Assuming we're looking at the same pic, it's a booster stage plugged into the sustainer tube, which does not yet have fins.

Doug

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Newer Estes two stage kits have a thrust ring at the rear of the booster to force separation, rather than just kicking the motor. He was thinking ahead on that one, good call.

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2nd pic in on 2nd post.

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If you look at the 3rd and 4th pics in that post, you can see the booster tube is white whereas the sustainer tube is brown.

Doug

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YORF member #11

Doug Sams is correct on the thrust ring being at the rear end of the booster and at the forward end on the sustainer. (Same deal on the CC-Express) I think that is a great idea for two stagers, as it prevents the booster motor from ejecting but creates a "kicker" to insure booster seperation.

By the time I took the pics, the sustainer was already completed so I used an unmodified BT60 tube as a temporary extender while I completed the booster stage. (This is why the booster is white and the "sustainer" is tan) I did however mark my fin locations on both the booster and sustainer at the same time in order to assure that the fins would line up when completed.

Back to the wing tip "fuel tanks" and the question about why I didn't glue them to the fins first and then glue the fins to the booster tube? Here is what I would do if I ever build another Star Treky type rocket. First, I would not glue the nose cones into the short BT5 tube as per the Estes instructions. Instead, I would use a full length section of BT5 tube as a temporary extension for these nose cones and place it into the Guillotine. Then apply the plastic cement to the fin tip, set the fin and let it fully harden. Then repeat for the other fin (or fins). Lastly, glue the other nose cones into the short BT5 sections that come with the kit and finally glue this into the nose cone/fin assemblies.

All of this represents after thoughts on my part and as they say "hindsight is 20-20". The tube I used to extend the nose cone in the jig during the assembly was actually a piece of 5/8" I.D. convolute wound rocket motor casing for home made BP rockets, and was not the ideal way to do things.

All in all, my contraption made all of these somewhat tricky operations much easier for me.

In addition to fabricating Guillotine Fin Jig parts for Apogee and my ongoing duties as Roving Ambassador of Good Will for the BBA, I managed to work in a bit of long overdue painting on this project in between thunderstorms. I had managed to fly this baby a couple of months ago...C6-0 to a C6-5 and to my surprise it flew very well, even on a somewhat windy day.

At the end of the day I laid it on the bench seat of my truck and then told my assistant to "hop on in, I'll give you a lift". He did and managed to sit dead on one of the sustainer fins, breaking it smooth off. (Note to self, don't set things next to self in truck on bright sunny days) Turned out to be a blessing in disguise because after the repair I sanded everything with 400 grit wet or dry sandpaper and repainted again with Rusto Ultracoat 2XX Gloss Black enamel. I'm going to let it dry a few days more before applying the decals.

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Must be something about those Renegades, it took me a couple of years to finish mine also.

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Bernard J. Herman Ohio RLS

Starport Sagitta Rockets
email bherman@sagittarockets.com

NAR # 97971 SR

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We're looking for a few good Catos, please tell us about any you may have had. Survey of Anecdotal Malfunctioning Engines or S.A.M.E.

I've got one about 4 years old, partially built, that I started with my older boy. He lost interest (kids!) and it has sat in the bag ever since...

Finally, after almost three years, I slapped the decals on this puppy! I'm not exactly thrilled about the decals, as they tend not to adhere very well. Especially the small, narrow swords that go on the pods and tanks. All in all, I think it turned out pretty well.

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