First Level 3 Build Darkstar 75mm X-treem

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GRIFFIN

GRIFFIN

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Well, Here goes nuthin,

I'm not quite sure what all needs to be documented in this build, so I will do everything.

After having a very successfull day and my first dual deploy launches (Darkstar standard) I picked up my 4" Wildman darkstar Extreme on Saturday August 21st. I had planned (in my head) that it would sit for a while before I built it. I don't know if the bag was in my house for 24 hours before I cut it open to check out all the stuff. I think the successfull dual deploy launches gave me the added push I needed to "pull the trigger".

As the title says, this is my L3 cert build. I will be asking a few questions along the way. Forgive me ahead of time for the stupid ones I ask.

I will most likely be taking a few months to finish the project (I think i need to show progress as the build comes together)

Anyway, wish me luck and thanks in advance for the help that will be thrown my way.

I posted a pic of my Darkstar (baby,mini,original,standard.....what do you call it now??)
Hey Jim, do you have any school bus yellow paint left over... I may need a few more cans.

L3 Build.jpg
 
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Sweet! I think you'll like this kit. I just built mine.

For the L3 stuff, have you talked to a TAP yet? I wrote up a whole package for mine, plus he followed my build thread. If you haven't talked to one yet, I would do that before starting the build.

Any thoughts on a motor yet? This thing will scream on even the smallest M.
 
Contact your TAPs or L3CC members first! make sure they are on board for your build.
 
GRIFFIN said:
Well, Here goes nuthin,


I posted a pic of my Darkstar (baby,mini,original,standard.....what do you call it now??)
Hey Jim, do you have any school bus yellow paint left over... I may need a few more cans.
Click to expand...

It's just called "The Darkstar"[it's the original] the little one is Darkstar Lite, 4inch is DarkStar Extreme , the 6inch is " Ultimate darkstar" and the 12inch is the "Mega Darkstar"

You guys and school bus yellow, it's Yallar down here! LOL Oh, and don't forget the "stop" signs to make it an official school bus!

I just sent Tim the final construction manual for the 4inch Darkstar Xtreme. he should have it posted in the next few days. Look under kits.....DarkStar Extreme. till then just follow the build thread:
https://www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?t=12790

This will get you started, the manual will have many more details though.

By the way.....very nice job on the "DarkStar" . Where do you fly out of? Going to Midwest Power, Argonia, or Red Glare? We could race1
 
Last edited:
blackjack2564 said:
It's just called "The Darkstar"[it's the original] the little one is Darkstar Lite, 4inch is DarkStar Extreme , the 6inch is " Ultimate darkstar" and the 12inch is the "Mega Darkstar"

You guys and school bus yellow, it's Yallar down here! LOL Oh, and don't forget the "stop" signs to make it an official school bus!

I just sent Tim the final construction manual for the 4inch Darkstar Xtreme. he should have it posted in the next few days. Look under kits.....DarkStar Extreme. till then just follow the build thread:
https://www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?t=12790

This will get you started, the manual will have many more details though.

By the way.....very nice job on the "DarkStar" . Where do you fly out of? Going to Midwest Power, Argonia, or Red Glare? We could race1
Click to expand...


I didn't forget the stop sign, Tim said he was going to get Gary to make a few red "Stop Sign" parachutes"
I fly at Bong and yes, I will be at Midwest Power.
See ya there. V-max "J" maybe???
 
I would recommend flying many more successful DD flights before attempting your L3. :2:
 
Gary said:
I would recommend flying many more successful DD flights before attempting your L3. :2:[/QUOTE

I do have plans for MANY more D/D flights before the M motor. I guess my original thread should have had a disclaimer about a time line. I am just eager to build this awesome rocket.


By the way Gary, great looking Bruiser. I would take it off your hands if you planned on MWP9

And I will be ordering a few sets of Blastcaps soon.
Click to expand...
 
Great aways happy to sell some Blastcaps :) I've already got the Extreme Wildman otherwise I'd be building too, Hell I may get one anyways as its a great looking bird. Looks like you where one of the lucky ones to get the aluminum NC tip too. Its a small detail but it really makes the kit.
 
I know for a build thread... this is kina of slow and boring.

I did get around to taking a few pics.

I built the motor mount and installed the kevlar strap (bridle?)
I marked the fin location on the aft CR to prevent problems when time to install aeropack.

