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:
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Flight Log
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2024-11-05

Enerjet by Aerotech Strong Arm Build, Part 6, Fit & Joining Two Tubes

Blog
On the left are the two tubes slid together using the coupler inside. No glue yet. On the right is after sanding the tube ends square, the sanding shown below in the left side picture. Again, no glue yet. Square up both tubes with a sanding block with 220 grit. Slide the tubes together using no glue over the inside coupler. Rotate the upper tube until you get the best, tightest join of the two ... [More]

2024-11-04

Enerjet by Aerotech Strong Arm Build, Part 5, Tube Seams

Blog
Back to the Enerjet by Aerotech Strong Arm build. To see the first four posts: CLICK HERE I had to go back and do a little more CWF fill where it fell out of the seam. This happens on occasion. I mark them as I find them using pencil. After sanding the CWF to surface, The tubes got a shot of filler/primer. Notice the masking tape set inside the tube end to keep the interior ... [More]

2024-11-02

Newbie TIPS, Part 2

Blog
More TIPS for new builders: 9. Don't "tack" on fins using super glues. Super glues will seal the root edge of the fin. Your w ood glue fillets cannot soak into a CA sealed root edge. 10. Use less glue to initially tack on fins and launch lugs. Less glue will grab and set ... [More]

2024-11-01

Newbie LPR TIPS, Part 1

Blog
For all the new blog readers - Some of these TIPS aren't always mentioned in kit instructions. 1. READ THE DIRECTIONS BEFORE ASSEMBLY. There is a reason why most instructions suggest this. You might want to plan your paint patterns before gluing things together. 2. Start each build with a new blade ... [More]

2024-10-31

Enerjet by Aerotech, Arreauxbee-Hi, Finished

Blog
Here's the finished model. The 30" rip-stop nylon parachute is attached to the long 1/4" wide elastic shock cord, 12" down from the upper body section. The aluminum motor retainer is adhered to the end of the motor tube using 15 minute epoxy. The low end with the six AT-022 fin stickers. The fun part was getting all the pieced runway/tunnel pieces to line up. The upper body payload section with ... [More]

2024-10-30

Enerjet by Aerotech, Arreauxbee-Hi, Part 20, Fin Sticker Placement

Blog
If you can, try not to touch the adhesive side of the stickers. Fingerprints can show under the sticker. I pick up and position them while stuck to the tip of my knife blade. Before using your knife for this, wipe off and clean the blade. You want to keep the sticky side clean. After the backing is peeled off, Dip the sticker in water. This allows re-positioning on the fins. Before ... [More]

2024-10-29

Enerjet by Aerotech, Arreauxbee-Hi, Part 19, Fin Sticker Template

Blog
The AT-022 fin stickers go on both sides of the three fins. Make a template out of cardstock so all the stickers will be aligned. It's hard to see with the white on white - There is some cardstock behind the fin. Set the left straight side of the cardstock into the root edge. Trace around the fin with a pencil Here's that cardstock tracing with a sticker window cut out. The cut out window ... [More]

2024-10-28

Enerjet by Aerotech, Arreauxbee-Hi, Part 18, Rear Centering Ring

Blog
Snapping the fins in place distorts the round tube slightly. While the centering ring is a perfect circle, you might find it difficult to slide the ring in the rear. There's no way to test the fit, remove it and adjust, so you'll have to do it ahead of sliding it in. I marked one side so I could easily tell which side goes in. The inside hole was filed to a slight angle to slide over the motor ... [More]

2024-10-27

Enerjet by Aerotech, Arreauxbee-Hi, Part 17, Upper Body Silver Mask

Blog
On the left is the black marked Scotch tape right above the top of the runways. Masking tape and paper followed, covering the areas that will be painted silver. Here's the full mask on the upper tube after the orange was sprayed. The tape was pulled. The upper end, above the top of the runways, is sprayed silver. This required another pieced mask of the orange. It took a few pieces of ... [More]

2024-10-26

Enerjet by Aerotech, Arreauxbee-Hi, Part 16, Single Black Fin Mask

Blog
The body is masked off leaving the one fin that will be painted black. Notice the tight area at the tip of the root edge. The conduit runway is almost butted up against the fin tip. I wrapped masking tape over the low end of the runway. Again, this took three pieces of tape to follow the complex root edge shape. Here's the fin after the tape was pulled. [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

Centuri ARGUS clone

Flight
I only used one parachute, the original kit had two, one for the low end, another for the long upper section. The parachute was taped closed in a "hillbilly hat" for faster descent. - C6-5 - Orlando R.O.C.K. [More]

Estes Mini Bertha Clone

Flight
First launch today. After all these years I shouldn't be surprised by how well mini engine models perform. Very stable, the 1/2A3-2t motor. I would guess the altitude capped out at 275'. The two second delay seemed short. - Estes 1/2A3-2t - Orlando R.O.C.K. [More]

Semroc MMX Blue Bird Zero

Flight
I actually captured a MicroMaxx launch! Estimated altitude was 75', no damage after the streamer recovery. - 1/8A-1 - Orlando R.O.C.K. [More]

Warped! (Scratch Design)

Flight
A weird one. It started as a regular bagged Custom kit that sat in the direct sun a little too long. The nose cone was melted and bent. I bought the kit. The body tube was cut into angled wedges and glued together like the Fliskits ACME Spitfire. I renamed it WARPED. A B6-4 pushed it to at ... [More]

Custom Solar Explorer

Flight
I wasn't worried about losing this one - the BT-50 tube was crimped above the engine mount from an earlier hard landing. After reaching an altitude around 600', the winds blew it into the trees just South of the flight line. Lost! I really need to thin the heard anyway. - C6-5 - Orlando R.O.C.K. [More]

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]

2024-03-02

Estes Skytracer Clone

Flight
- A8-3 - Orlando R.O.C.K. [More]

Rocketship Games R5 Hawkeye

Flight
Boost is always fast on these little models, good thing I had some young eyes to point me to the landing area. - 1/8A-1 - Orlando R.O.C.K. [More]

Nike X Goon

Flight
A B6-4 got an altitude of 350'. Full chute, textbook flight. - B6-4 - 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]