National When Pigs Fly Day!

Featured on the Apogee Facebook page:

Celebrating 'When Pigs Fly' Day! Ever been told your idea is crazy, or that something will happen 'when pigs fly'? Today's your reminder that determination and a little bit of innovation can make even the most impossible-sounding dreams take flight. Just like the Pigasus rocket you'll find on our website. You can do this, we can help!

Odd'l F-16 Spotted

From the Estes Model Rockets Facebook page - 

"Built the SR-71 back in August, decided it needed an escort. The plan was one. Haha

Top left is Odd'l rockets F-16 with a few changes and extras. Loved this kit. Well thought out. Decals were ok, a bit thick.

Odd'l Adeptor Post from The Rocketry Forum

I recently purchased the Odd'l Rockets Adeptor in a batch of things I ordered from Apogee.

Unfortunately, I have bad legs and squatting or kneeling down on the ground requires assistance getting up most times.
I was concerned about how it would go for me with my old Estes basic launch stand...
When shopping around, I saw the Adeptor, and thought it could be a solution for me.

The Adeptor is one of the greatest gadgets I have purchased throughout my on-again-off-again affair with rocketry.
Take a look:

This may not be news to anyone here, but it appears it will be a life-saver for me!

That's an old tripod that I got way, way back in my college days that has been one of those things that I've always kept with me, thinking that it may prove useful one day.
Standing there with no legs extended lifts the launch platform well up into my bend-down zone. And the crank-it-up is still there to be used yet if needed.

You can see the remnants of the old Estes launch stand there, and how much better this "new" launch stand will be for me.

A big THANK YOU goes out to Odd'l Rockets !

Thanks for listening!
smp

Alex Palm's Blue Angel F-18 Hornet

Alex Palm posted pictures of his Odd'l Rockets F-18 on the Estes Model Rocket page on Facebook - 

"My latest build. The Odd'l Rockets F-18 Hornet. Blue Angels version."

Where did you get the Blue Angels decals?

• "I was able to order them from Ebay 1/72 scale. Just do a keyword search for Blue Angels decals. I also saw them in 1/48 scale too."

I searched on Ebay and may have found the decals Alex used:

CLICK HERE

Little Green Man's Cousin?

From the Facebook group - Estes Model Rockets - 

Tom Flint posted:

"Since the Odd’l Rockets Little Green Man is no longer available, I made my own using BT-80 size tube."

Note from Chris:

The Little Green Man is available again through your favorite vendors.

Odd'l Rockets F-104 Starfighter Recovery Suggestion

 

This is similar to a suggested recovery on the original Centuri Fighter Fleet Jets.

Alternative Recovery:

To have the jet recover horizontally and lessen the chance of fin or wing damage:

1. Glue the engine mount in so the engine hook is at the top, nearest the rudder.

2. Tie the nose cone onto the shock cord, leaving two inches of 

the elastic cord. Tie the parachute shroud lines to the end of the elastic.

3. Tie the excess shroud line (you will have some left over) to the engine hook and then to the shock cord at the balance point, where the model hangs horizontally.

The string should be long enough to lay outside and down the body tube during boost.

Busy, Busy, Busy at Odd'l Rockets

I've been busy printing decals, cutting tubes, printing instructions, bending springs and vacu-forming jet canopies.

The past two weeks has included production of:

14 Heavy Duty Engine Mounts (HDEMs)

12 Adeptors

6 Break-Away kits

9 Birdie kits

14 Sputnik kits

8 Cyclone kits

19 Single Raise Springs

7 Raise Spring 10 packs

10 F-16 kits

13 F-104 kits

36 F-18 kits

This may not seem like a lot compared to a big vendor, but it's just me!

It took over 10 years, but here I am with sometimes more work than I can handle.