Astron Farside X Retro Build

[Bayourat]

Back in 1971 the Estes catalog had this wonderful three stage rocket in it. I never got to build it. Back then I was a bit scared of the fact that it was a three stage and I had lost a few 2 stage rockets. So I never bought it. Now looking back all those years I think it's time I add it to the rockets of my youth collection even though it was never in the original collection.
http://i721.photobucket.com/albums/ww219/thebayourat/Farside.jpg

[Bayourat]

First I downloaded the plans from Jim Z's and made a parts order from Balsa Machining.

http://i721.photobucket.com/albums/ww219/thebayourat/5E3967A7-513C-4F55-8BE8-DEC0BCD8ED7D.jpg

http://i721.photobucket.com/albums/ww219/thebayourat/B0387C76-E3AB-4A80-95CE-ACFF965C67C0.jpg

[Rob Campbell]

I had the standard Farside back in 1975-1976. As crazy as I was, I never used any motors bigger that 1/2A6 in the top two stages. I always used a B14-0 in the first. I was thrilled if worked as advertised.

[Bayourat]

I had the standard Farside back in 1975-1976. As crazy as I was, I never used any motors bigger that 1/2A6 in the top two stages. I always used a B14-0 in the first. I was thrilled if worked as advertised.

I am building the booster for a 24mm motor. I have the C11 in mind since you can't get the B14 anymore. :-(

[BEC]

I built a standard Farside for a local Classic Model contest a few years ago. Flying off a big sod farm I think I dared B6-B6-A8, carrying a small altimeter in the payload section. That's as brave as I got.

Back then one could get laser cut fin sets for the Farside/Farside-X from Semroc, No idea if the eRockets version of Semroc has 'em.

Is that Mobius Action Cam peaking out from behind the TA-5060 going for a ride in your Farside-X?

[stefanj]

I built one around fifteen years back. First flight was B14-0 / A8-0 / A8-5 as I recall. On a later flight one of the upper stage motors didn't ignite and the model took a header. It is rebuilt but not refinished.

[Joe Wooten]

I am building the booster for a 24mm motor. I have the C11 in mind since you can't get the B14 anymore. :-(

I did the same thing. Works well.

[Bayourat]

Tubes cut and motor mounts built. Now to cut all the fins!

http://i721.photobucket.com/albums/ww219/thebayourat/733DB790-DF2C-4D3C-96AE-A1882AE9F5C8.jpg

http://i721.photobucket.com/albums/ww219/thebayourat/5CB50FE4-4384-4620-A234-42CC4DC43DB5.jpg

[Bayourat]

Is that Mobius Action Cam peaking out from behind the TA-5060 going for a ride in your Farside-X?

Yes, it will be camera equipt. Down looking to capture all staging events. :-)

[Bayourat]

Wow! a visit to the mail box turned up some water slide decals from http://www.sandmandecals.com/ . Nice!

http://i721.photobucket.com/albums/ww219/thebayourat/0AB4D3EE-B66E-4D1B-ADDA-166A67ABED0D.jpg

[LeeR]

Love the Farside and Farside-X. As a kid I built the Apogee II. Hard to believe I thought spending another dollar or so to get a Farside was a bit out of my reach!

Just checked the 1966 catalog, when I built my Apogee II. It was $2.00, the Farside was $2.75, and the Farside-X was $3.00! If I could go back 40 years I'd kick myself! :)

I assume you are going for a traditional color scheme?

[ghrocketman]

Even back then, the Farside/Farside-X at the additional cost was a much better value for your money than the Apogee II; you got a MUCH larger rocket with the Farside-X, that was much more likely recovered.

[dlazarus6660]

I built the Farside in 1972 when I was in sixth grade. My industrial arts teacher suggested I replace the parachute to a streamer if I wanted to recover the rocket. I lost it anyway, but recovered the first and second stages.

[Bayourat]

Spiral groove and wood grain filled with Elmer's wood filler. Fins cut out and sanded. That's a lot of fins! I used 1/8" balsa to prevent warping.

http://i721.photobucket.com/albums/ww219/thebayourat/5A6E3168-81AE-42E3-B347-0D42184A8409.jpg

http://i721.photobucket.com/albums/ww219/thebayourat/489FFD60-CAB7-4822-B6AF-2B2C3C1ED255.jpg

[Molniya]

Beautiful job on those fins !

One of my all time favorite rockets. Great retro look. The picture below is of the second clone i built back in November after the first clone drifted into the the hudson river ...alas

[LeeR]

Beautiful execution on your Farside-X!

[A Fish Named Wallyum]

Beautiful job on those fins !

