I'm doing level 3!

I just got the first shipment of major parts for my level three project. Over the past month or two, i've been getting little stuff like fiberglass, drouge chute, U-bolts, motor retention, epoxy, and some carbon fiber cloth. Today I got the tubes, couplers and the nose cone. I am just waiting on the centering rings, bulkheads and fins from Smokin' Rockets. This thing is huge! Six inches in diameter, 12 feet tall. You know it's a cool rocket when you can't stand it up in the house. Here's pic of most of the stuff so far.

Nick,

Good for you bro!!! glad the goodies are showing up and you should have one heck of a bird for an L3. BTW, what is it...a kit from Smok'in Rockets? I know you had been talking about it...inquiring minds want to know.

The parts look great and should go toghether well. Question...is that a SkyAngle drogue cute you have there? Kinda looks like mine so I had to ask. If it is and you plan on purchasing a Main Parachute, remember they can custom color match it for you to match your Drogue!

Good luck and keep us posted!

Carl

It is a kit from Smokin' Rockets. It's the Mission Impossible kit. My only complaint so far is that it's four fins. I thought it was only three. I really like three finned rockets. The drouge is a Skyangle cert 3. I will be using a Cert 3 XL for the main. I doubt if I will get the custom colors. I'm not that picky.

Here's the plan so far. I am going to use the Giant Leap Kevlar sock on the body tubes. The Easyglas sock will go over that. Carbon fiber cloth will be laid over the fins and fiberglass will go over that. The couplers will be reinforced internally with carbon fiber and fiberglass. I figure if I build it right, I can fly it on an N2000 someday.

If I succeed at level 3, and if I am able to go to LDRS next year, I will fly at least 2 M's. I want to fly an M1419W and an Animal Motor Works M3000ST. Carl, can you store them for me? I won't know until a lot later if I can go or not.

Dude, that is gonna awesome! I wish you the best of luck on your endeavour! I cant wait to see this thing come together!


Post LOTS of pics!!!

No fins yet. But I had a chance to set it up outside to see how big it is. It's huge! It dwarfs my level 2 rocket, a Public Enemy Extreme Performer.

Holy crap! That thing definitely falls under the BFR (to borrow one of Carl's terms) category! That's gonna be awesome! Start stockpiling primer and paint now, dude!!!

Loopy

Nick,

I'm tellin' yer neighbors, man....

How much do you think it will weigh when it's finished?

Jim,

My neighbors know all about my obsession...er...hobby. Every now and the, I get bored so I static fire an F or G in the backyard. They all come out to watch. So when I set this thing up in the yard, they weren't surprised.

The night I got it, we had a bunch of people from church over for dinner, including our pastor. My dad told me to show everyone. When I went upstairs to get it, the pastor asks my dad: "So is this like one of those Estes rockets?" My dad said "something like that." Man, you should have seen their faces when I brought it down in two pieces! They were very impressed.

Blue Ninja,

I'm hoping for between 50 and 60 pounds dry. That keeps the altitude down somewhat and it is still somewhat manageable.

Loopy,

I've already got some paint ready. I'm going to paint it like the Blue Angels.

Nick...GREAT outdoors photo bro!!! It looks very cool and you should have it together in no time. Enjoy it as much as possible...you only do it once.

Good luck man,

Carl

Originally posted by Rocketman248
Loopy,

I've already got some paint ready. I'm going to paint it like the Blue Angels.

Click to expand...

Wow - that's going to be awesome!

Loopy

I finally got all the parts for my rocket. All of yesterday was spent in the basement. I got all the fins tacked on with epoxy. I also put small wooden supports between each fin.

Today I have to help my neighbor stain her deck. After that, I will fiberglass the fins to the motor mount.

Pics here.

way...Way...WAY cool Nick!!!

Dang man, you have been busy...the fin can looks great as do the bulkheads. I hope you can get it finished and launched successfully...it's a great rocket for you bro.

Keep the great pics coming!

Carl

I've got one strip of fiberglass laid down. I'm about to go do a second one.

I will definitely get it done in time for the 4th of October. I'm out of school and I only work in the evenings. I have plenty of free time.

Nick, looks very cool, one prob when i click on one of the photos in you Epsom folder thingy it says photo is unavailable at this time? I'm not sure what to do??? suggestions anyone?

If you have Windows XP, you have to disable the firewall. That may be the case with other operating systems as well.

I got the kevlar sock from Giant leap today. I just put it on the payload section so far. It takes a whole lot of epoxy. I hope I have enough.

More work done today. Yesterday I put the kevlar on the main chute compartment. It was not fun at all. It took about an hour to put the epoxy on the entire tube. Today, I duped my Dad into doing the booster tube. Tommorow I will fiberglass the rest of the fins to the motor mount. Pics here.

