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  #11  
Old 08-13-2018, 12:23 PM
Blastfromthepast Blastfromthepast is offline
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JeffyJeep,
That 3rd Dragonfly looks like it would be very interesting to try to find after it lands!
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  #12  
Old 08-13-2018, 12:40 PM
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Chas Russell Chas Russell is offline
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MarkB. Nice looking Fly Baby! I flew a 69% version in 1/2A BG last week at NARAM 60. Two good flights, but did not find good air.
I am looking forward to hearing how your flights go.

Chas
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  #13  
Old 08-13-2018, 09:37 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Blastfromthepast
JeffyJeep,
That 3rd Dragonfly looks like it would be very interesting to try to find after it lands!

Good point! It was so long ago that I don’t remember, but I do know that I try to make them easy to track in flight by coloring the undersides of the wings black.

The camouflage painter, my beloved “Vixen” will be out of the hand painting business for a long time—she’s having shoulder surgery this week. MY hand painting skills don’t even come close to hers.

While she’s “under” I’ll ask the doc to shorten her feet a little. So she can stand closer to the kitchen sink.

No, she doesn’t read these posts.
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  #14  
Old 08-14-2018, 11:32 PM
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MarkB. MarkB. is offline
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Guys,

Here's a picture of an Estes Firefly clone and a Vashon X-13 clone, side by side.

These are clones built from the instructions on JimZ and on YORS. the fuselages have been replaced by spruce of the same length and the addition, on the X-13, of a small dowel on the nose in place of the elaborate elastic system required for flying off of Cold-Power rockets . The X-13 is slightly shorter. The tail surfaces are identical; on the Firefly the vertical stab is reversed. The X-13 wing is slightly larger in both span and cord but not by much.

Obviously, the position of the parts is different. The X-13 nose is longer making it need less weight to achieve a good glide. The X-13 also has a keel piece under the wing which makes it very easy to hand-launch. Right off the bench, the X-13 is almost ready to fly without nose weight; the Firefly isn't even close.

The last step is covering. The X-13 gets MonoKoted. I located both some Orange MonoKote and my MonoKote iron which hadn't been used in at least 15 years. It did come up to heat right away. The Firefly will be getting dope and tissue. Both should be done this weekend. When they are covered I should have a better idea of how much ballast they'll each need.
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Awaiting First Launch: Too numerous to count
Finishing: Zooch Saturn V; Alway/Nau BioArcas; Estes Expedition; TLP Standard
Repair/Rescue: Cherokee-D (2); Centuri Nike-Smoke; MX-774
On the Bench: 2650;
Dream Stage: 1/39.37 R-7

Last edited by MarkB. : 01-23-2021 at 02:42 PM.
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  #15  
Old 09-01-2018, 12:38 PM
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Here they are finished.

The Firefly (closest to camera) is covered in tissue in a red/orange/yellow hambre scheme. The fuse is natural wood with a cardstock reenforcement of the nose and dowel area. I'll wrap golfer's lead tape around the nose for balancing and it'll be ready to fly.

The X-13 is covered in orange Monokote as per the original. The fuse is hand-painted with Tamiya black acrylic as it appears that the original Vashon kit had a black stick as well. It also has a single wrap of cardstock around the nose and dowel but it balances without any lead. It hand-launches perfectly and glides well. Monkote'ing the tiny tail pieces was certainly a challenge. Although the Monokote is heavier than tissue, it looks better and probably adds more strength. The overall weight should be lower on the X-13 because it needs no ballast.


Maybe a launch next weekend, weather permitting.
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I miss being SAM 062

Awaiting First Launch: Too numerous to count
Finishing: Zooch Saturn V; Alway/Nau BioArcas; Estes Expedition; TLP Standard
Repair/Rescue: Cherokee-D (2); Centuri Nike-Smoke; MX-774
On the Bench: 2650;
Dream Stage: 1/39.37 R-7
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  #16  
Old 09-16-2018, 07:27 AM
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Well,

The gliders are all ready for launch. I'm going to plug the Golfworks High Density lead tape I used. Golfers use this tape to weight their clubs in different ways to promote or reduce slices and draws or to make the ball launch higher or lower. It comes in a 75 ft. roll which means I will misplace and not be able to find it long before I use the whole thing. A short piece was all that was needed to balance the Fly Baby, Firefly and my scratch built. Only 74.5 feet to go. It cuts with an E-Xacto knike and the adhesive backing is strong enough to stay on a golf club so it should be OK on a rocket.

