Journey to Level 2 with Mizz Rhonda

[jus_rockets]

Thanks. I hope my paint job comes out half as good as yours. Any idea of when you hope to give yours her maiden flight?

Thanks and I am sure yours will come out good too. It depends on my job, but hopefully March or April.

 

[Eric1]

Hi Russell,

Build is looking very well done. I recommend Loctite epoxy for plastic on the internal fillets and a small fillet on the outside. Then you can use West with filler to build the fillet.
Let me know if the machining goes wonky.

 

[chadrog]

You need to make sure you back up my "what a good deal" I got on those 54mm cases -next time you see Laura.:grin:

Welllll, will she make you sell more of your rockets to me if I don't?!? Hmmm. Just kidding of course, I'll cover ya'. Build looks great, I'm excited to see it. Try to hold off till March, I won't be at the meeting in Feb.

 

[Rrwjr]

Has it been almost 2 weeks since I last updated this thread? Man time flies. Well as I mentioned last time the next item I was going to dive into was the sled. While this is my first sled, I have tried to study what others have done. If you see something I have done that is really dumb or even questionable, let me know.

I started with cutting 2 pieces of 9/32 brass rod and epoxying them to my fiberglass main sled. These slide nicely in and out on the ¼ all thread that came with kit.



Next I laid my Stratologger from Perfectflite out on my sled. This is my first altimeter/ deployment/logger.



I then used my handy drill attachment for my dremel and drilled the holes. This is a pretty handy attachment and I have used it on a lot of rocket related items as well as other odds and ends.




Instead of making you all suffer thru my learning curve on wiring this, we will fast forward to it being completed. As you can see I have used twist ties to help secure the battery (there is one that goes the other direction that holds the connector on). I elected to use the kit from Dog House Rocketry and I am pretty pleased with it. I used some shrink tubing around all of the wires to help protect them from getting tangled or damaged.

 

[Rrwjr]

You can see from the back where I have zip ties helping keep everything in place.



I also wired up the main cap and drogue cap (sorry for crappy picture).



I also went ahead and installed the switch using a Forstner bit as a lot of people recommend.



I went ahead and engraved my bay with “Drogue” and “Main” and as you can see, I started to slide it together.

 

[Rrwjr]

I then went and put it together and drilled 4 vent holes as far back as I could per recommendations from the Perfect flite book.



All I have left to do to the AV Bay is seal areas with silicone to prevent charge materials from creating issues.

I believe it is ready to do some dry fire testing as soon as I find some FFFF powder. This is turning out to be the more difficult part of build. I have seen other threads where people have had the same issues getting the FFFF powder. It almost seems that the gun shops don’t want to sell it to me as since I don’t own any firearms, I think they pick up on my lack of firearm knowledge and then they just say they don’t have it.

 

[Rrwjr]

I have also been working with Mark out at Stickershock on some ideas. I have to say he has been just awesome in helping me out. I placed my order tonight. Here is a brief Jpeg of what we are doing. We are going with a 2 piece wrap. The biggest reason for this is as you look at the letters they go from grey which is the color used as representing brain cancer to periwinkle. This color is for my sister who has stomach cancer. Mark really worked hard to find something that would work and I think it will look great. The vinyl will start right after the nose cone and the white with letters is on the top half and the purple with letters is on the bottom half stopping right before the fins. I am deciding what color to paint the nose cone and area with the fins. I am leaning toward black as I think it will look nice but I haven’t fully decided yet.






Well the next entries will be me putting in the replacement centering ring for the one I lost and the upper centering ring, after that fillets on fins and dry firing the AV Bay.

 

[jus_rockets]

Good progress, looks very good.

 

[chadrog]

I have FFFF if you need it, not sure when I can get it to you though. I'm still up in the air on making it to Bong Saturday, you going?

 

[Rex R]

fyi; saucers (24 and 29mm) don't really need an ejection charge...and a 24mm AT reload comes with .5g of bp...
rex

 

[bill2654]

Awsome design and quality parts Eric, and great workmanship Russell.

