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

2025-12-03

Estes USS Enterprise #1275, Part 24, Forming & Gluing The Rectangles

Blog
The rectangles are flat, the tube is round. On the left, notice the right and left sides don't contact the tube. On the right is a much better fit. Curve the rectangles by pressure forming them around a dowel or around the Sharpie barrel shown here. The picture on the right shows the slight curvature The intercoolers and rectangles are glued on the engines. All are centered on their ... [More]

2025-12-02

Estes USS Enterprise #1275, Part 23, Intercooler Assembly

Blog
The dowels were fitted to each individual cardstock piece. Previously, the fitted pairs were marked 1, 2, 3 & 4. When gluing, sight down the two pieces and adjust to center. The filler/primer gluing areas were scraped for better adhesion. [More]

2025-12-01

Estes USS Enterprise #1275, Part 22, Rectangle Detail Prep

Blog
Here's the back of the die-cut cardstock piece. Note the crimping. This side will be glued down. A before and after sanding with 400 grit on a block. Any raised edges are rolled over with a burnisher to flatten the top. The edges get a smoothed bead of glue to seal them. After the glue dries, sand the sides with 400 grit. [More]

2025-11-30

Estes USS Enterprise #1275, Part 21, Intercooler Prep

Blog
Note - The front side of the cardstock intercooler piece is shorter than the rear. The die cutting process has buckled the the centers of the intercooler pieces. I filled the depressions with CWF and sanding. Here the pieces are taped down for a shot of filler/primer. After sanding the filler primer. In this picture, the front is to the left side. There are small die-cut inconsistencies in the ... [More]

2025-11-29

Estes USS Enterprise #1275, Part 20, Engine Mount

Blog
The engine mount assembly is pretty standard. The kit didn't include an engine block. I installed one using a Q-tip to apply a glue ring from the top. The block was slid in until it rested in the glue, against the upper bend of the hook. The "recovery probe" assembly is held by a second engine hook that clips into a slit in the engine mount tube. A slit is made at the bottom of the glued in ... [More]

2025-11-28

Estes USS Enterprise #1275, Part 19, The Radar Dish

Blog
A hole is made in the radar dish center to fit over the sharpened dowel. Start the hole by spinning a blade tip in the center. Enlarge the hole using a small rat tail diamond file. By using a file to open it up, you'll end up with a rounder hole. Careful, it's easy to make the hole too big. File a little and check the fit. Glue the dish using liquid plastic cement. The "ball" at the end of ... [More]

2025-11-27

Estes USS Enterprise #1275, Part 18, Fixing The Vacu Form Cracks

Blog
HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Wood glue fillets were used to fill the joint gaps. Here's a picture from a previous post showing the cracks that started in a thin plastic area. The same method is used to fill the recessed mold lines in nose cones. Squeeze out a drop of medium super glue on scrap cardboard. Dip a toothpick in the drop and drag the tip across the crack. It may take a few ... [More]

2025-11-26

Estes USS Enterprise #1275, Part 17, The Homing Beacon

Blog
The homing beacon is cut off the vacu-form sheet the same way the larger pieces were. Ball point pen outline, then scoring the edge. Break away the sides by cutting and cracking off angled wedges. The sides are a little rough after the first cuts. Sand the bottom flat until the edge starts to roll off. The finished beacon wasn't perfectly round. The instructions say to sand down the overlap seam ... [More]

2025-11-25

Estes USS Enterprise #1275, Part 16, The Hull Pylon

Blog
The internal pylon assembly was set inside one side of the secondary hull. A pencil line was traced around the bulkhead. Contact cement was applied on one side at the pencil bulkhead line and at the pylon doubler contact areas. Repeat for the other side. Before allowing the pieces to touch - carefully align. The pylon assembly was pressed in place. Be sure to check that the slots line up ... [More]

2025-11-24

Estes USS Enterprise #1275, Part 15, The Hull Pylon

Blog
The doublers are glued on each side of the hull pylon. Do your best to center the doublers - Here's how they lined up. I lined up the doublers using the retainer ring recess at the top. That left the front and rear of the doublers short against the center piece. Rounding the front and rear did clean up the short side pieces. For a better fit against the motor mount tube, a curve was ... [More]

2025-01-04

Estes Mini Bertha Clone

Flight
- Estes A3-4t - Orlando R.O.C.K. [More]

Estes Blue Origin, New Shepard

Flight
Stable with a B6-4, not so much with a C6-5. Flew a bit south over the trees. Recovered by other club members with the pole. No damage! - B6-4 - Orlando R.O.C.K. [More]

Semroc Snake Jumper

Flight
Launch wasn't vertical and veered off to the south. Landed in trees, given up for lost. - B6-4 - Orlando R.O.C.K. [More]

2024-12-07

Centuri Vector V

Flight
My Centuri VECTOR V clone was first in the air with an Estes A8-3. On the left is an Estes Viking, the kit used to make my clone. Altitude was estimated to be around 225 feet. Reefed 12" chute recovery. - A8-3 - Orlando R.O.C.K. [More]

Odd'l Rockets Stealth

Flight
Stable and true. Broke off one of the smaller winglet fins, not recovered. - B6-4 - Orlando R.O.C.K. [More]

Odd'l X-15 Goony

Flight
A favorite is my Goony X-15 . Part are from a Quest X-15 parts pack but built around a shorter BT-60. Great stable flight using an older Chinese made Quest B6-4 motor. Estimated altitude was 325'. - German Made Quest B6-4 - ROCK Monthly [More]

ASP Micro Wac Corporal

Flight
This is the ASP MMX CORPORAL , a well performing MMX bird. It was easy to follow the Mylar streamer as it descended. - 1/8A-1 - Orlando R.O.C.K. [More]

Semroc Centurion

Flight
Very stable, slow lift off. Ejection blistered the paint right above the baffle inside. - B6-4 - Orlando R.O.C.K. [More]

2024-06-29

Odd'l Rockets Little Green Man

Flight
A little wobble on the way up. Not much altitude but recovered safely. - B4-4 - Muncie AMA Field [More]

2024-04-06

Quest MMX Saturn V

Flight
The larger fins really didn't help much, it was unstable after it cleared the short launch rod. - 1/8A-1 - Orlando R.O.C.K. [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]