I got some stuff in a clear plastic tube about 42" long and 3" diameter. Any ideas as for what to make out of it?!?

Could be lots of things. Maybe a large map or drawing, or even a photo. If it's one of these, you could frame it and put it on a wall. If it's something else, perhaps you could post a picture and someone might recognize what that stuff is that was in the tube.

..oh, wait. You mean what could you use the tube for.

Super Scrambler, Super Apogee (II), Super Shrike, Super Icarus, the list goes on and on.

The Super Icarus sounds good. Now, I'll have to get some measurements off the tube to see what parts I need. And how to scale the thing...

The Icarus was a BT-50 so it's roughly a 3X upscale. That would put it at just over 5 ft. tall. Sounds like you might be placing an order for a custom nosecone and bulkhead to Sandman (unless you have a lathe).

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I love sanding.

Yeah, that's the problem. I think this tube is short for an Icarus. So, I can either make a lower engine section or a stubby version...

Can you get more detailed sizing ? is it 3" od or ID, need to know if any commercial parts will fit, if any - for example, I have 3" mailing tubes that fit LOC components, but also some 3" plastic tubes from window tint film, that are slightly larger dia.

Some of us have piles of leftover bits to check sizing by test fit, but if you can measure acurately, maybe something will be available off the shelf - such as paper tubes for the booster section of an Icarus.

Have fun !!!

~ AL

You can get heavy wall 3" body tubes for the main body from LOC and use a Sandman bulkhead to make the payload section with your clear tubing. You will have plenty of clear tubing left over for other upscale projects. The clear tubing won't have to be an exact match with the regular body tube. Sandman can turn the bulkhead where the two I.D.s will fit over the bulkhead and you won't have to fool with a bunch of tape wraps on one end.

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I love sanding.

OK. While cleaning out the garage today, I measured the clear tube.

It is 48" long with an inside diameter of 2.465"

So, if anyone has an idea of what that can scale up to, let me know!

I have the almost the exact same tube!

As mentioned above, some custom balsa will almost certainly be required.

Most clear tube sections were 3" - 5" long, so your tube would provide enough material for several models.

If you can't find any 2.5" O.D. body tube, your could make a model that has a payload section larger than the main body. The X-Ray or Scrambler for example. If you don't mind the proportions being off a little you can pick a close match for the main body.

Assuming OD of plastic tube is 2.5", then an X-Ray would be a (2.5/.976) = 2.561 upscale. So the main body (BT-20) would be 1.88", which is the OD of an Aerotech tube!

For the Scrambler, the upscale factor (based on the transparent tube) woudl be (2.5/1.796) 1.392 . . . the main body (bt-60) would be 2.278", which is just a little bit more than the OD of a BT-70. 2.217" Or use the heavy-duty BMS tube BT-70H, OD = 2.245".

BMS can supply you with the Aerotech tube, and centering rings for the BT-70H.

Note again that you have enough material for both of these projects.