 

[Rrwjr]

fyi; saucers (24 and 29mm) don't really need an ejection charge...and a 24mm AT reload comes with .5g of bp...
rex

Rex- it took me a minute to figure out what you were telling me. I think I'll try your logic and tell Laura, that I need to buy some saucers now and then I wont need to buy the FFFF powder.:lol: I wonder if she will go for that, sure she will right after I see one of these.:flyingpig:

 

[Rrwjr]

Awsome design and quality parts Eric, and great workmanship Russell.

Thank you for the kind words.

 

[Rrwjr]

I finished re-making the centering ring I lost. While not as Badd Azz as Eric’s orginal one, I think it came out pretty good. I probably could have thinned it out some more but I chickened out.



I went ahead then and installed the centering ring.



I also put in the upper ring and the lower motor holder. I also went ahead and attached shock cords, put on the cord protectors, nomex blankets and put in the drogue and main. I just couldn’t wait any longer to see how it all came together.

Here is the drogue chute I am using.



Here is the main.

 

[Rrwjr]

Here is a shot of it all laid out on the floor of the basement.



Here it is all dry assembled, with 3 of the casing I will be using for flights.



All that’s left to do is fillet the fins, sew loops in shock cords, clean up for applying vinyl and paint cone and fin can. If all goes well it will fly at our March club launch at Bong. I am planning on taking my L2 written test on 2-27.

Anyone see anything I forgot or should revisit? The last thing I want to do is lose this on its first flight due to something I missed. I do have a question for you guys with experience on this rocket. Do you use shear pins on the av-bay to lower tube? I have shear pins on nose-cone and I wasn’t sure about the lower section.

 

[Rex R]

Russ: one need not buy a saucer...try looking up 'priority stealth'. one gets the pattern & instructions from art applewhite(free download) and a box from the post office....
rex

 

[chadrog]

Russ: one need not buy a saucer...try looking up 'priority stealth'. one gets the pattern & instructions from art applewhite(free download) and a box from the post office....
rex

...which is technically theft if you don't actually use it to ship something - not sure how AA gets away with promoting that.

 

[Eat, sleep, and Fly]

Has it been almost 2 weeks since I last updated this thread? Man time flies. Well as I mentioned last time the next item I was going to dive into was the sled. While this is my first sled, I have tried to study what others have done. If you see something I have done that is really dumb or even questionable, let me know.

I started with cutting 2 pieces of 9/32 brass rod and epoxying them to my fiberglass main sled. These slide nicely in and out on the ¼ all thread that came with kit.

View attachment 118041

Next I laid my Stratologger from Perfectflite out on my sled. This is my first altimeter/ deployment/logger.

View attachment 118042

I then used my handy drill attachment for my dremel and drilled the holes. This is a pretty handy attachment and I have used it on a lot of rocket related items as well as other odds and ends.

View attachment 118043View attachment 118044


Instead of making you all suffer thru my learning curve on wiring this, we will fast forward to it being completed. As you can see I have used twist ties to help secure the battery (there is one that goes the other direction that holds the connector on). I elected to use the kit from Dog House Rocketry and I am pretty pleased with it. I used some shrink tubing around all of the wires to help protect them from getting tangled or damaged.

View attachment 118045

Why not use both the raven and the stratologger. It would give you some redundancy, and when flying anything above 54mm, I always reccomend that. If you need help with the raven, I would be more then willing. Good luck!

 

[Eric1]

Awsome design and quality parts Eric, and great workmanship Russell.

Thank You!!

 

[Rex R]

only if the PO has the right size box , seriously I went to my local postal connections store and bought a box for $2.50(8 x 8 x 8)
rex

 

[Rrwjr]

Well its been a while since I last posted anything on this build. Like so many others, life has put a few challenges in front of me lately. I have the rocket basically completed, exception the fins arent painted yet. I am pretty happy the way it has turned out. If all goes well this will fly on Saturday and I will expercience a number of firsts. The weather will deftinetley play into whether I can pursue them or not. I hope to achieve my L2, fly a mile high, and have a suceesful dual deploy flight.
This build has taken on a lot of meaning as it will be flown celebrating Mizz Rhonda and her courage as well as my sister who is still on the battlefield, as well as a friend who passed away last week from cancer. In an earlier post I mentioned that the colors of the letter transitioned from the color of brain cancer to the color of stomach cancer ( what my sister is battling). Here are some images of the full rocket and a close-up of one of the letters. My pictures dont do it justice.

