George's rocket auction for May
 

Needing to raise some money for various reasons, I am auctioning a number of kits and a couple of books by Peter Alway.
All the auctions end Sunday night, May 10th, beginning around 10 PM EST.

Use THIS LINK to navigate to all of the items I am auctioning.
https://www.ebay.com/sch/george187/m.html

Rockets of the World book, 2nd edition, by Peter Alway

Retro Rockets Experimental Rockets 1926-1941, book by Peter Alway

Centuri Flying Saucer (Alien Scoutship)

Cox Space Shuttle America twin gliders model rocket - 1990 reissue of original 1970 model.

Estes Interceptor-E

Estes NOMAD (kit uses the same plastic parts as the Saros)

Estes Space Ship One (2” diameter kit)

Estes Sweet Vee R/C Rocket Glider

Estes Solar Sailer II

Estes Silver Comet

Estes Mammoth

Estes Black Star Voyager

Estes Orbital Transport #1259 (reissue from a few years back)

Monogram 1/72 Space Shuttle Orbiter plastic model kit

Quest Tomahawk Missile SLCM

Vector Aero Stingray-III R/C Rocket Glider kit (FAI medal winning S8E design by Kevin McKiou, using composite foam/fiberglass/graphite fabrication)

See the attached image of the books and kits.

Use THIS LINK to navigate to all of the items I am auctioning.
https://www.ebay.com/sch/george187/m.html

It appears you will not let Canadians to bid on your rocket kits.

Hmm... Might have to pick up that Nomad.

Huge decal sheet... Might be troublesome to apply. I'd be tempted anyway. I had that model and it was one of my better looking ones at the time. It would also be prime for building a Saros. :cool:

I already have 2 Nomad kits and I was also thinking "Saros".
The Saros was produced in larger numbers over a longer time, but they go for far more $$.
Seeing as this one is opened, it's a builder.

It’s not particularly a kit I am after, but the Nomad does not seem to surface all that often.

I know others have spoken of the stability issues that could sometimes occur with the Saros, and so I wonder if this repackaged version of the Saros parts in a longer rocket was a way to solve some of those stability problems.

I built a Saros several years ago and though I have not flown it as of yet, it’s fin area does seem a bit skimpish.

Earl

The reason my Nomad is not with me anymore is because it tipped off the pad. Fins are small so I don't think I could blame it on weather cocking, but it's long and a lot of it's weight was ahead of the lug. I wouldn't be surprised if it tipped and pinched a little. After tipping, it flew perfectly straight, nearly horizontally into a tree, so I'd say the fin area was plenty on it! If I knew then what I know now, I'd know for sure what happened. ;)

I always add insurance. The USPS won't allow for insurance for packages mailed to Canada, unless it's a crazy expensive value not worth it for a kit. I learned this the sort of hard way, sweated out that a $100+ kit made it to Canada safely. Don't want to run those risks again.

Sorry.

I was surprised to realize the Nomad only had ONE launch lug, and it is sorta short ( only 1.25"!). I had to check the instructions to see if a 2nd lug was missing, but nope.

Single short lug OK for an Astron Scout, not for a meter-tall rocket. If I built this to fly, I'd go with two lugs 12" apart or more, or a very long lug at the CG.

The Nomad though was some decent amount longer than the Saros though, right? My thought was they took the Saros plastic parts and made a new, longer (and by definition, more stable) rocket using longer tubes. Or am I mistaken that the Nomad was a fair amount longer? That was the thought I was putting forward, which based on your experience, it does sound like the Nomad certainly was stable.

Earl