Airbourne Survellance Missile, Estes kit #0867

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bradycros

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I am going to upscale the Airbourne Surveillence Missile (ASM).

I'll be getting measurements from the original parts.

1st picture, a cool shot of the ASM.
2nd picture, original parts lay out. Including crumbling shock cord.
3rd picture, ASM plans.
4th picture, some upscale numbers.
5th picture, upscale fin and nose cone templates.

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For those of you that have done the things I'll be describing many times, please be patient. This process and the processes in the following posts might be something new for many just starting out in the hobby.

The shoulder for the upscaled nose cone is going to made out of a coupler for a 3 inch body tube. The width of a body tube is also known as the "caliber" of the tube, a little factoid for those that didn't know. With a small square laid over both edges of the coupler, tic marks were placed at the .5 caliber meauserment (1 1/2inches) at several locations. See picture #1.

A plain 'ol piece of printer paper is wraped around the coupler. The paper is snuged up around the coupler and the edges of the paper are aligned with themselves and the tic marks at the 1 1/2 inch measurement. A pencil line was drawn around the coupler using the paper as a guide. This gives you a straight line to cut on.
Why did I choose 1 1/2 inches as the length for the nose cone shoulder? I'll explain why when I get to the part where the explanation will fit in better. See picture #2.

When I cut a coupler or tube, I like to place the middle of the blade on the line so the tip of the blade is off the tube. Then I PUSH the knife AWAY from me along the line on the coupler. Because the tip is off the tube it can't dig into the tube. Because you can see the tip and where it needs to go, you can steer the tip. Were ever the tip goes, the rest of the knife has to follow. Kinda like steering a car.
Go all he way around the tube a couple of times so there's a groove for the blade to follow.
Lift the knife up so the tip of the blade is in the groove, then PULL the knife TOWARDS you. You'll feel the tip starting to cut into the tube. The tip of the knife will follow the groove all the way around the tube. DO NOT try to cut thru the tube all at once. Use a light but firm pressure. Go around the tube several times or more and you'll get a clean, straight cut. See picture #3.

How come the two pieces of coupler have a differant shade of brown?

Thinking about taking pictures and starting a thread didn't cross my mind until after the piece was already cut, soaked with CA and sanded to fit on the mandrel. The pictures are recreations.

The inside of the shoulder was sanded down until a smooth friction fit was felt on the coupler bulkhead on the 3/8ths aluminum rod (mandrel) and the shoulder. See picture #4.

The outside of the shoulder was sanded smooth until a section of 3 inch body tube could be slid over the body tube bulkhead (that's glued to the other end of the 3/8 ths aluminum rod) and the shoulder with a smooth friction fit on the mandrel. See picture #5.

The mandrel is being reused from The Logo Rocket project. A good picture of how the mandrel is set up can be found in: The Scratch Built section, "Homemade Logo Rocket, Post #6, 3rd picture (www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?t=10709). The mandrel will be used in the same way with the ASM nose cone, chucked up and spun up in a drill press.

So, there's alot going on with these pieces already, and it's not done yet.

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I`m looking forward to this upscale build.Looks like a great project of a cool looking missile.


Paul
 
The balsa I bought was listed as 1 1/2 x 1 1/2 x 36 inches on the web page. You can see it has a pronounced taper to it. One end is like 2 x 1 7/8 inches and the other is 1 1/2 x 1 3/4 inches. Maybe them fella's fresh out of the jungle in South America need some pointers on measureing and rough cutting, or balsa dries out really funny. But it's still useable and I'll make it work.

El cheapo miter box and back saw. I got this along time ago, when I lived in Alaska. It comes in handy every once in awhile.

Miter set up. A scrape peice of basswood fin stock is used on the base of the clamp. This allows the pressure to be distributed over a larger area so the balsa doesn't get crushed. Not that it takes much pressure to hold balsa in place to begin with.

Enough balsa left over for more nose cones. Woohoo! The fatter ends of the pieces are all placed together, forming the base of the nose cone.

A bead of white glue was placed on the pieces and spread out to a thin layer with a finger. You don't want use to much glue here because when you start sanding in the shape, the dried glue will be harder then the wood. A thin glue joint is a better glue joint. I held the blocks together with my fingers until the glue set, that only took a few moments. I let it cure over night. The next day I sanded the side that will be the base of the nose cone flat. The balsa is now ready to receive the piece of coupler that will become the nose cone shoulder.

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This was one I was planning on upscaling myself. Looking good so far...
 
I' anxious to see details on this rocket too. Also, does anyone have a RockSim file of it?
 
Why are you saying "I was planning on upscaling"? What size are you going to upscale to when you build yours?

I'm kind of anal when it comes to upscaling... I don't like doing something someone else has done... be that as it may, I was thinking about an upscale based on a 3" tube, but I haven't done any figuring yet.

I will be watching your thread with much interest...
 
I'm still waiting to see the promised pictures of your Honest John.

Indeed ,indeed.I`m doing the last clearcoat this weekend and will take pics and post (just put on the vinyl Stickershock decals on lastnight)

Cheers

Paul
 
The shoulder has been glued on with JB weld and allowed to cure over night. Then the task of making the square block into a round cylinder starts.

Tools for the task.

Waste collection point.

Balsa roughed into a cylinder.

Original nose cone and upscale nose cone.

In picture #1, one of the joints for the balsa block looks to be pretty wide. That particular block was one of the original ends of the 36 inch piece of balsa. Aparently someone started a cut there, stopped, and moved it. It's only about 1/16th of an inch deep. The rest of the joint is solid.

