Brief:
The Art Applewhite Cone rocket is a single stage, cone stabilized rocket.

Construction:
Art's rockets are amazing. They are comprised of a small number of lightweight parts. This kit comes with a 1/4" foamcore board with printed patterns, a piece of gold mirror cardstock with patterns printed on the back, a piece of plain cardstock with parts printed on it, two nice white motor mount tubes (24 and 29mm), and a couple of feet of gold (!!) elastic shock cord. That's it! All the components are of very good quality.

Although Art's rockets may be tricky for you to build if you are unfamiliar with paper construction techniques, his instructions are clear and to the point. He will "walk" you through the process, and even if it is difficult for you, his instructions will get you there.

Construction of the cone rocket is unlike anything I've ever seen. The rocket is of a skeleton/shroud construction not unlike builtup R/C planes. Centering rings are cut out of the foam core with an X-Acto knife, then the edge is tapered with it. The shrouds are cut from the card stock and fit over the centering rings- these support the shroud and help maintain the shape.

There are two shrouds, an inside structural shroud and an external finish shroud. The internal one can be tricky to do- it has to be rolled precisely to the correct form. I had a little too much glue on mine, and it started to "grab" before it was in the proper position!! Fortunately, there was time to slip it into alignment before it set. The manufacturer has been informed of this, and will include a note in future instructions.

Next, you cut out the external shroud from the gold card stock, roll it to form, and glue a tab over the seam to form the shape. Additional gold reinforcing strips are added along the bottom 1/2" of the inside diameter. This is then glued over the structural shroud.

This rocket builds quickly, and despite my lack of experience and cautious pace, it was assembled and ready to fly in 2 hours!

Finishing:
Absolutely no finishing of any kind is required, and this rocket looks STUNNING. If you have other than the mirrored finish, you may want to spray the outside in clear enamel to preserve the preprinted graphics.

Easy and looks great- outstanding!

Construction Rating: 4 out of 5

Flight:
Prep is super easy. The completed rocket has a base plate with the motor tube built in, that "nests" into the forward shroud and tube. They are connected by the shock cord. Just tape in your motor, feed the shock cord into the shroud, and nest the tubes back together. (Be sure to align launch rod holes in the shroud with the one in the base plate) You are now ready to add ignitor and launch!!

Although this rocket requires no wadding, I put a generous ball of Quest wadding into the forward shroud (not motor mount) tube.

Since this rocket is built without a thrust ring, you can theoretically use a large variety of motors. Just extend them out the top of the motor mount tube and into the shroud tube. It is recommended that they protrude no more than 1/2" from the bottom, though. For the first flight, an Estes C11-3 was used.

The rocket was stood off from the blast plate 6" as directed in the instructions. Lift-off was fairly slow. Boost was straight, but not as leisurely as Art's saucers. This rocket gains some speed! The wide, flat base results in a HUGE smoke trail. It nosed over at apogee and fell for about a second before the ejection charge went off. Altitude looked to be about 250-300'.

The Cone is a GREAT candidate for demo flights on small fields. One of the most interesting low altitude flights I've ever seen.

Recovery:
The cone rocket separates into 2 pieces at ejection. The shock cord is retained by the centering ring at the top, and by an Estes-style tri-fold mount onto the bottom centering ring. The motor mount has a rolled paper gasket on the top which seals it into the 29mm tube. When the ejection charge goes off, it pressurizes the 29mm tube and separates the rocket with a loud POP! The lightweight pieces then tumble down, held together by the shock cord.

The tip of the nose stuck into the turf with a THUNK, but there was no sign of damage other than some soot stains on the base and inside.

Flight Rating: 5 out of 5

Summary:
If you are willing to take your time and learn the required techniques, the cone rocket is a rewarding build. You will want to be cautious during forming of the shrouds and tapering the centering rings.

Even with all due caution, it builds fast. You get a simple but VERY UNIQUE looking rocket that flies unlike any other you'll ever see. It's a wonderful addition to Art Applewhite's line.

Get one of these!!

Overall Rating: 4 ½ out of 5

Brief:
I have really been digging Art's saucers and now Art is branching out to other designs. As the name indicates, this rocket is a simple cone that flies on 24mm motors. This seems to be the next logical step after the Delta saucer design, which is sort of a hybrid between a classical saucer and a cone.

