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Old 08-21-2015, 07:25 AM
Jumpmaster1980 Jumpmaster1980 is offline
Junior Rocketeer
 
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 24
Default New to the Forum and Aggressor Aerospace...Love The Company

Hey everyone,

I am new to this forum and this is my first posting, but I just wanted to state that a recent kit that I just built from Aggressor Aerospace has me hooked back on the hobby.

First, I am career Army and a leader in Cub Scouts. A few weeks ago my son (age 6) attended an event with his Cub Scout Pack and we were able to visit a NASA Space Center and shoot some rockets off. Prior to the event I pulled out my old Estes V-2 that I built three years ago and bought some new D engines for it, found a local hobby shop and picked a few Estes kits and built them with my son. We ended up getting a Mini Honest John (let him design the paint scheme) and a Mini Der Red Max (customized painted that one also). I told myself that I wanted to build me a kit of my own so I went looking for some military themed rockets and off Apogee Rockets found the AGNI-1 Kit so I bought it with some other aftermarket parts.

Review of the Kit (took my time):

BLUF: It came out awesome (at work now, but I will post some pictures later)

Overall: I painted it 90% like the picture in the package. I extensively looked at pictures of the Rocket online and made some minor changes. First, I worked on the nosecone for about a week to make it look like all one piece instead of the three pieces that it took to construct it. CHANGE 1: I ended up painting the tip of the nose cone a Bright red and the rest Black, then putting about 3 coats of gloss enamel clearcoat and went from 400-1500 grit sandpaper to smooth everything out, finally using some polishing compound to get a high scheen on it. With the rest of the body, I used three coats of grey automotive primer and sanded it until everything looked smooth and had to put some wood filler around the stabilizing wings. Instead of a Sand paint, I went with a Tamirya USAF tan Enamel, OD Green, and medium brown (all Satin) and used blue painter's tape to mask the camo patterns. Finally after letting everything dry a day (took me another week to work, not rush the tube), I sprayed two coats of Satin Clearcoat on the Body tube, minus the wing tips, which were still grey primed and taped off. CHANGE 2: I used a bright red to paint the tips of the stabilizing fins (saw a picture online), then sealed those. CHANGE 3: Used Apogee's Plywood engine mounts and put an engine hook in mine. CHANGE 4: I mounted the motor mount about 1/2 inch inside the tube and used a clay epoxy to seal it in the tube. CHANGE 5: I used a Kevlar Shock cord and made it the length of 2.5x longer than the tube and used a nylon 15 inch parachute instead of the Estes 18 inch plastic one. Ended up looking great.

- Instructions: Being as novice as I am, I pulled out my old V-2 instructions as a picture reference and started building the rocket using the Card Stock stencils for the wings, etc. After building the two previous rockets with my son, it got easier (like I said before I didn't rush, overall took me 2.5 weeks to complete, but initially they were a little confusing.

- Look: Rocket is a-typical of normal Estes ones and I like the uniqueness of it as well. The conduits alongside the tube, the short wings, and the nosecone give it a great look. Compared to the photos and schematics that I found online, it is a good scale representation.

-Flight: Well they is to come tomorrow because I am taking my son out shooting them. Little to say because of where I live, I have to drive about 2 hours to do so. I am expecting it to go well. I plan on using a C6-5 for the first day of flight and if everything goes well (I don't lose it or it explodes) I am going to buy some single-use Aerotech D motors for 18mm Rockets.

***What to see in the future:

1) My Active Action Review of the Flight
2) Photos

If everything goes well, my next project will be the the Aggressor Aerospace UNHA-3 (what name and product number to use on its paint scheme for those who have previously built it)?

Would like to hear anyone's comments
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