C J's Extreme DarkStar 4 Build [75mm]

Well they are here!

Some boxes came in while Tim was at the Tire store and I found some interesting items.

So for your viewing pleasure.........

The Darkstar 4 single deploy [54mm motor mount] and the Extreme Darkstar 4inch [75mm motor mount]

Darkstar 4 single has 1/8 g-10 fins and the DD has 3/16 fins.

Both are the G-12 spiral wound tubes and the Extreme has the 52inch fincan for super long motors!

Both come with Von Karmen nose cones.

Yup. That just made the top of the "must buy" list.

The lucky few that order/buy them now get the Von Karmen with the metal tip.[Due to a slip up] After that they will be the standard fiberglass.

The parts below for the DD.

We will be at Nerrf with them for sale.

Special pricing will be available for those lucky enough to be attending.

Under 200.00 or maybe under 150.00 or ???? for the single 54mm

Under 350 or maybe under ??? for the DD 75mm

I started the build but must now leave for Nerrf.

More upon return with the first build of the DARKSTAR.

IT"S finally here as you all requested from the Wildman!


And man it's a beauty!!!!

Jim;

Doing a build article before the kit is ready is just cruel

Could I reserve a DD version for NERRF? I'll stop by on Friday.

Thanks!

Jim. picked that bad boy up at NERRF... Tim is going to ship it out next week..... can't wait. Thanks for your help in getting the Patriot out of the tree on Saturday... hope to get out to MidWest Power....

I'm baaacckk..........

after over 5500 miles, time to finish this build [so I can fly it!]

First the usual stuff for past readers of my builds....


Use the fin slots for marking the 3 lines needed for shear pins on the nose cone.

Same for marking the coupler for rivets [to attach the payload later]

Transfer marks into full lines by using drawer or favorite straight edge.

Drill holes for injecting internal fillets now .

Mark where Cr's located [or remember] for sanding internally where they will be glued.

Should mention the usual sand to fit CR's on to MM and into airframe.
Also all fins sanded from root edge up 1 in.

By the way Single deploy 54mm is only 139.00!

Can't remember what the DD 75mm is. I'll ask Tim tomorrow.

Now that I'm done using the fin slots as a marking guide, we can build the fincan!

Now sand all internal contact areas where the centering rings will be glued.

I use a PVC pipe with sandpaper just taped to the end, overhanging slightly.

not shown but you guys know.....it's a split fin, so sand where the CR goes on front of top slot!

gkieley said:

Jim. picked that bad boy up at NERRF... Tim is going to ship it out next week..... can't wait. Thanks for your help in getting the Patriot out of the tree on Saturday... hope to get out to MidWest Power....

Click to expand...

I really can't say it was fun.....[the getting it out part] but it was nice "hanging" out with you and the Patriot! LOL. Your Welcome. Come to Midwest POWER!

Yeah Jim... not really fun. The prickers and razor grass were nasty. Awesome radishes though.

Note to self.. when pulling a detached shock chord over a limb, 30 feet up..stay out of the way of the falling quick link. That 3/8ths link hit me right in the face. $*&#$@!*$^$#@%^!!!

Need to replace the forward tube of the booster section. After seeing your repair thread of Tim's Ultimate, this should be a piece of cake.

G

gkieley said:

Note to self.. when pulling a detached shock chord over a limb, 30 feet up..stay out of the way of the falling quick link. That 3/8ths link hit me right in the face. $*&#$@!*$^$#@%^!!!

Click to expand...

:y: I'm glad it didn't hit you in the eye -- that could do some damage! As is, I'm sure it didn't feel good. I refer to those as "vocabulary building experiences" -- you get to practice all those short words.

Need to replace the forward tube of the booster section. After seeing your repair thread of Tim's Ultimate, this should be a piece of cake.

Click to expand...

Tell Jim it only took you 30 minutes, or he's gonna razz you about not doing it fast enough.

Jim did provide some great tips in that thread!

-Kevin

Sand 1 inch on both sides of all slots for external fillet adhesion.

Lay strap over 1 CR and mark center.

Transfer to inside of ring and file notch for recovery harness that will be glued to MM

Looks great Jim! Now if I could just get somebody to answer me about getting my hands on one!

Nice build so far CJ! Can't wait to start building mine (DD) once the Von Karman NC and rings show up.

pcotcher; I just got of the phone with Tim. Although I didn't ask about the Extreme DarkStar, he picked up the phone nice and quick. Call the Wildman

-Eric-

pcotcher said:

Looks great Jim! Now if I could just get somebody to answer me about getting my hands on one!

Click to expand...

The fortunate few that attended the last launches were able to get in on the pre-announcement/introduction sales that were only available to those in attendance.

