Looking for a Nimbus Estes Rocket
If anyone comes across a Nimbus rocket or has one from Estes vintage days, please lmk. I would like to purchase one.
Thank you,
Gary
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Good luck. That's a long OOP kit.
FWIW, JimZ Rocket Plans has the instructions for the Nimbus. You could cut the fins yourself from balsa (talk to me about that if you're interested). The nosecone is most difficult but I'd wager it could be created from a block of balsa. If you know anyone with a 3D printer (🤔) it may be possible to model that nosecone and 3D print it.
Hey Gary,
Links follow to some of the resources I was talking about yesterday. I've done a couple projects over the years cloning and downscaling other old Estes kits using these.
Toward tracking down a vintage kit---
It's worth asking in the Yard Sale/Wanted section of The Rocketry Forum:
https://www.rocketryforum.com/forums/yard-sale-wanted.20/
I assume Ye Olde Rocketry Forum (YORF) also has a section to ask for wanted kits like that but I don't frequent that forum (not a judgement, I just find it physically hard to read their color scheme).
Toward building your own clone---
Most difficult for this kit is of course the nosecone.
Ye Olde Rocket Shoppe (and a few other people) have lists of parts for a large number of Estes and other kits:
https://www.rocketshoppe.com/tips.htm
The nosecone is also listed on the Nimbus' page on Rocket Reviews:
https://www.rocketreviews.com/nimbus---estes-1971-1987-1989.html
Both those sources confirm that the nosecone for the Nimbus is Estes' blow-molded PNC-50F, part #071030, same as that for Estes' Starship Nova, which was available recently. I believe the Starship Nova is actually a design from around the same period as the Nimbus (originally early '80s?) that Estes re-released in 2017 and then discontinued again just in the last couple years (I'd guess 2022 but am not sure). I do have a Starship Nova kit on-hand however. I've artificially marked it out-of-stock so no one can scoop it from you---there's this guy Eric Becher who seems to be muscling into the local rocketry market, he's even put his tent right up next to mine so no one could see my sweet logo! I kid, but I did confirm both that I have a Starship Nova on the shelf and I can't get more, so I'm holding it for you. Let me know if you're interested:
https://rocketshipgames.com/store/#!/Starship-Nova/p/507213680
It looks like Sirius Rocketry also has one in stock:
https://www.siriusrocketry.biz/ishop/estes-starship-nova-1858.html
If you haven't encountered them before, Sirius is a cool mid-volume manufacturer as well as vendor. Of special note here, they also offer a selection of castings of notable out-of-print nosecones. One of those is the Nimbus' PNC-50F!
https://www.siriusrocketry.biz/ishop/moldin-oldies-pnc-50f-19.html
Unfortunately and somewhat surprisingly I haven't found any STLs of that nosecone for 3D printing. You've piqued my interest somewhat to model it but I have no idea when I'd get to it. Somebody does offer a physical print via Shapeways but it's real expensive:
https://www.shapeways.com/product/6L3LFBYLM/classic-estes-style-nose-cone-pnc-50f-replacement?li=aeTabs&optionId=40511672
But, long story short, you've got a couple options to get a nosecone.
The Starship Nova has a more built-up tail but it's very similar to the Nimbus and a good parts park to clone from. Importantly, its body tube is longer than that for the Nimbus so it'll work out by just cutting it down. Then you'd also have the motor mount, etc.. Basic stats for the Starship Nova are here:
https://www.rocketreviews.com/estes-starship-nova.html
A BT-50 tube and the other parts are also readily available on their own though.
Toward getting the Nimbus fins and decals right, JimZ's Spacemodeling page has full scans of the kit:
https://www.spacemodeling.org/jimz/est1971.htm
From those scans you can print out the fin patterns for cutting and the graphics on waterslide decal or sticker paper. Note that the images on that page link to TIFF files, but if that's an issue there is also a PDF linked from the very top.
I hope some of that's helpful. Happy to provide any help I can working through the build further, I enjoy this sort of project.
Well, if you can find a "Starship Nova" nosecone that's the exact match for the Nimbus and the rest is entirely fabricatable as others have said. If you've got two balsa cones of the right size, with a bit of carving, sanding and gluing, you can build a nose like that.