FlisKits Nell

FlisKits - Nell {Kit} (SC003)

Contributed by John R, Brandon III

Construction Rating: starstarstarstarstar_border
Overall Rating: starstarstarstarstar_border
Published: 2011-08-11
Diameter: 2.22 inches
Length: 50.49 inches
Manufacturer: FlisKits
Skill Level: 3
Style: Scale

Brief

A truly-historical model of the most significant rocket ever flown in the United States--Robert Goddard's first liquid-fuel rocket, Nell.

 

Components

The kit includes five different sizes of body tube (BT-70, BT-60, BT-55, BT-20, and BT-2), a balsa nosecone, a number of centering rings, a sheet of cardstock printed with a long nozzle and a cone, a bundle of dowels, a parachute kit, a screw eye, a motor-retainer hook, a Kevlar line and piece of elastic, two laser-cut plywood pieces, a small piece of balsa, and a section of wire. There is an instruction booklet and a page of marking guides and templates as well.

Construction

I have been a model rocketeer since 1970. I have built probably three hundred rockets, both from kits and from scratch....and this beast very nearly beat me!! But I will give Jim Flis a standing round of applause now that Nell is done, because the results are ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS!!

Nell builds like no other model rocket ever designed...but that's because her PROTOTYPE was unusual. The original Nell had its motor in the nose; the skyrocket-like assembly below was the fuel and odidizer tankage, and the rest of its structure was tubing. FlisKits' Nell, likewise, carries its motor in the nose, along with the recovery system. The fuel tankage system is a dummy, since THIS Nell uses black powder as its propellant rather than gasoline and LOX, and is made from a nest of three sizes of tubing.

Where Nell almost beat me was the "pipes". These are made from BT-2, cored with hardwood dowels. The "pipes" are assembled, then they are supposed to be attached to the motor pod and the fuel tankage in four places. One pipe is one piece and runs all the way through the paper cone top of the fuel tank; each side pipe glues to this crossmember and into a hole in the BT-70 uppermost tubing section of the tank. The other end has a similar look, but since the BT-20 motor mount tube is where it needs to attach the upper crosspiece is in two pieces. The pipes MUST be flawlessly straight and connect solidly or the rocket will be misaligned! The pipes are 'bent' by an ingenious means described in the instructions.

When you build Nell yourself, DON'T put the entire pipe assemblies together as the instructions say! (Trust me, I'm going to tell Jim too.. .)

Instead, build the lower pipes first, then the upper pipes, THEN attach them to their respective airframe sections...THEN connect the two pipe sections together! AS it was, I had to replace the entire long section of pipe on each side with a carbon-fiber arrow shaft. 

There AREN'T any fins on Nell...yet she's more stable than the prototype was.

PROS: Not a lot of tubes, good solid centering rings, high-quality parts overall, Kevlar in the recovery harness.

CONS: THINK AHEAD!! This one is DIFFERENT!!

Finishing

There was only the nose cone that needed sanding and sealing. There was nearly no other exposed wood on the model. I painted her based on the paint guide provided, using Krylon spray matte aluminum for one of the two shades of silver and applying aluminum foil for the other shade...and using gray primer to represent the asbestos-insulated parts (the fuel-tank cone and the pipes). The original Nell had no markings so no decals are included.

PROS: Easily painted and masked...hard to mess up with overspray with THREE FEET of room!

CONS: None to speak of...

Construction Score: 4

Flight

You have two choices for launching Nell; they are not mutually exclusive. She comes with optional three-sixteenths launch lugs; if you fly from a rod it must be four feet long. Since the only four foot launch rod I have is a quarter-inch midpower rod I installed quarter-inch lugs by gluing and lashing them to the pipes at top and bottom. You can also download plans for a semi-scale launcher rack like Goddard used to launch the original; I intend to build it next.

Nell's recommended motors are B4-2, B6-2, and C6-3. She needs five or six squares of TP wadding.

My whole state is under severe drought conditions as I write this, so I haven't been able to fly Nell. When I do, I will let you know!!

Recovery

As I reported above, flying is not a choice now. Nell has a fairly-conventional recovery harness and parachute and is pretty light so should recover well on her provided 12" chute.

Flight Rating:

Summary

It was an unorthodox build and the longest time I've ever spent building ANY model rocket...but it was WELL WORTH IT! No other rocket is as significant historically as Nell...she was the first-ever liquid-fuel rocket.

PROS: History on your display rack; flies better than the original, which never happens with scale model rockets!

CONS: Unconventional construction means build may be frustrating.

Overall Rating: 4

Comments:

avatar
John Eric Thompson (July 12, 2017)

Thank you for providing your feedback on the kit.  I just purchased the model myself and am looking forward to the build.  I am glad I read your critique and advise.  I will definitely build the lower pipes first, then the upper pipes.

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