These kits have not even been officially introduced yet. As usual I snatched one out of the production run while they were being kitted before any pricing or official release was done. Then began this build thread.

The demand is so high that a lucky few got them ahead of schedule.

I apologize for any confusion I may have caused and especially if I created any ill will. But on the other hand it appears Tim has a real winner here.

It "is" one great looking highly desirable rocket!

It fills the void needed for a sexy split fin design.


Tim is working on the release announcement as I type. We just got back from 5 weeks on the road with only a day here and there to catch up on back orders. In another day or two things will be back to normal and he will make the greatly anticipated release announcement

A little birdie told me someone was NOT happy with the 4 inch Xtreme....!

Apparently it isn't BIG enough. There is now the first 6inch DarkStar being made for a megalomaniac! [would that be you George?] Guess that quick link to the head jarred you good.LOL

Congratulations, it will be a thing of beauty.

Anyhow back to the build.

I wasn't thinking and went ahead and notched the top CR and glued the recovery strap in. [1inch kevlar]

Then realized I was 1 CR short, due to this boneheaded stunt and wanted to finish the mock up.
I did this on the road, so what to do?

Make one Crazy Jim style out of masking tape! Took quite a few wraps, but it worked. So now if you ever need a CR in an emergency you know how to get by.

A careful look at the photo reveals the somewhat wider ring on top of bottom fin, that's the tape one.

Anyhow this is how it SHOULD be done.
I forgot to take pics, so I opened another one to stage the photo's next to the finished one which was incorrect anyway.

Position the Cr's in there proper place next to the slots.

Notch top CR and slide it down to the top upper fin slot position.Don't glue it yet till we get the dry fit done.

Slide all Cr's on. Start at the bottom and tack it one with CA [superglue]

Then position the fins and slide upper ring down and tack it on.
Remember we will be injecting the internal fillets and do NOT want any glue leaking, hence a nice tight fit.

Then position the bottom CR for the upper fin in it's position and tack it in place.

Hold upper fins in position, slide upper CR down and tack it. Make sure the Kevlar strap fits BETWEEN 2 fins or you will be in big trouble later.

As usual, number the fins to their respective slots for a good fit. it just always seems to work better this way.

Before anyone asks.....yes that's a carbon Wildman 2 stager in the background......minimum diameter 3in. 75mm motors!!

The next part of the build was done while we were on the road.

The RV was getting repaired and I was stuck with nothing to do, soooo.....build the rocket. So I "borrowed" a chair from the office and proceeded to build in front of the RV.

Did it in the repair bay, got some funny stares from the mechanics! NOT your typical build.

They were impressed.

Remove fins and slide MM assembly into airframe.

Put fins through slots to check for fit, if all is well remove fins and assembly and glue rings into place, but NO glue where fins will touch.If not reposition rings to fit.

Then encapsulate the straps in the correct position, not as shown on the top of tube in pics, but as in the the one next to finished rocket!

blackjack2564 said:

A little birdie told me someone was NOT happy with the 4 inch Xtreme....!

Apparently it isn't BIG enough. There is now the first 6inch DarkStar being made for a megalomaniac! [would that be you George?] Guess that quick link to the head jarred you good.LOL

Congratulations, it will be a thing of beauty.

Click to expand...

After looking at that bad boy monster from LDRS last weekend ... I said what the heck. I wanted to be the first on my block with a 6" version.

Tim talked me into to keeping the 4" as well.... maybe I'll do a double build thread.

A new tip I came up with: while I was dry fitting my fins, I drew a line where they meet the body tube. When tacking the fins in with 5 minute, this will show that they are pushed all the way tight to the Motor Mount tube, preventing any leaks when I inject the internal fillets.

After talking to several builders in the field, I became aware many were having trouble with leakage and most of it was related to the fins not contacting the mm tube tightly.

Since there are 2 sets of fins to tack and align, it is easier to tack the smaller rear set on first.

After getting the rear 3 done and cured, I simply eyeballed the upper 3 with the rear tacking them on also.

For those not to sure of their "just eyeball it " skill:
Use clamps, chip clips, cloths pins or anything else you can come up with, to hold a straight edge of some kind like a mixxing/popsicle stick, paint stirrer, pencil etc to align the 2 fins. Photos from the DS light build.

As you can see, I did alright without them.

One of the nice things about the g-12 tubing is being able to see right through it. Checking on my tack job, nice glue bead on each side of fin, ensuring a good seal.

As usual, I like to have other things ready to glue up when building, so I don't waste epoxy.

Taking the already marked and sanded [80 grit] vent band and coupler/alt-bay, I mark the correct position in the middle by inserting it into a body tube and drawing a circle around it. Then tape around 1 of the circles. Keeps the glue from getting all over when pushing the vent band on.

