See attached picture of my Estes MX Missile Clone with 3D printed ABS nosecone and locking fin can with clear 1/32" thick Lexan fins and homemade decals. The decals were made on an HP 8600 inkjet printer and are on the last of my Bel Inc. waterslide decal paper stock. My trick is to use the Histogram on the Adjust Exposure menu in Microsoft Windows Live Photo Gallery to eliminate the background and simultaneously sharpen the details and enhance the colors of the scanned decals. The decals are then printed as appropriately sized .jpg files from Windows Paint.

I used a 5 body tube lengths of shock cord made from natural braiding cord tied to the engine mount. The flight was on a B6-4 motor; the tajectory was good, arching about 5 degrees into the wind. However, upon ejection the nosecone went through the parchute shroud lines and prevented the 12" plastic parachute from opening all the way. One of the Lexan fins broke on landing and one of the wraparound decals was peeled back , both easy repairs.

Incidentally the launch pad this model is on is one that I built over 30 years ago. The construction details apppeared in a Sport Rocketry article titled "The Tripod Mount"; good thing I published my Teflon Rocketry article first! I also gave several of the ablative blast deflectors (also the title of my 3rd Sport Rocketry article) like the one on this launch pad to some members of the WOOSH NAR section at a launch at the Bong Recreatio area.

Attached Thumbnails

 

__________________
Bruce S. Levison, NAR #69055