I've just started the newest build of the
260 Space Booster
on my blog at:
www.modelrocketbuilding.blogspot.com

This was a feature plan from a 1965 Estes Model Rocket News, volume 5, number 3.
Should be a fun build, it's got a big two shroud nozzle. I'll try to add clear fins the way it was done on the Thor Agena B and Gemini Titan models.

Stop by and follow along!

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__________________
Hans "Chris" Michielssen
Old/New NAR # 19086 SR

www.oddlrockets.com
www.modelrocketbuilding.blogspot.com
http://www.nar.org/educational-reso...ing-techniques/
Your results may vary
"Nose cones roll, be careful with that."
Every spaceman needs a ray gun.
Look out - I'm the Meister Shyster!

Very cool! Not a project many people attempt, I bet.

The biggest thing keeping me from getting my damaged Gemini Titan back flying is rebuiliding the **** clear fin unit.

I built one of these from the MRN plans in about 1967 or 1968 because I liked the looks of the nozzle.

If my memory serves me correctly, I had a heck of a time keeping the clear fins attached. Seemed to pop one off every landing. They looked almost like Big Bertha fins and I'm not so sure they needed to be that big.

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

Hi Bob,
I think the nozzle is what attracted me to this one, too.
The 260 fins are pretty close in shape to the Big Bertha, only smaller.
I remember launching my Thor Agena B and having a clear fin pop off.
All the older instructions recommend a clear dope fillet. That may not be enough but it's how I'll build this one.

To StefanJ
The Gemini Titan had a BT-70 body.
Check some of the clear tennis ball and badminton birdie tubes in the sports section.
You might be able to split and rejoin to fit the size you need.
On the Gemini titan and Thor Agena B kit you would wrap thinner clear material around the tube and join the overlap with clear dope.

__________________
Hans "Chris" Michielssen
Old/New NAR # 19086 SR

www.oddlrockets.com
www.modelrocketbuilding.blogspot.com
http://www.nar.org/educational-reso...ing-techniques/
Your results may vary
"Nose cones roll, be careful with that."
Every spaceman needs a ray gun.
Look out - I'm the Meister Shyster!

Funny thing is, afterward I attached one of those nozzles to a Big Bertha because it looked cool. The big swept back fins kept the nozzle from getting damaged on landing.

The nozzle is probably why I built the Orbital Transport Lab (my avatar). and this scratch build.

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

Then give this a try: http://www.semroc.com/Store/scripts...?idproduct=1973


Bill

__________________
It is well past time to Drill, Baby, Drill!

If your June, July, August and September was like this, you might just hate summer too...

Please unload your question before you ask it unless you have a concealed harry permit.

: countdown begin cr dup . 1- ?dup 0= until cr ." Launch!" cr ;

Give a man a rocket and he will fly for a day; teach him to build and he will spend the rest of his days sanding...

I'm already workin on him at that other forum.

__________________
Arizona Rocket Consortium's "MLAS Project"

MLAS Photos

Do you mean the "For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge"-ing clear fin unit? I never got to that point in building my Estes GT-3 kit (the easily-warped clear acetate fin stock didn't elicit confidence)--the part where the booster marking wrap had to be applied to the body tube and then be soaked in lighter fluid to transfer the black interstage vent hole marks to the body tube did it for me... :-)

__________________
Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see:
http://www.lulu.com/content/paperba...an-form/8075185
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6122050
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6126511
All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com.
NAR #54895 SR

Thank you for letting us know--I like that 'un! Also, since the Aerojet 260 Space Booster would likely have used SITVC (Secondary Injection Thrust Vector Control) for pitch and yaw control during the first stage burn, if it had flown it might well have had two nose cone-topped tanks of SITVC steering fluid (like those on the Titan III's Stage 0 solid rocket motors). These tanks would likely have been arranged on opposite sides of the 260" diameter first stage motor, as the SITVC fluid tanks are on the first stage of India's PSLV-CA (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle-Core Alone, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PSLV ).

__________________
Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see:
http://www.lulu.com/content/paperba...an-form/8075185
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6122050
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6126511
All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com.
NAR #54895 SR