Hans "Chris" Michielssen's Page

AKA: hcmbanjo
Location: Orlando, FL
Club Memberships: NAR
Favorite Rockets: Estes Goblin
Personal Home Page: www.oddlrockets.com
Club Home Page: www.R-O-C-K.org
RocketReviews.com Pages:
Rocket Gallery
Flight Log
Flight Statistics

2018-04-22

Some Complaints

Blog
I was on the Estes Facebook page and saw these reviews. I did have to laugh. I t seems s ome people complain just to complain or try to get something for free. Most posts were positive, these gripes were of the minority - "My kit had the worst instructions for anything I have ever seen in my life. The kit had multiple items I had to go to the hobby store to buy. I have never been so disappointed ... [More]

Estes Little Joe II (Small) Build, Part 10, Tower Assembly

Blog
You might be better off only cutting off the escape tower nozzles as you need them. Cut one off, glue in place. They are very small and easy to lose. TIP: Liquid plastic cement should be used for the capsule and tower assembly. This is the liquid cement in a bottle with a screw cap and attached brush. Because of regulations, new formula plastic tube cement will not glue and hold the plastic ... [More]

2018-04-21

Estes Little Joe II (Small) Build, Part 9, Capsule and Tower Prep

Blog
Some of the same prep and assembly shown here can be used if you are assembling the Estes Saturn V kit. On the Saturn V, don't cut off the umbilical, smooth the capsule or remove the escape rocket tunnels. The Little Joe II test vehicle had smooth capsule surfaces. Here's all the capsule and tower parts. Two tower sides were already broken off the plastic "tree". Luckily the four small escape ... [More]

2018-04-20

Estes Little Joe II (Small) Build, Part 8, Corrugation Try!

Blog
As I occasionally do, I was building two rockets. The partial kit from Ebay had just the printed upper wrap, corrugated wrap, decals and instructions. I had a single corrugated wrap and thought I'd make another one for the second build. I drew up the lower wrap, the one that will get the corrugations. I couldn't find corrugated sheets anywhere! But, I did find this embossing board at Hobby ... [More]

2018-04-19

Estes Little Joe II (Small) Build, Part 7, Fin Shaping

Blog
The fin template was on the back of the face card. I didn't want to cut it out so the side edge lines were extended beyond the pattern with a ruler. The balsa fin strip was set over the template and pencil lines drawn using the extended edge lines. I did my standard fin edge marking. CA glue was rubbed over the leading edge with a Q-tip. After it dried a quick swipe with a Sharpie followed. The ... [More]

2018-04-18

Estes Little Joe II (Small) Build, Part 6, Engine Mount

Blog
Here's the engine mount illustration from the instruction sheet. You are told to wiggle a knife blade in the upper ring slot to slip the shock cord through. The end of the shock cord is knotted and pulled up against the upper centering ring. I didn't take a picture of the finished engine mount, and I take pictures of everything! Here's and engine mount from a previous build showing a replaceable ... [More]

2018-04-17

Estes Little Joe II (Small) Build, Part 4, DIY Centering Rings

Blog
You can't simply order 5/58 centering rings from Balsa Machining Service. I'll have to cut these out from mat board, about .050" thick With a thin mechanical pencil, trace around a BT-5 and the BT-58 tube. Be sure the BT-5 is well centered inside the BT-588 circle. It might take a few tries to get it right. The mechanical pencil traces a line to the outside of the body tube diameter. Cut out the ... [More]

Estes Little Joe II (Small) Build, Part 5, DIY Centering Rings

Blog
If you have good, sharp scissors you can cut the outside of the rings with them. Here I cut right down the pencil line. I want a bit of a border so the rings can be sanded to fit the BT-58 tube. As usual, I made two extras and will pick the best of the four. All the rings were slipped over a BT-5. The outside edges were gang sanded. The central tube gives support and alignment while sanding. The ... [More]

