Rockets Under Construction

The SpaceShipOne kit is still under construction. I picked up some plastic model putty, so I hope that I can get those melt points fixed and finish the paint / decal job. The big 'n scary part was getting the wings on straight, but that went well and I just need to pretty it a bit before flying it. Isaac has a parachute man that is ready for flight in SpaceShipOne - hopefully this weekend.

I've been waiting for a chance to put some sanding sealer on the wings of the dual-chute kit. The model went together well and I am excited to see it fly, but the wings primed to some serious ugliness. I have the sanding sealer, but it has been too cold at night to open the windows and put it on. There are connectors to, what looks like, boosters which each contain a chute.

Isaac's Renegade now has all 8 fins and 4 pods installed; there is no way that beast is going to fly straight! Parachute man is going to take a ride in the Renegade, but probably not with both boosters in use. We hope to take a couple flights with B6 motors this weekend (we have B6-0 for the first stage boost and then B6-6 for the upper stage).

The motor mount for the LOC Bullet is finally done. I added the U-Bolt because the kit came with the LOC SCM-1 mount kit for the shock-cord but since I intend to add an avionics or payload bay I needed a different solution. Another addition is the Aero Pack Quick-Change motor retainer; the kit uses no motor blocks and expects the user to friction fit all motors, but I'd rather have a simpler retention mechanism. The fin tabs had to be trimmed since they but up against the center ring which moved forward 3/8" with the addition of the motor retainer.