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!

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

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.

NEW F-18 Hornet Kit

Coming to a vendor near you - 

After a year of tweaks and test flights,

The third in the Odd'l Rockets Fighter Fleet series is the new

F-18 HORNET!

The kit features a very different fin and engine placement, 3D printed missiles, 

water slide decals and a vacu-form canopy.

Overpriced? OOP? Odd'l Kits on EBAY

 It was bound to happen sooner or later - 

Over priced Odd'l kits on EBAY!

 

$49.95? Sheesh!

This kit is not out of production. I sent a message to let him know.

Another overpriced kit. 

These two Odd'l Fighter Jets are popular, but not worth that much!

Please purchase (for much less) from a real vendor.

Rob C's Odd'l Sputnik

From the Model Rocketry Fanatics Facebook page:

July 17, from Rob C.:

"My Odd'l Rockets Sputnik debuted today, as well.

It's been a reliable little flier so far - 

It sure was the king of "low stress builds."

" . . . AND I found it can double as a hat! 

I should add to the kit promo that the Sputnik now "Doubles as a hat!"

New Odd'l Kit Design?

Last Sunday was a "free" day for me, vendor orders were filled and I had some down time. Most of the day was spent drawing, cutting balsa and body tubes.

I've been looking for a interesting new Fighter Fleet kit design and may have found it.

This is the F-18 Hornet, the same jet the Blue Angels use.

I use original scale drawings to draft the wings and fins. Design adjustments are made with the goal to capture the spirit of the original jet and still be stable. The wings are a bit smaller and set back. 

I'm always surprised how many changes are made from the initial drawings to finished flying model.

 

This F-18 is very different from the two other Odd'l Fighter Fleet kits, the F-104 and the F-16.

You'll rarely see me fly a "naked" rocket, this is a test model for the many test launches using different 18mm engines.

Colin's F-16 Launch

An email and picture from Colin Kaul - 
"Here is my Odd'l F16 on its first launch. It is kit number 165. I can't wait to get an F104 Starfighter!"

Thanks Colin!
Your picture caught the launch right after ignition!

Odd'l Cyclone from Bob Portnell

Hi, Mr. M!

Just wanted to report that Cyclone #251 has completed assembly and been turned over to my younger daughter (18-1/2 years old) for marker decoration action.

Thanks Bob!

Markers keep it light for a longer spinning flight duration.

That Cyclone is a strange looking bird - 

But there's a good reason why. 

Wait until you see the maple seed recovery!

BT-20H (Heavy Wall) Tubing Now In Odd'l Rockets Kits!

The new Heavy Walled BT-20H tubes are being added to the Odd'l Rockets Kit lineup!
You'll see these tubes added to the 18mm engine mounts of kits being produced from this day forward.

There are still some recently produced kits with the standard thinner wall tubing out there. Keep an eye out, you'll notice the difference when you come across one of the new tubes!

The Heavy Walled 20 sized tubes are as thick as an Estes BT-55 or BT-60 tube. Stronger engine mounts for all general use including the new 18mm Quest composite C and D engines.

The normal Estes style BT-20 tube is on the left, the BT-20H (Heavy wall) tube is on the right. 

Frank Baeyens New Rockets -

Frank Baeyens posted on the Facebook Model Rocket Fanatics page - 
"New members of the fleet. Next week (weather permitting) they get baptized."

NEW! Heavy Duty Engine Mounts

HDEM - Heavy Duty Engine Mounts

are now available from Odd'l Rocket vendors!

Now at JonRocket.com - at more vendors soon!

Features:

Extended Length Spring Steel Engine Hook

        3" long engine hook allows engine block to be positioned under the top bend

        of the hook. No more worn or loose engine hooks!

Replaceable Kevlar Line Design

        Kevlar tie is looped under lower centering ring.

        Small guide tube along the side of the mount allows you to check the 

        condition of the Kevlar and replace if needed.