I "beefed" up the av bay (prolly over-kill) installing 5/16 threaded rod, 5/16 u-bolts and all hardware. I used all stainless steel for the bay.

I cannot go any farther on the build untill I show the current progress. That may not happen for a few weeks.

I am going to try and complete the build in time for Midwest Power, Maybe break it in on a Crazy Jim dragrace.

I will still have no intentions on flying it on the cert flight untill the following MWP.

L3 Build 003.jpg

L3 Build 005.jpg

L3 Build 006.jpg

L3 Build 007.jpg

L3 Build 008.jpg
 
Found some time today to expoy in the motormount to the booster.

Before I mixed any glue, I roughed up the inside of the BT with 60 grit paper. I also stuffed the bridle into the motor ount and packed in a bunch of newspaper to hold it in place (to keep it from getting epoxy on it)
I mixed up a good amount of epoxy and mixed in some chopped carbon.
My arm was just long enough to reach inside (holding the cup of epoxy) and "dump" it into place.
I slid the motormount into place (making sure I aligned it with my reference marks I put on earlier)

I pushed the mount in place untill the forward centering ring was "pushed" up into the bed of epoxy.

I gave the motormount a few twists to make a good contact with the bed of glue.

I then backed the motormount in place and set the 3 forward fins in place to make sure the motormount would not move. I also test fit all the other fins, making sure they fit in with no issues.

I then set the booster upright and let the epoxy settle and make a nice fillet.

The nice thing about the fiberglass is beeing able to see inside and make sure it has a good fillet

fin can.jpg

fin can (1).jpg
 
I built mine a little differently....
I glued the MM (minus the aft CR) in, then glued 1 upper & 1 lower fin at the same time. It is a little easier when using Pro-Set; as you can also do the fillets without having to wait ( it has the consistancy of tootpaste).




JD
 
JDcluster said:
I built mine a little differently....
I glued the MM (minus the aft CR) in, then glued 1 upper & 1 lower fin at the same time. It is a little easier when using Pro-Set; as you can also do the fillets without having to wait ( it has the consistancy of tootpaste).




JD
Click to expand...

I don't trust myself with gluing both upper and lower at the same time. I plan on tacking the lowers with 5 min. making sure they are perfect, then setting the uppers with a straight edge and some clamps.

That method worked great for me with the first Darkstar I built.

What motor/when/where are you going to launch your's

als sale 013.jpg
 
Got my fin guide today and could'nt wait to tack some fins.

before Set the fins in place, I spent a few hours (seemed like hours) sanding down all 6 fins "softning" up all the sharp edges. I also hit all the contact areas with 60 grit sandpaper.

I used the fin guide and set all 3 of the upper fins in at once.
After they set up, I used a piece of angle aluminum as a guide and tacked in the lowers one at a time.

I will let this set up and come back to inject some internal fillets.

rocket 003.jpg

rocket 008.jpg

rocket 006.jpg

rocket 004.jpg

rocket 009.jpg
 
More time in the "man cave" last night.

Finished all the internal fillets (switched to fast cure hardner....wow is that easier)
I was not able to get enough epoxy to flow down onto the forward side of the aft CR.
I drilled a hole in the Bt just above the ring and injected some epoxy to seal up that ring.

Installed a flange mount aeropack reatiner. Because of the larger motor mount, there was no room to use the threaded inserts.
I used #10 X3/4" socket head wood screws. I pre drilled the holes and hardened all the wood with thin C.A.

Now I need to go over all the 1/4" holes I made for injecting and fill them with an "epoxy plug" I made the mistake of putting the holes too far out and my external fillets will not cover the holes. (live and learn)

It's looking like I will have this bird ready for MWP8. I will not do my L3 cert then but maybe a "Test flight" on a K or L.

L3 build 1.jpg

L3 build 2.jpg

L3 build.jpg

L3 build 3.jpg
 
Your build is looking sweet! Good luck with your test flight.

I should be doing a test flight on mine in early October, then it's going up on an L1720WT at Red Glare. I can't wait!
 
Rocketman248 said:
Your build is looking sweet! Good luck with your test flight.

I should be doing a test flight on mine in early October, then it's going up on an L1720WT at Red Glare. I can't wait!
Click to expand...

Nice!! post pics.

ROC sim says you should get abouk 11,000. Let me know what "really" happens.
 
Today, I pulled out the drill bits and made a few holes in the rocket.

