Soyuz 1/50 build

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From the look of the motor after the launch it appears that ejection charge fizzled rather than popped as such, there was a lot of unburnt powder in the motor tube and hardly any of the usual soot on the wadding. I agree it is an odd failure for an estes motor. Maybe it was more down to my storage and handling of the motors at some point.
Was it stored in a humid environment? That sounds like the BP was damp and thus didn't burn.
 
So I have finally got around to properly having a look at what remains of the soyuz, and begging her rebuild!

Cutting back the damage was fairly gutting, however at the end of t have half a core stage that I know i can repair without to much challenge.

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The lower section needs a little work there s a small crumple n the middle of it, the centering rings at the inter stage gap need replacing and the inner tube straightened and reinforced with coupler, the rest is fairly cosmetic. From here on up its a total rebuild.

Another part of the rebuild will be the igniter system which took a rather heavy hit in the last launch.

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I have straightened out the remains of the core now, sanded back the damage, stiffened up the crumple with super glue and repaired the minor cosmetic cracks. The inner tube was then straightened with a piece of coupler and a new centering ring and extension tube glued in place ready for the upper part to be rebuilt.

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The soyuz is now fully rebuilt with the final part of the repairs being being rebuilding the upper bart basically as before, however this time I 3D printed the upper transitions rather than using card stock as well as the interstage structures. Just waiting for an opportunity to launch again.
 
The only major remaining part of this project is the ignitions system. With the weight of the rocket i rely cant afford a single failed motor ignition, so i would like to avoid wire clips and 5 ignitors if i can, especially estes ones. I have been designing a mostly 3D printed spider ignitor and tested version 1 yesterday.

The ignitor appears to have worked successfully, with a plume coming out of all 5 nozzles and successfully ignited a motor i put over the central nozzle. The ignition system took no damage in the test which is excellent, other than to some aluminium tape i lined and capped it with, with no melting or breakage.

All was not perfect however due to failings of my own design, the twist lock cap did not seal well with the main body resulting in a large pressure leak through the base of the igniter, wasting most of the charge, no damage was done however and i have redesigned the whole system and am reprinting it now, hopefully to stop this problem.

I would like to test the ignitor at night however to see the flames if possible to confirm all is working as intended, also I have no idea how much pyrodex is to much or to little for this task, what i used for the first test i think was probably a bit much.

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More will follow tomorrow when i have finished version 2.

I personally built and successfully used said spider ignition system for a scratch built cluster rocket. I was really impressed with the design and results...since I am typing this as I read your thread I wish you all the success in your launch attempt!
 
Great Wrad!
Ignition system looks ok. As well the Soyuz look is amazing!
Which engine configuration have you set? I see the central 24mm. I suppose D12-0 and B6.
Just a warning for the B6. B6-2 (Estes) ,I used at beginning, sometime don't have the expected 2 seconds delay and neither the Nar certified 1,53. I got parachute ejection just after 1,6. So in some cases 0,7 0,8 delay seconds only. This lead to some damage to the model. To be safer B6-4 is better even you need to verify the expected altitude of detachment. It depend by the weight you have.
Next video ... the flight! :)

I guess the D12-0 was in the core booster then staging to the B6-n. Got it
 
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Hello Wrad,
Would you be able to let me know what colors you used for the green and orange on your Soyuz? Several months ago I purchased the Apogee kit and am going to start construction real soon. I have a nice color for the orange found on the shuttle ET, etc., but the Soyuz color seems a little more orangeish. I also really like your grey/green. Very well done.
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Hello Wrad,
Would you be able to let me know what colors you used for the green and orange on your Soyuz? Several months ago I purchased the Apogee kit and am going to start construction real soon. I have a nice color for the orange found on the shuttle ET, etc., but the Soyuz color seems a little more orangeish. I also really like your grey/green. Very well done.
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No problem, the grey was rust-oleum navy grey 2186, and the orange is rust-oleum painters touch real orange. I tested a few colours and these gave the best match I could find.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B008HOF8NK/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B001W03PEA/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
 
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Finally had a perfect launch day for the rebuilt soyuz, with no wind and perfect clear skies.

Again the launch was a fantastic spectacle with the spider igniting all 5 of the first stage motors very successfully . The rocket rose of the pad perfectly straight with a very scale appropriate slow climb. Staging occurred with a loud pop with all 4 boosters dropping away and the sustainer in the center lighting perfectly. The air speed however suffered with rebuild coming in a bit heavier than before, resulting in the second stage arching over at staging, similarly to the second flight. The ejection charge fired this time however with enough time to save the rocket from lawn darting. Somehow there was no zippering however the bottom of the rocket hit the ground a little fast resulting in a small crumple that will be easily fixed.

The rocket will be repaired again however with the increasing weight with each repair i may retire it as a display piece rather than risk total destruction. Gives me a good reason to think about the next project anyway, maybe a 1/25 scale soyuz if i can stretch the budget that far?

Finally some great pictures to follow courtesy of a number of people at the midland rocketry club hear in the UK.
 
Finally had a perfect launch day for the rebuilt soyuz, with no wind and perfect clear skies.

Again the launch was a fantastic spectacle with the spider igniting all 5 of the first stage motors very successfully . The rocket rose of the pad perfectly straight with a very scale appropriate slow climb. Staging occurred with a loud pop with all 4 boosters dropping away and the sustainer in the center lighting perfectly. The air speed however suffered with rebuild coming in a bit heavier than before, resulting in the second stage arching over at staging, similarly to the second flight. The ejection charge fired this time however with enough time to save the rocket from lawn darting. Somehow there was no zippering however the bottom of the rocket hit the ground a little fast resulting in a small crumple that will be easily fixed.