Heavy Wall BT-20H Engine Tube

        Stronger BT-20 tube for long life

        Works great with the new, more powerful 18mm Quest Composite engines

        and general model rocket use. 

Now at JonRocket.com - at more vendors soon!

Coming Soon to NARAM - BODY TUBES!

An Odd'l Rockets product teaser -
There is more to it than just another body tube!

Ceramic Blast Deflector History

An interesting Blast! Deflector back story from YORF:

The MPC starter kit pictured earlier featured a unique parabolic blast deflector.  The design made its first appearance as an R&D entry at NARAM 11 submitted by Sven Englund of New Canaan, CT.  

This was the very same Sven Englund who was the winner of the Estes "Launch Pad Sweepstakes" which had a trip to see the Apollo 11 launch with Vern Estes as its grand prize.  Methinks that ol' Sven might have been the object of envy by a few thousand rocketeers over that win!

Only a few months later the April 7, 1970 issue of Model Rocketry magazine would report that MPC had purchased the rights to his deflector design from Sven for the princely sum of $75 dollars.  Here's the story from Ninfinger.org:  Model Rocketry Magazine April, 1970 (http://www.ninfinger.org/rockets/ModelRocketry/Model_Rocketry_v02n07_04-70.pdf) 

The design is still available today from various model rocketry dealers. (an Odd'l Rockets product!)

***************

Odd'l Break-Away from Australia!

On TRF, Snrkl posted he was building a BT-60 upscale of the Odd'l Rockets Break-Away. He had some questions and a few emails were exchanged.

Snrkl had two successful flights on August 20 using D12 engines.

To see the TRF posts and story - CLICK HERE
A flight video is on YouTube - CLICK HERE

F-104 Starfighter Kit Progress -

Here's a peek at the instructions for the upcoming new kit from Odd'l Rockets -
The F-104 STARFIGHTER

This model is based on one of the out-of-production Centuri Fighter Fleet jets. The intakes and fuel tanks will be closer in shape to the real thing.

When will it be available? Hopefully in the next few months. Kit production and test flights take time, especially drawing up the instructions.

Better Bomb Tank Shape on the F-16 Kit

The bomb or tank wing details on the Odd'l Rockets F-16 kit were a compromise. Being a small vendor I certainly couldn't afford to have molds made for short run kits. Carved dowels were used for the larger tanks under the wings. They look good, but the shape could be better.

Using a pencil sharpener, knock off the rear end. You don't have to make a real sharp point, just remove some of the excess dowel.

On the left, the edge to be removed was marked with a pencil.

Make small chip cuts smoothing out the curve.

Wrap some 220 grit around the dowel and turn it against the sandpaper like a slow moving lathe.

After that, sand up and down as shown in the inset picture.

Here's the new shaped tank next to the F-16 tank. Both look fine but the new shape is better and more streamlined.

F-16 Kit Now Available!

Well it's about time! This one took a while . . .
Too many prototypes, too many trashed canopies, design revisions and many test flights.
Jon Rocket will have them today (Saturday), Apogee will have kits in a few days.
Thanks for your patience, I think this one is worth the wait!

Odd'l F-16 Kit Update

I recently bought a small vacuum forming machine for the F-16 clear canopies.
Getting the best thickness of plastic, finding the correct temperature and the right moment to turn on the vacuum takes some time - and trashed canopies!
Here's twenty I made yesterday afternoon. On the lower right is a cut and ready finished canopy.


The F-16 kit will have water slide decals!
I ordered 100 sheets from decalpaper.com. My only gripe was the way they have shipped previous orders, in a plain envelope. The decal paper was folded to fit in my mailbox.
In the comments section of the online order form I asked for the paper to be shipped in a flat box. This is what I received!

Upscale Squatty Body

Roy Houchin Jr. sent a picture of his upscale Odd'l
SQUATTY BODY.

Thanks Roy - looks great at any size!