Information for this downscale model is from the Peter Alway Book, SCALE BASH Available from NAR Technical Services CLICK HERE This book along with the Alway Classic ROCKETS OF THE WORLD is ... [Read More]
The body wrap print was cut out using a straight edge and sharp knife.
I use mechanical pencils now for a sharper line down the body tubes. Old school style, the tube was set in a door ... [Read More]
Cut out the lug wrap and do a pre-curl in the heel of your hand. Use a small dowel or the shaft of a Q-tip. Apply a coat of glue stick to the inside surface.
The lug is small and you can ... [Read More]
The edges of the Estes plastic nose cone are too square and could turn the interior body tube edges in. A simple rounding of the base edges gave an better slip fit.
The BT-5 tube was longer ... [Read More]
I've written about the cereal box laminated fins before. If you haven't made fins from a card stock laminate you might be surprised how strong they are. These fins are actually a triple thickness ... [Read More]
Before cutting, study the fin at the right. Look for the small dashed lines near the middle. After folding this will be the rounded leading edge. Note the upper side of the fin is slightly larger ... [Read More]
The tip was cut off (above the "R" in ROOT) and some of the excess off the outside edge. Cutting off some excess lets you to see where the rolled over leading edge contacts the interior ... [Read More]
Use a sharp knife and a hard cutting board for best results. The hard surface underneath will make a cleaner cut through the bottom layer. If your cutting board is soft cardboard the thin paper ... [Read More]
Look to the left of the picture. This is the back side of the fin, opposite the ROOT EDGE cut side. You can see how the edges are raised up after cutting. Roll the edges down with the back side ... [Read More]
The Peter Alway book "Scale Bash" book shows a red band at the base of the nose cone. The PML Black Brant VB shows a brown band with a thin silver band above it. This is probably a difference in ... [Read More]
Chris Michielssen has released a new scale version of the Black Brandt VB. This version is BT-5 based for 13mm motors.Chris says he used the scale info from Peter Alway. I can’t wait to fly ... [Read More]
The fins and launch lug are ready for gluing on the body. I built this model in Mexico last June. In order to get it home without damage, I'll only tack the fins on with very little white glue, ... [Read More]
This was a fun, quick build and came out very well. Using the white plastic nose cone there is no painting! Thanks again to Peter Alway for doing all the ground work in his Scale Bash book. It's ... [Read More]
This morning a dual sounding rocket launch took place at Wallops island. The launch was of a Black Brant V and a Terrier Improved Orion launched 15 seconds apart. The two sounding rockets will be ... [Read More]
Here is my annual list of things (mostly rocket related) that made me happy and captured my imagination. As usual, in no particular order: 1. Estes released the 29mm E16 and F15 BP motors. ... [Read More]
I'm stuck in Mexico for the next two months, all of June and July. While here, I'll keep the blog going as best I can, hope the Internet connection is good! There may only be one post per day, ... [Read More]
An email from Scott, Chris,
I read somewhere that you don’t get to see many of your creations completed, so I thought I show you two+.
In the picture below from ... [Read More]
My new carded downscale Black Brant VB landed hard on the basketball court asphalt. One red fin was crimped on the tip. I thought about steaming it, but was concerned it might smear the printer ... [Read More]
The Black Brant is a family of Canadian-designed sounding rockets originally built by Bristol Aerospace, since absorbed by Magellan Aerospace in Winnipeg,… [Read More]
Here's a list of Carded Model (Downscale) PDFs available to Patreon Members - Decal PDFs will be on a upcoming post DOWNSCALE CARDED MODELS Centuri Astro 1.pdf (BT-5 size) Centuri ... [Read More]