One of my all time favorite rockets. Great retro look. The picture below is of the second clone i built back in November after the first clone drifted into the the hudson river ...alas
Awesome! I went with a red/white/black catalog color scheme for mine. It's been RTF for a couple of years now, but I'm hoping to fly it with the Astron Apogee that I'm almost finished with. Small field season should be just about to start when I get home. (On vacation at the moment in Bill and Craig's back yard in Gulf Shores, Alabama.) :cool:

[Bayourat]

It's starting to look like a rocket!

http://i721.photobucket.com/albums/ww219/thebayourat/A6896998-283E-4023-829C-064072022776.jpg

[Bayourat]

Now for some 5 minute epoxy fin filets.

http://i721.photobucket.com/albums/ww219/thebayourat/5A9DCD5E-10F6-4E68-9261-6CF1EB621569.jpg

[Bayourat]

Prime, Fill, Sand, Repeat.

http://i721.photobucket.com/albums/ww219/thebayourat/B64C0FED-EBFB-4853-A590-C0590D21269E.jpg

[Rob Campbell]

You're takinge back to 1975!

[Chas Russell]

I built a Farside-X back in 2012 for the NARAM-54 Classic Model event. I finished it in the
colors of the model on the back cover of the 1966 catalog. The flourescent orange was a
challenge.

http://www.ninfinger.org/rockets/catalogs/estes66/66estb.html

Pod Bay Door teammate Pat McCarthy had to put the black spiral tape on at NARAM as I managed to slice a finger prior to finishing the model and did not want to get blood on the model. I was not at N-54 so I missed the flight. We won the Team division based on flight points due to three stages.

I had asked Carl McLawhorn about pricing to cut the fins from basswood and he sent them at no charge. It was a lot easier to finish them rather than cut from balsa. Carl was a class act and is greatly missed.

I tried to attach one of the photos from the ones that Chris Taylor took for his naranlive website, but it did not work.

I have enjoyed your build thread.

Chas

[A Fish Named Wallyum]

I built a Farside-X back in 2012 for the NARAM-54 Classic Model event. I finished it in the
colors of the model on the back cover of the 1966 catalog. The flourescent orange was a
challenge.

http://www.ninfinger.org/rockets/catalogs/estes66/66estb.html

Pod Bay Door teammate Pat McCarthy had to put the black spiral tape on at NARAM as I managed to slice a finger prior to finishing the model and did not want to get blood on the model. I was not at N-54 so I missed the flight. We won the Team division based on flight points due to three stages.

I had asked Carl McLawhorn about pricing to cut the fins from basswood and he sent them at no charge. It was a lot easier to finish them rather than cut from balsa. Carl was a class act and is greatly missed.

I tried to attach one of the photos from the ones that Chris Taylor took for his naranlive website, but it did not work.

I have enjoyed your build thread.

Chas


See if this works.

[Bayourat]

Nice! What motor combination did you use?

[Chas Russell]

Bill - Thank you for posting the pictures. This old computer has seen better daze...

Bayouat - I was not at the NARAM. IRRC, it was C6-0/B6-0/A8-5. Mission points for staging and for carrying an altimeter. Thus bringing the Farside-X into the modern age. Chris Taylor got some wonderful staging pictures. They are at naramlive.com, click on the Mercury Capsule labeled "N54 2012", click NARAM live in the upper left corner, and select the Friday pictures. Those pages have his pics of scale and classic model flights.

Thanks to both of you.

Chas
Charles

[LeeR]

Chas,

I remember painting rockets with fluorescent paints, based on Estes' "Fluorescent Phase" in the mid 60s. Funny to look at the 1966 catalog's family picture and most of the rockets have a fluorescent scheme. Some white, yellow, and black here and there, but not a drop of green or blue in any of those builds.

I remember how disappointed I'd be after putting on a pretty decent base coat of white, only to have a really poor fluorescent top coat. But it was easy to see from a distance.

I really want to build a Farside-X after following this thread. Several things for sure:

1. I wlli deviate from the original design and use 2050 centering rings on the motor mounts. I never liked the coupler with paper rings type of mount.

2. It will have a classic paint job of yellow, white, black, with red nose cone. No fluorescents.

3. Sandman Farside-X decals for sure!

4. B14-0 booster motor from my old stash of motors. This may result in building a replacement booster section. Or an entire rocket! Maybe I should build the first booster stage for a C11-0, and get a successful flight before attempting a B14-0 in an 18mm booster stage.

I think I have the transition, but will likely turn my own 60L nose cone. This is going to be fun.

[A Fish Named Wallyum]

Bill - Thank you for posting the pictures. This old computer has seen better daze...

