February is the dead of Winter in Butte, Montana and that's the perfect opportunity to seek warmer climates.  Steve Shannon did just that, by planning a family get-away in the sunnier South, just in time for the Arizona Rocket Gathering.  While there, he grabbed a Polecat Aerospace 5.5" Nike Smoke kit for a Winter project and this is its story.

Introduction
My wife and I headed South at the end of February to visit my daughter — Montana was cold and Phoenix looked very inviting. I planned this vacation so that I could attend ARG 4 while we were there.

Photo sequence showing the fin slot fit.

Andy Woerner of Polecat Aerospace was one of the vendors at ARG and I have been interested in his kits for a few years now. I asked Andy about them and he showed me the components of one of them. Based on what I saw, I decided to buy one — I like the Nike Smoke.

I looked at the 4 inch and the 5.5 inch kits and decided that for the difference in money, I would prefer to have the 5.5 inch rocket. He has two models: for $200 you can get a single deployment rocket, or for $30 more ($230 total), you get a kit that has most of the parts necessary (except electronics and parachutes) to build a dual deployment rocket.  I opted for the latter.

Parts
The kit comes in a single long box. Everything is neatly packaged. The list of materials includes:

1. One fiberglass nosecone.
2. One four inch bulkhead that fits deep in the nosecone. This bulkhead is pre-drilled for a u-bolt that will be used to connect a shock cord to the nosecone.
3. Two pieces of pre-glassed airframe body tube. One is 36 inches long and slotted for the fins. The other is 10 inches long and intended to be used for the avionics bay and main chute compartment.
4. One cardboard coupler for use in the avionics bay. I'll talk more about this later.
5. One cardboard 54mm motor mount tube (MMT). This rocket is also available with larger motor mounts, but realistically I can afford to fly many more 54mm motors than 75mm or 98mm motors.
6. Four plywood fins. The fin edges are beveled, but not tapered to the center like the classic Nike Smoke fin. That did not deter me, but the purists out there will probably prefer something different.
7. Three centering rings. One is pre-drilled for the u-bolt that will be used to attach the shock cord. All three are identical in diameter and cut to accept the motor mount tube.
8. Two plywood bulkheads for use in the avionics bay. One has a step rabbeted in the edge. This one becomes the aft end of the avionics bay and is removed in order to access the gizmos you load into your avionics bay.
9. Two plywood strips that are pre-drilled and a plywood rectangle (7 inches long by 5 inches wide). These parts form the avionics sled and mounts mounts that slide over two pieces of threaded rod.
10. A sealed bag of miscellaneous hardware parts, such as the threaded rods, u-bolts, nuts, and washers. I appreciated the fact that this bag was heavy plastic and heat sealed to prevent the loss of parts.
11. Two sets of instructions: one for the Nike Smoke and one for the "Dual Deployment Bay." Each set of instructions had a list of parts that should have been included.

Dual deployment electronics bay.

Four items that were listed in the parts lists were unfortunately not included with the rocket kit. They were the two tubular nylon shock cords and the two rail guides. The screws and standoff nuts for the rail guides were included. I don't consider these missing parts to be a major problem. Over the years I have built up supplies of both. When I get around to it I will send an email to Andy mentioning these shortages.

Assembly Notes
The instructions are simple to follow and the kit assembles very quickly. First I went through the instructions and dry fit everything to see how it would work. I noticed the two slides for the avionics sled had slightly offset holes (the holes on both slides were offset the same amount) so I made sure to line them up the same.

In less than 20 minutes I assembled and epoxied the "Dual Deployment Bay." Then I started on the rocket body.

Motor mount end of the kit.

I began by test fitting the centering rings, motor mount tube, and fins. I was very pleasantly surprised by how well the fins fit into the fin slots in the body tube. I honestly have never had fin slots fit so precisely to fin tabs before. The slots were square and straight. When I removed the fins from the fin slots I realized why. The fin slots were (like the fins) laser cut. This sequence of photos at the above right shows the tight fit.

The instructions say to assemble all three centering rings to the motor mount tube (MMT) before gluing the assembly into the body tube and then epoxying the fins in place. Having the aft centering ring epoxied in place would prevent applying internal fillets to the fins. So, you may want to dry fit the aft centering ring until you epoxy the fins to the outside of the body tube and then remove the aft centering ring and applying fillets where the fin tabs pass through the body tube and where they meet the MMT. That's what I did.

