April 16, 2013
Semroc has listed the Spring 2013 collection. Among these is one of my personal favorites the Starship Excalibur. This is a great retro kit from the Estes release in the 1960s. The model is based on the Kit #55 from Estes.
The other releases consist of the Centurion-F, Maxi-Micron and the Booster-18 staging adapter.
As usual Semroc’s quality components shine through in these releases.
February 22, 2013
I am happy to see Estes re-release one of my favorite rockets of all time – The Sprint. The new release is a bigger meaner Sprint built on a BT 60 tube and using D and E motors and is a tribute to designer Mike Dorfler.
Last year I used a standard Sprint in several NAR contest and won each of them. The efficiency of the design incorporating the elliptical fins and a boat-tail is legendary.
Link to Estes Astron Sprint XL
November 19, 2012
NASA is revisiting an old concept of Copter Recovery for Space capsules(Link here). If you follow some of my rocketry obsessions you would be aware that Copter recovery is very high on the list. See my Copter Recovery Guide for modeler links and info.
In watching some of the new test and looking at vintage research I realized that there were some new modeling opportunities.
I have built a few models with blade recovery capsules and flew them. I called them Teepee Twisters and they were a great deal of fun to fly. But what has caught my eye here is the Vortex Ring Parachute. I would love to find a viable pattern for this chute and reproduce it for a model. If anyone out there has the chute pattern and line configuration let me know. I will continue to study the images in the meantime hoping to create my own pattern to test.
Man tested Vortex Ring Chute
Vortex Ring Chute test
NASA test video
Tests of a Vortex-Ring Parachute at Supersonic Speed
September 25, 2012
Ralf Wenderoth’s Solevig
Ralf Wenderoth’s “Cool Rocket”
These are two of Ralf Wenderoth’s many designs
Ralf Wenderoth of Germany has been designing some great flyable paper rockets. On many of his designs Ralf includes the Open Rocket data. Today I have added Ralf’s rockets to the Ultimate Paper Rocket Guide.
You can find his paper rockets at
Ralf Wenderoth’s paper rockets
You can find his rocketry website here
June 8, 2012
New 13mm and MicroMax paper rocket is now available from
The Pinwheel
“It based on the Pinwheel toy I played with as a
kid. We didn’t have X-Box’s back then. 
(about the MicroMax)The one page file comes with complete instructions and patterns for making 3
complete rockets. Print on light cardstock or heavy bond paper and put together
with Elmer’s glue.” – Art Applewhite
The 13mm has one rocket pattern per page
Go to Art’s Free Stuff section to download the PDFs
May 25, 2012
In honor of today’s successful arrival of the Dragon spacecraft at the ISS it seemed only natural to build a paper model.
If you follow this blog you know that I have already built a flyable paper model of the Falcon 9.
Link here: Build your own Falcon 9
I found that Ton Noteboom has a great paper model of the Dragon spacecraft on his site.
click to go to Ton Noteboom’s site
See more great Paper builds at my
April 15, 2012
This 1/48th scale Gemini capsule (Ton Noteboom’s design) was flown to 95,000 feet on a balloon by JP Aerospace. However this is not the highest one of Ton’s model has been flown.Astronaut John Grunsfeld took a model of Ton’s Hubble up in the space shuttle on Repair Mission 4 to the Hubble.
You can find Ton’s 1/48 and the 1/96 scale of Gemini-Titan II over at the Lower Hudson Valley Challenger Center Paper E-Gift Shop (scroll down the page of real spacecraft models)
February 18, 2012
Are you a fan of SpaceX or just a space modeler or rocketeer looking for your next build? Why not build a SpaceX Falcon 9 in time for its first launch to the IIS in April?
You have a options when it comes to the build.
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 kit
The static model is available to download and print from The Lower Hudson Valley Paper Model E-Gift Shop for free. (scroll 3/4 down the page)
or
You can download the static model and with a few simple conversions make it flyable like I did.
Here is my flyable model:
My Paper flyable Falcon 9
The model can be built using the standard static build and replacing the centering rings with more substantial material. I choose to build the Falcon 9 with Dragon crew capsule. I used foam board with a 13 mm hole used to run a 13 mm tube throughout the length. The rocket separates at the Dragon capsule and successfully flies on 13mm motors. I made the fins from clear plastic to keep the Falcon 9 no fin look.
Which ever option you choose the Falcon 9 makes a great addition to the fleet.
For more details on the Falcon 9 check out these references:
Falcon 9 – Wikipedia
Falcon 9 official site at SpaceX
…and for more great paper models please visit my Ultimate Paper Rocket Guide
November 25, 2011
“OpenRocket 1.1.9 has just been released and is available at the normal
location: http://openrocket.sourceforge.net/
For this version Richard Graham has implemented geodetic computation
methods, which take into account the curvature of the Earth,
calculates latitude/longitude/altitude and takes into account the
coriolis effect. The computation method is selected by the “Geodetic
calculations” option in the simulation options. It’s not (yet) a full
spherical computation model, but should be accurate enough for pretty
much all sub-orbital needs.