Bayouat - I was not at the NARAM. IRRC, it was C6-0/B6-0/A8-5. Mission points for staging and for carrying an altimeter. Thus bringing the Farside-X into the modern age. Chris Taylor got some wonderful staging pictures. They are at naramlive.com, click on the Mercury Capsule labeled "N54 2012", click NARAM live in the upper left corner, and select the Friday pictures. Those pages have his pics of scale and classic model flights.

Thanks to both of you.

Chas
Charles
Wow, if your computer is worse than this old boat anchor, you're in deep upper-dekker material. :rolleyes: My current computer is a laptop that we bought for my son when he was a senior in high school. That was in 2008. :eek: ;)

[Bayourat]

A lot more sanding and priming but I ran out of time and just put the base coast on. White Lacquer. next I'll spray the yellow.

Here is the last coat of primer I did.

http://i721.photobucket.com/albums/ww219/thebayourat/7DE5F3B4-C7A1-4D31-8826-3C1A525AF60C.jpg

Here is the base coat of white lacquer.

http://i721.photobucket.com/albums/ww219/thebayourat/8F159733-06BA-4820-ADDC-75ACEAA5D310.jpg

[ghrocketman]

Loved the upper-dekker reference from Bill.
I would go with a plain BT50 for the bottom stage to be able to use C11's.
Those are the only readily-available substitute for the obsolete B14 that NOBODY seems to have ANY interest in producing despite numerous requests for them.
I wish they would REDUCE the power of the C11 to just a full-B11 so that one would have a booster capable of lifting some serious weight without having the booster stage almost out-of-sight.

[Bayourat]

Here is my list of modifications to the original design.
1/8th inch balsa fins on all stages.
Fins not canted as per original design
24mm first stage for use of C11 engine.

Scrapped modifications:
Fully instrumented payload bay with down looking camera mounted in the reducer coupler.

Now the plan is to tape an 808 camera to the outside of the tube looking down to capture staging.

[mojo1986]

Beautiful job on those fins !

One of my all time favorite rockets. Great retro look. The picture below is of the second clone i built back in November after the first clone drifted into the the hudson river ...alas


Oh wow! That is classy!

[Bayourat]

Got the roll pattern and Rudolf nose done. Now I have to wait till tomorrow to get some good yellow paint. The local Wallyworld only has crappy paint. I need some good yellow lacquer.


http://i721.photobucket.com/albums/ww219/thebayourat/F319FBE0-6B45-4335-A7A9-224E37FBF412.jpg

http://i721.photobucket.com/albums/ww219/thebayourat/0AFA7D5F-91A7-4CFD-89F5-277527BBF741.jpg

[Bayourat]

Bill - Thank you for posting the pictures. This old computer has seen better daze...

Bayouat - I was not at the NARAM. IRRC, it was C6-0/B6-0/A8-5. Mission points for staging and for carrying an altimeter. Thus bringing the Farside-X into the modern age. Chris Taylor got some wonderful staging pictures. They are at naramlive.com, click on the Mercury Capsule labeled "N54 2012", click NARAM live in the upper left corner, and select the Friday pictures. Those pages have his pics of scale and classic model flights.

Thanks to both of you.

Chas
Charles

Those are some awesome staging shots. I hope mine come out that nice.

[Bayourat]

I sprayed the yellow last night. Now to spray the black fins tonight and the paint will be done.

http://i721.photobucket.com/albums/ww219/thebayourat/E70AEB95-A7EA-4F4B-99DF-37F661B411DA.jpg

[Chas Russell]

That looks GREAT!! So close to be finished and ready to fly. Looking forward to the pics.

Chas

[Bayourat]

All that is left to do now is apply the awesome Sandman Decal.

http://i721.photobucket.com/albums/ww219/thebayourat/94C3BE35-5BE8-4849-9FB6-9A2D4551DB1F.jpg

[Bayourat]

Finished! It will fly this weekend at NSL 2016 in Manchester, TN. First Flight C11-0, B6-0, B6-6. If all goes well it will then fly with a camera on it D12-0, C6-0, C6-7. Hope the winds are light

http://i721.photobucket.com/albums/ww219/thebayourat/935C9F77-8600-41F9-AF3F-A9EFD84F1AE7.jpg

[stefanj]

Thanks for the build thread. Came out looking great!

[ghrocketman]

I think you should change your first-flight engine choices to C11-0 to A8-0 to A8-5 to ensure you get all the pieces back for a second flight. It's gonna stage 2-3 higher than you think with a B6-0 in the 2nd stage. Maximum I would go C11-0 to A8-0 to B6-6 for the first flight.

