Apogee Aspire

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RocketManDan

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Well now that I was able to balance my time between work and the gym I decided to spend today and make some progress on my Apogee Aspire that I am building. I had some left over 29mm body tubes and I picked up a couple of nose cones from Apogee's site. It's a very basic build, but I know I will be spending most of my time sanding matching air foils in the fins and making some really smooth and uniform fin fillets. I plan on using the epoxy clay only because I am comfortable with and it has at least a one hour work time before you notice it getting hard. I'm also going to skin the fins with copy paper...I built one before and gave to a friend, but we haven't launched it yet.

I plan on using a 4" x 56" Mylar streamer to bring it down. There was an article I read where a heat sink was used to make uniform folds in the streamer...maybe I can pick one up someplace cheap. I believe it was in one of the issues of Sports Rocketry?

One of two things will happen...I'll either lose it or destroy it when it lands. I am going go all the way and get the Apogee F10-8 for the mile high flight and a slow and steady climb...should be spectacular...

If anyone has launched this rocket or built one feel free to jump in and give your feed back...

Beautiful day outside for October...sunny and around 75...gotta love Southern CA! Oh Yeah!!:)

Anyway back to cutting the fins out...
 
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I have two Aspires now, one I'm building a booster for. It was blown up with a E-9-6 a few months ago and rebuilt with a 24mm MMT. I renamed it Salvage 1. My other Aspire is a scratch build using the original nosecone from my first Aspire, which is all I got back when I launched it with a F-10-8 a few years ago. Since then, I have always included a baffle made from the coupler and anchored my recovery system to it.
When you launch with the F-10, good luck tracking it! Add some colored chalk, the 4" mylar streamer is a good idea, that's how I found the nosecone.
 
I have two Aspires now, one I'm building a booster for. It was blown up with a E-9-6 a few months ago and rebuilt with a 24mm MMT. I renamed it Salvage 1. My other Aspire is a scratch build using the original nosecone from my first Aspire, which is all I got back when I launched it with a F-10-8 a few years ago. Since then, I have always included a baffle made from the coupler and anchored my recovery system to it.
When you launch with the F-10, good luck tracking it! Add some colored chalk, the 4" mylar streamer is a good idea, that's how I found the nosecone.

Actually I mounted my shock cord/Kevlar to a tube coupler. Passed on the baffle. Hopefully I'll get it all back. Tracking powder is a great idea. How much did you use in yours? I don't want to weight it down too much...

Not sure I am going to spend much time on a really smooth cool paint job. Probably go with a neon color and flat black fin can and nose cone? I might change my mind when it comes time to lay down the paint...we'll see.
 
I never measured it, maybe a couple of tablespoons, it comes in a squirt bottle for filling a chalk line tool. I tried using a 2" square of nomex to protect the mylar streamer, but the streamer still melts on one end. It still opened up and slowed the rocket down, but was hard to roll back up. Now I use dog barf, and that with the chalk helps mark the ejection.
I still have another F-10, but I plan to use it in a Vagabond I built with a 29mm MMT. Little heavier rocket that won't go quite so high. Although the Aspire is an awesome launch on the F-10, it really does disappear at 5000 ft.
 
Hey y'all, hope you don't mind my reactivating this older thread...

I've got an Aspire kit and am putting in the time to make it nice. But as I build it I find myself slowing and hesitating... I sense that unlike a larger, heavier rocket, this one really has the means to carry itself "out of the envelope" of safe recovery. It is so slim and light that recovery electronics are probably impractical, yet it's a really high flyer, having a design that's basically a "model" rocket but with mid-power engines.

So I'm steeling up my nerve to build this beautiful thing and fly it away... for ever. Is this a common sentiment? :wink:

(Else I might chicken out and keep this to D engines, maybe E's, max. Since I was 10 years old I've always hated losing my rockets.)
 
I feel the same way. I haven't finished mine. It took a back burner to other projects, but you may want to consider streamer recovery so you get it back and have a few spotters with binoculars. Based on the projected performance you will need them. Apogee sells streamers and they suggest the 4" x 56" Mylar streamer, which I think comes with the kit or what I would do is get this material instead.

https://www.apogeerockets.com/Streamers.asp

It's a little pricey, but I think having a wider streamer will slow it down enough to prevent any damage and also make it easier to spot....

Good luck on your build and post some pictures if you feel so inclined. I might even pick it up and start on it again...so many builds never enough time.
 