Construction:
Materials:

• Two sheets of cardstock for the shrouds
• One piece of foamboard for the nosecone base and bottom plate
• One 2.75in 24mm motor mount
• One 3in 29mm motor tube (this was a beta-test version, the 29mm tube has been replaced with Totally Tubular T-24+, which telescopes over the 24mm motor mount)
• A 36in thin tubular elastic shock cord

• Scissors
• X-Acto knife
• White glue (I used carpenters glue)
• 5-minute epoxy (brand is not important as on the 29mm and 38mm saucers)
• 150 grit sandpaper

The materials and assembly techniques are all similar to Art's saucers. The instructions are detailed with lots of photos.

You start by cutting out the cardstock nosecone shroud. This is double layered and you have to cut two launch rod holes with an X-Acto knife. The main issue here is you have to make sure these holes are aligned. During assembly, I slipped the end of a disposable chopstick through the holes until the glue began to set. The base of the nosecone is a foamboard disc. As with the Delta saucers, the edge is beveled so it mates nicely with the paper cone. The center of the disc is removed to accommodate the upper body tube along with a launch rod slot. The cone, disc, tube, and one end of the shock cord are then dry fit. To strengthen the cone and add some nose weight, you next fill the tip of the cone with 5-minute epoxy and mix it in-situ. Some is spread thinly over the inside of the cone and on the beveled edge of the foam disc. These components are all slipped together and set aside to dry. (Did I mention the launch rod holes must be aligned?)

The bottom disc is cut, beveled, and slotted just like the bottom of the nose cone. The center hole on this component holds the 24mm motor mount, which you glue in with white or carpenter's glue. I used the plastic bag that held the kit as a work surface, to make sure the tube was flush with the bottom disc and keep stray glue off the wife's table.

The shell of my saucer was on a second sheet of cardstock that in my case was mirror gold. A small seam strip is glued onto one end of the shroud. Make sure you measure its position properly and have the pointed edge inward. The shroud is then wrapped onto the other half of the seam strip. I found this step a bit difficult, but I am all thumbs. The epoxy-reinforced nosecone was a great help in forming this outer shroud. There are two reinforcing strips on the same sheet of colored cardstock and these are glued to the bottom inside of the shell.

At this point the nosecone is glued into the shell. And as before, make sure the launch rod slots all line up. I'd give this a yadda, yadda, yadda, but, this potentially the biggest D'OH in the assembly of the kit. BTW this warning strategically located in bold throughout the instructions.

The final step is attaching the other end of the shock cord to the bottom assembly with a 3-fold paper mount. The shock cord is slipped between the two sections, and the bottom is slipped into the nose cone section, which is now basically the entire shroud.

Finishing:
No finishing is required on the mirror gold saucers, but the printed ones should have at least 2 - 3 coats of clear enamel to protect them from moisture. Since we are in an outdoor hobby, there is a good chance it will drizzle on your saucer. Been there done that.

Some observations on the mirror gold cardstock: First, it really does look great. It is also forgiving with glue smudges, as you can wash it off with a moist paper towel. This is good because I got a lot of glue around the seam. However, I found it harder to form into a cone than plain cardstock, probably because of its stiffness.

Construction Rating: 4 ½ out of 5

Flight:
The recommended motors include the C11-3, D12-3, E9-4, and any Aerotech 24mm SU or RMS. The motor is held in with masking tape and the rest of the prep is sliding it together with the shock cord out of the way of the launch rod holes. No wadding is needed.

I flew my cone rocket on a D12-5 and then on an E9-4. The D12 flight was quick and straight in light gusty winds. Ejection was very late, but this wasn't an issue. The E9 flight was long, high, and smoky, with some weathercocking. This is a great motor for this small cone.

Recovery:
After ejection, the saucer falls nose section first with the motor tube end following behind. This plate dangling behind the cone does a good job making up for the somewhat heavy epoxy-filled tip. There was no damage on either flight, with the nose sticking in the soft, moist dirt. I didn't have the recommended stand-off distance (6in) from the pad, so my foamboard had a few small holes burned into it. I merely filled them with blobs of white glue. More importantly though, the thin elastic cord has started to break through and will have to be replaced. The ejection charges on the SU motors were quite energetic for the short tube and in both cases, the motors were spit out. If this is a concern on your field, make sure you use plenty of tape to hold it in very tightly (this may also save your RMS casing).

