This discussion of clusters and X-24 lofting look pretty interesting. I may have to get a couple to try some of these options. The cluster of 13mm motors in the nozzles sounds like the first one to try - even this option would need additional nose weight, presumably? My LHS has promised to set one aside for me when he gets his first order of LJII kits.

Did John say this only rates a "2" on a scale of 1 to 100 in our lives?

Thanks Scott, for moderating when necessary.

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Paul
If we weren't all crazy, we would go insane - Jimmy Buffett
NAR #87246 www.wooshrocketry.org

I will be trying the modification of the LJII rear plate for 29mm, probably with a drill press jig of some sort. I will make custom parts to add a single rear ply ring and a stamp to enlarge the fiber rings to 29mm. Then a payload section in the nose for an altimeter. If any of this works I will post one of my first complete build threads. I am pretty busy so the overall process could take months. But once done it will be possible to make an aftermarket kit mod for the LJII so folks that just want to build and fly one with 29mm can.

I will look forward to others' ideas on the 13mm cluster mod.

Jerry

OK, since I can't build one these beauties physically yet, I built one virtually in RockSim...I gleaned various comments John has made in the forums to guide the me (they are documented in the comments) and I made a total SWAG about the engine mount (I used the same length of BT-50 as the Big Daddy). I also guessed at the thickness of the plastic cones.

I think it's pretty close (8.1 oz empty, no paint). The balance point of this sim is about 7.23" from the end of the main tube (empty) and 6.24" with a D12-3. Using Barrowman CP calcs the rocket is barely stable, but with RS calcs, it has about .5 caliber of stability. Since it is always windy in Oklahoma, I sim'd w/ 8-14 mph winds and a 48" launch rod. I will be using 1/4" launch lugs on my build.

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David Stribling
NAR 18402 SR
But it is rocket science!
Get yer Barrowmans here

With the (coming soon) availability of a good LJ II model, this might be an interesting entry in an upcoming "Concept Scale" competition (provided one could scrape up some additional info on it):

http://up-ship.com/blog/?p=30957

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Dean Fox
NAR #53946SR

---- "Wherever you go, there you are"

Don't forget the Little Joe with the oversize fairing o test the LEM suborbitally... I posted a study summary with some little Joe variants one time in the scale section...

OL JR

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The X-87B Cruise Basselope-- THE Ultimate Weapon in the arsenal of Homeland Security and only $52 million per round!

Centuri may have come up with the wildest (and unofficial, of course) Little Joe II application, on page 2 of their two-page TIR-24 report: http://www.spacemodeling.org/jimz/tr/tir-24.pdf . (The new Estes 1/45th scale Little Joe II kit could also be used--in modified form--as *also* shown on that page, as the booster for a finless X-24 "Bug" clone.) Plus:

I'd heard of that proposed Apollo LEM/Little Joe II vehicle; was it intended to test the Descent Stage and/or Ascent Stage engines by lofting a LEM more cheaply than a Saturn IB? While it would have been a rather abbreviated test, by planning the DPS and APS engine burns judiciously, I imagine they could have conducted all of the planned starts, re-starts, and throttling that a lunar mission would have required (plus RCS thruster tests as well, before and after the Descent Stage separated). I can see why NASA went with an unmanned LEM orbital test on Apollo 5 (plus its Saturn IB was--tragically--available after the Apollo 1 fire), as it gave the test conductors more time; a suborbital LEM test would have been hurried and harried, like Lucy and Ethel at the chocolate factory... :-)

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Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see:
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All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com.
NAR #54895 SR

I never cared for Lucy. Her comedy seamed overacted to me.
A few of the early movies she was in wasn't too bad.
I'll hold out for the remake of Little Joe II

https://screen.yahoo.com/love-lucy-...v-sh&soc_trk=ma

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-Fred Shecter NAR 20117 (L2)
Southern California Rocket Association, NAR Section 430

here ya go... OL J R

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__________________
The X-87B Cruise Basselope-- THE Ultimate Weapon in the arsenal of Homeland Security and only $52 million per round!

Here is a listing for erockets for the Little Joe II. Still not shipping.

http://www.erockets.biz/estes-flyin...le-joe-ii-7227/

And the Semroc Saturn IB

http://www.erockets.biz/semroc-flyi...saturn-1b-ks-1/

Jerry