I'm a real fan of this rocket, I have three now. My latest is a bulletproof version made from blue tube and a fiberglass N/C and fins. It weighs in at 10 oz. but if you build yours with a baffle in the coupler, it should be more like 4.5 oz. They fly great adapted down to D12-7's and E9-8's but if you're brave and launch it on Apogee's F10-8, be prepared to loose it. I have done this twice, the first time all I found was the N/C which I promptly rebuilt back into another Aspire. The second flight was out of sight again for what seemed like five minutes, but it came right back down on the flight line! I had given up trying to see it in the air and assumed I had lost the Altimeter 2 that was onboard, when someone spotted it coming right back to me. The 4" streamer will bring it down fast, and about half the time crack a fin, depending on what it lands on. I'm using a 15" thin mill chute which fits nicely into the 29mm BT but if there's any wind, be prepared for a long walk.
If you do use a 29mm motor, there aren't many that have a long enough delay for this rocket, CTI makes a few, but once again, you might not see your rocket if it goes over 3000 ft.
Be sure to make a pattern of the fin, with that and a couple of BT's and the N/C that Apogee sells, you can duplicate this rocket fairly easy. :)
 
I feel the same way. I haven't finished mine. It took a back burner to other projects, but you may want to consider streamer recovery so you get it back and have a few spotters with binoculars. Based on the projected performance you will need them. Apogee sells streamers and they suggest the 4" x 56" Mylar streamer, which I think comes with the kit or what I would do is get this material instead.

https://www.apogeerockets.com/Streamers.asp

It's a little pricey, but I think having a wider streamer will slow it down enough to prevent any damage and also make it easier to spot....

Good luck on your build and post some pictures if you feel so inclined. I might even pick it up and start on it again...so many builds never enough time.

I launched mine (built per Tim's recommendations for supersonic flight) on a G77 and recovered it maybe 50 or so yards from the pad. I was fully expecting to lose it. The streamer was shredded at the end when it came down.

https://youtu.be/-02mWPnJ4d4?hd=1
 
I was thinking about maybe using a LOC 29mm engine tube...seems a little more sturdy. I have two of the nose cones and then go with 1/8" balsa fins ..skinned with copy paper
 
I feel your sanding pain-5 in work right now. Guess I'd better learn how to use Rocksim-calcs in long hand are sooo tedious, but fun!
 
I sent mine up on a G78 green. Took off like a bat outa heck, but I did recover it. As far as a quick decent.... yea, it comes in pretty hot. I was worried about breaking fins, but the nozzle o f the motor ended up planting itself in the ground, stood straight up (I thought someone had found it and stood it up). The ground was rather soft, though.

Good luck on the launch. I gotta pony up and grab myself an F10.... :headbang:
 
When I ordered the kit, I also, ordered some BTs for scratch building a replacement if I lost it. She hasn't flown yet, but she was on the pad when the winds kicked up to around 20 mph, so I pulled her and I put her back in my truck. I really don't mind the walking but it was the thought of swimming across a river and slogging through the knee deep mud to retrieve her that made me scrub the flight.
 
When I ordered the kit, I also, ordered some BTs for scratch building a replacement if I lost it. She hasn't flown yet, but she was on the pad when the winds kicked up to around 20 mph, so I pulled her and I put her back in my truck. I really don't mind the walking but it was the thought of swimming across a river and slogging through the knee deep mud to retrieve her that made me scrub the flight.

Come on....THAT is the kind of adventurous stories the TRF family loves and appreciates :D
 
I loved flying mine on E and D motors, still have the F10 I ordered with it. Broke a fin more times than I could count, sadly, moving from Michigan to Maine was what did her in, my loc doorknob took some damage, and a 3" 38mm DD scratch build took the abuse of the moving truck, but the poor lil aspire is no more.
 
yea bretheren, let us bow our heads for one who has passed. Know all that only blue skies shall trouble thee and there is no need for parachute, for thou has escaped the surly bonds of earth and joined the Rocket Gods as a chosen child-amen.
 
You guys are amazing...

OK, it's resolved then:

1. Launch with the F10-8 (yes, I got me one of those) only on a windless day, or in a place completely flat with clear long hike possibilities in the downwind direction.