Too windy to launch this weekend so no report yet.
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I miss being SAM 062

Awaiting First Launch: Too numerous to count
Finishing: Zooch Saturn V; Alway/Nau BioArcas; Estes Expedition; TLP Standard
Repair/Rescue: Cherokee-D (2); Centuri Nike-Smoke; MX-774
On the Bench: 2650;
Dream Stage: 1/39.37 R-7
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  #17  
Old 09-16-2018, 11:05 AM
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Questor Questor is offline
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I use the fishing stickon lead weights which I found at BassPro shops in disc and strips to help trim my gliders. a lot less than a large gob of clay. clay used for fine tuning. I await your flight report.
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  #18  
Old 10-20-2018, 06:55 PM
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Well,

No flight report yet. The weather's been terrible for the last two weeks, either rain or wind. Today was steady 30 mph wind with gusts to 45.

In the mean time, I built a dedicated Glider-Launching-Rocket out of spare parts. It's 18" of BT-56 (actually two scrap pieces with a coupler), the usual Estes plastic cone and a Semroc ST-13 engine mount. For fun, I decided to give the rocket a Vashon/CoolPower theme so I used the fin pattern from the X-13 sheet and a Mylar parachute. Paint is CoolPower style. The Chrome and Black are Dupicolor; the Orange and White are Rustoleum.


Here it is against this afternoon's angry Texas sky. Note the permanently mounted launch lugs for single glider or double flying. Now i'm REALLY ready to launch . . . .
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NAR 79743
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I miss being SAM 062

Awaiting First Launch: Too numerous to count
Finishing: Zooch Saturn V; Alway/Nau BioArcas; Estes Expedition; TLP Standard
Repair/Rescue: Cherokee-D (2); Centuri Nike-Smoke; MX-774
On the Bench: 2650;
Dream Stage: 1/39.37 R-7

Last edited by MarkB. : 07-05-2020 at 12:39 PM.
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  #19  
Old 11-13-2018, 06:17 PM
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Comrades

Still no flight report but, based largely on gh's assurances that all things Enerjet are good, I decided to build an Enerjet Pterodactyl. I scoured this website and could only find a couple of references and one grainy picture that Jerry Irvine posted from years ago. I found the plan on JimZ. The design was later reduced and sold as Mini-dactyl by Centuri.

This is one big parasite glider. Originally designed to launch on large E and F engined boosters, the surfaces are all 1/8" balsa. I didn't have any thick balsa for the fuselage, so I laminated two 1/8" sides to a center core of 1/32 plywood. The only other change was I added a standoff and dowel to fly off a booster-mounted lug; the plans show a double wire cradle to hold the canard during boost. The dowel gives me options for launch vehicles. Test glides indicate a slight nose-heavy condition. I'm still not exactly sure what I'm going to launch it on, but, I'm looking forward to this one, too.

Shown uncovered, the plans indicate Silkspan for covering, but after a positive experience covering the Vashon X-13, I'm most likely to go with Monokote. Either an all-black Russian Firefox scheme or and all-white XB-70 scheme.

I recommend it as a fun build; we'll see about flying.
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__________________
NAR 79743
NARTrek Silver
I miss being SAM 062

Awaiting First Launch: Too numerous to count
Finishing: Zooch Saturn V; Alway/Nau BioArcas; Estes Expedition; TLP Standard
Repair/Rescue: Cherokee-D (2); Centuri Nike-Smoke; MX-774
On the Bench: 2650;
Dream Stage: 1/39.37 R-7
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  #20  
Old 01-29-2019, 11:55 AM
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Ez2cDave Ez2cDave is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MarkB.
I decided to build a Vashon X-13 from the plans on JimZ. It is similar but not identical to the Estes Firefly. The X-13 has a longer nose moment and a larger wing (more cord and span). I noticed that the Vashon kit came with some Monokote to cover it. Does anybody have one who could tell me what color Monokote came with it? Or if you remember? I have a fairly large stash of Monokote from my R/C days so I'd love to cover it "authentically".


It glides like a BRICK, when covered with Monokote ( very heavy ).

Dave F.
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