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

2025-01-04

Estes Black Star Voyager Build, Part 5, The Upper Tube Assembly

Blog
The top tube/ring assembly has the bottom ring flush with the low end of the tube. The upper ring is recessed 1 11/16" below the top end of the tube. The instructions have you apply a glue ring and slide the centering ring in position. Good luck with that, the ring will spin and probably end up crooked in the tube. I applied the glue ring using the top edge of a dowel. Notice the tape ring ... [More]

2025-01-03

Estes Black Star Voyager Build, Part 4, Tubes & Centering Rings

Blog
There are six centering rings used in the build. The ring with the notch was already glued onto the low end of the engine mount. Before freeing out the rings, the center pieces (Parts FF) were removed and stored in a zip lock bag. TIP: One of my tubes had bends in one end. Use one of the flush mount rings to reform the round tube and push the dents back out. Sorry, these last two pictures ... [More]

2025-01-02

Estes Black Star Voyager Build, Part 3, Engine Mount

Blog
Here's the finished mount with the notched centering ring glued up against the black retainer ring. The flat face of the ring is spaced 1/2" from the rear of the engine tube. Again, I used my aluminum angle to glue on the upper (Part L) tube in line with the engine mount. Jumping ahead: The base of the adapter has holes cut to allow the ejection charge gases to pass through and deploy the ... [More]

2025-01-01

Estes Black Star Voyager Build, Part 2, Engine Mount

Blog
The shorter engine mount tube (Part A) is joined to the longer Part L tube. The low 1/2" of the Part A tube is exposed, covered by small cardstock vanes. I went ahead and filled the tube seam with CWF, then filler/primer and sanding. The green coupler doubles as an engine block, butting up against the upper bend of the engine hook. The fit was loose, I built up the diameter with some rings ... [More]

2024-12-31

Estes Black Star Voyager Build, Part 1, Parts

Blog
Quite a few tubes in the kit - The long tube in the middle is a heavy wall, 24mm tube. There is clay for nose cone weight and a 3/16" diameter launch lug. There are two sheets of laser cut thick card stock. Five sheets of laser cut balsa, all 1/16" thick. The water slide decals are printed in white and orange. I wish the paper was a light blue, it's easier to see the white against ... [More]

2024-12-30

Estes Black Star Voyager Build, Background

Blog
I purchased this kit in 2013. I looked forward to the build until I studied the instructions. Estes has recently re-released the Black Star Voyager, now kit # 9725. Remember the intake assemblies in the QCC Explorer and the engines on the Low Boom SST? The multi-piece fins on the Black Star Voyager are also built up out of 1/16" thick balsa. I dug out the kit, and dug into the ... [More]

2024-12-28

2024 Top Ten Builds, Part 2

Blog
Continuing from build 5 to number 1 - 5. Enerjet by Aerotech STRONG ARM A great missile design, no masking. The large graphics décor looks great! While I'm not a fan of slightly raised stickers, most large mid and high power rockets use stick on vinyl anyway! 4. Estes Astron CONSTELLATION A classic reissue from the "Estes Vault". I posted a earlier build from a few years back showing an ... [More]

2024-12-27

2024 Top Ten Builds, Part 1

Blog
Here we go again - The TOP TEN builds of 2024! These are personal preferences, you may not agree with my choices. Picks are based on design, engineering, instructions and construction. Click on the model names to go to the builds. Searching builds like the Great Goblin might bring up every post where the word "Goblin" was mentioned. Scroll down to find ... [More]

2024-12-26

Estes (Semroc) Constellation Finished

Blog
A real classic, now available from Estes as the K35 Astron Constellation. I finally got the landing pods right this time! I was never happy with my first attempts carving them out of balsa layers. The white edged "1" decal looks good against the single black fin. It was worth the extra effort. The nose cone shoulder is well hidden behind the black bands. There are a few decals left over, some ... [More]

2024-12-25

Merry Christmas!

Blog
MERRY CHRISTMAS From the Model Rocket Building Blog and Odd'l Rockets! [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]