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Old 02-04-2017, 07:16 PM
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Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: San Diego, CA
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Default NCRBE Orbit

(Continued...)


The Orbit kit itself drew upon parts which had a history of use in high-performance model rockets.

The black molded fin can and nose cone came from the molds created by Centuri Engineering in the early 1970s for use with the Enerjet 1340 Sounding Rocket.

The Orbit kit would also inherit the problem with the fin can fins fluttering and breaking off at high velocities.
To resolve this issue mass was added to the Orbit kit in the form of thick-walled body tubes, 1.125" ID x 1.304" OD x 17" long.
These tubes featured a gold prism paper outer wrap.

To avoid having to modify the nose cone shoulder to fit the thick-walled body tubes the upper two inches of the body featured standard BT-56 tubing.

For recovery the Orbit came apart at the mid-body joint between the two thick-walled body tubes and featured a 4" x 60" orange flagging tape streamer.

The launch lug was a 1/4" ID x 6" long thick walled tube with gold prism outer wrap.
The molded fin can fit over the outside of the body tube. This would cause launch rod binding if a normal wall thickness 1/4" launch lug was glued to the body.
The thick-walled walled launch lug held the launch rod further away from the rocket body and eliminated this problem.

The motor was retained in the 29mm motor mount using masking tape.

As for the finishing scheme the model had pre-colored tubes and black plastic parts.

The decals on the prototype appeared to be self-adhesive.

As for the kit name decal the decal basically said "Orbit" in a 72 point Avante Gard bold font style. The
break line had a 1/4" black stripe on each tube. This was to "seal" the body
tube, since that prismastic paper would sometimes come unraveled at the cut
line. There was another 1/2" black stripe at the nose cone/tube joint and at the
short tube/long tube joint, again to seal the tube.


The overall length of the Orbit model was 43.5".

The model would be powered by a long delay Dark Star F62-9 and G70-10 motors.

According to one witness the prototype Orbit kits were, "A blast to fly!!"

TBC...
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Name:  NCR Orbit (Model and picture credit Matt Steele) 001.jpg
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Name:  NCRBE Orbit Launch Lug 002.jpg
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Name:  NCRBE Orbit Launch Lug 001.jpg
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Name:  NCRBE Orbit Body Tube.jpg
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