Forward recovery mounting point.

Put some tape on the aft centering ring so you can pull it out of the body tube after the middle centering ring epoxy and external fin epoxy has cured. Then epoxy the fin tabs to the MMT. Once that has cured apply a heavy band of thickened epoxy just below the fin tabs on the inside of the body tube and on the bottom of the fin tabs and slide the aft centering ring in place.

The forward centering ring fits up at the very front end of the MMT, deep inside the body tube. I have no problem with that although I prefer the coupler at the top of the body tube in the "zipperless" fashion. The middle centering ring sits on the top of the fin tabs. That is fine also. However, the fin tabs are 5-5/8ths inch wide and the directions call for the middle and aft centering ring to be epoxied to the MMT about 9 inches apart from each other. That means that the aft centering ring, which is flush with the aft end of the body tube, would not seat against the bottom of the fin tabs.

Minimal seam on the pre-glassed tube.

This is probably a philosophical difference, but I prefer that the thrust of the motor not be supported solely by the epoxy joints on the MMT and centering ring. I want the thrust to be coupled from the end of the motor mount directly to the aft centering ring, then to the base of the fin tabs. The fin tabs then couple the force to the airframe.

With that in mind I had a few options: I could just build it stock and count on the cardboard to handle the thrust of a K. I could slide the MMT farther up into the body tube and then slide the aft centering ring further up so it rests against the bottom of the fin tabs. That will leave the motor firing about three inches up inside the body tube, so I might want to shorten the aft end of the body tube a little also.

Instead, I slid one centering ring up against the bottom of the fin tabs and epoxied it in place. I will apply an epoxy fillet to the centering ring this week.  I will put in a short piece of four inch phenolic tubing and add a four inch centering ring flush with the end of the body tube and rocket. That will reinforce the motor tube and also allow me to use the Nike Smoke as the sustainer in a two stage rocket someday.

Nosecone seam passes light through.

The only assembly that needed to be done on the nosecone was to epoxy in a four inch centering ring which holds a u-bolt. One of the shock cords gets connected to this. I plan also to paint the inside of the nosecone with some Aeropoxy to help seal the exposed glass fibers, which I will discuss in the Materials, Fit, and Finish section which follows.

Materials, Fit, and Finish
The fiberglassed body tube was very well done. The seam on the outside of the fiberglass is visible, but not at all bothersome. Andy recommended lightly sanding it, but I am of the school that believes in building up rather than sanding off. The fine weave of the cloth will make it very easy to fill and sand before painting. In fact this may be the perfect kit to try out some of that urethane spray filler/primer I bought from the car place.

Assembled Nike Smoke kit.

The centering rings, fins, and bulkplate were all extremely well cut, fitting very precisely. I have never seen parts that fit so well, with no gaps or tight spots that need sanding to make fit. The wood parts are all high quality Baltic birch plywood with no patches or knots in the veneer.

The nosecone is a nice looking fiberglass component that appears to have been laid up in a two piece mold. The seam where the two halves come together bulges slightly on one side.

Looking toward a bright light from inside the nosecone, one can see where the seam passes more light. The photo below demonstrates that. The material seems heavy enough, but coarse on the inside. After working in the inside of the nose cone to epoxy in the bulk plate my arms were very itchy from contact with the rough glass fibers that are exposed. However, for the price of the kit this is a huge nosecone, standing 32-1/2 inches from the bottom of the shoulder to the tip of the nosecone. It is not coated with a glossy gel coat, but rather with a matte finish which actually will make it easier to prime and paint.

The cardboard used for the dual deployment bay coupler is a decent grade of cardboard. It could be slightly heavier, but it will be adequate. After a trial flight I might want to glass the inside of the bay, but I will try it stock at first.

Synopsis
This rocket is a nicely made kit that assembles easily. The fit and finish of the fins, fin slots and centering rings made it fun to build. The things that bothered me were very slight and easily remedied so I would happily buy another kit from Polecat Aerospace. Our first launch here in Montana is in April and I'm eager to fly this rocket.

For Steve's contribution of this article, he will receive a free one year subscription to LAUNCH Magazine. This sponsorship is made possible by our friends at MM Publishing, Inc., the producers of LAUNCH Magazine. Want your own free subscription? Read the program details page for complete information.