Awsome!....those socks seem very handy

It's starting to come together. All the tubes have their kevlar sock, all the fins are fiberglassed to the motor tube and the fin slots have been cut. Tomorrow I will glass the inside of the couplers as well as install the motor mount assembly into the body tube. A 6" strip of carbon fiber will be laid across the fins and then a layer of glass will cover the whole fin area. I will probably be able to get that all done tomorow. Pics will come soon.

looks like its coming along nicely
your doing a great job too, kep it up
more pics

More work done today. I got the motor mount assembly epoxied in. I also have one strip of carbon fiber epoxied across the fins. Pics here.

Excellent Job so far,

Can I offer a couple of suggestions? Epoxy with no filler is almost a weak as just plain glue. Get yourself some "cabosil" it goes by lots of names, but that's the generic name. Always use the thinest epoxy you have available and mix in a little cabosil till you get it to the consistency that you want. Items like bulkheads to tubes, or bulkheads to Nosecones will be way stronger if you do this.

Anywhere you have to build a fillet, make sure you mix up the cabosil into the epoxy that you use. If not, the epoxy will just crack and break when stressed. Also, if you are going to do fillets, wait those layers of glass tip to tip on the fins until you have the fillet down. Any joint of Glass or CF that is "square" like the transition of the fin to the BT, will simply *break* unless you provide a smoothed transition. For the filets, use something like Epoxy paste or a mix of fairing compond (cabosil doesn't sand very well in this application, so they make stuff that does). Let it cure with slow cure overnight and then get the tip to tip layers down so you get a good chemical bond to the filet.

Doing this will make the joints strong and you'll be soo glad you did as the durability of the rocket will go up.

Keep up the good work. If you need a refresher on epoxy, see www.westsystems.com, their information is transportable to any epoxy.

Alan - with my .02

Thanks for the advice. Any advice is much appreciated. Even if you were to come over and beat me silly and tell me i'm doin' it wrong. I have some cabosil. I will use it on the rest of the rocket.

BTW. The video of your level 3 cert flight is awesome. How high/fast did it go?

It went 12,500' and 1.5 mach at about 2 seconds into the launch. While I didn't have my RDAS in it, It simmed to almost exactly that altitude so it would have required that acceleration/velocity to have attained that height.

It was a very cool flight. I've got a new one on the board, will be made of Carbon Fiber tube (maybe same as last time with a wrap of 6oz, or maybe a CF tube), and a conincal boattail to 98mm. Will still have a 76mm MMT, but the BT will allow me to streamline it a bit and still allow for a aeropack retainer.

That has to be one of the coolest flights I've ever experienced and the video caught it pretty well.

Thanks and good luck going forward.

Alan

After two nights of working, The altimeter is all wired up. With two altimeters and switches for on/off and switches for the charges, you have a lot of wires. It's a good thing I know electronics. I knew exactly what I wanted it to do, and how to make it do just that. There was never a point where it didn't work, it just took a long time to finish it.

I'll have pics tommorow. I have to find the camera. It's somewhere in the mess in the basement.

The altimeter bay is just a coupler with a bulkhead on each end. One is removable, the other is epoxied in. I used cabosil on that step. There are five 1/4" steel rods going through it. There is also a large U-bolt on each end. With NAR level 3, you need to be able to disarm the charges in addition to turning off the altimeters. So I have four switches all together. One to turn off the charges on the Missile Works RRC2. One to turn that altimeter on/off. One for the charges on the Transolve P6, and an on/off switch for that altimeter. There are tons of wires, but I labled each one so I know where they go. The bay weighs in at about 4 pounds.

Tommorow, I will put the last of the carbon fiber on the fins. In the evening, I will put the fiberglass over the fins. Once that is done and the epoxy is fully cured, I can start painting this beast. That will take most of the time. Pics soon. I promise.

Here's the pics I promised.

Talk about a lot of wires! I would suggest that you tape the matching wires (ex. Main charge wires on the RRC2) together every few inches or so. I would also suggest, to make your job a LOT easier, get some multi-filiment wire, such as lamp wire, that has two strands connected, it will help with organization, and when soldered, they work much better and easier than single filiment. They are much less prone to breakage inside the terminals. Otherwise, looks great! What is your electronics board made out of?

Keep goin Nick, odds are is that we will be there to see it fly!

Stranded wire *will* be much more durable under stress and vibration than solid wire, but take care... ...when soldering, if you let the solder wick up the strands too much, it reacts just like solid wire under vibration...

My Dad was saying the same thing about the stranded wire. I used solid wire in my level two rocket, and that has had a few rough landings with no problem.

Dan, the board is black G-10 fiberglass. I bought it on ROL Auctions. I had planned on using it for fins on an all fiberglass 54mm minimum diameter rocket. I wanted soething for extreme altitude using hybrids. Then I looked at the cost of fiberglass tubes. Maybe someday when i'm all growed up.