The 4" Mongrel has been near the top of my "to clone" list for some time. I'd love to get a decent fin pattern if it exists somewhere.

Al: I have a 4" Skyraider; I can send dimensions if you're interested. They are the same shape as the 7.5" version, but I don't know if they are an exact downscale of the big bird. I've always liked the lines of the big bird however, and am thinking of cloning it with some 7.5" parts I have laying around. Those are some big fins....listed as 3/16" ply.

-Eric-

I am mistaken, the G-Force no longer uses the Ace nose cone, Aerotech uses their own molds now. Early versions did use the ace cone, as shown in the instructions. (My Brother has an early issue)

as mentioned here:

http://www.rocketreviews.com/review...ro_gforce.shtml

It appears the Ace nose cones are no longer available.

Luckily I have a few.

__________________
Jeffrey Deem
NAR16741
CIA section 527

Interesting, I never knew those shipped with Ace cones.

I have a few stashed myself, 2-3 new ones. and a couple used. so can clone a few anyways

~ AL

Buy the real deal.

U.S. Rockets Mongrel!

It isn't instaship, but on an order and wait basis we can make some.

Just Jerry

Don't feel bad, I didn't realize they no longer did! (Hence my )

They must have switched around the time the Sumo came out. It has always had a different, heavier cone.

I've got about 8 of the Ace cones that I got from Rocket R&D, I used to kit up a 4' V-s that used 2 of them, about 1/15.5 semi scale, It was a real pain to make the tail cones.

__________________
Jeffrey Deem
NAR16741
CIA section 527

Re: The AeroTech 4" cone - when I worked there in 2000, the G Force, was already using the AT cone, but I do believe that the early G Force used ACe cones and I know they were used in the roiginal development of the kit.

Back to my lil' ******* child Mini Allegro 3X18, I dug up an HSR catalog from that era and there are several ACE kits listed. The one I bought is the bottom left version with the 1.6" OD. There is also a 3" OD and 4" OD kit listed. Catalog is dated 1/93, I would say I bought the kit that year. This was post-Steve Buck, but Gary Price may have inherited that stuff from him.

Scans of the HSR catalog page listing the ACE kits attached. Full page is low res, half pages are 200dpi.

Attached Thumbnails

     

The Sumo is not stable with ligher cone. We messed around with several different ways of adding nose weight, but in the end decided that a heavier weight cone was the way to go. Gary was not fond of the idea of some ding-dong neglecting to put weight in the NC and then having the rocket do cartwheels. Thus the heavyweight cone, which is a nice piece for many applications.

Anyhow, after the heavy NC was selected for use we had a couple of prangs during tests, and we traced it to the heavyweight cone swelling in the heat. So the piston was added...

Hye Jerry Irvine, do you know if the original AT 1.9" kits were prototyped using the 1.9" ACE tubing? My "real-deal" Mini-Allegro (4X18) has a 1.9" BT and the AeroTech cone fits nicely.

Jason

AT clearly styled their 4" kits based on the ACE cone and its "derivatives". The 1.8" is a similar story. Korey and Gary were "buds" for quite a while and thus the Mustang/Emanon was 1.8"

The AT 2.5" is an outlier and should be ignored for historical purposes.

It would be just like Gary to design a rocket to be too marginal for the motors and have to do a post-production change to resolve it. After all, Gary's most infamous saying is "Rockets are stupid". Ie. not the main point. He is not kidding when he says that.

Did anyone else notice this thread has massive views per post?

I like the threads I start.

Jerry

1.8-1.9" is 54mm casting tube - I'd always assumed that AT/Ace ( at the time AT was shipping for Ace ) , was doing 54mm when 1.8" Ace stuff came out - no 1.8" in the original Ace days, those were later with the California and Lucerne Special, Mini Allegro, etc.

Also, iirc, Kosdon used the Ace / USR 2.25" tubing as casting tube for the 2.5" / 66 mm motors, so a lot of motor sizing plays into tube sizing, just as tube sizing plays into motor diameters ( ala 75mm )


~ always curious Al

I f you're going to say that AeroTech styled their 4" kits after ACE, then how about LOC, PML, Thoy, Binder, and a dozen others?

As for AeroTech producing a marginally stable rocket, that is not true as far as a production kit goes. The Sumo is stable. There was no post-production scramble, the issues I mentioned were pre-production.

"Rockets are stupid". HMMMM, model rocket design compared to the intricacies of rocket motor design.... I agree. I love rockets, and rocket motors, but have to say that rocket motor design is a much more difficult task.

Not trying to argue with you, and I do appreciate much that you have done, especially your kits. But I do think you are painting a picture of AeroTech/Gary that is over simplistic. Both are longtime forces for advancement of the hobby.

Back on topic to ACE - was there a 3" airframe Allegro as per the HSR catalog?

Jason