I was on the way home yesterday and was thinking about changing my IntR/Ceptor profile model into an elevon only model, instead of one with full flying tail surfaces. This would require moving the wing back and making it larger. I remembered that the hobby shop had an Interceptor E kit that had been sitting on the shelf for a long time. I did some quick checking and thought I could do a modification of this to keep the tube and nose cone and see if I could get it to fly ok. I did some quick wing planform checks and came out with something I thought would work.

I dumped the wingtip pods since they are heavy and will re-make those from foam. I enlarged the existing wing/tail slots to fit my depron surfaces and installed the wing. I made the forward tube section removable along with the strakes so that I can access the mid mounted rail button. It turned out for CG I did need to use the plastic tail piece. 7-8 ounces/sq foot, slightly more than my full profile version. The need for the tail cone for CG means the motor is inset about 3/4"

First flight was really good, slightly nose heavy, and a bit touchy on roll. I adjusted the cg rearward by adding 1/4 ounce to the tail and toning down the aileron. I later replaced the 1/4 ounce of tail weight with the plastic vertical stab antennae which weighed the same overall. I added some panel lines, accented the nose cone panels with a sharpie pen and added some trim vinyl. All up 12.5 ounces rtf now.

Here are videos of all three versions plus my kit profile version.

Four Variations of Interceptor RC Rocket gliders (5 min 15 sec)

Here are two rocket gliders using lightweight tubing. The first is a retro shuttle sort of design, trying to replicate the booster portion of the old Centuri Space Shuttle which had a piggyback glider and booster that were both gliders. I always liked the booster design, and since I didn't have a piggyback glider added a third central fin in a similar shape to the piggyback glider just for extra lateral stability. I also did a top mounted wing so I didn't have to cut the tubing. Canopies are folded photo paper glued to the cones. I did it with both a short nose and long nose, decided the long nose looked better but makes it look more like an XB-70 than the original design....This is 11 oz rtf for 24mm rocket motors

The second is a Bomarc Missile. The bomarc has a pretty small wing for the weight so the glide is not long. My profile version glides much better but this tube based one is much better looking. 16 oz rtf with 24mm rocket motors. So far the ramjets are holding up well to landings.

Here are the latest flights, the Shuttle flying on an E-6 and the Bomarc flying on an Estes and aerotech E-12 motors

Rocket boosted RC Airforce Shuttle Concept glider (1 min 3 sec)

RC Bomarc Missile flying on E-12 rocket motor (0 min 30 sec)

...Continue Reading