Thanks for the Kudo's Tonimus,TopRamen & Pem-Tech!
Wow guys!
I'll try hard not to anger the creatures of the deep! That said; it would be really KEWL to launch this micro model from Wallops Island. Hummm! I may just try to set something up with the Visitors Center as I believe they still do public model rocket launches once or twice a month. LOL, OH Man! now that would be awesome
Over the weekend I decided to toss the existing Tiamat wings making a new set where the internal basswood stiffeners are trimmed to make a much better fit. Instead of taking almost 3/16" off the entire outline my calculations indicate I only need to shrink the leading and tailing edges by 1/32". The tip reduction remains about the same 3/16".
On this set I spent a lot more time symmetric airfoiling both sides of each wing leading and trailing edges. The tip to root taper was then added, test fitting often in the process. 67lb cardstock printed skins were carefully cut-out, double white glue applied to each of the internal tabbed stiffereners. I think the resulting new wing set is a much better representation of the actual wing section than my 1st attempt.
Wings than had the control surfaces embossed and hinge balls simulated with half round styrene pieces. After allowing about an hour for the skin & detail adhesive and glues to dry, each wing was white glued into the matching tab slots. With the exceptions of some small 3/32" styrene H- rail lugs & possibly Laminating the inner or outer surface of the balsa transition with High rag content tracing paper I believe consturction is complete.
With everything but the 5" mylar chute installed both conditions were swing tested. I'm happy to report the Tiamat with a single MMX-II motor and the combined Tiamat & Booster with all 8 motors both conditions swing test was instantly positive for the very first beinging of the swing. High Speed and very slow speed both Boosted and Tiamat alone are very stable without any additional nose weight at all.
Speaking of the Launch rail and lugs: I really want to launch this model from a Scale Launcher with Nanobeam rail(s) using Plastruct #90542 3/32" styrene H-beams in place of round lugs.
After closely looking at the 07-04-1945 launch prep photo; I noticed the 1st Tiamat was launched with one Wing & Fin sandwiched between guide rails facing downward. Humm: This may cause my model a little problem depending on where I place the launch lugs or IF lugs are used at all.
If I don't build micro a scale launcher, I could launch this model as is, without lugs from a micro tower or use a single Nanobeam with lugs centered between wing/fins. For now I'm not going to add launch lugs until the final decision is made on launcher type.
At this point I'll let the model sit for a day or two to settle everything than start the finishing process. Already have the primer and yellow paint picked out. Since all the balsa has been pre-sealed with CA I'm hoping a single coat of gray primer will take care of the remaining open grainlines. We'll see when the primer is applied. Regardless the plan is to sand off nearly all the primer to keep the mass down. So far the Tiamat empty mass is 11.4g without finish or 5" Chute. our 7 motor Booster naked empty mass 8.6g. Combined thats an Ewt of 20.0g plus 7 MMX-II-NE and 1- MMX-II at 8.8g we hit the scale at 28.8g. If I can keep the mass down with the Paint those seven MMX-II-NE motors should really give this model a Very Quick boost:
Below are some photos of the new Wing set and the construction completed model including a couple of just the Tiamat. I'm sure it will be perhaps a week before I'll have any more finishing work done on this project. If I start a Scale Launcher I'll update as it goes.