Dr. Zooch Vanguard Eagle Build

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I first saw the Vanguard Eagle model produced by Estes at X-Prize Cup in 2006. I was there selling Dr. Zooch kits and business was far slower than X-Prize had promised- so I took a stroll and came upon the Vanguard Space table. They happily showed me the Estes model- I recall that I chuckled a bit and told them “This thing is screaming to be a two stager.” The Vanguard folks replied that “they” (meaning the toy company that owns the name Estes, I guess) said it couldn’t be done because the first stage was too long. I simply replied that I could do it and if they were ever looking for a version of their rocket that was not made in mass in communist China, they should contact me.

The folks from Vanguard Space asked me to develop this kit way back in late 2007. I think every aspect of life that could get in the way of my doing it- did get in the way. It seemed like every simple issue would grow into a big delay mud-hole. The nosecone was the hardest part- NO ONE could make this out of balsawood at any sort of reasonable cost or in any sort of quantity needed to bring a kit to market. Finally I had it molded by U812, one of the TRF'ers from this site.

Now, I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that my multiple beta builders and I caught all of the glitches in this one... we'll see... stay tuned. But- at least the kit’s made here in the United States and I am not a communist… although I do live in the People’s Republic of Maryland, which ain’t far off.:rolleyes:
 
Maryland's not that bad, I grew up in Olney,MD.

Can't wait to build one of these.
 
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So... I'll bet you've go a lot of great stories about escaping in a balloon or tunneling under the barbed wire :wink:
 
Okay- back on topic...

I wanna address this one before it comes up.

This kit comes with "stick-on" paper decals. The reason here is two fold. #1 the water-slide decals have become a total pain- in every respect. #2, the decal patterns have a lot of white background, and those are quite expensive to produce for a kit of this type. The paper stick-on's seem to be holding quite well. In fact the test set have been on the test rocket for over a year and done several flights, so far no peeling- unless you want to peel them off. Then they come off fairly freely and some light sanding with fine sandpaper removes any edge marks.

So- when someone, one day in the future, makes a remark about the decals being "Cheap-O" my reply will be- "yep."
 
Yes- it should have been up this weekend, but life got in the way- stay tuned.
 
Dr. Z,

Can the decals possibly be printed onto something more substantial, to be incorporated into the actual structure of a kit?

I'm just following my train of thought, which rarely has any tracks....I was just thinking about how I use blank labels from Staples to reinforce balsa fins, maybe pre-printed decal/label thingies could be used as reinforcement in other ways? Maybe?

G.D.
 
Chris ,

Been following your build on your fine site ,and as usual, very helpful with great tips.
I plan on buying this kit and a few others ,so very glad to have your site to help things along.

Thanks

paul t
 
gdiscenza said:
Dr. Z,

Can the decals possibly be printed onto something more substantial, to be incorporated into the actual structure of a kit?

I'm just following my train of thought, which rarely has any tracks....I was just thinking about how I use blank labels from Staples to reinforce balsa fins, maybe pre-printed decal/label thingies could be used as reinforcement in other ways? Maybe?

G.D.
Click to expand...


I'm not sure what you're getting at here... perhaps you should check your medication and try to explain what you're thinking from a different angle. I'm trying to read your thoughts here, but I keep getting static, a test pattern, a re-run of Mythbusters and one of those auto insurance commercials with that Mayhem guy in it.:cyclops:
 
OK, different angle:

Instead of having the builder apply fillets to the BT/fin joint, and a layer of filler to the grain of the balsa fins, how about taking a page from those HPR builders who like to fiberglass their fin cans "tip-to-tip" and substitute a pre-printed decal for application "tip-to-tip" - reinforcing structure and finish all in one!

Or, instead of using white glue when creating a cardstock shroud, use a decal with the seam offset from the seam of the cardstock shroud, same size and shape decal, just rotated about 60-75 degrees around the BT. It would take a tad more finesse to get it correctly positioned, but you could save 1/2 gram or so worth of adhesive.

Does that help you get what I'm thinking?

G.D.
 
gdiscenza said:
OK, different angle:

Instead of having the builder apply fillets to the BT/fin joint, and a layer of filler to the grain of the balsa fins, how about taking a page from those HPR builders who like to fiberglass their fin cans "tip-to-tip" and substitute a pre-printed decal for application "tip-to-tip" - reinforcing structure and finish all in one!

Or, instead of using white glue when creating a cardstock shroud, use a decal with the seam offset from the seam of the cardstock shroud, same size and shape decal, just rotated about 60-75 degrees around the BT. It would take a tad more finesse to get it correctly positioned, but you could save 1/2 gram or so worth of adhesive.

Does that help you get what I'm thinking?

G.D.
Click to expand...

Okay- that's far more clear (either your medication, or perhaps meditation, has kicked in or mine has... probably mine ;)

Hummm... that's an interesting idea. Perhaps some of the folks who read this thread may want to get the kit and try that out, then photo and post the results here. It could really add to the conversation plus I'd like to see how it works. I'm all for innovation like this.
 
Alright, it's up on the webpage, along with a Mercury Atlas kit that looks really awesome.
 
My webmaster originally had the staging photo in a horizontal position- I had her correct it, and told her that to rocketeers a horizontal staging was a REALLY bad thing.
 
Another one of your flawless fine builds Chris ! That is indeed a great looking kit ,very nice detail work ( I saw your blog ,as I often do)as usual and the blog will be of great help to those wishing to build one, myself included.

Sincerely

Paul T
 
The build thread was also a GREAT mind easer for me. This kit had so many bumps along the way to production that I was sure there had to be some kind of a bug out there waiting for me to release the kit. But after following the highly detailed build thread on your blog I came to the conclusing that there cannot be anything that you did not find. WHEW!

Thanks for the words about the gap-staging... part of it is actually an illusion, however. You see it looks like that first stage is REALLY long, but in fact, if you look closely and measure how far apart the upper end of the booster is from the nozzle of the second stage engine you will find that the actual "gap" is only 4.25 inches. Considering that the maximum is 10 inches... well you can see that I really did not leave much to risk. The key to the design, which is what I think you're really speaking about, is innovative venting.
 

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