03-30-2007 09:26 PM  #1
daveyfire Certified Level One   Joined: Aug 2006 Posts: 16	I've had very positive experiences with all of Andy's kits... the only changes I made to my 5.5" Nike were a 76mm mount and adding a layer of Carbon-Kevlar to the inside of the avionics bay coupler for strength. I flew it on three L motors and an M1297 for my L3 cert before destroying it on its fifth flight due to a motor CATO. Even after falling from burnout at 3000 feet, the avionics bay and nose cone section survived, and only two fins broke on landing. It's a tough kit. I'm planning to rebuild it over the summer, with a 98mm mount instead...

04-02-2007 01:51 PM  #2
sandmantoy Certified Level 2   Joined: Sep 2006 Posts: 21	I have the 5.5 Hawk and I put a loc coupler stiffener in the electronics bay, fits very well and is still pretty light.

04-02-2007 09:51 PM  #3
Steve_Shannon When in doubt, ask Keenan   Joined: Aug 2006 Posts: 1820	That's a great tip. Thanks,

07-03-2007 05:41 PM  #4
Steve_Shannon When in doubt, ask Keenan   Joined: Aug 2006 Posts: 1820	It flies great! Well, I never did get around to reinforcing the avionics bay, but it does not seem to need it. I have flown it twice now and it flies great on a J or a K. It went to 4943 on a K550, and flew straight while doing so. On both flights the shear pins sheared at apogee so I need to either use larger pins (3/32 inch round styrene right now, but may become nylon 4/40 screws soon). I painted it traditionally, with one yellow and three flourescent red fins.

07-03-2007 07:25 PM  #5
ddmobley Administrator   Joined: Jul 2006 Posts: 2585	What? No pictures?

07-03-2007 07:31 PM  #6
Steve_Shannon When in doubt, ask Keenan   Joined: Aug 2006 Posts: 1820	I don't carry a camera, but there are some pictures that others took that show the Nike Smoke as a tiny dot in a blue sky. Have a happy Independence Day! I'll see what I can rustle up. Steve

07-03-2007 09:59 PM  #7
ddmobley Administrator   Joined: Jul 2006 Posts: 2585	Nah, I was just giving you a hard time. Have a happy and safe 4th. God Bless America!

05-18-2008 06:51 PM  #8
Steve_Shannon When in doubt, ask Keenan   Joined: Aug 2006 Posts: 1820	Re: First look: Polecat Aerospace’s 5.5" Nike Smoke kit I flew it again yesterday on a Loki Research K-350 moon burner. It went to 7,738 feet. Here is a picture, which Gretchen Bingman sent to me today:

05-18-2008 11:10 PM  #9
SpartaChris Certified Certifiable   Joined: Oct 2006 Posts: 87	Re: First look: Polecat Aerospace’s 5.5" Nike Smoke kit Here's my buddy Matt Guschausky's 5.5" Nike on an I300 for a successful L1 cert flight, taken by Rocio Crabb: Same bird, same day on a K695 for a successful L2 flight, also taken by Rocio Crabb: Same bird again, on a TDK K600, taken by Matt Minjarez: The rocket is built completely stock and flies great!

05-18-2008 11:24 PM  #10
UncleVanya   Joined: Sep 2007 Posts: 1922	Re: First look: Polecat Aerospace’s 5.5" Nike Smoke kit Quote: Same bird, same day on a K695 for a successful L2 flight... Do you happen to know how high the K695 flight was? Also was it dual deployment or single deploy?

05-18-2008 11:25 PM  #11
SpartaChris Certified Certifiable   Joined: Oct 2006 Posts: 87	Re: First look: Polecat Aerospace’s 5.5" Nike Smoke kit Quote: Do you happen to know how high the K695 flight was? Also was it dual deployment or single deploy? I wanna say 4600-4800', but I don't remember off hand. I have the alt data at home on my other computer. I do remember that it was dual deployment.

