These experts have been saying for decades that you need a big workshop that includes a wood lathe or a drill press to make nose cones. It is very humbling to have to admit it, but for a long time, I believed it myself. Using an expensive drill press is the only nose cone construction method I describe in my book Model Rocket Design & Construction.

But I got around to experimenting on my own, and talking to other modelers who refused to listen to these stuck-in-the-mud experts. I discovered that it is possible to make inexpensive nose cones that look just as good as commercially made cones using simple hand tools that every rocketeer already owns!

Take a look at the five nose cones I quickly made. This is what you can expect yours to look like after learning the proper techniques.

I bet you're like me. You love rocketry so much, that whenever you see a paper tube, you say to yourself: "I bet that would make a great rocket." But then you look at it more closely, and you discover that it is an odd size, and there isn't a standard size nose cone that would fit it. So the tube eventually goes unused into the trash can. What a waste. You had a free -- perfectly good -- body tube, and now it sits in a landfill.

If you had an inexpensive nose cone that would fit that tube, I bet you'd fly it. Admit it. You would.

But where do you find an inexpensive nose cone?

The nose cone is one of the most expensive parts in a rocket, costing at a minimum of a couple of dollars for a small one. As the size increases, the price seems to go up exponentially. While pre-manufactured nose cones are convenient, if you really want to save money, you need to start making your own. Because it isn't the material that is expensive, it is the labor cost needed to give it the proper shape.

Take a look again at the photo above. I made those five nose cones out of scrap material that I had laying around in my workshop. It was bits-and-pieces that I was eventually going to throw away. The only "new" material I used was some wood glue and sanding sealer. In effect, I made those five nose cones for a few pennies.

While it only cost me a few pennies compared to stock nose cones; consider this: these were custom shapes! Shapes that I wanted, not the stock ones available from manufacturers. Just think about it; if you had custom shaped nose cones made to order commercially, you'd pay an astronomical price. The money I saved making five cones was a tiny fraction of the cost of just one custom nose cone.

I would bet that most people wouldn't be able to tell by glancing at your completed rocket that you make the nose cones yourself. They'd really have to take the nose off the rocket and look at the inside of the nose to see that it was custom made. How's that for passing the "Quality Test?"

In this new video book, I point out to you the critical steps in the process, and where you need to use extra care to make sure your nose cone is well crafted.

You see, good nose cones fit the tube perfectly. Their shoulder has just the right amount of friction so it doesn't take much effort to blow off, but isn't too loose either. And the joint where the nose cone meets the tube must be equally smooth; so that it doesn't trip the airflow boundry layer: creating excess drag. Finally, the last hallmark of a good nose cone is that it has a smooth surface finish. I will show you how to ensure that your custom made nose cone meets this quality criteria.

I consider carving a nose cone a "Skill Level 5" task (see the article "Measuring Your Skill Level"). However, if you break it down into small and managible steps like I will show you in this video book, it becomes very easy to do. That is the value of this video book. It shows you the little tricks that simplifies the process.

You know, I could spend an hour trying to explain to you over the telephone how to make nose cones using simple tools like a sanding block and hobby knife. But no matter how much I talked, it wouldn't do you any good until you saw the process with your own eyes.

It comes down to "technique." When you know the techniques, you'll be able to make flawless rockets as well as anyone. I've been saying this for years. Let me illustrate this for you. Below is the table of contents from the video book. After seeing these steps in print, do you think you're any better off and more capable of making a precision nose cone?

Table of Contents:

Tools, Materials, and Building Supplies
Why Videos? Why Not Just Use Regular Printed Instructions?
VIDEO #1: Introduction, and how to make a large balsa wood block
VIDEO #2: Glue the Shoulder On the Balsa Block
VIDEO #3: Make a Template For When You Are Sanding the Nose Cone
VIDEO #4: Sanding The Balsa Wood Block Round
VIDEO #5: Sanding the Balsa Block To The Correct Shape
VIDEO #6: Sanding The Foam and The Built-up Blocks to Shape
VIDEO #7: Sealing The Surface of The Nose Cones
VIDEO #8: Making The Shock Cord Mount
VIDEO #9: Painting Precautions

Most new modelers don't understand the importance of learning proper building technique. They think they can learn everthing they need to know by reading kit instructions. Unfortunately, that isn't the case. Do you think a heart surgen could learn to operate without seeing an expert do it first? Man, I wouldn't want to be his first patient... You learn technique by watching someone else do it.

