Transparent Rocket for teaching class.

To help in teaching my annual rocketry class. I thought of building a
transparent rocket. I am sure this has been done before. It should help
in teaching building techniques.

Reference:
https://www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?t=11693

Since I was placing an order with Semroc I tossed on the order Clear air
frame (body tube), engine mount and nose cone. I am using 3 of the left
over balsa fins from my Saturn IB build, after a little trimming.

If I do launch it, I will insert a peice of paper curled inside the airframe to
protect the plastic from the clay cap, burning BP and hot ejection gases.

Before glueing the fin on I taped off the area with painters tape and roughed
up the surface with sand paper.

I drilled holes through the air frame and injected glue to fix the engine mount.
I did not want smeared glue to be able to be seen. I am thinking of glueing
some addtional "rivets" (clipped straight pins) in to the CR's also to help hold
the engine mount in place.

Estes produced a clear rocket called the phantom.

https://www.rocketreviews.com/estes-phantom-7b-frank-casey.html

You might also consider ordering one of these from Fliskits:

https://www.fliskits.com/products/accessories/motor.htm

gpoehlein said:

You might also consider ordering one of these from Fliskits:

https://www.fliskits.com/products/accessories/motor.htm

Click to expand...

Thanks,

Got it the first year, it is good. I need to touch up the paint job on it. :blush:

RockSim file for it.

View attachment Invisible.rkt

Let us know how it goes if you do decide to launch it. What glue did you use to hold the fins to the clear plastic?

extended and have been Launching Clear Mod-Rocs at Demos for a very long time.
Occasionally it's still possible to pick up a Phantom Alpha at auction or purchase without breaking the bank they are worth the time if you run across one.

It's also possible to built an "almost" clear model with parts from some other kits Particularly those with White styrene plastic Nose cones and Transitions.
a couple years back I wanted a new Night Launch vehicle that Completely.. or as Completely as possible lit up. I found an Old Estes Nike-Apache kit, replaced the Body tubes with clear Polyethylene Mailing tube "close" size replacements, fabricated clear polycarbonate lighted fins, & added an internal ejection charge shield to keep the interior unsoiled from the gunk at ejection similar to the one i've used for years in the extended body Phantom alpha. Works like a charm as long as the shield is removed and cleaned shortly after recovery.
Quest has a BT-55/60 close Egg clear egg capsule that may be of help also.

Someone ask what adhesive to use for attaching fins to clear Lexan or polyethylene tubes. it's a material from you local sign supply or Plastics distributor called Weld-on 16. with fillets of 30 minute epoxy. the epoxy yellows over time but it still remains mostly clear.
Hope this helps.

I never quite understood the clear plastic nose cone and fins on the BT-50 (Alpha) Phantom.
Most all LPR rockets have balsa fins and nose cone, not plastic.
Even with the nose cone in clear plastic, it's hollow, there's nothing to see inside it anyway.

It's great you are making your own. How about making one mountable balsa fin finished in a clear coat so you could see the balsa grain.
You could paint the nose cone, but mask off a balsa "window" so the kids could know there is wood underneath.

You've already got the Fliskits cutaway engine, so you could leave the engine mount empty for now.
With the clear tubes from Semroc, the engine mount tube could be a clear 7 series mounted in a clear PST-50 or PST-55 tube.
You'd have to peel away a little off the inside of two 2050 centering rings to fit the 7 tube.
Better yet, a PST-50 tube engine mount in a PST-55 clear body! Bigger and easier to see the engine mount.
It'd be easier to make a cutaway engine from a 24 mm casing.

Evo666 said:

Let us know how it goes if you do decide to launch it. What glue did you use to hold the fins to the clear plastic?

Click to expand...

I am using Ambroid for the initial glue up, good grab and fast set. But I will
be adding some white epoxy for the fillets. My goal is not to have a
complete clear model but clear BT so you can see the interinal components
and building techniques, my first idea was to build the Whatchamacallit with
a clear BT but the Jigtech fins cover up the MMT, CR's and how the Kevlar
thread is attached. So as a result I just went with the 3FNC design. It still
meets the needs and can be launched if desired.

hcmbanjo said:

I never quite understood the clear plastic nose cone and fins on the BT-50 (Alpha) Phantom...It's great you are making your own. How about making one mountable balsa fin finished in a clear coat so you could see the balsa grain. You could paint the nose cone, but mask off a balsa "window" so the kids could know there is wood underneath...It'd be easier to make a cutaway engine from a 24 mm casing.

Click to expand...

I am just using sanding sealer on the NC (balsa) and fins and then top
coating with gloss varnish. Think "Nekid Rocket," which was my first name
choice but not good for a school program so "Invisible Rocket" or "Invisibility"
is what I am calling it.

Also with the fins I am leaving one with square edges, one with rounded
edges and one with streamlined edges. This I did on my test build of a
Whatchamacallit and had no significant issues with drag variance. This
way I can show the kids the difference in finishing techniques and explain
drag.

hcmbanjo said:

I never quite understood the clear plastic nose cone and fins on the BT-50 (Alpha) Phantom.

Click to expand...

It's an Alpha III, of course...(with a 5.5 inch BT instead of the 4 inch one supplied).

I use an Alpha III/Phantom in classes and displays and talks and such (as well as the FlisKits large cutaway motor). Will be doing so again at an event next month. (Clear BT-50 tubing from Semroc to make the "right" length of the body)

Shade,

You can have a great demonstrator model for only a couple bux that looks like a Big Bertha. Start with a length of fluorescent tube cover (clear plastic tubing) from the hardware store, just a hair bigger than BT60. Pick up a Baby Bertha kit with a 40% off coupon, and use the plastic NC, balsa fins, and MMT. The Estes NC is actually a hair undersize for this tubing but it will work. (You will need to wrap a couple layers of paper around the outer edges of the CRs to build them up for the right diam to fit in the plastic tubing.) It will be strong enough to actually fly, and if you use scrap pieces of plastic tube to line the insides you can keep the main tube from scorching and getting dirty. Around $10 for the whole thing.

You can also order a purpose-made balsa NC for this tubing from BMS, and I'm sure Roachwerks would be happy to spin one for you.

I also used clear tubing meant for fluorescent light tube protectors, to make a BT-60 sized rocket.

To attach the fins, I used some “L” angle plastic so I could glue those to the tube using an aggressive plastic glue (Plastruct’s Plasti-Weld). That allowed me to then glue plastic fins into place, the fins attached to the plastic “L” angle than to the tube itself.

The plastic fins were out of .04” yellow plastic I happened to have.

To make the BT-60 nose cone fit, I added a bit of tape.

For the launch lug, I think I just laid a piece of very sticky paper, about 3/16” wide, to the tube, then used CA or white glue to glue the lug to the paper. Not a super-strong way to attach a lug, but this is not for flight anyway.

I made the engine mount tube fluorescent red so that when talking about the rocket to a class or crowd, it would be obvious from a distance where the engine was.

- George Gassaway

Update.

Sorry for the crappy picture.

Second Pic is better...