2018-04-16

Estes Little Joe II (Small) Build, Part 3, Capsule and Tower Comparison

Blog
Kit history is sometimes confusing. The current Estes Mercury Redstone is really the old Centuri kit. The vacu-form wraps and fin fairings on the Estes Saturn V came from the Centuri Saturn V kit. I didn't know where the current 1/100th capsule and tower came from. This 1/100th Estes Little Joe II kit is the same size as the smaller Centuri Little Joe II. The older Centuri version used 18mm ... [More]

2018-04-15

LAUNCH! N.E.F.A.R. Monthly, April 14, 2018

Blog
From Greg Lukach on the Nefar Facebook page, Friday night: "Ok everyone - important announcement. The launch is still a go. HOWEVER - parking will be very limited. The field is still a bit soft. More importantly, it has been freshly planted and there can be NO parking or driving on the areas that have been planted." Parking was limited, the road was blocked off about halfway down its length. I ... [More]

2018-04-07

Estes Saros Clone

Flight
Rocket went unstable after leaving the launch rod. It went horizontal then turned end over end. It will require removing the upper body tube and adding nose weight for a future flight. - Estes A8-3 - Orlando R.O.C.K. [More]

Estes Star Speeder

Flight
Recovery with a reefed parachute. No damage. - Estes A8-3 - Orlando R.O.C.K. [More]

Estes Curvlinear

Flight
Good first flight of the day, especially with today's wind. Textbook launch, with a little angle into the wind. - Estes A8-3 - Orlando R.O.C.K. [More]

Alway Saturn IV

Flight
This is the same rocket that sat in a tree for a month. After it dried out it regained enough stiffness to be launched again. Altitude would have been higher but the wind and rod angles held things down. - Estes B6-4 - Orlando R.O.C.K. [More]

Quest X-15

Flight
Another textbook launch with a taped, reefed parachute recovery. No damage - Estes B6-4 - Orlando R.O.C.K. [More]

2018-03-24

Estes Curvlinear

Flight
The speed and altitude was not as good as the earlier Quest B6-4! - Estes B6-4 - NEFAR - Clegg Sod Farm [More]

Estes Curvlinear

Flight
Very fast off the launcher and better than normal altitude. Some were curious what engine was used. - Quest Chinese made B6-4 - NEFAR - Clegg Sod Farm [More]

Estes Skydart

Flight
At 100 feet up it went 45 degrees to the north east. After ejection it stabilized and gave me my best boost glide to date. I would guess it got to 250 feet, the fast wide circular glide lasted about 30 seconds. - Estes C6-3 - NEFAR - Clegg Sod Farm [More]

Estes Teros Upscale

Flight
I was lucky with the E9-4 launch, there were two other E9 CATOs today. That's probably why Estes is discontinuing the engine production. - Estes E9-4 - NEFAR - Clegg Sod Farm [More]

Quest Stiletto

Flight
At ejection the nose cone and body separated. Both ends landed close together. The 1/4" elastic shock cord was crunchy and broke at the Kevlar tie. The body fell flat with no damage. - Estes D12-5 - NEFAR - Clegg Sod Farm [More]

2015-04-19

Rockets By Style / Kit-Bash/Modified

Photograph

Hans "Chris" Michielssen's Orange (Q Cobalt Kitbash)

2014-11-09

Rockets By Style / Kit-Bash/Modified

Photograph

MX-774 Kitbash on an Estes A8-3. Bunnell Blast, November 8, 2014

2012-09-22

Saturn Press Saturn V - Step 17

Build Entry
The outside curved lines of the Engine Fairing Shrouds were cut from the cardstock with scissors. The interior Fin Slots were cut with a knife and straight-edge. [More]

Saturn Press Saturn V - Step 16

Build Entry
The A Frames and Fins were pressed together. The C Frames are pressed into the A Frames and Fins. Be careful handling the Fin paint while assembling. Silver or metallic paints are easy to dull with fingerprints. After all were assembled dry (no glue) I applied white glue to all the joints with ... [More]