It's time for another one of my bursty builds.

I've been wanting to build the family of Estes Interceptor rockets, and related cousins from other companies and Estes Rocket Plans. I actually started them about 2 years ago, but got distracted with a land acquisition I made so I could launch rockets. I'm getting far enough along on the land that I decided I need to get the rockets done to launch them.

The first build I'm posting is one I just finished. It's a replica of a K-50 Interceptor.

The K-50 is nearly the same as the original 1250, and quite a few differences from the modern 1250 reissues. In particular, the modern 1250s have more plastic parts, have differences in the decals, and the nose cones are different.

The nose cone was the hardest part for me to get resolved. I bought a new 1250 and decided that it wouldn't do justice to have my K-50 entry have the new nose cone. So, I looked and sent out feelers about how to get the nose cone. Luckily, rosco_racer heard my plea and made just such a nose cone available for me. I wanted that nose for two rockets at least - the K50 and original 1250 - so I made a rubber mold of it, and can now cast resin versions of it for my builds.

The picture is of the parts I started with. There are the fins I laser cut, the fin alignment guide I laser cut, the nose I cast, and a body tube that I hand rolled from hand grown papyrus. (OK, that papyrus was too far. I bought the tube,)

I cheated on the pods, since they were half plastic and half balsa in the K50 kit. I 3D printed them in two parts, and both parts matched the originals. I just don't want to make balsa cones if I can avoid it.

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Here are the pods assembled. They are rough, like 3D printers love to do for you, so I'll clean them up later.

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Here I'm gluing the engine mount, and the wings. When they dried, I assembled them to the body tube with the alignment guides I made.

I forgot to round the fin edges before assembly. Ooops - excitement takes its toll on rocket builds. At least I didn't forget the launch lugs this time. I'll do my best to prep the edges later, at least before I prime and paint.

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Do you plan to do the Vindicator also? It uses the same NC and came out in 81. I never cared much for it probably because of the catalog paint scheme, but it could be dressed up to look good.

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I love sanding.

Yes, the Vindicator is getting decals today.

There are lots of others that I've included in my builds of the Interceptor family. The most recent was the NewWay Sky Fighter - a square tubed rocket that looked like it was inspired by the Interceptor.

My son took a Quest Intruder and added detail to make a really nice looking little brother to the Interceptor. I used to have pics of it here, but Photobucket decided to hold our images hostage.

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I love sanding.

Those pods I made were heavier than the ones in the original K-50. They also didn't have the advantage of having the part that glued against the balsa fin also be made of balsa. So, I didn't trust that I could get a strong glue joint.

To get them in place, I first tacked them down with a couple spots of thick CA.

I used a paper wrap technique at the end of the fins to reinforce the fillets. I wanted it really thin, so I used 1 ply of toilet paper (or maybe Butt Wipe, if that meets your local dialect) on each side. I laid that into a thin layer of 15 minute epoxy I spread out. It was sort of like laying fiberglass into resin.

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Looking good .

Another possibility for the pod attachment would be to drill a series of holes in the pod and epoxy them on, so the epoxy flows inside the pod like little rivets, have used that technique before.

Will you be able to offer the cones for sale ? or too much to make up extras ?

I did see the 3d files for the pods online, not sure if yours or not, have yet to download and try em out.

Well this should certainly be fun. I hope you enjoy doing decals.

How many rockets in this build?

As I look around my room, I see about 18. I think I still want to get the Interrogators from Sirus Rocketry, so it will likely increase more. That's what I meant by bursty building. Very little for a year or more, then gobs of them at once.

Most are legitimately in the Interceptor family. Some I adopted into the family so I could build with smaller and larger prints of the Interceptor nose. Others are ones that I designed to extend the fleet beyond just interceptors - bombers, stealth, pseudo-vintage, etc.