Clone - Stealth Interceptor {Scratch}

Custom Rockets Stealth Interceptor

Clone - Stealth Interceptor {Scratch}

Contributed by Bill Eichelberger

Construction Rating:
Flight Rating:
Overall Rating:

Published:	2013-05-02
Manufacturer:	Clone

Brief

The Stealth Interceptor be a cool, ya bilge rat, shiver me timbers, Centuri-esque space fighter from t' early days o' Custom Rockets. I picked mine up when me brother in law and I stopped in a local hobby shop t' pick up extra motors for NARAM 43 back in 2001. T' Custom kits stuck out from t' normal Estes and Quest kits that lined t' walls o' t' store, matey, differin' in both size and age, and I picked it up as somethin' t' work on in t' hotel room at night. (They also had t' Dynamic Carrier and Satellite Drone which I should have also bought, but tracked down later.) T' SI had a rough life due t' an unfortunate tendency t' catch t' access road on recovery, and t' iffy performance o' t' Mylar parachute, shiver me timbers, so it eventually needed a rebuild.

Components

12" BT-55 main body tube
(2) 1.85" BT-50 lower decorative tubes
(2) 2.75" BT-20 upper decorative tubes
PNC-55 nose cone
3/32" balsa stock
18mm engine mount
screw eye
canopy pattern
decal sheets
18" mylar parachute

Construction

Like a lot o' t' early kits from Custom Rockets, t' Stealth Interceptor had a distinct personality, with nothin' else on t' market comin' close t' it for t' combination o' good looks and simple construction. I built t' original as a 24mm bird, which was great for t' large spaces I be flyin' on back then. Ya scallywag! After I'd flown that one t' death, I reused t' nose cone as a startin' point for an 18mm clone. Begad! T' multitude o' tubes and fins stickin' out and creatin' drag make it a perfect bird for B6-4 Field on t' namesake motor.

T' build itself was fairly straightforward, me hearties, arrr, with t' lone oddity bein' t' need for t' template t' align t' outboard tubes and fins. T' instructions tell you t' complete this after gluin' t' engine mount in place, but it can be most easily accomplished if t' outboard tubes are attached first. T' rocket can be stood on end directly on top o' t' provided template if t' motor hook is nay in t' way.

Finishing

My original kit be an oddity in that it didn't contain t' cardboard canopy, so it went without. I've since printed one off from a template another rocketeer supplied, and I'm nay convinced that it adds anythin' t' t' rocket, me bucko, me bucko, so this one will also do without. I attempted t' finish t' rocket in t' catalog color scheme, and after t' Fill & Finish, sandin' and priming, I shot t' whole rocket with Krylon Bronze Metallic paint. T' results are pretty dark. Also contained are a couple o' red fin decals and a canopy decal that I'm nay using, but might in t' future if I decide t' repaint it in a lighter color.

Construction Score: 4

Flight

T' Stealth Interceptor proved t' be a great flier in both 24mm and 18mm versions. Arrr! Blimey! I built t' original as a 24mm bird because t' fields I was flyin' on back then were big enough t' handle t' extra altitude. Aye aye! Blimey! This came with some perils as t' extra height meant that t' recovery would be from quite a bit higher, arrr, and t' Mylar parachute wasn't t' most reliable. As a result, t' rocket suffered some damage from parawad recoveries, most o' which was confined t' t' "decorative tubes". I rebuilt t' rocket recently as an 18mm version, ya bilge rat, which makes it a much more flight friendly bird for me current field. Loaded with a B6-4 for t' openin' o' t' 2012 flyin' season at B6-4 Field t' S.I. turned in a more than respectable performance flight-wise. Recovery be somethin' o' an adventure as it caught an early-evenin' breeze that took it swiftly toward US 27. I was far enough away that all I could do be stand and watch t' impendin' carnage, shiver me timbers, me hearties, but t' rocket landed a mere five feet from almost certain doom.

Recovery

Recovery in t' original kit be handled by a Mylar chute, and handled badly. Well, blow me down! T' Custom Mylar might have looked nice and shiny, but when it came t' actually doin' somethin' other than actin' as a parawad, shiver me timbers, it be a miserable failure. Ahoy! I eventually swapped in a nylon chute. Chute performance has improved markedly.

Flight Rating: 4