Sizzler, Estes kit #1906

Sandy H. said:

Yep!

Click to expand...

I've never seen it before, I like the colors you picked for it.

The Courier was originally built when I was young and most of my rockets were painted with 'spare' paint from my brother's projects (my first Sizzler was gold and black!). One of the most common spray paints we had was engine paint, so I had a lot of rockets that were Ford Blue or Chevy Orange. . . This one was originally all Chevy Orange, but it got pretty broken up in storage. Once I fixed the fins, I painted the nosecone black and the repaired fins black. It does look OK, but not up close.

I actually wish I had a picture of the gold and black Sizzler, but I don't think I do.

FYI, when I did my upscale, I put in a pretty long stuffer tube, as I was concerned about pressurizing the large area. In the end, I think it would have been fine without it, but it did add stiffness without adding much weight. I think it had 2 centering rings in the lower section, then the coupler and finally a centering ring at the top of the stuffer tube. I got the tip from a TRF user. I think I used the dimensions from the Broadsword.

Sandy.

Your sizzler is looking good. How tall will it be?

bradycros said:

Your sizzler is looking good. How tall will it be?

Click to expand...

That's the same one from my pic in post #27. Its rotting away in the top of a tree. . .

I have the overall length listed as 39 7/8" (bottom of fin tip to tip on NC) in my spreadsheet I used for upscaling. The nosecone wasn't scale length, so I added length to the body tube and adjusted the paint lines. I'm not a real stickler for upscales, so it might be off a little here or there.

The 2 1/4" OD version in the garage is 57 1/4", same caveat that it might not be 100% correct.

What are you doing for decals on yours? My 2 so far I used decal paper and made them on my printer, but at that size, they got a bit difficult to apply. I'm going to get decals from Mark at Stickershock if I ever finish the 2 1/4" version.

Sandy.

Sandy H. said:

That's the same one from my pic in post #27. Its rotting away in the top of a tree. . .


What are you doing for decals on yours? My 2 so far I used decal paper and made them on my printer, but at that size, they got a bit difficult to apply. I'm going to get decals from Mark at Stickershock if I ever finish the 2 1/4" version.

Sandy.

Click to expand...

When I get that far along in the build, I prefer water slide decals.The Sandman at www.excelsiorrocketry.com does a great job and can make what you want.
I've ordered parts from Semroc and BMS. Now I'm just waiting for them.

Got the 3/16 th basswood TTW fins cut out on my homemade table top jig saw.

Pretty slick setup you've put together there. Definitely worthy of the CIT Badge of Rube Goldberg Excellence.

I have a conventional Dremel #1671 scrollsaw that I bought many years ago. Unfortunately, with the stand it's quite large and I have stashed it where it's extremely difficult to get to. Gotta do something about that as I've been using the old handheld scrollsaw lately.

Nice job on cutting out the fins.

Guessing that until the parts arrive not much more will be happening on this build.

o1d_dude said:

Pretty slick setup you've put together there. Definitely worthy of the CIT Badge of Rube Goldberg Excellence.

I have a conventional Dremel #1671 scrollsaw that I bought many years ago. Unfortunately, with the stand it's quite large and I have stashed it where it's extremely difficult to get to. Gotta do something about that as I've been using the old handheld scrollsaw lately.

Nice job on cutting out the fins.

Guessing that until the parts arrive not much more will be happening on this build.

Click to expand...

"Pretty slick setup you've put together there. Definitely worthy of the CIT Badge of Rube Goldberg Excellence".

Goldberg, Rube. Original name, Ruben L. Goldburg. 1883-1970. American cartoonist and sculptor, creator of extremely intricate diagrams of contraptions designed to effect relatatively simple results.


I'll wear the "CIT Badge of Rube Goldberg Excellence" proudly, so all CIT members can aspire to create their own contraptions.

Here's a couple'a shots of the intricate parts and a disk sander to boot.

Making a Fin Marking Guide.

Materials:

cardboard
spray adhesive
white glue
compass
sissors
template(s), available at www.payloadbay.com/index.php?page=tools&action=FINGUIDES

Inside diameter of BT-60 is 1.595 inches.

1.595 inches divided by two= .7975 inches= the radius.

I find it easyer to set the compass up using metrics, so...

.7975 times 25.4 mm (1 inch)= 20.2565 mm, I'll round that down to 20.250 mm

Set the compass up to 20.250 mm (eyeball the 1/4 mm), draw circles and cut them out.

