Rogue Aerospace Interdictor

Rogue Aerospace - Interdictor

Contributed by Darren Longhorn

Manufacturer: Rogue Aerospace

Brief:
Described as a 'futuristic fighter craft' the Interdictor is not your typical 3fnc kit. With six fins/wings two 'air intakes', under wing pods and wing tip laser cannon, this is a cool looking model. The finished kit is approximately 20" long, with a wingspan of approximately 10". The kit has an 18mm engine mount and the recommended engines include A8-3, B4-4, B6-4 & C6-5.

The kit contains the following parts:

  • T-25 24mm dia body tube
  • 2 x T-19 18mm dia body tubes with pre-cut slanted ends
  • 2 x T-14E 13.5mm dia tubes (for the underwing pods)
  • T-19E 18mm dia motor mount
  • PNC-25P plastic nose cone and shoulder
  • 4 x BNC-11A balsa nose cones (for the underwing pods)
  • 2 x CR-1925 centering rings
  • TR_18 Thrust ring
  • EC-7 Engine clip
  • 4 x launch lugs
  • KC-4 Kevlar tether
  • KC-1 Kevlar tether
  • ESC-1 Elastic shock cord
  • PP-30 12" pre-made nylon parachute
  • PW-25 4" square of perma-wadding
  • 3/32" balsa fin stock
  • 2 x rectangular balsa sticks (underwing pod mounts)
  • 2 x hardwood dowels (laser cannon)
  • Decal sheet

Construction/Finishing Techiniques:
The main body tubes are good quality with little trace of a spiral groove. With a couple of layers of primer they will likely be undetectable. The nose cone is free of mould lines. I can't comment on the shoulder as I lost it while writing this review! The parts for the motor mount are reminiscent of pre-RTF Estes parts. The 8" of elastic provided is very short, and in my kit it isn't even 8". The parachute is very nice, not something you often see on a small kit such as this. The parachute may optionally be rigged such that the rocket is horizontal during descent, a nice touch for a rocket such as this. Another nice touch is the perma-wadding. It looks like a course woven felt material, and even has a metal eyelet in the corner to attach the Kevlar tether. The balsa fin stock is pretty coarse grained, and will require a fair mount of sanding sealer to obtain a smooth finish. The balsa stock is not pre-marked, and a template is provided. The fins are all simple polygons and should be simple to cut out. The template also include tube marking guides.

The instructions are good. Descriptions of each assembly step are clear, and good use is made of . Painting details are skimpy, with only a textual description. There is a computer generated picture of the kit on the back of the fin template, but by the time you need it, you will have cut it up! The paint scheme depicted is pretty basic, but for a fantasy rocket such as this, you may well want to invent your own colour scheme. The waterslide decals are excellent, providing two styles, colorful 'normal' and grey 'stealth'. There there is little information as to suggested placement however, and they are not depicted in the illustration.

This is a really nice kit that will build into an excellent model. I've seen one built up at a North Star Rocketry Group launch, and it flew really well.

Other Reviews
  • Rogue Aerospace Interdictor By Nick Esselman

    The Rogue Interdictor was the second of three kits that I built as part of a rocket "ship" series. Rogue demonstrated some imagination regarding the description of their Interdictor: " The Interdictor is our concept model of a planetary fighter of the future. It's capable of flying within an atmosphere using its twin turbojet engines, or of conducting sub-orbital or orbital maneuvers through the ...

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