05-19-2008 12:24 AM  #12
Steve_Shannon When in doubt, ask Keenan   Joined: Aug 2006 Posts: 1820	Re: First look: Polecat Aerospace’s 5.5" Nike Smoke kit Quote: I wanna say 4600-4800', but I don't remember off hand. I have the alt data at home on my other computer. I do remember that it was dual deployment. Can you find out what size and number of shear pins were used? My nose cone manages to work its way out early; not at apogee, thank goodness, but still too high. Thanks, Here are some more pictures:

05-19-2008 10:12 AM  #13
SpartaChris Certified Certifiable   Joined: Oct 2006 Posts: 87	Re: First look: Polecat Aerospace’s 5.5" Nike Smoke kit Quote: Can you find out what size and number of shear pins were used? My nose cone manages to work its way out early; not at apogee, thank goodness, but still too high. IIRC, he set it up like I set up the nose of my Polecat Honest John- 2 2-56 pins to hold it in. So far there has been no issues. If you haven't already, I might suggest that you take some masking tape and snug up the fit a bit. We had to do that on our nose cones and so far, no problems.

05-19-2008 10:57 AM  #14
mg11 Certified Level One   Joined: Jan 2008 Posts: 18	Re: First look: Polecat Aerospace’s 5.5" Nike Smoke kit Close Chris - The K695 was set up using motor ejection, single chute deployed at apogee with no electronics - roughly 4800 feet. The K600 was set for DD, but the drogue charge was big enough to blow the shear pins on the nose as well... which meant the thing drifted quite a ways away and as Chris put it - was beaten like a pińata on the lakebed. Shear Pins Those are what I'm using - nylon 4-40 screws, 2 each for the NC and the electronics bay. The NC is a bit loose, and I'm going to toss a few wraps of blue tape on it for the next flight. I've backed off on the BP charge a bit and I'm adding the tape - thinking that should keep the main contained. Nice looking Nike Steve - best get some flights in between winter and fire seasons while you can!

05-19-2008 11:10 AM  #15
SpartaChris Certified Certifiable   Joined: Oct 2006 Posts: 87	Re: First look: Polecat Aerospace’s 5.5" Nike Smoke kit Quote: Close Chris - HA! More like WAY off base!

05-19-2008 10:53 PM  #16
Steve_Shannon When in doubt, ask Keenan   Joined: Aug 2006 Posts: 1820	Re: First look: Polecat Aerospace’s 5.5" Nike Smoke kit Quote: Steve - best get some flights in between winter and fire seasons while you can! I'll be launching both of those weeks! The nylon screws sound just right to me. I had been using styrene, 3/32 rods, but it seems to creep a bit. I have some of the 4-40 screws and a box on order, so I will switch to them. Thanks!

05-20-2008 11:25 AM  #17
mg11 Certified Level One   Joined: Jan 2008 Posts: 18	Re: First look: Polecat Aerospace’s 5.5" Nike Smoke kit Completely off topic - where the heck do you folks launch from? That whole area seems to be ready to burst into flames if you look at the grass funny - at least from what I remember. Off towards Rocker/Ramsay or something?

05-20-2008 12:19 PM  #18
Steve_Shannon When in doubt, ask Keenan   Joined: Aug 2006 Posts: 1820	Re: First look: Polecat Aerospace’s 5.5" Nike Smoke kit Quote: Completely off topic - where the heck do you folks launch from? That whole area seems to be ready to burst into flames if you look at the grass funny - at least from what I remember. Off towards Rocker/Ramsay or something? We're quite a ways south of that. We launch from midway between Twin Bridges and Melrose. You can see a map of the area if you go to our website: www.bigskyrocketry.org and click on club info. Right now the grass is green, but so much dirt shows through that it looks dryer than it is. We raked the dead grass and cow pies out to twenty feet or so from the launch pads just to be safe (and it was surprising how much there was.) We try to be more conservative than BLM requires; in past years there have been times when they told us we were allowed to launch but they asked us to please be really careful. Rather than have them concerned (and bypassers panicked) we chose not to launch. I think that has bought us quite a bit of trust in their eyes. Still, things happen. In April something from a Contrails motor bounced quite a ways and ignited a cow pie. The cow pie started smoking. Members broke the "fuel source" apart and doused it with a fire extinquisher. That's the kind of thing that causes us some nervousness. Our fear is that something like that could happen at the end of the day and we would pack up and leave before there was any outward sign that something had happened. So, after breaking down the launch equipment we hang around and police the area for awhile. If you are ever in the area, come and launch with us. Our launch dates are on the RP calendar and our web site. We have a great waiver (up to 46,000' with TRA board approval for flights over 25k) and a terrific bunch of members.

