I never really thought of it but I'm sure you are right. But I've never gotten that exercised about altitude, or lack thereof, unless of course a rocket doesn't make it to a safe enough altitude for it to eject the chute and be recovered safely.

Plus the scoop is part of the original Estes design. I haven't done a lot of clone building, but if I'm building a clone I'm going to make it as close to the original design as possible.

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I plan ahead that way I don't have to do anything right now.

Oh by the way, I'm not here just for the "olde" rocket discussions.

The scoop may not affect it as much as one would think....at least compared to a blunt cone of similar shape. I recall back in the 80's when the Trans Am and Camaro were basically copies of each other except for the front cap and some minor details. According to some Chevy industry people, air compressed into the headlight recesses and acted like a cover over the headlight recesses for directing airflow. They said it gave the Camaro about as good aerodynamic qualities as the TA with retracting slick nosed headlights. Of course, these were Chevy people talking, so take it with a grain of salt.

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I love sanding.

I bet Hostile Projectiles Steve who's into casting could make it happen. I guess there would need to be a market for that type of design to make it worthwhile though.

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I plan ahead that way I don't have to do anything right now.

Oh by the way, I'm not here just for the "olde" rocket discussions.

LOL! Umm... it's a 12 inch model detailed to look like a ship from a 30+ year old TV show.

How high does it have to go? These eyes are getting kinda old ya know.

Personally, I'd really go for a Viper Mk. II. I'd buy a kit of that version in a heartbeat.



MarkII

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SAM # 0011

Here are some Viper shots from a flight I was around. This is Jason Ware, builder, and Dave Schaefer, HPR sponsor, before Jason's flight at LDRS in 2006.



Maiden liftoff on a Cesaroni M1400.



Here's how the rocket spent Saturday night in Amarillo


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YORF member #11

The first two pictures didn't display but the important one did.

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Bob Harrington
NAR #62740 L1
AMA #46042
CMASS & RIMRA Member

Is there supposed to be a rocket in this pic?

To bring it full circle, I take it that nobody flies with or knows Dan of "More Rockets".

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I love sanding.

That's good JIC, here are a couple links where the pics should work:
http://www.pro38.com/gallery.php
http://www.galaxyphoto.com/rockets/viper8.html

Doug
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YORF member #11