Mark,

I sent in the Tomahawk scans and Scott has them posted on YORP now, although the scan of the cone and transition seems to be mia.

I recently got the partly built vintage kit from my brother and will post pics and rescan the missing parts when I get time ( been one of those months, lol ) .

so if you have any specific questions on the Tomahawk, lmk and I can measure / photo .

( although I do know the builtup my bro did has NON FSI fins = more to scale, the ones I scanned are the original ones from his kit, which I still have .
also, in the soon-to-come pics / scans = the transition section , which was very poor FSI work, has been 'retouched' by my brother, using the Tonka lathe, lol - agian, to be more 'scale' .

all in all the Nike- TOmahawk is a nice loooking bird, as the pics will show.. might have to build a clone myself, to go with my vintage Nike- Smoke.

~ AL

Just rub it in Al...

I'm going to have to clone this one since I can't seem to find an AFFORDABLE kit. The last one I saw on E-Bay went for something over $100 (I think I got sniped on that one). If you get a chance, can you post some of the BT measurements and length of transition? I don't know if you've noticed, but we're finding that the actual kit dimensions don't really match the descriptions. I may have to see if Sandman can turn a transition and nose cone (after he finishes work on the Nike Hercules project).

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Don
NAR 53455
"Carpe Diem"

Keep looking. You can clone 'em, too, but my take is that the original FSI kits are not that rare, that you can find them cheaply enough. So far, I've built an original Echo-I and an Eos, plus given away a NIB Orbit, none of which I paid more for than if they were hanging in stores today.

And, since they seem to use standard Centuri parts, other than motor tubes, parts are readily available for cloning.

Doug

I haven't come across any original kits anywhere, and I've been looking.

Mark

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SAM # 0011

Al or Don,

I am looking for some info on some of FSI's scale models - specifically, the Nike-Smoke, the Sandia Sandhawk, and the Black Brant. To keep these posts manageable, I'll make separate posts for each model. First the Nike-Smoke.

Fin material - balsa, right? What is the thickness?

I apologize in advance for the elementary level of these next questions. You, see, I've never built a Smoke, or even seen one, except in pictures from model rocketry web sites.

That nose cone - It's not just a simple conical, right? I mean, it looks like it flares out a little bit at the bottom. Is that some sort of bottom skirt around the base of the nose cone? In the FSI scale nose cone, how far does the base of the nose cone flare out from the top of the body tube?

Also, how long is the nose cone for this kit?

There are hatch covers shown in the plans. Where do these go? Are they decals, or paper?

TIA,

Mark

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SAM # 0011

OK, now the Sandhawk. I'm on firmer ground here, in that I'm not totally clueless about the actual rocket that it is based on.

Fin material and thickness?

Antenna material - I'm guessing music wire? Any estimate of the gauge/diameter?

Nose cone length?

Fin brackets - are they decals, or made of paper or cardboard? Are the screw heads colored gold, or just left white?

Details - are there decals or wraps for the other details (various asst . bolts and screw heads, etc.) or is that up to the builder?

(actually, I'll probably just detail it to my own satisfaction/level of obsessiveness/level of patience anyway.)

TIA,

Mark

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SAM # 0011

Finally, the Black Brant. I'm not as utterly clueless about the real item as I was about the N-S, either - just mostly so.

Fins - material and thickness? I'm guessing balsa, again.

Length of nose cone - I'm trying to see if the Semroc BC-20107 (L=10.7") will work. (Also wondering about using that nc for the Nike-Smoke.)

Tail cone - is it a straight-sided transition, or is it curved, like on a V-2? Also, what is the length?

Again, TIA.

Mark

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SAM # 0011

1/4" balsa fins

NC is 10" long

Boat tail is straight sided, but has a ring carved in it about 3/8" from the body tube. Total length of the boat tail section is about 3" but the tapered portion is about 1 1/4". Stranded cable was used for the antennae.

Just to be sure, my questions about the Nike-Smoke are no joke - I'm embarassed to say this, but I really do not know anything about it.

(ROTW has been out of print for a long time now, and I cannot scare up a copy of it to buy anywhere. Apparently, every known copy of it is in the possession of a cult of elite scale modelers, who have their copies locked away in secret, off-shore locations, and who have together sworn an oath to never reveal any of the book's contents to the uninitiated, under penalty of death. )

Mark

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SAM # 0011

Thanks!

-Mark

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SAM # 0011