Marathon Build- Wildman Drago 98, Dink 98, Punisher SS- FINISHED

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Rob702Martinez

Zip-Tie Oversight Committee
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It's been a while since I've posted any builds or finished other ones, but with recent life events I have decided to take some time to enjoy life.

At LDRS 35 I met some really awesome people and spent most of my time with the Wildman Camp, the entire group was amazing. Also got the chance to participate in my first drag race, Passed my L2, successfully used my new eggtimer TRS, and made new friends. I also bought a few Wildman kits, bought the Drago 98 and Punisher SS, and won the Dink 98 in the raffle with some Madcow recovery Items. Thanks Guys!

Anyhow, On with the builds, I want to try to get these ready to go by September 15th, Built and painted. Also make a modular sled for the TRS to go from rocket to rocket. Please chime in on any ideas too.







Took the time to clean up the work space, get my kits washed and laid out.


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Got everything that came along with the kits all washed and sorted. Very nice kits, thank you Wildman!



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In a few days I will tackle the challenge of making this eggfinder TRS modular to all my rockets.


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Going to be using my composites in various areas of the build.




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Here is the Drago 98 laid out

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Here is the Dink 98 and the Punisher SS laid out.

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Got this box of good stuff to go along with the builds.



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First Order is to make some bulkhead plates to go along with the Alu. wildman ones. Cut out of G10

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Look at those fins

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Bulkhead plates ready for adhesive


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On to the glue of choice for this task.

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Equal Parts RocketPoxy by weight with the milled carbon fibre ready to mix

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This dash is almost impossible to weigh, but you get the idea/ratio. This was .8 oz of epoxy with a dash from the stir stick.


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This is it after stirring, I noticed that the milled carbon fibre and Rocketpoxy is a very nice viscosity, I also noticed that it almost got rid of the "flow" characteristic. I also noticed the cOh bond get warm but still remained usable for about 40min.


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With the adhesive buttered, the plates were clamped and any excess cleaned up.


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That is all for now.
 
3 builds at once by Sept 15! And I'm worried about finishing 2 by MWP. Definitely will be epoxy efficient and save a lot of time there. I will enjoy watching this, workshop looks great too.
 
And I'm worried about finishing 2....

I'm having trouble finding time to work on one build lately!

Subscribed. I'm interested in seeing your modular TRS solution.
 
Playing catch up tonight, after much reading and hours of searching :caffeine:, I decided that the AV bay/nose/head/dual/idontknowwhattocallit setup, would best for me with room to expand.


This uses 5/16 18-SS threaded rod cut to size with nut and wing nut. This is just the mock up before I add lock washers, etc.
The top bulkplate (nose end) is aluminum, and the bottom is the 1/4 G10 that I made above. My thinking is the top plate should be alu. and the bottom g10, for load?

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Almost committed to using the switch band on this, it being glued to the coupler.

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This would be the head end, where the modular TRS mount will go, as the inside has the steel rods and cant go in there. Also, this idea popped in my head when I was watching F1 Quali the other day.... The green braided steel would be crimped where the links (one in the nose tip too) are, and be a "tether" in the event that the nose cone ever separated from the coupler for what ever reason. It would be considerably safer for every one. I just happened to be watching the race, and thinking about a CATO a few months ago, where the nose cone was lost in the sun, and it lawn darted about 8 feet away. I would be using the 6-32 LumaDyne fasteners with stainless screws to attach the nose to the coupler/shoulder. This worked on my L1/L2 Certs and everything up to a J motor. Thoughts?


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On the MMT CR, the anchor for the shock cord, I plan to use this with either just the loop on the bar or swivel and or quick link... Not sure yet.

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Here is the basic lay out plan, and look at that OneBadHawk Recovery Harness! Love it.

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That is all for today.
 
Needed to decide which business end I wanted to go with, the tail cone or the flange. They both look great but I dont think the tailcone on the Dink would be a good idea. Also I sim'd the Drago and it looks great on Open rocket.

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Getting all the measuring and fitting out of the way with the MMT, CR and TA.


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Marked the tube running lines.

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Test fitting.

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The mandatory mock-up! I like it!

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Got the flashlight to confirm placement of the CR on the airframe and marked the MMT through the fin slots with a mechanical pencil.

