow black foam cone, very unusual.. might have to do up an Aero-Ram clone myself.

~ AL

Yes, Larry had a lot of Composite Dynamics stock. I corresponded with him via email for a while and did purchase some of his Stargate parts, included the cone you mentioned. I remember it well. I used it to build a reduced size 2650. It was dark brown, almost black in color and it looked like he poured the foam into a mold and the foam filled a tube coupler on the end of it to form the shoulder. That was the first EnerJet clone I ever built. Larry also sold plywood fins that he cut for building the reduced size 2650 clone.

I bought a lot of stuff from Al with AAA back in those days too. Mostly hardwood cones and heavy walled tubing. He was a good mail order source for composite motors and I did buy a few kits from him too.

[SEL]

Nice :)

How's your Centuri Chuter-Two sounding rocket coming? What exactly are those little "thingys" nestled at each of the joints where the fins meet the body tube?

I loved the early payloaders .....

Well, the Chuter -2 is still waiting for me to get off my arse and figure aut what to do about those thingies. Does anyone out there have instructions and templates for an early version of the kit? I'd really like to see if it matches the pic in the 67 catalogue <http://www.ninfinger.org/~sven/rockets/catalogs/centuri67/67cen16.html> .

Sean

[SEL]

Nice looking find - :)

Wish I could find some nice goodies on e*^%$#.......


Those CD cones are neat, I wish I had some left - lost my last one a few years back when it seperated from the Longstar ( which pranged )...
I still have the original fins from that, so a rebuilc could be in order ( and yes, plans to Scott soon ).

Any chance you have a spare cone, or want to loan one so I can make a mold ? :D

( and please send / post any cd fin patterns or info, would like to get the fin tracing and tube length for that Sonics 40 shown - iirc there were 4 kits ? Sonics 40, Sonics 80, Transonic and the Longstar ?
I;ve never owned any of the others, but lost a lot of Longstars in the day :p )

~ AL

I'll try to get to it this week. I STILL have to make a fin tracing of the RDC Cardinal and get that and the other specs to Scott. With any luck I'll get both done this week. As far as the CD cone, I'm thinking about making a mold and producing a couple myself. Email me offline and maybe we can go over the details.

Sean

[snaquin]

Whatever happened to Larry? I haven't seen him around the past couple of years.

I'm not sure ..... the email address I had for him bounced back last time I tried to contact him. I was hoping to get some more parts from him.

I tried to Google a new address for him and I found where he posted to a forum called "The Bluebird Box" and I'm sure it was him because the name was spelled the same and also listed as Chatham Ontario, same as on his return address labels when I bought CD and Stargate parts from him. The post was from 2002 and had the same email address that no longer works.