The rocket will be repaired again however with the increasing weight with each repair i may retire it as a display piece rather than risk total destruction. Gives me a good reason to think about the next project anyway, maybe a 1/25 scale soyuz if i can stretch the budget that far?

Finally some great pictures to follow courtesy of a number of people at the midland rocketry club hear in the UK.
Looking forward to seeing the pictures Wrad. Nice to retire that beautiful Soyuz before total destruction. For your next attempt, I vote for a 1/25 Soyuz or a Proton. I'd like to see you ignite all 6 fuel tanks at launch, dropping the booster and lighting the second stage.
I've just purchased my first lathe and am working on 7425 Delta II (ICEsat-2). Almost finished. I also have a question about CG vs. CP that you will probably be able to help with. Take a look and let me know what you think. Cheers.
 
Looking forward to seeing the pictures Wrad. Nice to retire that beautiful Soyuz before total destruction. For your next attempt, I vote for a 1/25 Soyuz or a Proton. I'd like to see you ignite all 6 fuel tanks at launch, dropping the booster and lighting the second stage.
I've just purchased my first lathe and am working on 7425 Delta II (ICEsat-2). Almost finished. I also have a question about CG vs. CP that you will probably be able to help with. Take a look and let me know what you think. Cheers.

Thanks, i do like the idea of a proton as well, I recon you can make one fly without any extra clear fins although that might be a little marginal. The delta II is a great looking rocket, I shall take a look.
 
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Got around to having a proper look at the damage, no to bad rely. Should be an easy fix.
 
How does the motor mount look? Will that make repairs more difficult?

Its bent just above the crease in the outer tube, where the motor hook is attached, however the damage hasn't spread up further as there are lots of centering ring that kept it strong. The repair will be easy, I will just cut everything of just above the damage and then rebuild back down with couplers.
 
I gotta question.. What is the loop of kevlar string sticking out the aft end of one of the strap-on booster for?
 
Truly a masterpiece. Painful to see the damage it sustained but glad it was subsequently repaired and flown again. Inspiring to see the details of the build and the final outcome, as well as watching it rise again.
 
I gotta question.. What is the loop of kevlar string sticking out the aft end of one of the strap-on booster for?
originally it was connected to the centre 1st stage piece, so that when they separated they would come down together on one streamer. However on the first launch one of the motors immediately cut it in half. The centre piece tumble recovered fine though, so I never bothered to repair it for future launches.
 
Truly a masterpiece. Painful to see the damage it sustained but glad it was subsequently repaired and flown again. Inspiring to see the details of the build and the final outcome, as well as watching it rise again.

Thanks! I have had several people say its to nice to fly, however that's not why I build. I would have been happy even if it was utterly destroyed after 1 flight if that flight was great.

As for the soyuz and its future, I did repair it again and it finally flew again after a long covid break last month. It was a somewhat eventful launch as always. I had one of the side booster motors not light (old motors that I was a bit dubious of as they had been sat in my flight box under sub optimal conditions for a while) subsequently lift-off was extremely slow, but the first stage did fly straight. at staging though the rocket was barley moving and the upper stage arced over to almost horizontal, and powered off out over the fields. Impacting just before ejection the forward section of the upper stage was once again destroyed ( although not as severely as previously).

So once again I am going to repair her. however i now feel with all the repairs adding up she is to heavy to fly on the given motor combination safely. There is an option with Klima motors, however I think they way forward if i want to continue to fly her is to knock through the centre motor mounts, to give room for a 3g 24mm case to fit. Unfortunately this would mean no more staging, however i think its the best retirement she could have.
 
This is how I found the poor girl, all beet up (sorry that’s my allocation of dad jokes done for the day)27C36AD8-E148-4E74-9C24-34313FE3ADD9.jpeg
 

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WRAD, Do you remember how much your model weighed? I am in process of building a similar model. Mine will be the Vostok R7. Its getting fairly heavy and I am not done building it yet.
 
WRAD, Do you remember how much your model weighed? I am in process of building a similar model. Mine will be the Vostok R7. Its getting fairly heavy and I am not done building it yet.

Great stuff, I would like to see that!

Weight is definitely one of the main challenges of building any R7/soyuz variant for low power.

Mine came in at just shy of 900g I think for the first flight fully loaded with motors/ recovery and nose weight (125g). Since then it has gained a few more grams with repairs and is probably a smidge over 900g now. Launching on 1xD12 and 4xB6 motors this is basically the maximum weight it could be, and all of my recovery issues have been because its moving so slow at staging, because of the weight.

I am planning to convert her, when I get a chance to rebuild the top section, to take up to a 3g cesaroni 24mm reload for the centre stage and permanently attach the side boosters. Its a shame to lose the ability to stage, but at this point I think the repair will take her over the limit of safely flying in the original config, and I want to keep flying her / recovering without having to do another major rebuild (as I am no on the 3rd rebuild/repair).

There is some options for klima motors that have a bit more lift capacity than estes but I don't have great access to them.
 
Thank you for the reply and your detailed build report. I refer to it often to help with my build. Here is a picture of the Upper Stage & Vostok spacecraft that I 3d resin printed.
 

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