Tag Archives: scale models

DFR’s Atlas V New Horizons Kit

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On January 19, 2006, an Atlas V launched from Cape Canveral Air Station to prepel NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft on its three billion mile journey to Pluto. When New Horizons reaches Pluto in the Summer of 2015 it will be travelling about 30,000 mph, too fast for it to be able to slow down to got into orbit around Pluto.  Instead, New Horizons will snap photographs and capture data as it passes within 6000 miles of Pluto’s surface.

DFR’s scale model of the Atlas V in its “New Horizons” AV511 configuration is JonRocket.com’s latest addition to our online catalog. This is DFR’s most detailed kit to date with many 3D printed parts and a pre-applied vinyl wrap on the body tube.

DFR Technologies New Horizons Atlas V

 

OOP Quest X-30 Aerospace Plane Kits in Stock

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Quest X-30 Aerospace PlaneOne of the newest additions to our online catalog is the Quest X-30 Aerospace Plane flying model rocket kit. Although new to our catalog, the X-30 kit has been out of production for several years. We were fortunate to have acquired a number of these vintage kits which are now for sale at JonRocket.com.

Chris Michielssen built the X-30 shown in the photograph. He describes building and finishing the kit in a series of articles in his Model Rocket Building Blog. Chris illustrates his blog posts with step-by-step photographs of the construction of the kit.

Assembled, the X-30 is a little over 17″ long. It flies on a C6-3 motor and is recovered using two 12″ parachutes. An Estes C6-3 is probably better-suited for this draggy model than a Quest C6-3. And, you may wish to replace the two small parachutes with a single 18″ parachute. A single parachute is easier to fit in the rocket and less likely to tangle on deployment.

While it is challenging to build, and can be a finicky flier, the Quest X-30 kit will make a unique addition to your rocketry fleet.