Flight Rating: 4 out of 5

Summary:
This is another winner for Art. The cone is an easy build, flies great and is a lot of fun! I love that mirror gold paper too. The one negative I found is the thin elastic shock cord. I will most likely replace it with a piece of Pratt Hobbies' new Kevlar® micro braid.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5

(Contributed - by Bob Cox)

Diameter: 5.5 inches (14cm)

Height: 4.75 inches (12 cm)

Weight: 1.3 oz (35 gm)

Finish: I built the Mirror Gold version. Other patterns available include Stars and Stripes, Texas Special, Silver, Fluorescent Orange, Fluorescent Yellow, Fluorescent Green, Hot Pink, and plain White.

CONSTRUCTION:

Parts: All parts are packaged in a heat-sealed clear plastic bag with no shipping damage. Package contained:

1) Cardstock with design on one side and pattern printed on other. Contains the main body cone and two reinforcing strips.

2) Plain white cardstock printed with nose cone, shock cord anchor, and top seam

3) White foam core board printed for nose cone base and bottom.

The printing on the cardstock and foam board was crisp and easy to read, and the parts were clearly labeled.

4) 25mm nosecone tube

5) 24mm motor mount tube. This tube is shipped inside the 25mm. Be sure to take it out before starting construction so that they don’t accidentally get glued together.

6) 36” elastic shock cord. I don’t know if all the kits come this way, but mine had metallic gold shock cord to match the body.

Tools and Supplies Needed:

Scissors, #11 Exacto knife with a fresh blade, Elmer’s Glue-All, 5-minute epoxy, 150 grit sandpaper.

The instructions call for the entire nose to be filled with epoxy for proper weighting, so make sure you have enough before starting. About 1 ounce will be required.

Instructions: Four 8½ x 11 inch pages, laser-printed. 32 steps, 16 clear black-and-white photographs.

Art recommends reading the entire directions before beginning. Good idea. If you follow the directions exactly as written, you should have no problem assembling this kit. However, if you haven’t read the entire directions before-hand, it would be easy to jump ahead and glue the wrong parts together.

Unlike Estes kits, there is no exploded assembly drawing that shows an overview of how the pieces go together. Such an overview is rarely needed on a standard rocket with fins-body tube-nose cone, but would be welcome on a non-standard design like this.

Assembly: The first major step is assembling the nose cone from the white card stock. Unlike normal rockets, here the nose cone is inside the rocket, and provides support for the outer cone body. Next, the nose cone base is cut from the foam core board using a sharp blade. Let me repeat that… a sharp blade. The foam must be beveled cleanly and a sharp blade is very important.

The next step is to fill the nose with 5-minute epoxy and glue several parts together quickly before the epoxy sets. To make things more interesting, that big lump of epoxy in the nose gets very hot, so handling must be done with care. Here’s where I ran into a little trouble. In my scramble to get all the parts smeared with epoxy and seated together, I didn’t get the tip of the tube buried deeply in the epoxy blob and butted firmly into the cone. By the time I realized my mistake, the epoxy was nearly hardened, so I couldn’t move the tube and I couldn’t disassemble anything without shredding the cardboard.

Not seating the upper cone properly led me to two problems. First, the tube ended up tilted into the path of the launch rod, forcing me to re-cut the slot for the launch rod. Second, the top of the tube was not sealed. When the ejection charge fires, all the gas would vent out the launch rod hole and fail to separate the two halves of the saucer. To fix my mess, I inserted a small ring into the front of the tube, slobbered plenty of epoxy around it, and hoped for the best.

The last step in preparing the body is cutting and wrapping the colored cardboard skin into a cone and attaching it to the inner cone assembly. Take your time for good results.

The final step on the main body is to add two reinforcing rings to the bottom inside edge. These help to protect the edge of the cone, as well as looking pretty snazzy.

Construction of the bottom involved cutting another beveled foam-board disk and gluing it to the motor mount tube. Easy, as long as you have a fresh sharp blade (mine was already too dull from cutting the first foam circle, so I needed to replace it).

When the motor mount tube was inserted into the upper body tube, I found my second gotcha. The engine tube was binding in the upper tube when fully seated because of my second slobber of epoxy. To fix this I cut about 1 inch off the front of the motor mount tube. This turned out to be a good idea and I recommend everybody do this since it make motor launch preparation easier.

The final step is attaching the shock cord to the lower section using an Estes-style 3-fold shock cord mount.

Finishing: Art recommends a coat or two of clear to protect the colored skin. With the mirror gold, it is better to leave it bare. There are no decals, but none are needed since the outer skin is already printed.

The mirror gold finish is very shiny, and gives a unique-looking rocket with a simple elegant appearance.