Eric- thanks for your pointers and again an awesome kit. The name BaddAzz really fits your products. Thanks for allowing me to combine Mizz Rhondas story with my sisters. Mark at Stickershock you the man- thanks again for your help in finding a way to turn this into reality. Chad- thanks for your help and pointers.

 

[jus_rockets]

Great job, it looks beautiful! Good luck on your Level2!

 

[Eric1]

Russell, The Rocket is Beautiful. I'm am So Sorry for the Loss of your friend.
I will be praying for your sister's full recovery.
I am honored for you to fly Mizz Rhonda for L2.
May God Bless You.

 

[jeff2space]

Good luck with the L2 flight tomorrow at Bong. See you there.

 

[halcro1]

Looks great Russ.

 

[Rrwjr]

The weather in Wisconsin today showed partly cloudy with winds around 5 MPH. My nerves were deftinetley getting the best of me. So much preparation and I didnt want to do something silly and blow my cert attempt. After mulling over my options for motors, I decided to go with a CTI- 54mm 2 grain J430. It seems kinda of silly to not take advantsge of the free case deal. After checking and re-checking my roc-sim data. I was comfortable with the results. It showed just over 5000 feet.

I added my BP to my charge canisters, set my Stratologger to deploy main at 700 feet and decided I would keep the motor eject in at 18 seconds as a back-up if my drogue didnt come out at apogee. Checked my final weight which was at 8 pounds 4 ounces (sim weight was 8 pounds 1 ounce).

My wife arrived , ready to take pictures and my youngest son had anxiously been my helper since ealrier in the morning and was as excited as I was. Finally I was headed to the pad. After a pretty uneventful set up at the pad it was time. Im sure you all can relate but my mind was going thru all kinds of questions, did I fasten the quick links? Did I stick the igniter up far enough? Did I turn on the altimeter? Of course I had gone thru the checklist twice so I knew I was good but it was just a part of that nervousness before the flight.

The next thing I know the countdown has occurred and the motor is roaring to life. It clears the pad and heads into a beatiful blue sky with a couple of clouds. We can see the whole thing and I breathe a small relief when I see the Apogee event occur. Now we are all watching and waiting for the main. It gets down to 700 feet and "pop" goes the charge and out comes the beatiful purple and white chute. All that is left is to clear a few trees ( if you flown at Bong before, trees are always ready to add excitement). Te rocket clears the trees and makes a gentle landing.

L2 achieved. After I downloaded data I see that I hit 4,930 feet ( although I thought counting beeps I was at 4830).

I owe a huge thanks to Chad for letting me ask "stupid" questions and babble endlessly while I was trying to calm down and for being one of my Cert 2 officals. Thanks to Mark for being the other cert offcial. Thanks to all of my Woosh friends at Bong today for there support, Sather, Jeff, Rex, Russ ( the other Russ). Thanks to Gary at Top flight and to Tim from Wildman Hobbies, for there words of encouragement and for there support. In true Tim fashion he showed me some 75mm options I can pursue with my L2.

If your looking for a fun kit that has awesome looks and performs well. You cant go wrong with this kit.

All in all a great day with my son, my wife and a great bunch of people all enjoying a day of launching rockets.

Here are a couple of pics. Enjoy.

 

[Madhatter]

Congrats Russ!

 

[jus_rockets]

Congrats! Now go paint those fins lol!

 

[Rrwjr]

Congrats! Now go paint those fins lol!

It's on my to do list. I told myself I can't fly it again till the fins are painted.

 

[Rex R]

ayup twas a very nice flight, dancing rodents* Russ .
rex
*conga rats