Glue the template to the card board using the spray adhesive.

Glue the circles together with white glue, then glue the circles to the template with white glue. Keep them centerd.

After some light sanding of the card board circles, the BT-60 fits on to the fin marking guide securely. I'm holding it upside down and it's not going anywhere. In fact, to remove it you have to twist the tube and pull at the same time.
Absolutly no wiggle or jiggel.

That means when you place your marks for fin placement, nothing is going to move.

Use a piece of angled aluminum to extend a straight line from the tic mark that was made with the home made fin marking guide.

And the home made fin marking guide is reusable, biodegradeable and nonmagnetic. The kids will love it. Make your own today!

I always save the scraps after cutting something out. They can be used to make widgets, doo-dads and what nots. I used this piece of scrap to draw the line for the width of TTW fins without having to measure anything.

The needed measurement for the bottom of the TTW slot was taken from the template.

The needed measurement for the top of the TTW fin slot was again taken from the fin template.

Make the measurements and place tic marks. Connect tic marks. A piece of paper was laid up next to the tic marks and used as a straight edge. Paper bends. Steel rulers, not so much!

Slotting the tube


Materials:

knife
tube


Place knife and tube in front of yourself.
Stare at it for awhile.
Think about starting.
Then wonder why those cookie elfs don't do slotted tubes.

Slotted.

Fin test fit.
Remember, this started with a picture of a fin set from the plan on Jim Z's.

The fins look thick, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Are you going to shape them?

Sandy.

Sandy H. said:

The fins look thick, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Are you going to shape them?

Sandy.

Click to expand...

You have an eye for detail. :cyclops:


The long answer is:

They are .7625 mm to thick, because
the original fin stock was 3/32nds of an inch
3/32nds of an inch = .0937 inches

The Scaling Factor (S/F) is = 1.677254
.0937 inches multiplied by the S/F = .1571586
.1571586 multiplied by 25.4 mm (1 inch) = 3.9918284 mm (or 4 mm)

5/32nds of an inch works out to 4 mm
11/64ths of an inch works out to 4.4 mm
I don't have those thicknesses available to me.

I do have 3/16ths of an inch available.
3/16ths of an inch = .1875 inches
.1875 inches multiplied by 25.4 mm (1 inch) = 4.7625 mm

That's less then 1 mm over scale, I can live with that.

After bevels are made on the fins, the extra thickness should be nearly undetectable.
Anyways, dat der's wot i is thunking.

Sandy H. said:

The fins look thick, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Are you going to shape them?

Sandy.

Click to expand...

The short answer is:

Yes.

The measurement for the original tube was 18 inches.

18 inches times the Scaling Factor of 1.677254 = 30.190572 inches
That is rounded up to 30.2 inches.

A 34 inch BT-60 from BMS is being used. 3.8 inches needs to be cut off.
Use of millimeters is easyer then decimal when measurement marks are being placed. so...
3.8 inches times 25.4 mm (1 inch) = 96.52 mm
That is rounded down to 96.5 mm

Four tic markes were placed around the tube 96.5 mm down from the top.

A piece of junk mail (cardstock) was wraped around the tube. The top edge was alined with its self, then slid up to the tic marks. A line was drawn around the tube using the top edge of the junk mail as a straight edge.

Stare at tube for awhile admiring your handi work.
Then think about cutting the tube.
Take a break.
After returning, think about cutting the tube some more.

Cut the tube.

Save the scrap. It's possible to turn the scrap BT-60 into a C-60 (Coupler). Then turn the C-60 into a baffle.

bradycros said:

A piece of junk mail (cardstock) was wraped around the tube. The top edge was alined with its self, then slid up to the tic marks. A line was drawn around the tube using the top edge of the junk mail as a straight edge.

Click to expand...

A good easy tip I got from Tim at Apogee ,is to do what you did with the cardstock wrap ,but tape it into plce and use it as a guide for your knife to follow.....works really well ,with multiple light passes.I then have a thick piece of plate glass from an old aquarium ,attached long strips of 120 ,180 ,320 sandpaper (the good non-clogging stuff 3M) using thin 3M 931 double sided tape and use it to sand the cut end smooth and square (the 320 grit is all you need for this)
The other use for the glass,stationary,sandpaper sanding block is for sanding the edge of fins (usually stacked together) nice and straight and square.

Keep up the good work "T"

Paul

Very good tips Paul, those will come in handi in future builds. Thanks and keep 'em coming!