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Starting the process of inserting the 6-32 Lumadyane fasteners. Drilled a 5/16 hole and cleaned it up with alcohol and wax/grease remover. You have to handle these fittings with gloves as there is a coating on there, that gets eaten up by your finger oils.

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Taped of the areas and scuffed.

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Test fit.

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Mixing RocketPoxy with milled carbon fibre, This is turning out to be a really good additive.

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Also got a chance to use some 30min epoxy and milled kevlar to secure the T-nuts on this small square of wood. Just mix a few small fluff balls with about 2 drops of alcohol to break it up, then mix epoxy on top of it. You dont have to use the alcohol, I do because it lets you see the product un-folded.

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That is all for now, got to run to a Family dinner but back for more, tonight. :horse:
 
The Drago 98 - is that the same as the Drago Extreme? Also, what size Kevlar is that - the one from onebadhawk?
 
Got a little more work in last night and some today before work.


The switch band on the nose coupler/shoulder for the Drago, cleaned with wax grease remover and scuffed. Also put some divots in the area. Mixed rocketpoxy with milled Carbon fibre. Man this stuff is STRONG.

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Marked my running lines on the airframe and nose for the Dink.

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Going to do a better job next time, but nothing a little sanding and filler cant fix on the Drago nose.

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And here I am doing a better job, this time on the Dink. Took time to really clean up and use my glove finger dipped in alcohol to smooth the area like it should be. Masked it off well and cut a circle out with a razor. Clamped and set aside for now.

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Worked on the avbay/idontknowwhattocallityet section with tethers, finished up the nose cone inserts and chased the threads.

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Got an almost final layout of the Dink 98 with everything in the right place..... Looks how I see it in my MindSim!


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This came in today. This Featherweight Magnetic switch to go with the modular TRS system. One more trip to Frys and that should be next.

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Got to work on the Punisher SS. Wildman's kits are always well cut and well put together. Love it.

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Here it is laid next to my Wildman Sport, the LDRS 35 drag race special.... which was awesome!

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A box came in today from TopFlight Recovery. A couple crossfire chutes and some regular ones to go into these rockets.

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I needed to back up the g10 bulkhead with some ply to get more surface area for the adhesive. I want this to be strong. I drilled a few divots and roughed it up. I will sand it after to fit.

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On my other Punisher I did the same thing. Mainly I wanted this to be secure, kinda over built here.

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To glue the g10 to the ply, I am using rocketpoxy with milled kevlar.

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I mixed .4 oz of epoxy with two small fluffs. What is in the lid is what I dropped in. It took maybe 30 seconds for it to disperse. What is neat about the milled kevlar, is that it looks like a wad of lint that would just create globs and be pointless.......Nope! It pretty much dissolves right away and mixes perfect and has the texture a little lighter than dough. I could have mixed one fluff instead of two as well.

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Also mixed the same .4 oz of rocketpoxy with milled carbon to start on the lumadyne fasteners.

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Set it aside to dry for now.

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Here is the Dink being mocked up and measured for the flangged retainer and mounting for the thrust plate. Going to use wood backed T nuts on the back side of the CR to screw the thrust plate onto.



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Here is the top CR for the Drago, with the anchor point for the Harness, I like to have a bit more surface area here to promote a strong bond and good footing. Also you can see the notches cut all the way around the CR to also help adhesion. Also the Fin mounting points on the MMT were filed rough.




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Here is the Drago being mocked up and all measurements marked. The Red tubing works great for seeing through with a flashlight to confirm location.



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Holes also drilled for injecting fillets later.

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Above the nose cone assembly for the Punisher SS is complete and marked with a notch to line up the cone. U-bolt also attached with nylock nuts and lock washers.

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This is the 30min epoxy I use for smaller less critical items, but when just a tiny ball of kevlar is added it makes this so much better in consistency and strength. Its actually really cool to use the milled kevlar. When you are looking at it, it looks like it would never mix in or be clumpy..... absolutely not the case. It unfolds right away to a powder and mixes in in about 40 seconds of mixing.




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in these pictures above you can see the anchor for the onebadhawk recovery harness and how it is stuffed in the MMT and capped off with brown paper to stop any glue getting in the way.



