- Joined
- 3 May 2004
- Posts
- 17,718
- Location
- Kapitalist Republik of Surrey
Well the deliberately misleading title got you in here; I will now break the news that it's not a real rocket plane, but a model 
Background: So the history of this stems back to university days. I'd built a prototype jet engine in my final year and part of my end-of-year display included all sorts of jet and rocket bits including my jet scooter and one of those little finger-sized scooters fitted with a Jetex rocket. After university I still had the rocket engine and spotted a flying model kit of a WW2 Messerschmitt Me 163 rocket plane that could be fitted with a Jetex. Perfect. So I built it in about 2003, it sat in bare tissue for a couple of years and as I started to rebuild my Ford Anglia I decided to build the rocket plane in matching livery of bright red plastered with 69's. I sprayed it red but never completely finished it. This is where it was at up until a few nights ago, minus the dust:
As with a lot of these balsa frame and tissue kits, they are quite close to the original aeroplane and all of them claim to be able to fly. Coupled with the fact that the original plane was not stable and that these kits are quite fragile if they hit anything, I ended up breaking it when I went out for a test flight and it sustained some damage on the wing. I repaired the strut and patched in some fresh tissue:
My original plan for the 69's was to print them out on photo paper and Spraymount them on. I'd been debating for ages how best to cut them out, but I used a compass cutter in the end, with a wad of card under the point so as not to puncture the 69:
This gave me my 69's, which I printed out on gloss decal paper:
The plan was one on each wing and one on each side of the tail fin:
So far I've glued the nose on and stuck down the decals:
Next up is to do something with the cockpit. I'd thought about a Lego man in there, but I think it'll work better with a printed cockpit glued in. The front end also doesn't quite look right at the moment, so once the cockpit is sorted I'll have a look at maybe some white stripes around the nose cone to break the lines up.
Sadly, the Jetex rocket is long lost, so to make this fly I'll have to weight it with something. I'm not sure if I'll buy another Jetex because they never really worked properly. You were never quite sure if it was going to light, badly burn your arm/face or explode in your hand
Background: So the history of this stems back to university days. I'd built a prototype jet engine in my final year and part of my end-of-year display included all sorts of jet and rocket bits including my jet scooter and one of those little finger-sized scooters fitted with a Jetex rocket. After university I still had the rocket engine and spotted a flying model kit of a WW2 Messerschmitt Me 163 rocket plane that could be fitted with a Jetex. Perfect. So I built it in about 2003, it sat in bare tissue for a couple of years and as I started to rebuild my Ford Anglia I decided to build the rocket plane in matching livery of bright red plastered with 69's. I sprayed it red but never completely finished it. This is where it was at up until a few nights ago, minus the dust:
As with a lot of these balsa frame and tissue kits, they are quite close to the original aeroplane and all of them claim to be able to fly. Coupled with the fact that the original plane was not stable and that these kits are quite fragile if they hit anything, I ended up breaking it when I went out for a test flight and it sustained some damage on the wing. I repaired the strut and patched in some fresh tissue:
My original plan for the 69's was to print them out on photo paper and Spraymount them on. I'd been debating for ages how best to cut them out, but I used a compass cutter in the end, with a wad of card under the point so as not to puncture the 69:
This gave me my 69's, which I printed out on gloss decal paper:
The plan was one on each wing and one on each side of the tail fin:
So far I've glued the nose on and stuck down the decals:
Next up is to do something with the cockpit. I'd thought about a Lego man in there, but I think it'll work better with a printed cockpit glued in. The front end also doesn't quite look right at the moment, so once the cockpit is sorted I'll have a look at maybe some white stripes around the nose cone to break the lines up.
Sadly, the Jetex rocket is long lost, so to make this fly I'll have to weight it with something. I'm not sure if I'll buy another Jetex because they never really worked properly. You were never quite sure if it was going to light, badly burn your arm/face or explode in your hand
.