Using the left over glue from fin tacking, smear some on the coupler and slide the vent band with a twisting motion[ to distribute the glue evenly] into position.

Make SURE the marks for drilling vents are BETWEEN the rivet drilling lines. [prevents air turbulence from rivets interfering with the air entering the vent holes] See pic 3

Then wipe off any excess glue so the tubes will push tight together when cured. Lot easier to wipe it off now than sand it off later!

Did the vent band with glue left over from the lower set of fins.

Now will do the Av-bay bulk plates with glue left over from the upper set.

Take the pre-sanded bulk plates, smear some glue on each set, press together then stack on an eyebolt to cure.

Will leave them on the eyebolt while drilling the needed holes in them to assure alignment for future assembly.

Interesting build location!:roll:

Got the e-mal announcing the 54mm version..Sweet price..Waiting for the 75mm DD announcement!

Is there a RS file available? Would love to play around running sims on it!

After fin tacking and vent band plus BPs it was on to NERRF.

I just wanted the rocket ready for display.

Got back to the shop to begin finishing in earnest.

First a few more tips on fillets:

To keep from making a mess in case of leaks when injecting. Tape both sides of 1 fin, covering the holes and seam between fin & body tube.

Turn this side down. Now when injecting the 2 top internal fillets, if anything leaks it cant go anywhere and make a mess. Instead you actually get another set of fillets on fin and body tube!

Here's another tip for those seeking good looking,little sanding, no mess fillets:

USE TAPE!! [Kevin and Jon!!!LOL]

Lay the tool you are going to smooth them out with in the joint and mark where the edge of tool meets the fin and tube. Do it at the front and rear of fin/fins.Then tape on this line. The fillet will be in it's place & all the excess will land on the tape.

With a little practice there won't even be an edge. When you pull the fillet with the tool, dowel, spoon,etc., it will be smooth right to the edge of the tape!

Now you know my dirty little secret. No more excuses for ugly fillets. LOL

Pictures taken after the fact, but you get the idea.

Do this before you inject, that way you can do both internal and external sets at the same time.

Now that we are all prepped,time to inject:

On this build, 2 pumps of West/ProLine or similar system, will be enough to inject all 4 fins.

Mix chopped carbon [ small pile about the size of a dime] into the epoxy after thoroughly mixing resin and hardener. You should mix carbon a good minute or two so it breaks up evenly into the epoxy.

Should look color of the hypo.[container I mixed in, is much larger than one in photo. this was just easier to set it on]

I use a 10ml or cc hypo [cc and ml are same] so 1/2 or 5ml is injected into each hole.

When looking through the MM,you can see it dispersed evenly on the right and clotted a little on the left, but the epoxy itself leveled out between the carbon piles with no runs or leaks.

So all is A-OK

Even on the masking tape CR. LOL [Larger one]

blackjack2564 said:

Here's another tip for those seeking good looking,little sanding, no mess fillets:

USE TAPE!! [Kevin and Jon!!! LOL]

Lay the tool you are going to smooth them out with in the joint and mark where the edge of tool meets the fin and tube. Do it at the front and rear of fin/fins.Then tape on this line. The fillet will be in it's place & all the excess will land on the tape.

With a little practice there won't even be an edge. When you pull the fillet with the tool, dowel, spoon,etc., it will be smooth right to the edge of the tape!

Click to expand...

I did use tape... It's the practice on the technique that I need. Plus I need a better tool for making the fillets; I think I'll pick up a short piece of PVC specifically for that.

-Kevin

As soon as I am done injecting the internals, start right in on the externals. No need to wait for cure if you see there is no major leaking. If there is then obviously you cannot continue with this, until you have fixed your mess.

You can use the same mixing cup this way. [I'm cheap]

Mix plenty of filler in with the epoxy. [I use west 406 silica]
More is better than not enough. Mix to THICK peanut butter consistency.

I show actual amount I used in 3 steps to get it correct. Squish any lumps against the side with mixing stick to break them up. the smoother the mix, the less sanding. I actually mix the fillet material a good 6-10 minutes to get it correct. In 3 phases ridding all the clumps in each stage.

Another tip:
Smooth it out as best you can with the stick while filling, and wipe off the excess a you smooth them out if you overfill. If you goof, just add some more and pull it smooth again.

For the DarkStar: 2 pumps once again will be plenty. Have the nose cone and bulkplate ready to use any leftover, if you want to keep from wasting it.

Last pic from a previous build.

blackjack2564 said:

Here's another tip for those seeking good looking,little sanding, no mess fillets:

USE TAPE!! [Kevin and Jon!!!LOL]

Click to expand...

I couldn't find it! :neener: But I did find the roll for tonight's fillets!