Pretty boring stuff.
3 holes for the sheer pins in the nose cone/ BT
3 holes in the AV bay / BT- for the rivits
3 holes in the switch band for altimiter "breathig air"
(rivits and av bay vents off set to prevent "turbulant air)
1 hole in each section of the BT for pressure relief
and 2 "reference marks for allignment

all holes were drilled one by one and the rivit/sheer pin was installed before moving on to the next hole.

Sorry for the boring post-on the bright side- The rocket is WAY FRIGGIN COOL, and starting to look like a rocket.

L3 91110 001.jpg

L3 91110 002.jpg

L3 91110 003.jpg

L3 91110 008.jpg

L3 91110 009.jpg
 
I dont know why, but I HATE doing external fillets.

But I must say, I think mine look darn good when done (thanks to Crazy Jim's method)
As you can see, I found a good use for a Estes D12 motor. The instructions say to use a 1 1/2" pvc pipe for the fillet, I found that to make too big of a fillet for me.
These fins are so thick and with all the carbon fiber holding them in from the inside, the externals are just decoration in my opinion....and they do look good....did I already say that.

The only thing I did different from the directions is I pulled the masking tape off the fin and body tube as soon as the fillet was done.
I the dip my finger in alcohol and smooth out ant edges and "shape" the termination points (fin for and aft at root edge)

as you can see in the pics, I drilled the internal injecting holes too far out. I filled them with epoxy, covered the holes with tape and set it upside down to allow the epoxy to drip into the hole.
Then I cleaned them up with a little filler.

Still have one more set to do, maybe sometime this week.

L3 91110 011.jpg

L3 91110 012.jpg

L3 91110 015.jpg

L3 91110 016.jpg
 
Nice looking fillets!:) Funny, I tried that method on my Ultimate Wildman, but whenever I tried shaping the fillets my epoxy mix kept wanting to stick to the tool(yes I dipped the tool in alcohol prior)..The stuff even wanted to stick to my alcohol dipped gloved finger when doing final shaping.:bang: So, my fillets are all bumpy and such.:confused2:
 
That's odd, were you using West Systems epoxy and filler?
I couldn't be happier with the way that product worked. Up until this build, I have been using Zap epoxy with the west systems filler and that combo was a little harder to work with, it had the tendency to "flow" no matter how much filler I used.
Bumpy fillets add character, just tell people you used a pretzel to form them!
 
GRIFFIN said:
That's odd, were you using West Systems epoxy and filler?
I couldn't be happier with the way that product worked. Up until this build, I have been using Zap epoxy with the west systems filler and that combo was a little harder to work with, it had the tendency to "flow" no matter how much filler I used.
Bumpy fillets add character, just tell people you used a pretzel to form them!
Click to expand...

West System filler(406 Colloidal Silica) but using US Composite epoxy...It was mixed to a 'peanut butter' consistency as well..Oh well, maybe will add some as filler to smooth them out some..

Yeah, my 'bumpy' fillets are speed brakes to keep the rocket below mach!:roll:
 
Been a while since the last post.

Found some time to put some primer and a first coat of paint.
I am using Duplicolor "Schoolbus Yellow" and "Gloss Black"
I was going to change it up a bit with the colors but I really like the yellow on black.

The paint will take a while to finish because fall has arived and the temps have dropped.

I also did a little work on the av-bay. I male a sled out of 1/4" aircraft ply and J-B welded it to brass tubing.

I made a few homemade "charge caps" out of 1/2" copper caps and small sections of pipe.
I made the caps big enough to hold about 5g. each.

Looking like it may be ready for MWP.

I was able to sell an R/C plane to help fund the Electronics portion of the build.
I will be using a raven for the main and a missleworks for back-up

L3 build.jpg

L3 build 001.jpg

L3 build 003.jpg

L3 build 002.jpg
 
Looking good..You ARE going to fill that center hole in your avbay bulk plates aren't ya?;) Else you will get a lot of ejection gases in the bay and soot up your electronic..
 
Pantherjon said:
Looking good..You ARE going to fill that center hole in your avbay bulk plates aren't ya?;) Else you will get a lot of ejection gases in the bay and soot up your electronic..
Click to expand...

Yea< that hole will be for the wires. i will run the wires from a terminal strip from inside the bay and connect to a smalles block on the outer side. then the holes will be filled with silicone..........what, you mean I'm not supposed to "vent" the tops of the Av-bay? ;)
 

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