GUEST's OPINION:
11/07 - "I recently picked up a built version of this rocket from a past rocketeer and found that he wrote an article on the build up and flight of the his Bomarc. If you want some good information on what you might do with this vintage kit the article is in the March/April '99 release of Sport Rocketry." (W.B.)

GUEST's OPINION:
01/02 - "I bought this thing as my first large rocket to build and it was a mighty challenge, especially being fairly new to rockets. I encountered all the problems mentioned by others but I was determined that this thing will look great and fly. If it came out ok I'd be happy to just display it and not fly if flying wasn't possible. Well it came out BEAUTIFUL. It was a pain to build but I've had an experienced L3 Tripoli prefect say that if it was his he wouldn't risk a flight. In his words...it's jut too gorgeous. To ensure a fantastic finish required lot's of work and minimal complaining. It needed lots of epoxy (don't skimp on fillets) and I mean lot's, a bit of filler but not to much, a great deal of paint and spray putty to get it to a perfect finish. Cutting out the plastic was a pain and the ramjets were quite tedious but not insurmountable. Mine has absolutely no gaps or join lines anywhere with a mirror finish paint job. All this of course added to the weight and the thing now weighs about 55oz without case and motor. The cp/cg relation was marginally stable at the start but it could have been due to construction techniques so I needed to add more weight to the nose and it's now ok for H128w reload. Specs say 33oz. See what I mean by maybe not able to fly. I wasn't keen on the way the gorilla/shock cord mounted and may alter that. I replaced the underwear elastic with much wider underwear elastic and about 4 mtrs long to minimize the shock at apogee. I only intend to fly it once (it really does look a picture) otherwise I'd replace the elastic with something more suitable. I'd already mounted the ramjets and am concerned about reports of them blowing off at ejection. Mine have large fillets of epoxy on the inside of the body tub where the balsa protrudes but I will be retrofitting a reinforcement to it to make it stronger. I'll be adding an inner body tube about 30cm long with cutouts for the ramjets supports to protrude thru. this will be thoroughly epoxied in place and the balsa protrusions also generously covered. Because of the extra weight this thing will have it's first launch in march 2002 at Victoria, Australia. It will have to be my level 1 cert on an H128w and if it comes of it should look cool. Because of this extra weight it needs larger chutes/chute. I don't care about drift where this will be launched (I'll be happy to do the long walk as long as it's a successful flight) but I do care about a soft landing. I was going to use three 36in chutes but tangling concerns may require a single 72in chute (that's right... if u saw the finish of it you'd understand the soft landing requirement). If anyone can let me know how successful three chutes are at opening properly I'd love an email. It really would look the part, especially if three hemispherical chutes were used. And if anyone has launched this on a high power engine I'd love to hear from u. My email is at the bottom. In summary it was more tedious than difficult to build and I think the kit is a bit under engineered. It took lot's of finishing materials to get it looking great and don't ask me about the sanding and man there was lot's of that. Be patient with this kit cause if your after a great looking display rocket it's got be up with the best of them. If you want it to fly make sure you glue it together nicely and generously and deal with the weight situation as required. You should have a crowd pleaser on your hands If anyone has a spare complete, not started, Bomarc for sale please contact me. Rudiix@hotmail.com" (R.C.)

GUEST's OPINION:
10/00 - "Pain in the butt is being kind. I got this kit in a lot as part of a trade; considered auctioning it off. Wish I had. The vacu-forming work is wretched, and all the reviewers' comments about the retention of the nacelles are perfectly right. I formed a small piece of aluminum to the curve of the nacelles, drilled a hole through both, and epoxied a small "hard patch" onto each wing. They were then retained with a piece of ply coming off each hard patch and a screw going through the aluminum reinforcements on each nacelle. Had to do the standard replacement of MMT/ sanding of CR's that is all too familiar to those of us who have built NCR since "the Acquisition". In short, this bird stinks. It is loaded with gaps that there is no reasonable way to get rid of, and after covering them I think it's ugly. Flew okay on an F40-4W, but it is only marginally stable even with a lot of extra nose weight. (In all fairness, this may be due to the mods made on my bird.) Descends pretty fast on the supplied 'chute, too. Breakage on landing is a possible concern due to the flimsy materials, shoddy design, and tiny chute. Mine didn't break because it landed in a swamp filled with long, soft grass. Don't know if I'll dare to fly it again!! IF you must spend the money on NCR, get a Big Brute, Eliminator, or Lance Beta. Avoid this rocket, you'll just end up angry. Living proof that turkeys CAN fly, at least somewhat!!" (D.S.)

GUEST's OPINION:
07/99 - "Pain in the butt seems to be the credo for this kit. I've built many vacuform kits (static) and this was the pits. The plastic wing skins are terrible. I used a ton of filler for the gaps and still wasn't satisfied with the final results. This and the ramjet mountings need real attention. Given that this is the only LARGE example of the BOMARC (too bad) NCR could have done better." (T.S.)

GUEST's OPINION:
"'Pain in the butt' is the perfect phrase to describe this kit! The vacuform plastic is a fine idea, (cutting it is enough to make you grind your molars smooth) but there is no mention in the instructions about trimming certain overlapping areas to fit the balsa frames. Huge gaps appear where the conduit lines and wing and stabilizer assemblies meet. The instructions say "fill seams with putty". I've used a lot of it. My Bomarc is not complete, and I thank you for the warning about the nacelles making a quick exit at ejection. I'll be laying out the epoxy triple thick. Regardless, it's been a challenge, and I plan to win the battle. It may not have the most perfect skin and finish when I'm done, but she's sure to fly." (J.R.)

GUEST's OPINION:
"This thing was a pain in the butt to build. The biggest problem was the construction of the nacelles, wing, stabilizer and rudder assemblies using the balsa framing and vacuform plastic pieces. Why didn't they just make these complete at the factory using strong but light-weight material?  Cutting the vacuform plastic was madness. The model looked beautiful when put together, however, there is a MAJOR design flaw. The nacelles blew out at ejection during its very first flight. The ensuing in-flight explosion also took out a goodly portion of the main body tube (about 12"). I replaced the section with a LOC 3" body tube section and glued the nacelles back into place--this time doubled epoxying both the inside and outside of the nacelle supports into the 12" replacement tubing. I think NCR needs to do some redesigning of this model, because I saw the exact same thing happen to Estes' representative's, Matt Steele, BOMARC at the National Sport Launch in Muncie, Indiana in May. They need to offer suggestions on how to strengthen the nacelle support structures during construction. Otherwise, this is great and impressive model to fly. Crowds love it!" (D.S.)

SPECIFIC ROCKET TIP:
08/08 - "My kit included two sticks of clay. In order to get the Bomarc to the minimum CG recommended for a G77 IN THE INSTRUCTIONS, I had to add two more sticks of clay and some lead fishing weights/epoxy. To fly it with an H128, I had to add another stick of clay to the nose; so, to make this rocket stable, it has to be overweight. Mine has 29mm motor mounts in the ramjets (for G53 blackjacks), and I plan to fly it at a Tripoli event on an away pad, which is the only sane place to pad this thing. Or maybe at a bowling ball lofting event. MOVIE" (J.L. )