[L3Excalibur]

I think you should change your first-flight engine choices to C11-0 to A8-0 to A8-5 to ensure you get all the pieces back for a second flight. It's gonna stage 2-3 higher than you think with a B6-use 0 in the 2nd stage. Maximum I would go C11-0 to A8-0 to B6-6 for the first flight.

I agree with two things in this thread....

1. It is a GREAT looking rocket w/beautiful finish
-- and --
2. GHR is right about using A8s for stages 2/3 on first flight. At least use no more than C11/B6/A8 combo. Would be nice to get everything back in one piece for that second flight. :-)

"The other 'Buzz' that posts here"

[PaulK]

Nice work, Whitney!

[Blushingmule]

Beautiful!

Bob

[A Fish Named Wallyum]

Wait 'til you see the post flight pics. :(

[Bayourat]

Having returned from the National Sport Launch I'm sure everyone is excited to hear how the flights went with the Farside X.
My first flight attempt was with a C11-0, B6-0, B6-6 engine combination.

http://i721.photobucket.com/albums/ww219/thebayourat/IMG_9148.jpg

I loaded it up on the pad and connected the igniter leads.

http://i721.photobucket.com/albums/ww219/thebayourat/DSC_0039.jpg

For recovery I had a 12" chute with a spill hole cut in it. I reefed the chute a bit for a faster recovery. I had 3' of elastic shock cord to help with possible high ejection speeds. Now it was time to wait for the count down!

[pdooley]

I had the regular Farside model growing up in Plano in the 80's. I was daring and first launch was fully stacked. wound up being the last, never found the top stage. to make matters worse we set quite a large patch of grass on fire. by luck we had a little fire extinguisher with us, probably saved our a**.

in hindsight, B6-0 1/2A 1/2A would be ideal for this model.

[Bayourat]

I had the regular Farside model growing up in Plano in the 80's. I was daring and first launch was fully stacked. wound up being the last, never found the top stage. to make matters worse we set quite a large patch of grass on fire. by luck we had a little fire extinguisher with us, probably saved our a**.

in hindsight, B6-0 1/2A 1/2A would be ideal for this model.

It's been sitting waiting for another flight. I think I'll go all out, D12-0, C6-0, C6-7 when the time comes. :)

[Earl]

It's been sitting waiting for another flight. I think I'll go all out, D12-0, C6-0, C6-7 when the time comes. :)

Hey, it does not look like you ever finished the commentary on your first flight above (Post 44); ... how did it fly on that engine combo?

Earl

[pdooley]

It's been sitting waiting for another flight. I think I'll go all out, D12-0, C6-0, C6-7 when the time comes. :)

might work out with 5 or 6 spotters :D

[ghrocketman]

5-6 spotters might be enough if it has an 8oz. payload.
Crumple PRANGS are always fun.... :chuckle:

[Bayourat]

Hey, it does not look like you ever finished the commentary on your first flight above (Post 44); ... how did it fly on that engine combo?

Earl

Not good, first stage ignited at the pad, but the second stage didn't, and it came in ballistic.

https://i.imgur.com/WQ7m8kv.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/Fb24U34.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/TbFdZSc.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/sGmEEdK.jpg

[astronwolf]

Sorry about the crash, but I must say - Those are beautiful photos!

[BEC]

Ouch!

I cloned the Farside (not the X) and in an early flight I managed to assemble the three motors with the second stage motor in the wrong way. The result was the same as yours. Good first stage, then staging and ballistic return. Fortunately the ground at that site at that time was pretty soft and there wasn't too much real damage, just mud/dirt to remove.

And really fortunately, the blowby from the first stage motor didn't light the second one from the top!

[LeeR]

I am building the booster for a 24mm motor. I have the C11 in mind since you can't get the B14 anymore. :-(

Whitney,
I built a Semroc Farside-X last year. I did a 24mm booster. I used a technique Gary Rosenfield posted about for mounting surface mount fins on a minimum diameter rocket. I used basswood on this booster. The tabs hide nicely in a moderate fillet, so the booster looks stock.

I hope to fly mine come Springtime. I think I may try a C11/A8/A8 due to field size. (Smallish grassy field, I don’t want to fly it on gravel and cactus fields like Pueblo.)
:)

[ghrocketman]

Estes has made the A3-6T available again.
It may be a good candidate for the top sustainer used in a 13/18mm adapter.

I have a stash of 1/2A6-0s and 1/2A6-4s I intend to use atop a B14-0 for the first flight of the Astron Farside/Farside-X I'm building.

I have most of the discontinued and LONG-discontinued 13 and 18mm Estes motors in my vintage motor hoard. Have several paks of A5 -S shorties too.
Need to use some of my 1/2A3-0Ts with a 1/4A3-4T sustainer in my Mini Brute Midget and Beta.