Estes Alien Invader clone
 

The cone is from Mike Schmidt at Moldin' Oldies. This one's a bit of a pain to cut out, sand and seal as it has a MESS of balsa, but the end result is worth it. For some reason I chose to shoot the pic from the bottom view. I'll do better later.

Nice.
 

That one's on my list of rockets to clone, eventually.

I really enjoy the SciFi style rockets that I used to drool over as a kid, but never had the money to buy. Now I have the money, but the kits aren't there any more. At least, not on the shelves of my local hobby shops.

Moldin' Oldies for the nose cone, huh? I had assumed that I would have to add the pods to an existing cone. I'll have to check them out and see if they offer some of the other cones I'm looking for. Thanks.

Randal

I'm not sure he's updated the web page yet, but he has a ton of new cones available that a bunch of us sent him last year. Ask if you don't see something,

No, Mike hasn't sent me an update yet for the website.

Besides, I still have to get BARCLONE updated for Craig first! ;)

I did some more work on the Alien Invader tonight before going in to watch the Reds/Cubs game on TV. Now I know why I took so long to start this project. Sanding is a cast iron b1tch! There's almost no way to get into the spaces between the fins with my snausage fingers, so if you see me at a launch with the AI, promise to check it out from 10' or so. With a little luck it gets primered tomorrow, so I should know more then as it tends to accentuate any areas I missed. ;) :cool:

Wxcept for decals (and LAUNCH LUGS,) the Alien Invader is flight ready. I'm hoping to get it flying next Saturday, but weather and work could still throw a monkee wrench into things. I decided to paint it in a non traditional scheme. It's Valspar Bumble Bee Gloss up front, but the back is a Model Master blue/black that I was hoping would turn out darker. It applied almost purple at first, but darkened to an almost bruise-like blue. Not as dark as I would have liked, but it's distinctive and it makes the Day-Glo inside the tubes really pop.
(Also got a new grill. All is well in Kentucky right now.)

Lookin' good!

Bill,

Suhweet! You did great on the paint - looks beautiful.

Doug

Thanks. Yeah, she's purdy, and no one is more shocked than I am. The fins looked rough after I primed them, so I resealed them and tried again. They still looked rough, even after a weeks worth of detail work, so I just went ahead with the paint. Apparently Model Master paints have good coverage because they look very nice, even under close scrutiny in full sun. I'm not out of the closet yet. I still have to get the decals on. :eek: Hopefully the next set of pics will be of a completed clone.
And then, on to the Andromeda, 1/2 finished for almost 4 years now. :o

Tuesday is rocket day around here. Tonight I finished the Alien Invader clone. It turned out looking pretty nice. I still have to attach the shock cord to the Kevlar and epoxy a screw eye into the nose cone, but that should be finished by tomorrow.