Technique, as I define it is not "what" you do, but how and why you do it. It is how you hold the part in your fingers, the angle of the cutting blade, the way you rotate the part while you sand it. And it is why you choose certain materials over others, and why you choose the right kind of paint. These little things make all the difference in the world. If you do one small thing wrong, you'll probably end up ruining the part.

That is what I want to teach you in this new video book. You'll learn the proper techniques to use. Once you've mastered this, the sky is the limit. You see, the same skills and techniques you use for making your own custom nose cones can be used on other areas of your rocket too. You'll make better fins, and cleaner looking rockets!

A video book from Apogee Components is a CD-ROM for your computer that contains video that is embedded into the pages of a pdf document.

You know what a pdf document is, right? A video book has all those same characteristics. For example, you open it up on your computer using Adobe Acrobat Reader. It is cross compatible for both Windows and Macintosh computers. It has neat features like being able to quickly flip through the pages on your computer screen, and zoom in/out, and search for keyword phrases. It can also contain links to other pages in the document or clickable links that will launch your web browser to search the internet.

The only thing we do different is put small Quicktime movie files onto the pages. What looks like a photograph on the page turns into a video when you click on it with your mouse. So each time you flip to a new page, you get to watch a new "how-to" video.

The advantage of the QuickTime format is that you can start and stop the movie and any point, as well as scroll through the sequences at high or slow speed. It is much better than watching a VHS tape, because you can quickly find the scene you are looking for in just a few seconds. And it's portable too. Can you imagine taking your laptop computer on an airplane or to a launch site and watching rocket videos?

As a learning tool, the video book is truly awesome. I'm really surprised that more vendors don't take advantage of its capabilities. It makes it easy to allow you to proceed and learn at your own pace.

By marrying video with text and illustrations, you get the best of both worlds. You can print out things, like the parts and tool list, and still be able to watch the videos.

There are three types of materials that you can use to make your own custom nose cones:

• Solid block of balsa wood
• Built-up balsa wood blocks
• Styrofoam

Each of these materials is unique, and has its own properties. I will show you the specific techniques for each of these materials. This includes things like:

• How to glue to it
• What type of adhesive to use, and which ones to avoid
• How to strengthen it
• How to shape it
• Which type of sandpaper to use
• How to make the certain the final profile matches the custom shape you wanted
• How to paint it
• How to attach the parachute and the shock cord

You're going to get over 34 minutes of live-action video on this CD-ROM. By live-action, I don't mean a bunch of boring stuff that will put you to sleep. It has been condensed down to the nitty-gritty important details. What that means is that I've edited out all the slow scenes, so that your time is not wasted.

Because you want to save money!

When you make your own nose cones, you are no longer dependant on manufacturers like Apogee Components to make the shapes and sizes you need. If you have a cheap tube, you can make your own nose cone for literally pennies, and you'll have a inexpensive rockets.

How soon do you want to start saving money?

If you say "right now," then click on the "Add to Cart" button below. Once we get your order, we'll send out this item and any others you selected with awesome speed. That is our specialty. We ship things to you fast, so you don't have to wait.

Right now, the price is so low because this is an introductory offer. It will be going up later this year.

The price will be going up later for two reasons.

• By showing you this information, I'm killing the sales of Apogee's own nose cones. Once you learn how to make them yourself, you'll have no need to buy Apogee's quality nose cones. Right? So I have to make up the lost income of those sales by increasing the price of this video book.
  
  
• What you'll learn from me will save you a lot of time and money. You're not going to find this kind of quality instruction anywhere on the planet. I've been teaching thousands of modelers how to build better rockets for a long time. I know what techniques are the most effective for beginners to learn. I've seen products like this for sale at $29.95 and higher.

But I really and truly believe in the video-book method of teaching modelers proper building techniques. It works. The proof is all the customer comments that I've gotten back for my other video books. They each say the same thing: "I learned so much that I never knew before. This is GREAT!" I believe that once you watch this video book, you'll come back and get the other ones too.

So while I don't make much money on your initial purchase, I believe that after experiencing the often hailed "Apogee Customer Service" and seeing the quality of this video book, I'll have you coming back for more. After all, rocketry is very addicting -- but in a good way.

But the price will be going up, so I urge you take advantage of this introductory offer right now. Go ahead and order it today while you're still interested in saving some money. Just click the "Add to Cart" button below to start the ordering process.

"I just received my rocksim CD which I ordered three days ago (Thursday, today is Saturday). I've gotta tell you, I was expecting it to arrive Tuesday at the earliest knowing my luck with shipments. It was kind of nice to receive something so promptly. Thanks a lot for the speed and great service. I'm really looking forward to my new software and future purchases."
-- Jared Woolston