New Additions to the Fleet
 

Hello all...

After a sort of hiatus where work and life interrupted my building processes, I pulled out the stops over the past week and built a slew of new birds. Here are the ones which are complete. There are a few more in the final paint stages I'll share with you all when they are finished. Can't wait to get them out to the field!

Semroc - Astron
Semroc - Excalibur
Quest - Lil Grunt
Fliskits - Mako
Estes - Mini Max

The Astron is a simple beginner's bird but still fun to build. I had an extra I gave to my boss for her young son to "help" daddy build.

The Excalibur is painted with a "hammered gold" paint on the bottom and bright silver on the top. I really like that look and I have one other rocket I plan on using it on.

I've flown the Mako before, and it crashed hard and broke a fin when the parachute got tangled in the kevlar and shock cord. I finally got it repaired and finished the paint job. The decals were plentiful but they really make this one look extra sharp. Just wish it had a plastic nosecone (my balsa finishing stinks).

The Lil Grunt was a fun and simple build. I don't quite care for the stickers though - really would liked to have seen waterslide decals on this one.

The Mini Max was fun, too, and it's one of only two mini-engine rockets in my inventory. I think I'll be flying this one quite a bit.

Here are the rest of the finished products from this week:

Squirrel Works - Red Baron
New Way Spacemodeling - 4 Square
Semroc - VF-261

The Red Baron was stained with MinWax stain and left to dry for several days under some heavy books. I think it turned out pretty good even though there was some overspray when I painted the white parts on the top wing. For my first glider, I think it "tosses" well, just have to see how it does on the field.

The 4 Square is one I built a while ago but never painted. Finally settled on an orange and black scheme. I just need to find my decals so I can finish it up properly.

The VF-261 was an interesting build but pretty fun. The wing/fin configuration is unique, and the small launch lugs on the wingtips were a great touch. I didn't try to do the little nosecone tips for them, just settled on painting them an opposite color from the wings. I didn't feel like trying to match the cover art but I think it turned out pretty well.

Your MAKO *does* look nice :) Have you had her in the air since the repair?

Thanks for the compliment, Jim! Notice I don't take any real close-ups :) There was significant damage to one of the fins (snapped off *across* the grain) and one of the gussets. I did the best I could at the time, but the damage is still noticeable. Still, it's a sweet-looking rocket.

No, I haven't flown her again yet. It's been really windy here in San Antonio and I'm not real fond of long retrieval walks! As soon as the winds and life settle down a bit I'll get back out there. I sure will have a large fleet of new rockets to launch though! I'm glad I bough those engine bulk packs from the Boy Scouts!

Busy Beaver
 

You have been busy. Nice job on all of them. The Astron is a nice little rocket.I built the Semroc Astron also.

Ditto the 'been busy' comment. That's some prolific build rate! I do very good to turn one out per month, if that even.

Earl

Thanks for the compliments, guys. Yep, I have been busy. I was on a business trip for three weeks and came back wanting to build. I pulled out a bunch of rockets and got started. I would build to a point where I needed to wait for something to dry, then clear space on the table and start the next one.

I have several more I'm finishing up, just waiting on either paint or glue to dry on them.

Pemberton Technologies - Screamin Green Meanie
Estes - Der Red Max (finished the decals last night)
Semroc - Magnum Hornet
Sunward Aerospace - The Screamer

I just started The Sreamer and have the engine mount built and the body tube prepped. I have to figure out what I want to do paint-wise for the Screamin Green Meanie. I have the bottom part painted in three shades of green (that was interesting to do), and I'm not real good at masking so I don't want to try anything real fancy with the nosecone area. I just have to put the decals on the Mangum Hornet and install the recovery system and it will be finished. The Der Red Max is done except for the recovery system.

I have a few more pulled from the build pile but yet to be started, including my new Semroc Sam-3.

What no....
 

What no Apogee products! :p

Nice Fleet! :D

Nice looking builds there. Love to see a closer pic of the 4 square when you get her decaled.

Dale,

All the builds look great. Thanks for including a Square rocket among them. I like the black and orange scheme.