Doug Pedrick has also enhanced the printing system with the ability to
print fin positioning guides, transition templates and nose cone
profiles. Other smaller enhancements and bug fixes are also included.”
-Cheers,
Sampo Niskanen
January 13, 2011
Nice little build instructions over at one of my favorite magazines – MAKE (one of only 2 magazines that I subscribe to)
A $5 – toilet paper tube based Heli-Rocket.
Make Magazine - Heli-Rocket
http://makeprojects.com/Project/-5-Heli-Rocket/500/1
Video of the rocket in action:
Please ignore the safety error of using a fuse and launch electronically according to NAR safety rules.
August 27, 2010
Here is a new paper Ready-to-Fly rocket from Sergio Moalli. Sergio lives in Varese ( a little city near Milan, Italy). This is Sergio’s first design submitted to the Rocketry Blog. Sergio suggest using heavier cardstock (if my conversions are correct he suggest 110 lb).
Sergio says “My hobby is 3D computer graphics and my passion is build and fly paper model rockets.”
Octagon Skyrunner
OCTAGON SKYRUNNER – (PDF)
This can be permanently found in The Ultimate Paper Rocket Guide
August 2, 2010
This weekend I launched my hacked version of the TOR.com Stubby rocket. This static cardstock rocket is as the name implies “stubby” with fins pretty far forward. The challenge was giving this rocket enough stability that it would fly. I began by converting the model to have a BT-5 tube than ran the length of the rocket with centering rings and structure to support. The nose was converted to pop off from the ejection charge revealing a small chute/streamer for a simple active recovery. The nose weight required for stability was fairly substantial for this size paper rocket and moved the CG forward enough to make it marginally stable. The build require quite a bit of alteration to the rear motor assembly to encompass a 13mm Estes motor.
Hacked Stubby with 13mm Estes Motor
The first flight of Stubby was successful. I flew the Stubby on a 1/2 A-4T which was a little underpowered and caused the rocket to do a slow arc across the sky. Next launch I will use a A-10 which is probably better suited for this build.
Stubby flies!
July 25, 2010
MMX Missile Toe
Chris Michielssen has another great little MMX paper interpretation for us. The MMX Missile Toe is a micro Goonie based on Estes kit #0854 that requires a Mosquito style nose cone. Since it needs a nose cone it is in my Partial Paper Rocket Builds section under Chris’s name. You could probably use Eric Truax’s 13 mm paper nose cone kit’s Mosquito nose cone (PDF link) and turn it into a total paper build.
The MMX Missile Toe
This will permanently be available in my Partial Paper Rocket Builds section (Chris’s rockets are near bottom of page)
UPDATE! See Chris’s new build, the MMX Sky Shriek, on the Partial Paper Rocket Builds page.
Stubby Rocket from Robert Nava and Tor.com
Designer Robert Nava has created the Stubby Rocket that is now available over at Tor.com. This is a static model but I have already began the process to convert mine into a real flyer. I’ll post pictures when finished.
The Stubby Rocket – Tor.com
The link is permanently available on my Ultimate Paper Rocket Guide page (under static models)
Read more about Tor.com’s Stubby Rocket here
July 15, 2010
MMX Sky Writer
Remember the Estes Sky Writer?
Chris Michielssen has just released his paper build interpretation of the Estes Sky Writer. You will be able to find this simple one page build in my Partial Paper Rocket section of the Ultimate Paper Rocket Guide . The rocket uses a small section of 1/4 inch wooden dowel as the nosecone to complete. Thanks to Chris for this excellent build.
Download - Sky Writer No. 2 MMX
Ultimate Paper Rocket Guide and the accompanying Partial Paper Rocket Guide( when non-paper parts are needed)
May 20, 2010
In honor of Atlantis flying its final mission I decided to do a paper build, I’ve been wanting to build a shuttle for a while and this seem to be an appropriate time to begin.The model is from AXM Paper Space Scale Models. This is a very well thought out model. The construction is well documented and the overall design is a winner. The construction method and design make for a strong and sturdy build. Here she is:
My Atlantis Paper Model
view of engines
I’ve started construction of the External Tank and the SRB’s . I’ll post when I finish.
If you feel up to the challenge of creating your own paper models visit my Ultimate Paper Rocket Guide.
The Atlantis files and all other Shuttle Missions can be found at AXM Paper Space Scale Models
You can find a model for most shuttle missions. The STS 132 mission is on the bottom of the 5th download page. Be sure to download both the General Parts file and the Manuals from this page.
NASA Breaking News