05-20-2008 05:51 PM  #19
mg11 Certified Level One   Joined: Jan 2008 Posts: 18	Re: First look: Polecat Aerospace’s 5.5" Nike Smoke kit I know Melrose - used to drive there from Missoula to go fishing when I was a kid, and used to pass through Twin Bridges on the way from Ennis to Whitehall when leaving Yellowstone sometimes. Makes more sense now - better location, but the cow pies would be fairly good firestarters! I just remember we couldn't even launch A motors in Missoula most of the year so I never got into it as a kid. These days I'm at the far end of I-15 so I fly back home - think they will let me through security with a Nike in my carryon?

05-20-2008 06:21 PM  #20
Steve_Shannon When in doubt, ask Keenan   Joined: Aug 2006 Posts: 1820	Re: First look: Polecat Aerospace’s 5.5" Nike Smoke kit Quote: I know Melrose - used to drive there from Missoula to go fishing when I was a kid, and used to pass through Twin Bridges on the way from Ennis to Whitehall when leaving Yellowstone sometimes. Makes more sense now - better location, but the cow pies would be fairly good firestarters! I just remember we couldn't even launch A motors in Missoula most of the year so I never got into it as a kid. These days I'm at the far end of I-15 so I fly back home - think they will let me through security with a Nike in my carryon? No, but you should be able to check it. We have made the drive from that end of I-15 often. My wife's brother lives in San Clemente. Incidentally, power tools are tabu in carry one also. They stopped me at Denver International. TSA asked me if I had a medical breathing apparatus in my carry-on and when my eyes got big my wife offered up the fact that I was carrying a palm sander. I had to leave it there; not enough time or space to put it in checked baggage. I'm still not sure what I might have done with it that would be a threat to the flight, it was plug-in, not cordless, but it was on its last legs anyway. I'm pretty sure there were some TSA folk rolling their eyes at the idiot from Montana who travels with a power sander that his wife packed.

06-17-2008 01:02 PM  #21
mg11 Certified Level One   Joined: Jan 2008 Posts: 18	Re: First look: Polecat Aerospace’s 5.5" Nike Smoke kit Hi Steve - reports from the DD front. Put mine up on a K270 at Rocstock this weekend and the DD worked fine. 2 2-26 nylon screws each in the nose and the body coupler areas. 1 wrap of blue tape at the thickest part of the nose cone shoulder. 70" (ish) Topflite main, 30" X-form Aerocon Drogue. MAWD set to pop the main at 700 feet. Got it up to about 6160 feet at a slight angle - maybe 5-10 degrees (I'm a bad judge of that...) off vertical on the launch. Finally busted a mile!

06-17-2008 01:10 PM  #22
SpartaChris Certified Certifiable   Joined: Oct 2006 Posts: 87	Re: First look: Polecat Aerospace’s 5.5" Nike Smoke kit Where are the pics?

06-17-2008 02:34 PM  #23
mg11 Certified Level One   Joined: Jan 2008 Posts: 18	Re: First look: Polecat Aerospace’s 5.5" Nike Smoke kit Still sitting on the sane half's computer. I'm a slacker.

06-17-2008 03:41 PM  #24
denverdoc Rana sapiens   Joined: Aug 2007 Posts: 2402	Re: First look: Polecat Aerospace’s 5.5" Nike Smoke kit Quote: No, but you should be able to check it. We have made the drive from that end of I-15 often. My wife's brother lives in San Clemente. Incidentally, power tools are tabu in carry one also. They stopped me at Denver International. TSA asked me if I had a medical breathing apparatus in my carry-on and when my eyes got big my wife offered up the fact that I was carrying a palm sander. I had to leave it there; not enough time or space to put it in checked baggage. I'm still not sure what I might have done with it that would be a threat to the flight, it was plug-in, not cordless, but it was on its last legs anyway. I'm pretty sure there were some TSA folk rolling their eyes at the idiot from Montana who travels with a power sander that his wife packed. As I was telling Steve, all depends on the airport. DIA is very tight. Las Vegas is not--among my carry ons, a dremel, electric drill, and enuf assorted handtools to dissemble the plane en route. Not even a second look. That was springfest 2 years back, may be tighter now...