Construction Rating: 4 out of 5

FLIGHT:

Recommended Motors: C11-3, D12-3, E9-4, or any Aerotech 24mm single-use with a short delay, or RMS 24/40 reload.

Preparation: Preparation is fairly simple, but somewhat different from many conventional rockets. The motor mount tube has no thrust ring in the front, and cannot be easily modified to have one since the tube is shorter than the motor. Instead, three layers of ½” masking tape around the base of the motor provide the thrust surface. I understand this is pretty common in bigger rockets, but it was the first time I have ever used this technique.

There is no engine hook in this kit. Motor retention is supposed to be provided by friction fit, wrapping tape around the engine until it is snug. I’ve heard scary stories about the tape adhesive getting soft from the engine heat and being difficult to remove without damaging the mount. So instead I wrapped two layers of masking tape around the front of the engine that stuck out the top of the motor mount tube, like the tape thrust ring on the bottom. It is important not to make this tape too thick, as it may jam in the upper tube.

The other slightly tricky step in launch preparation involve packing the shock cord. While there is plenty of room in the compartment, the cord must be placed somewhat carefully so that is does not interfere with the launch rod that passes through the compartment.

The cone rocket needs no wadding, streamer, or parachutes. The recovery drag is provided by separating the upper cone body from the lower engine mount plate.

Even though the cone rocket is not supposed to need a parachute, I put one on for the maiden flight. There is no place to put wadding, which limited the choice. I had just received a free 5” Flame-Resistant Parachute from Mile High Rockets and was eager to give it a try.

Flight: For my first flight, I used an Estes D12-3. We flew late in the day with a calm wind and the sun low in the sky. Boost was straight and noisy to about 300 feet. Unlike many saucer flight photos I have seen, the cone rocket did not trap a lot of smoke in its base vortex. After engine burnout, it slowed down fairly quickly, then ejected a little over one second after apogee.

The Mile High parachute deployed flawlessly and brought the cone down gently, landing 16 seconds after ejection. With the amber color of the parachute and the occasional flash off the mirror gold cone, The masking tape retainers did their job well -- the engine had only moved about 1/8 of an inch in the motor mount. The rocket suffered no damage. A quick swipe with a paper towel to clean off the fingerprints and wipe out the ejection debris and she’s as good as new.

The (non-rocketeer) spectators loved this flight since they could see it all the way up and all the way down. I got a lot of good comments.

Flight Rating: 5 out of 5

Overall Rating: 4 ½ out of 5

Flies great, but could use a few tweaks in the construction. A unique-looking rocket that is a very good value for the money.

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Brief:
It's an unusual cone rocket. No fins, but the nose weight makes it stable. Pre-printed paper cone, so you don't need to paint it. Very simple to prep.

Construction:
You have to be ready and willing to roll cones out of light cardstock. There is also a short piece of nesting body tubes, and some foam board for the base and mid-section bulkhead.

If you're not used to rolling cones, this rocket is going to be frustration personified. On the other hand, rolling cones out of cardstock is a handy skill to have for model rockets. If you're not sure about cone rolling, photocopy the cone patterns onto light card stock and practice.

The double cone used for the nose cone is especially tricky. You have to put in on thin, or you'll get lumps when you roll it, but thin white glue grabs paper very quickly. You pretty much have to do it in one motion. Practice on some photocopied patterns until you're good at it. If I did it again, I might do it as two nested cones to make it easier.

After you do the double-thick nose cone, the rest is a snap.

Finishing:
What finishing? It's already printed. That's one of the cool things about it.

Construction Rating: 4 out of 5

Flight:
I only got to fly this once. It flew very straight up and reasonably high on a D12-3. The ejection was right at apogee. The rocket tumbles down very safely. Even though I taped the motor in very well, the motor still ejected.

Recovery:
If I were to build another one, I'd put a much longer shock cord on it, and I'd put in a stronger motor retention system. Either the motor mount rebounded and pierced the cone, or the ejected motor flew through the cone. Whatever the case, the cone was seriously damaged and the upper section of the motor mount was badly damaged.

I think with a half motor hook attached to the lower motor tube, and a longer shock cord would definitely improve this rocket.

Flight Rating: 3 ½ out of 5

Summary:
It's a fun rocket. It's unusual and flies very straight. This is the kind of rocket that is perfect for school demonstrations (as long as you figure out how to retain the motor). The variety of preprinted cones keeps it from being boring or repetitive. Do not tackle this rocket if you have an aversion to rolling paper cones, though.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5