Nathan
☢
- Joined
- Apr 19, 2012
- Messages
- 2,230
- Reaction score
- 755
I'm about to start building my level 3 certification rocket. This will be a scratch built 2X upscale of a Madcow Frenzy XL. It will be 8" diameter and 13'6" long. Weight on the pad should be about 71 lb.
Right now I have all the components execpt the av-bay coupler tube, which I expect to get in a few weeks. All the fiberglass except the fins was purchased from Ken Allen at Performance Hobbies. The fins were custom cut by Nat Kinsey at UpscaleCNC. Nat also made the plywood forward centering ring. The forward CR will be 1" plywood because my L3 advisor recommended that the forward CR be screwed to the airframe, which is a lot easier to do with plywood than G10 fiberglass.
The rocket will have a 75mm motor mount. I went with 75mm instead of 98mm because for the size motors that I will be using for this rocket (6000 Ns to 8000 Ns) there is a much better selection in 75mm than 98mm. Yeah I could adapt down to 75mm but I don't foresee ever buying 98mm motor hardware. At least not for this rocket. For my cert flight I plan to fly it on a CTI 5 grain 75mm M1670 Blue Streak, which sims at 4038 ft. With the most powerful 75mm CTI motor (6XL M2245 Imax) it sims at 7644 ft.
I expect to build this through the spring and paint it this summer. I'm already working on a paint design and yes this big rocket will be getting the full high polished paint job treatment, probably in four colors. If all goes as planned I will be doing my L3 cert flight when MDRA moves back to Higgs farm in the fall of 2017.
Right now I have all the components execpt the av-bay coupler tube, which I expect to get in a few weeks. All the fiberglass except the fins was purchased from Ken Allen at Performance Hobbies. The fins were custom cut by Nat Kinsey at UpscaleCNC. Nat also made the plywood forward centering ring. The forward CR will be 1" plywood because my L3 advisor recommended that the forward CR be screwed to the airframe, which is a lot easier to do with plywood than G10 fiberglass.
The rocket will have a 75mm motor mount. I went with 75mm instead of 98mm because for the size motors that I will be using for this rocket (6000 Ns to 8000 Ns) there is a much better selection in 75mm than 98mm. Yeah I could adapt down to 75mm but I don't foresee ever buying 98mm motor hardware. At least not for this rocket. For my cert flight I plan to fly it on a CTI 5 grain 75mm M1670 Blue Streak, which sims at 4038 ft. With the most powerful 75mm CTI motor (6XL M2245 Imax) it sims at 7644 ft.
I expect to build this through the spring and paint it this summer. I'm already working on a paint design and yes this big rocket will be getting the full high polished paint job treatment, probably in four colors. If all goes as planned I will be doing my L3 cert flight when MDRA moves back to Higgs farm in the fall of 2017.
![33168363261_4c2f2a0390_o.jpg](https://proxy.imagearchive.com/351/351574d90b7772c02bb7d01a2ced7336.jpg)
![33255023186_05ee0cec6b_o.jpg](https://proxy.imagearchive.com/e03/e031125272065fccf486aae887d714ea.jpg)