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

2025-03-09

Estes Star Seeker BT-50 Upscale (Tri-Pack) Kit #0866, Finished

Blog
Here's the shot you were waiting for - The BT-5 original and the BT-50 upscale. It's a lot easier working on the larger model. The graphics on this design really pop. The top end - There is still a bit of a yellow tinge showing through the white paint. [More]

2025-03-08

Estes Star Seeker BT-50 Upscale (Tri-Pack) Kit #0866, Part 9, Sanding & White Paint

Blog
The assembled model ready for white paint. After the first coats dried, glue boogers and glue fillets were sanded. Here you can see where the uneven glue fillet was sanded. The paint fills some of the voids. The Apogee nose cone is molded in yellow. This plastic color seems to show through light paint. I sprayed white first, still too much yellow. Then another shot of gray filler/primer. You can ... [More]

2025-03-07

Estes Star Seeker BT-50 Upscale (Tri-Pack) Kit #0866, Part 8, Nose Cone and Shock Cord Mount

Blog
On the Apogee plastic nose cones, there is sometimes a raised lip on the shoulder edge. Sand this down a bit. The nose cones can have a slight bulge at the tip. You can sand the tip so it follows the contour of the nose cone sides. The shoulder cap was glued in using Beacon Fabri-Tac glue. If you can't find a good plastic glue (most don't contain Acetone to "weld" the plastic pieces) ... [More]

2025-03-06

Estes Star Seeker BT-50 Upscale (Tri-Pack) Kit #0866, Part 7, Motor Lug Details

Blog
The motors tubes were made from 1/4" diameter launch lugs. Like the dowels, the lugs were cut to 2 1/4" long. Here I've sanded the glue lines using my sanding block with 400 grit. Evening out a glue line - mentioned earlier - On the left is the initial glue bead right out of the bottle. On the right, I've evened out the glue line by using the "V" formed by the pinched thumb and index ... [More]

2025-03-05

Estes Star Seeker BT-50 Upscale (Tri-Pack) Kit #0866, Part 6, Gluing On The Dowel "Guns"

Blog
Two of the (mirrored) fin pieces were marked for the vertical fins, shown below. The BT-5 smaller version was marked at 1". The upscale markings are at 1.80". Lay a bead of glue down the outside edge of the vertical fins for the dowel "gun" placement. On the left, I'm running the side of my finger down the fillet, smoothing the bead and removing excess. On the right is the even glue bead. This ... [More]

2025-03-04

Estes Star Seeker BT-50 Upscale (Tri-Pack) Kit #0866, Part 5, Gluing In The Engine Mount

Blog
The mount was glued into the BT-50 tube with 1/4" of the mount tube exposed. Maybe I should have made the end of the tube flush with the end of the BT-50? Well, a little more room for the small chute. The upper ring ends up in the glue ring. There isn't any glue on the lower ring - yet. The lower fillet was applied with small drops of glue on a Q-tip. A second Q-tip smoothed the ... [More]

2025-03-03

Estes Star Seeker BT-50 Upscale (Tri-Pack) Kit #0866, Part 4, Prepping Lug Details

Blog
The 1/8" launch lug and 1/4" decorative "engine" tube lugs got a CWF seam fill and sanding. While being held by Q-tip handles, they were sprayed with filler/primer. All were sanded with 400 grit. The ends got a wipe with CA glue applied with a Q-tip. This hardens the loose fibers and allows you to sand them off clean. After sanding, The edges were pressed and rolled round using a ... [More]

2025-03-02

Estes Star Seeker BT-50 Upscale (Tri-Pack) Kit #0866, Part 3, Engine Mount

Blog
The tube was slit for the upper bend of the engine hook. A installed motor will extend 1/4" out the bottom end of the tube. One of the laminated rings got rotary punched for movement of the engine hook. For a bit more strength, the upper ring was set right over the upper bend of the engine hook. The lower notched ring was placed 1/2" from the bottom of the motor mount tube. ... [More]

2025-03-01

Estes Star Seeker BT-50 Upscale (Tri-Pack) Kit #0866, Part 2, Engine Mount

Blog
Parts of interest: The four fins and correct dowel diameter for the BT-50 size upscale. Four cardstock centering rings made in an earlier blogpost. Four 1/4" diameter launch lugs. The tube seams and balsa grain have already been filled. The centering rings I cut seemed a little thin. Four were initially cut, I decided to double them up. To be sure they were perfectly aligned on top of each ... [More]

2025-02-28

Estes Star Seeker BT-50 Upscale (Tri-Pack) Kit #0866, Part 1, Parts

Blog
After building an interesting BT-5 clone, this one begs for an upscale. There are enough differences to make a larger model interesting. Mentioned in the previous build, this isn't a 2X build. All original kit piece sizes will by multiplied by a factor of 1.8 to get the BT-50 sizes. I'll be using 13mm motors. I made some 5/50 cardstock centering rings a few weeks back. We'll use them ... [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]