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Since I cant really use my right hand much any more for sanding and stuff, I resort to cutting notches, drilling dimples, and using a dremel drum to do most of my sanding. It seems to be working out really good too.



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Above you see me mixing rocketpoxy with milled carbon fiber, getting ready for injecting fillets on the CR. Tape the bottom of the syringe closed so it doesn't flow out. It really makes rocketpoxy very predictable and able to use right away without too much running. Crazy strong.




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Above, you can see the result of obsessively measuring, pays off with a perfect fitment of the Tail cone retainer.
 
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Time to start attaching fins on the Drago. I used rocketpoxy with milled kevlar to set everything initially. Buttered a bit around the airframe/fin height, and some inside the fin can. Also buttered the root edge of the fin. Also notched the root edge.


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Here it is with the last fin going on, also mocking the tail cone up to check fitment... again. This was my first time using the payload bay templates, i settled for this jagged one because I could never get the printout to match the actual rocket. Live and learn, I will figure it out sometime soon.


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Got a nice shot of the business end.



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Dried over night. Stupid strong! That is the bottom of the cup leftover, oddly it would not come off the plastic cup and peeled layers of plastic off with it, it bonded pretty good to a smooth surface. I put the chunk in my vise and cranked away, it just got to a point where you were almost fighting it as if it was closed.

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Just to give you an idea of how I mix my epoxy, or how much milled carbon is added.


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Here is the mock up of what will become the nose cone tether, with adjustable weights.


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Lots of glue work going on there!

For the switch, get the bigger magnet when you have a chance. It's worth it. Also available on ebay.
 
An opportunity came up for a last minute order to wildman.... and now we have a stretched Punisher SS.

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I could have done the whole adjustable length/switch band/ shear pin options but I didn't want to use that setup in this Diameter rocket. So it was glued in. I cut the coupler to give 1.5in on both sides, and chamfered the edges, A lot, so there would be no snags or sharp edges.

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Again not being able to use my right hand for this, I have resorted to this kind of stuff instead. Seems to work well.

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And, ........... another one.

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Drago Stretch, say what?

This is what is nice about using different purpose made epoxies, you can tailor your needs and additives to your use.

Rocketpoxy Data v. 300/21 Data

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I will be using chopped 1/4 carbon fibre (made in UK) with this to do the internal fin can fillets.

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all you need right here.

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I mix half of the epoxy with the fibers to make a thick veil to speak... then mix the rest after to make a spreadable, form able fillet.

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about half loaded up to inject.

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While that was drying, I got to work on the Dink Recovery system.

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Mocked up the MMT assembly for the Dink, used kevlar/rocketpoxy all through this one. Also the mounting holes for the thrust plate are in place, wood backed t-nuts with threads chased.

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In this picture I did a terrible job with the camera, mostly due to wet epoxy on my gloves. Anyhow, you can barely see inside the fin can where the chopped carbon veil is made in a fillet wrapped around the root edge along the MMT.

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Here is the Punisher SS stretch getting closer. The 2 sections permanently joined.

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Back to the Dink, the business end, everything fits like a champ and feels very very solid, the feeling is almost like a trusting feeling in what you're building.

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Im not a fan of these screws, at all. But for now they will work.

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You can see I did bigger fillets with Rocketpoxy and milled kevlar on the Dink.

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Hmmm, running out of real estate here...

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Testing out the fitment of the aeropack adapters, 54-38 38-29 works perfect.

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I did end up making the Deadline to launch, more on that later.
 
Looking great Rob, your a man on a mission!

The following picture looks like a good chamfer but ends in a sharp edge and looks like of the booster harness was to separate at speed (horizontal deployment ) and the harness is pulled back on the chamfer that the harness would hit that sharp edge. Maybe I'm looking at it wrong but I would round that sharp edge to more of a curved edge. Ropes / harness cut much easier under load.
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Looking great Rob, your a man on a mission!

The following picture looks like a good chamfer but ends in a sharp edge and looks like of the booster harness was to separate at speed (horizontal deployment ) and the harness is pulled back on the chamfer that the harness would hit that sharp edge. Maybe I'm looking at it wrong but I would round that sharp edge to more of a curved edge. Ropes / harness cut much easier under load.
View attachment 302183

Nick,

I got the impression it was glued in BOTH sides to extend the Punisher.

