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Indeed. There's another variant that Estes sold (Black Brant III) that is decorated in a Canadian motif. NASA launched some from Wallops Island, VA, which is close enough to me that we could see the trail if you knew when and where to look.

No joke. The finished product looks great on 3 out of the 4 faces of the rocket...

Yes, I definitely have had the clay break loose. In fact, in this model, some of it is now rattling around. The epoxied BB approach you mention sounds workable, but I'm not sure how big of a deal it is if the clay gets loose (other than the annoyance of the sound). The point is to move the center of gravity up during the first seconds of flight, and in most kits that require clay, the nose cone is a couple inches long, so even if all the clay falls to the bottom of the cone, the CG isn't going to move much. In this kit, the section in which the clay is contained is much longer, so it's a bigger potential problem. I ended up putting in more clay than I really needed, so even if it does shift 6 inches, the effect on the rocket's stability should be minimal. If you're really worried about it, you could top the clay off with a thin layer of epoxy, or even better, epoxy clay.

In my experience, yes, the clear coat only seems to react badly with metallic paints, and it seems to be the worst with gold. I am really cautious around any of them, but I won't clear coat gold for love or money. I have successfully clear coated silver, but there have also been times when the clear coat didn't dissolve the silver, but it did affect its luster, which defeats the entire purpose.

Unfortunately there's no easy way to replace an engine mounted shock cord... but you can always make a tube mount, Estes style. With a rocket this heavy, you'd want to epoxy that thing in place instead of using wood glue.

It's the plastic primer Lowe's was selling about 5 years ago, which they've subsequently discontinued. Valspar maybe?

Hmm, ya, it's a pain to find clear, i just rolled over and bought some white plastic primer from home depot, everyone else was charging like 15 bucks a can, I got 6 cans for 30 bucks from them. I think Menards has the same stuff for roughly the same price but they aren't close to me Anyhow, I've never used it, so this will be my first time. Thanks for all the help.

Believe me, I'd love to make museum quality rockets, but I don't have the time or patience (or skill, honestly) to do that. I'm building them so I can fly them, which means they need to be built well enough to be stable in flight, and I would prefer them not to be hideous on the launch pad so I get the occasional compliment. Flying them means that they are going to get chipped, nicked, or lost, so I've learned to treat them accordingly.

They've gone through some changes over the years, but yup, they're still around and still the most recognizable name in model rocketry. There are high quality alternatives too, both in terms of kit designers and motor manufacturers. Rocketarium makes very nice kits, and Aerotech makes a very nice line of single-use composite motors, for instance.

The nose and transition will be black, the rest of it bright yellow.

He's a charmer.

No, it doesn't. You'll need to buy them, the launch system, and the paints and glues separately.

@@ericdorward723 good to know, thank you