2. Use a nice big streamer but prepare for it to be too small and/or shred during descent.

3. OK to use my Altimeter 2 but it might be lost...but if I heed rule 1 maybe it will survive the flight

4. If not, then recite fyrwrxz' prayer. (Nice one)

I was too stupid to watch Tim's video before I started construction, the part where he said "don't put in the engine block if you want to put in a larger engine" so I suppose I'll need another Aspire anyway, if I want to try the G engine. :D
 
The second flight was out of sight again for what seemed like five minutes, but it came right back down on the flight line! I had given up trying to see it in the air and assumed I had lost the Altimeter 2 that was onboard, when someone spotted it coming right back to me.

Well.....how high did it go?
 
Those are both very good questions, which I have no answer for. My Alt. 2 did not record the flight. I have had very little success with that altimeter, about half the time it wouldn't work, and it was recently destroyed when my Vagabond lawn darted.
 
Thanks to your support I'm back on track with building my Aspire. :cool: I just finished what has got to be the most interesting part of the build...the fins. The fins have the beveled shape suggested by Tim VM for supersonic flight although this being my first time with these techniques I'll not hold my breath.

Here's what impressed me: The fin construction requires 4 different adhesives!

1. White (Elmer's) Glue - To bond the loose leaf paper to the shaped and sanded fins. I experimented a week earlier with gluing paper to balsa using yellow Carpenter's glue, but that left a wrinkly finish. White glue left very smooth paper after drying.

2. Super Glue - To solve the problem of the trimmed paper coming together from both sides weakly to the lead edge of the balsa--which was at a fine point here--Tim said to saturate the paper with water-thin superglue. I was frankly worried about this step for days before doing it, but it worked great, converting the paper and balsa into one very stiff and light unit which was nicely sandable/smoothable.

3. Yellow Carpenter's Glue - I used just a bit to bond the sanded root edge of the balsa to the body tube. Once properly in position I let each fin sit 5-10 minutes before gluing on the next. Then at least an hour later I applied the...

4. Fixit Epoxy Clay (or putty) - This is my first time using this stuff for the fillets. I tried not to overdo it, and found that it went on MUCH BETTER when my hands were clean, so I needed to wash up at least once (better 2 or 3 times) during the kneading and application. I had to smush the snake of putty down into the fin/body joint with a popsicle stick but found my finger, wetted with rubbing alcohol, did a nice job of smoothing and shaping. I used my fingernail again to scrape away excess after wetting it too with the alcohol. The alcohol didn't "melt" the paper or glue, so I think it was a good choice. I used a paper towel to wipe up any melted putty mess on the body tube that was left over.

Next up: Putting on the primer thickly, sanding, etc. The sandable primer I bought from the local hw store came only in black and ruddy brown...so I picked the ruddy brown. :confused:

IMAG0060.jpg
 
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Update: Been working on the Aspire in parallel with a LOC Iris. I've got far more design problems with the Iris than the Aspire...but that should be another thread.

Steps completed since last post: Heavy primer, sand, recoat with primer, then wet sand and wipe clean. It looks quite smooth now, not at all like a beast of paper and balsa...except for the fin edges which I left unsealed, to remind me these are balsa fins. ALSO painted this aft portion of the rocket in a vivid red enamel, which for the first time made the rocket appear really smooth. (This is not that ruddy brown color I mention above.)

Next: Drill some small holes in the BT near the nosecone for the altimeter, paint the upper BT area white, apply clear coat to all, attach shock cord & streamer...and call it done.

(Sorry for the bad photo...camera apparently wanted to focus on the book on the shelf to the far right.)

IMAG0062.jpg
 
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The Apogee Aspire is one of my favorite rockets. I built mine as suggested by Apogee using the epoxy putty and paper skinned fins. Flew it several times on Estes E9's. Lost it on a flight when the tab on the nosecone broke causing tumble recovery. She lost 3 of the 4 fins and crumpled the BT. Now I attach all my parachutes to the NC using kevlar. Can't wait to build another.
 
Built one a couple of years ago, loaded it up with The F-10, and got to watch it for about 2-3 seconds. Gone. I searched the sky and searched the sky and was about to give up when i caught a glitter from the streamer. Problem was the nose cone was attached to the streamer and nothing else. Well at least i got my nose cone and streamer back. Never saw the main body. The next day i get a call from one of the club members who also lost a rocket during the launch, and went back the next day to look some more for his bird. He never found his, but did find mine. Joy. All is right in the world again. Told myself i would not fly this bird again with out a rocket hunter.

When i got the body back it only had two fins left, so some rebuilding was in order. I replaced the fins with 3/64" ply. I then cut the upper body tube in half, and with a coupler i had, joined the half without the bulk plate to the lower tube. Some primer and paint and it was better than new.