Adrian
 
I glued them together. Didn't want to mess with it. Just wanted it to be simple. I should probably chamfer all the airframe openings and round off the sharp edges as I noticed some fuz on my harness. Or wrap the part that touches the airframe in Duct tape.
 
Well, this build went off track, but turned out to be worth it. I learned a few things along the way. I didnt get the time set aside that I needed so I skipped the paint/prep step all together to make it in time for the September launch. All the rockets were fully functional but no cosmetic work at all. Out of the 3 first flights, 2 were unsucessful upon recovery, awesome on the way up. The Drago came down on a 18" drouge as the main never came out of the nomex at 1000', bounced hard, no damage. The Dink came down hard as the main tangled and only had a small fracture above the glue line on one fin. More on that later. The Punisher SS... such a fun rocket. Both the Dink and the Punisher are really fun rockets to add to your fleet. Get one!

In an attempt to make recovery safe and successful, most of the effort was put into the electronics. Eggtimer Rocketry and Missile Works suite of products fit the bill. Also spending some time with Teddy at OneBadHawk helped me with a proper harness set up. Going forward I will use the Tether-link-swivel-shockcord route. Any how, picking up where I left off.
 
I just realized that the rest of the build pictures were unrecoverable from my 2 replacement phones (gotta love samsung). So.... looks like we will pick up where my new phone left off! Which is the end of the paint process.

Awesome. :facepalm:

What would have gone here is minor adjustments or fitting of the rockets, the modular av bay set up, Ejection testing, harness modifications, body work, primer, paint etc...

We can leave all of that up to imagination.

What I did manage to find is a picture of the fracture above the glue line, as I was lightly cleaning it up with a small ball bit. What I found interesting is watching the fin can come in rotating and bounce. Right away, my first thought is ok, we can replace a fin or two. Not only is the Wildman Dink strong, so was the adhesive :wink:. The fracture didn't go all the way through which was nice.

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After the September flights I figured my next chance would be in November so I could take my time on the paint. It all worked out except for the bulk of the pictures, which was all worth it.

My paint stash had more in there than I thought. There was a bag with all kinds of flakes and pearls and some forgotten colors.. Which was pretty cool!

Decided to finish my Formula 75, as the initial plan was to just wet sand it smooth and shoot clear. I really liked the colors of the tubes and nose cones, especially the winding. Once you get a good polish it brings out the winds. This bird earned me my L1 and L2 certs and was my first FG kit. It deserves a little more that that.

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Getting disassembled for the wash/prep

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And we have the various stages of clear and flakes over a few days, with some sanding, cutting and polishing in between...and the final finish being the pictures in the desert playa.
This was a mix of Yellow, Red, Gold, White, Bronze and Copper flake and Dupont clear.

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And here is the final finish. What I noticed is that the entire rocket was sprayed with the same mix each time. The white flake shows on the blue tube with yellow, the fins show all of the flakes and the nose shows all of the yellow as green. I assume the pigment used to make that black nose cone was the dark dark blue black pigment. Thrilled on how this came out.

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That is all for the Formula 75, which lead to painting the Dink a little different as well.... more on that later.
 
Here is the Wildman Dink. Basking in it's glory. Get one of these!

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Dupont White base, clear with white pearl, clear with white/crystal flake, more pearl, more clear. Sounds like thick paint or some thing like that it's not. I use temp specific reducers to keep it as light as possible but with out having to many passes.
 
Here is the Drago 98 Stretch.

Dupont Synergy Green Airframe, clear
SEM Hot Rod Black Fins
Black FWFG Wildman nosecone sprayed with black pearl/beauty added to clear, w/clear. You can see the filaments through the pearl.

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Here is the Punisher SS stretch.
Dupont Electron Blue Pearl Airframe, clear
Dupont White Base with White crystal pearl, w/clear nose cone


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Here is the Punisher sport.

Dupont Blaze Orange Metallic with added gold, red, orange pearl, Clear.
Black FWFG Wildman nose cone sprayed with black pearl/beauty added to clear, w/clear. You can see the filaments through the pearl.

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Safe to call this one done, and a few lessons learned. Wont be doing any more crazy deadline builds. I could have been a bit cleaner in the build process, paint was after the test flights, so no rush there. Anyhow, enjoy.
 
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