Serafino
Sr Member
I've been mulling this issue over again lately after some conversations with machinists. There are several issues to decide, such as material, finish, and certain details.
For starters, the original interconnects are made from a very special nickel alloy called Inconel. It's great for high-heat applications, but it's difficult and expensive to machine, and (not that it matters all that much) expensive to buy.
The one on the original prop is mostly very dark as we all know. Whether or not it is truly black doesn't matter--it's almost as dark as the booster, and that opens the question of how you get there.
Inconel doesn't oxidize black, but it can get coated in burned black 'stuff' through use. So far I have not seen an interconnect that is completely coated though, so it seems very likely that the prop emitter was made to look dark "somehow" by the prop people.
So here are the options as I see them, I'd like to hear what you all think.
Inconel--Lovely grey color and cool space-age conversation piece, but I suspect it would double the price point so that even offshore we're looking at $100-$150 prices. US-made we're talking $200-$250. But oh so cool. To get the final dark color it would most likely have to be painted, although individual experiments with smoke-blackening followed by clear-coating might be worthwhile. There are ways to blacken Inconel, but I doubt I can persuade NASA to help us out...
Steel--Gives the right weight and a similar color, and it can be blackened chemically, which is convenient if not 'authentic'. Some people worry about corrosion but with proper care (and some museum-grade wax coating) I doubt there would be problems, and hopefully you've got a steel booster so you're already taking precautions, right? We'd probably see prices ranging from $50 to $150.
Stainless Steel--some grades have a relatively grey color, and there's not much worry about corrosion, it's sorta-kinda related to Inconel if you use a chromium/nickel SS alloy. More difficult to machine than regular steels, we're probably looking at a range of $80 to $200.
Here's an original interconnect on the left, darkened from use and age, and a steel Obee1 replica. It would be fairly easy to darken the steel to come close to the grey of the original. I'm not sure any grade of SS could get that grey. The grey color is IMO important because it is what shows on the un-darkened face of the emitter on the original prop, you don't want it to be too light IMO.
My own vote would be for either Inconel or steel. What say you?
For starters, the original interconnects are made from a very special nickel alloy called Inconel. It's great for high-heat applications, but it's difficult and expensive to machine, and (not that it matters all that much) expensive to buy.
The one on the original prop is mostly very dark as we all know. Whether or not it is truly black doesn't matter--it's almost as dark as the booster, and that opens the question of how you get there.
Inconel doesn't oxidize black, but it can get coated in burned black 'stuff' through use. So far I have not seen an interconnect that is completely coated though, so it seems very likely that the prop emitter was made to look dark "somehow" by the prop people.
So here are the options as I see them, I'd like to hear what you all think.
Inconel--Lovely grey color and cool space-age conversation piece, but I suspect it would double the price point so that even offshore we're looking at $100-$150 prices. US-made we're talking $200-$250. But oh so cool. To get the final dark color it would most likely have to be painted, although individual experiments with smoke-blackening followed by clear-coating might be worthwhile. There are ways to blacken Inconel, but I doubt I can persuade NASA to help us out...
Steel--Gives the right weight and a similar color, and it can be blackened chemically, which is convenient if not 'authentic'. Some people worry about corrosion but with proper care (and some museum-grade wax coating) I doubt there would be problems, and hopefully you've got a steel booster so you're already taking precautions, right?
We'd probably see prices ranging from $50 to $150.Stainless Steel--some grades have a relatively grey color, and there's not much worry about corrosion, it's sorta-kinda related to Inconel if you use a chromium/nickel SS alloy. More difficult to machine than regular steels, we're probably looking at a range of $80 to $200.
Here's an original interconnect on the left, darkened from use and age, and a steel Obee1 replica. It would be fairly easy to darken the steel to come close to the grey of the original. I'm not sure any grade of SS could get that grey. The grey color is IMO important because it is what shows on the un-darkened face of the emitter on the original prop, you don't want it to be too light IMO.
My own vote would be for either Inconel or steel. What say you?