I have a Pico altimeter and a Big Red Bee transmitter, so they went in the upper airframe, with a hole cut into the bottom of the nosecone for the antenna. I just wrap them loose in a paper towel. A small screw holds the nosecone to the upper body tube. The Pico only weighs 4.2 grams, and the Big Red Bee comes in at about 12-13 grams with the battery, so i only added about 3/4 oz. Performance suffers a bit, but now i get my rocket back.

Ive had one flight with this setup, and got 4650 ft with the F-10. Best of all, as you can see, i got it back.

Mike

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Wow, beautiful rockets, great ideas!

I'll be sure to use reinforcement / epoxy / whatever to ensure it all stays together after the BP charge goes off. Rocket is very nearly done, photo to follow. Hopefully I can also post a "veteran of one flight" photo later too. ;)
 
I love the Aspire, but my suggestion is a bit different.

The Aspire was designed for one purpose, altitude. It was designed to be launched on an ultra slow-burning F-10. Build it to go high and don't plan on getting it back.

Do absolutely nothing to add extra weight. Don't add a beefier body tube. The purpose of this rocket is altitude, not survival.

Don't paper the fins. On an F10, going up, the balsa fins hold up just fine. They may break when they return and hit the ground but you probably won't find it anyway so who cares? And if you do find it (lucky you), balsa is cheap to replace.

Don't go crazy trying to airfoil the fins, just round their leading edges. You won't be able to see the difference in altitude of better airfoiled fins so don't waste the time.

Don't do epoxy clay fillets. White glue fillets work just fine for the speeds this rocket flies at on an F10, and the epoxy clay just adds expense and weight (but I really like the epoxy clay for other rockets).

Do not go crazy painting and finishing this rocket. Just make it look nice enough for the photo you will take of it before launching it (because the photo will probably be the only proof you have that you actually had one).

Use a really long silver mylar streamer, and launch this rocket on a really sunny day. Make sure the sun is behind your back and that the rocket is angled away from the sun. If you want to have a chance of seeing this rocket at apogee it is way more important to pay attention to where the sun is than what the wind is likely to do to recovery.

My suggestion for the streamer is to get a space blanket and cut it into 1/2" strips and tape together pieces to make a streamer roughly 20 feet long. The idea is to put out something at Apogee that is big enough to catch the sunlight and give you an idea of how high this thing went (you won't believe it). Any streamer big enough to slow this rocket down so that it doesn't get damaged falling from a mile up, will also slow the descent enough that the Aspire will drift into the next county, where you won't retrieve it. So don't focus on a 12 ft/sec landing on this one.

If you've never launched an Aspire on an F10, you're in for a real treat. It was designed (by someone who really knows what he is doing) to go REALLY high. It is a truly great rocket. A mile high on Estes-like parts and a really great motor that burns for 8 seconds.

You can always go higher by adding more impulse. The Aspire is a truly elegant demonstration of how to maximize altitude by reducing rocket mass and drag and the benefits of using an ultra slow-burning motor. Great, great rocket.

Build it light, fly it high.
 
"Build it light, fly it high"

and KISS it goodbye!!!

Gus you couldn't have said it better!! Everything you stated is true. It's a throw away rocket. I built one of these and did all the filleting of the fin joints, nice paint job, color sanding etc. I then gave it away as a gift to someone he still has it. I have yet to build another one and when I do I'm going to build it just as you stated. I just need to get some 29 mm tubing.

Note: I was on BMS website and came across this

T52H-34 1.210x1.140x.035x34 29mm Motor Mount size

It's one piece body tube and it's just a little thicker because it used for motor mounts, but for a piece 34" in length it's only $3 and if you never plan on seeing the rocket, then why buy more than you need. It would also hold up better. I need to check my hiking gear, but I think I have one of those solar emergency blankets I can cut up and use as a streamer...

Gus thanks for the excellent suggestions!!
 
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It's done...

I did in fact build it using the "supersonic" mods, but mainly so I could gain the experience...but given the high liklihood it would get lost flying on the F10-8, I'll use the engines in this order:

- D12-7 - First flight, just over 1200' expected, probably won't get lost...
- G80 - Possibly will go supersonic, but hard to verify. Altitude maybe 3000'. If it still isn't lost, then...
- F10-8

I'll fly it at my club's "ranch" out in the fields of Eastern WA, where they do their high flights, and we'll see how it goes. Wish me luck :)

IMAG0063.jpg
 
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