American Spacemodeling Cover....The Rest of the Story

A while back I showed you guys the cover of American Spacemodeling that featured John Dyer's plastic model conversion Saturn V moments before the loops began.... This week I was going through some old pictures and I found this...

Yep, that's John prepping the model for that same flight! Notice the clear fins that fit over the small stock fins. As it turned out it would take those PLUS nose weight to make this beast fly right. But she eventually did!

Also notice that it was pretty chilly and windy that day. The wind didn't help the PMC's much. Why is it always windy on PMC day? Is God trying to tell us something? Perhaps....

Until next time, fly 'em fast and high!

Beyond the Clouds

Moon Day at the Frontiers of Flight Museum is a wonderful time to reflect on man's greatest step and look at what the future of spaceflight might hold. I have participated in all of them with DARS, and I would highly suggest it for anyone interested in space history.

One of the benefits of attending Moon Day is that you can meet a lot of great folks (both famous and not) who hold a vision of the future that is quite uplifting and refreshing. One such person was Richard Jefferies.

If you are a Star Trek geek, the name "Jefferies" should ring a bell. That's because Richard's brother, Matt Jefferies, designed the Enterprise, the Klingon Battle Cruiser and many other items for the show. In fact, the "Jefferies Tube" engine access portal on the Enterprise was named in his honor.

Richard often went to Moon Day to sell his book about his brother, "Beyond the Clouds." A couple of years ago I bought a copy and he was kind enough to sign it for me.

The book is quite good, and focuses on Matt's whole life, not just the Star Trek phase. Richard wrote it in an easy flowing conversational style, that makes for a fairly quick read. It has tons of illustrations as well! Here are some highlights:

Front cover highlighting the Enterprise

Back cover

A quick bio of Matt

...and one of Richard. 

He added an appropriate quote for me!

An early Enterprise. Notice the details were not quite nailed down yet.

An early sketch with even more strange details.

I love this shot of Matt with the Klingon Battle Cruiser!

The final drawings of the ships.

Richard was always very willing to talk about Matt, or really anything. He didn't really push the books, but was more than happy to sell you one if you asked! I rather looked forward to dropping by and saying "hi" every year.

I noticed that he wasn't at the last couple of Moon Days, so I checked on Google and it turns out that he, sadly,  passed away in June of 2015. I'm glad that I was able to meet him and get a copy of this great book.)

If you would like your own, they are still listed on Amazon.

So, until next time, fly 'em fast and high!

Where There's Smoke...

This week I decided to show you another member of the "to be built pile" that I picked up a few months ago at the local Hobby Lobby. The Estes Nike Smoke!

This is the 1/10 scale version, not the really big one. Still, I've always liked the looks of the Nike Smoke and with my 40% off coupon, the price was downright reasonable!

Although this is the smaller kit, it still has a respectable size, being about two feet tall. The nose cones on Nike Smokes are always the star of the kit, and this one is nice (although not overly detailed). I'm not a fan of the balsa fins, since getting a scale wedge sanded into them is going to be tough. I'm also not a fan of the 18mm motor mount. I see a 24mm in this kit's future!

When will that be? Heck, I don't know. I have so much going on and so many other kits in the pile, it might be a while. Still, it's a nice kit that looks to be a fairly simple build so it may be sooner than later.

There you have it! Until next time, fly 'em fast and high!

Merry Christmas, Apollo Style!

Those of you who have been reading this blog for a while might remember that I had a problem with my Estes Saturn V. The problem was that I had taken so long to build (or even open it) that it was now a collectible kit and I COULDN'T open it. So there it sat in my rocket room; all shrink wrapped up with nowhere to go...

Well this Christmas, Santa decided to help me out! For, under the tree I found...

The NEW Estes Saturn V!!! And this time, I opened the sucker! Let's take a look, shall we?

The open box. I love the look of the massive BT-101! 

This version is based on the Centuri kit, as is evidenced by the vacuformed wraps. The old Estes kit used card stock. There are advantages to both...

The styrine parts pack. These include the capsule and escape tower (which fly) and the engine nozzels (which don't). 

Interestingly, there is NO balsa in this kit. The fins are two piece styrine.

Even though there is no balsa, there are some hardwood dowels. 

The decal sheet is rather small for a model of this size, but most of the visual impact is from the painted roll patterns, not decals.

So there you have it! I can now have my cake and eat it too! I'm pretty sure my version will be a cluster, but I haven't decided exactly what kind yet. I just can't bring myself to fly a Saturn on a single engine. Yes, additional nose weight will probably be added.

So there you go! Even at 54, Santa can come through.

Until next time, fly 'em fast and high!

One of the Coolest Clone Kits Ever!

Apparently, years ago, the members of DARS got together and produced (just among themselves) a clone of the original Estes Saturn IB. This kit included all of the original wraps and even the decals. All in all, it made for an incredible kit!

Now, this must have been during about a five year window when I was not involved with the club, because I didn't know anything about it until I got this kit from a former member.

As you can see, it's actually a great kit! As you can also see, I haven't built it yet. However, it IS in the build pile, and will be finished one day. I like the idea of doing the model "old school," as it were. I never owned this kit, but I built its big brother, the Saturn V from the same time, and I know it's tough! I may need a little luck on this one!

Until next time, fly 'em fast and high!

When Hot Wheels Could Fly...Part Two

A while back I featured an item produced by Mattel back in 1971 to try to cash in on the Hot Wheels craze...Hot Birds! In that post I showed you my plane, the Regal Eagle. However, I found another one on eBay a few months ago and since it had a very small price tag (under ten bucks, including shipping) I went for it!. Here, therefore, is my second Hot Bird, The Cloud Hopper!

This one is interesting because it's a turbo-prop! I like the intake mounted in the tail!

The condition of the paint is pretty rough on this one (hence, the tiny price tag) but it is complete and not dented. You can get air brush spectra-flame paint online... Maybe a repaint is in order?

A look at the landing gear! Note that all Hot Wheels products were copyrighted the year before they were released. This can cause some confusing in dating them.

So there you have it! Sometimes things just fall in your lap! If I decide to restore it, I'll post pictures.

Until next time, fly 'em fast and high!

The Death of the Zonker...

Some of you may remember a few years ago when I did an article about my one and only attempt at using a wrapping paper tube for a rocket. Never in my life had I put so much work (not to mention F&F) into a body tube. Finally after what seemed like days and days, I created The Screaming Yellow Zonker!

The Zonker was a simple rocket. Body tube, plastic nose cone, and a plastic fin can were really all there was to it. I slapped on some yellow and black paint and a home-printed decal and she was done.

She flew great, however. Her 24mm motor mount let me use Estes D's and E's. She really did scream!

Alas, all good things must come to an end, and so it is with The Zonker. Did she crash gloriously in flight? Did she cato into bits in front of hundreds of awed spectatators?

No....I stepped on her. Right on that blasted tube. Now, I could probably fix her, but I can't bear to think about that much work...So I'm retiring her. Maybe someday...

Until next time fly 'em fast and high!