The RX-16's little brother

With the KSR-420S and the Estes Bat awaiting decals, and the scale model of the Corporal in primer, the work bench is looking a little bare. Time to start another build…

One of my favorite rockets is the RX-16 from the Centuri Power System outfit, a two rocket, "advanced" rocketry set issued back in 1978. The other rocket in the package was the RX-7, a simple 3 finned rocket that could be flown by itself or with a booster (making it a 2 stager) and with an optional payload section. It too was a pretty fun rocket, until it flew to Oz on a C6-0/C6-7 motor combination. Kinda funny how all my 2 stagers ended up disappearing over the rainbow back then - I suppose it is possible that sending them to altitudes of a couple thousand feet was a little too much for my friend's back yard (My dad had banned rocket flights from our yard after I accidentally put a Lil Hercules through the neighbor lady's window; she was a bit upset when the ejection charge went off in her living room. And it WAS an accident! Honest!).

Bill Eichelberger captured a picture of one of these relatively rare birds at NARAM 55 last year. Belonging to Mike Rohde, it sports the instruction recommended paint scheme, which I also intend to use.

A RX-7 on the pad (image courtesy Bill Eichelberger)

This build will be a little different from my standard approach, as I intend to laminate the fins with Avery mailing labels instead of applying multiple coats of sanding sealer. This will add strength to the fins and make them more resistant to breaking. The downside is that if I don't apply the label paper properly, the paper will separate from the fin over time, forming extremely unsightly bubbles. This has happened on a few of my older builds, but sealing the edges of the fins with thin CA (super glue) has helped eliminate the problem.

Time to start building!