Later when I make a attachment point on the nose cone for the shock cord, a bulkhead made from ply wood will be epoxy'd to and cover the entire surface area of the nose cone base as well as filleted to the shoulder. It will be a very sturdy joint. A eyebolt will be bolted to the ply wood. There's going to be more to it then that, like making the eyebolt removeable and the nose weight adjustable. But that's aways down the "to do" list for now.

The fillet knife in picture two has seen, cleaned and cut up its share of Red, Silver and King salmon that came out of Alaska's Keni peninsula rivers and Ship Creek in Anchorage.

I found that little hand plane in pictures two and three at Lowes. It was so cute, I had to give it a home. Works well for this task.

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A positive image is used for overall looks.

A negitive image is used to really tweek the shape.

Final adjustments will be made when the nose cone is in the real 3 inch body tube that will be its home.

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Geeze man ,talk about "old world craftsmanship"......very nice ! I once made a NC that way for a 4" Hellfire missile ,then spun it on my drill press and sanded it to final shape.I like the idea of gluing the coupler onto the balsa block.


Paul
 
I'd use a 5/16" dowel that extends at least halfway up the 'pointy' part of the nose. this would also give you a solid attachment point for screweyes etc.
 
A few centering rings. My resourse for centering rings doesn't have this body tube combination and I don't want to pay for custom centering rings. So, I'll make 'em myself. Outside and inside measurements for tubes can be found at www.balsamachining.com. They can also be found at www.semroc.com.

The inside diameter of the 3 inch tube I'm using is 74.442mm. Divide that by two to get the radius, which will be 37.211mm.

My metric ruler dosen't go down to "point" anything. But I can round the number up to 37.5mm (making the ring a bit larger). I can eyeball half a milli meter by putting the point of the compass on the 10mm graduation and the point of the pencil half way between the 47mm and 48mm graduations(= 37.5mm) of the ruler.

I rough cut the ring out and then sand the ring with a disc sander until it's up to the line from the compass. Then I tweek the ring by hand with a sanding block . Sand, test fit... sand, test fit... until I achive a good friction fit between the ring and the tube.

Be sure the edge of the tube doesn't have a pressure ridge around the inside diameter from a cut having been made there. If there is one, sand it off until the inside edge of the tube is smooth. Then test fit the centering for a smooth friction fit.

The same can be done for the outside diameter of the BT-60, only round the number down from 20.789mm to 20.5mm to make it a bit smaller. Then sand to get a friction fit between the ring and the tube again.

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I love your homemade tool jigs... the jigsaw one is really inventive! I just made myself a nosecone lathe using a brand new drill I got on sale at Harbor Freight last winter in Indiana, which could pretty easily double as a sanding table like that with the addition of a removable bench rest like that...

KUTGW!!! OL JR :)
 
Wonderful use of 1 x 2's and 2 x 2's. My hat is off to you! :clap:
 
I love your homemade tool jigs... the jigsaw one is really inventive! I just made myself a nosecone lathe using a brand new drill I got on sale at Harbor Freight last winter in Indiana, which could pretty easily double as a sanding table like that with the addition of a removable bench rest like that...

KUTGW!!! OL JR :)

Thank you for taking the time to let me know you like them.
 

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Ring between the 1.637 inch body tube (BT-60) and the 1.210 inch mortor tube (BT-52H).

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Rough cut centering rings.

Couple of rings after being sanded up to the outer diameter line.

I use a rotory tool and whatever tool bit will work best for the task.

Choose the Tungsten Carbide Cutter, Dremel P/N 9931. Got it at Lowes.

Cutter starting to remove waste from inside diameter. The cutter goes through the ply easily and turns it into dust. Care needs to be taken when approching the inner diameter line.

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Inside diameter tweeking tool.

Outside tweeking tool.

Right in the goldie locks zone. The line on the rings are a reference point for starting and stopping the sanding.

Just right friction fit after many test fits.

Full frontal.
 

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Then sanded to wanted shape.
 

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I have the Estes marking guide, but it doesn't have a marking guide for three inch tubes. So I made my own three inch marking guide and one for the 1.637 body tube while I was at it.

I went to www.payloadbay.com, selected "Tools" on the left hand side of the home page. Then selected "Fin Tool Guide" and enterd my information for fin thickness in decimal. Waited for the template to come up. Maked sure the page is set to 100%, then printed it out.

The print out of the template was glued to scrape cardboard (pizza box top) with spray adhesive.

Got out the 'ol compass and drew the inside diameter of the 3 inch body tube on to scrape cardboard several times (boxes other rockets were shipped in). Cut them out and glued them together. Sanded until a snug friction fit was obtained. Then glued the pieces to the template. Inside diameter measurements of body tubes can be found at www.balsamachining.com and/or www.semroc.com.

Repeated the steps for the 1.637 body tube.

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I like the www.payloadbay.com templets better then the Estes marking guide. An added bonus is the cost, their free.

The inside diameter cardboard cut outs will hold the body tube firmly in contact with the template while you make tic marks on the tube for fin placement. Twist and gently pull the body tube at the same time when removing to prevent damage to the template, it's reusable.

Expand the photos, then you can clearly see the payloadbay template fin markers have a center line that can be used for surface mounted fins.

It also shows the thickness of the fin from the specification you supplied on the "Fin Tool Guide" page. This is great feature when you are going to use "through the wall" (TTW) fin mounting.

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Eventualy you could have a template for every body and motor tube with the fin sizes you like to use. Remember, the best parts are that it's free and reusable.
 

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