3D printed OOP nose cones source
 

Hello All,

I am posting this notice about a model rocket parts (and many other 3D printed items) printer, who has a lot of experience making such parts, including custom ones. I have no financial stake in her work, other than being a *very* satisfied customer of her 3D printing work! (I am one of those living on a fixed income, whose computer and software knowledge are very out-of-date, and who doesn't have either the space or the money to purchase 3D printing equipment; I last wrote programs in high school, when the Tandy-Radio Shack TRS-80 was the epitome of personal computing! :-) ) Now:

Annette Sostarich (she has the "Space Crafter" store on Ebay [see: https://www.ebay.com/str/spacecrafter ], and her e-mail address is: info@thegizmologist.com ) makes excellent 3D printed duplicates of OOP--Out-Of-Production--model rocket parts, including nose cones, transitions, fin units, etc., and including custom ones for scale modeling. You can see some of them on her Ebay store. I wanted to share this information with other model rocketeers who are in the same, or similar, situation that I am, and:

This week I bought a few 3D printed duplicates of the OOP PNC-70 and PNC-71 nose cones, the originals of which were used in several "C variety" classic kits (the Lil' Herc II, Hummingbird, Moonraker, X-24 "Bug," Red-Eye, etc.; she also included optional base plates--with "printed-in" shock cord tie anchors--with them). I have included photographs of these 3D printed nose cones below:

Look at those thick "layer lines."

Since they are #7/ST-7 size nose cones (for 0.759" Outside Diameter tubing), they aren't anywhere near as thick as the impression the photographs give. (She has also made MPC T15--for the 15 mm [0.590"] O.D. MPC/AVI/Quest tubing--nose cones for me, the 5:1 tangent ogive and the elliptical one, and their "layer lines" looked prominent in photographs, but were hard to see when viewed directly.) Plus, if anyone wants a glassy surface, sand-able primer--and regular enamel spray paint--fills in those very small gaps. If someone doesn't want to paint the parts, fine grade sanding film, or sandpaper, will give them a glassy finish, too.