I've finished the repairs/rebuild of my FSI 1/8 scale Black Brant - II model Sunday evening.
As some of you here may remember, I finally pulled this model (still in the box) out of storage in the summer of 2004 (after some 20+ years purchased) and entered it for Sport
Scale at the Gulf Coast Regional Meet @ JSC (October 2004) and the Texas State Championships @ McGregor, TX (June 2005).

The first flight was with an E9-4; good flight although the upper bodytube suffered a 1 1/2
inch zipper. Repaired, I used an AT E30-4T for the second flight. Big mistake. The BB-II was
still traveling at a high rate of speed when the ejection went off, ripping the shockcord out
of the main body section. The nosecone/payload section, with the nylon chute, drifted out
of sight and was lost; the main body section somewhat glided down but tore one fin on landing, which was the only real damage besides an ugly zipper (and my pride!).

Carl and company of SEMROC was kind enough to get the parts needed to make the repairs;
but I've basically "sat" on it since then until a few days ago, when the urge to get it back to
flight status hit me (don't we all go throught that?!). Below are some pics taken Sunday evening to show the results of the repaired/rebuilt model (note, the decals for this model
were made by John Pursley).

Planning on flying this baby several times before the summer is out. Wish me luck!

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__________________
Dave, NAR # 21853 SR.

Looks nice Dave! Here's to a zipperless flight!

__________________
Jon
SAM #0396
BAR 02/07
NAR 86940
KF4GUL
Aim high, fly straight!

Thanks, maybe I should have "modified" it with zippers so I can just zip it up should the
phenomenon occur again!

__________________
Dave, NAR # 21853 SR.

NICE


I have an old stock FSI cone ( reject) that I've been saving for years, and notice Semroc now lists the cone as well.
Here's hoping they release the boattail ( Carl ??? ) .

As for the zippers = motor selection here is the issue, and E30-4 is not a good choice as you found out . An E30 is just as powerful, or more, than an F100 and lighter to boot, pretty sure an F100-4 was not reccomended, try an E30-7 or maybe even an E30-10 if the bird is built light.

Good luck with the flights, and keep us posted.

~ AL

Yes, it'll be great if SEMROC can make the balsa boattail; if they did, it'll be easy for us to build more 1/8 scale Black Brant - II clones.....

Since SEMROC sent me the replacement parts I needed to repair my model in 2005, and
it's now 2007, wonder what the deal is (well, they have come out with the clone of FSI's
OSO kit)?

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Dave, NAR # 21853 SR.

We had to perfect the boat tail technique. Now to look for that BBII boat tail photo.

I think the FSI kits are going to have to grow on people. We have only sold a few of the Oso kits. They just don't have the general appeal of Centuri and Estes.

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Carl McLawhorn
NAR#4717 L2
semroc.com

Quite true, Carl. But I think an 1/8 scale model of FSI's Black Brant - II will have far more
appeal to model rocketeers than the OSO will. At least, I can tell you from my own personal
experience, when I first received FSI's catalog back in the mid 1970's, I was instantly struck
when I saw the page of their BB-II kit. Only much later did I also find their Maverick and OSO
a "must have, must buy" item (yes, I did buy them before career made me AWOL from the
hobby 1982 - 2003, which gives an idea as to how long many of my OOP kits were in storage
before even getting built). The same applies to CMR's kits; I guess you can say I was lucky
to get their D - Region Tomahawk before it went OOP. (No, I haven't built it, yet!). I feel
very fortunate (maybe even honored) to still be using CMR's boost glide & rocket glide
kits even today and still win (Manta, Buzzard, Orbitron) in NAR Sanctioned contests!

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Dave, NAR # 21853 SR.

I second that!! To me, the OSO is a long skinny rocket. But the BBII....

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

This is true.

How many folks have cloned Coaster, MRI, MPC, Amrocs, CMR kits?

Forty years ago, hobby rocket market penetration was Estes and Centuri. This is what people saw in their local hobby shop then and remember, now.

Yes, I know that FSI and MPC were in stores but not to the level of Estes and Centuri. Back in 1986 when I wanted to buy FSI products, I had to mail-order direct from the company.

Oh, well, at least that makes it's less expensive to collect MPC kits.

Bob

But, wouldn't you agree it was very exciting to see that package/box sticking out of your
mailbox after weeks of waiting?!

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Dave, NAR # 21853 SR.