Dead Ringer MMX from Flis Kits

[gdjsky01]

This is one of the gifts my wife got me from my Uncle Mikes Rocket Shack idea list...
I am not going to do a complete build thread as there really is already one.
But I thought I'd let you see how some 'experiments' in materials came out


About the only gotcha I can stress in assembly is (and thanks to those that made the mistakes before me ), is the rings are trapped between the short tube and the long tube. The coupler is not there to make a longer rocket, it's there as the axle (if you will) for the ring assembly.

And don't forget to trap the shock cord when you install the upper tube to the coupler/ring assembly.

So here's the Parts shot with a tiny bit of whats to come already done...

[gdjsky01]

So as you might have guessed, I looked at the rings and was trying to figure out the best way to paint them... what scheme I would use etc...

Once one the rocket, masking becomes much harder, not impossible by any means, but harder. Then there is the matter of paint the ring supports if I want them a different color, and the body tube...

So things got kinda weird. I decided first that I would try Chrome Monokote on the inside of the rings. Not the trim, the real thing...

First I tried white glue and it peeled right off again. I think the first launch it'd be gone. Oh yes, I tried ironing it on. No that was sub-optimal. I thought about CA but was not sure how they would react together (and must have been lazy and did not experiment ).

Then I tried rubber glue and that seemed to work fine. It did not like the surface of the inner rings. I had nothing to lose by trying, I could always pull it off. And if I ruined a ring, well it's just BT-60. I have piles of that laying around.

[gdjsky01]

Note on the rings, I left about an 1/8 inch (3mm) uncovered to attach the fin to... more on that later...

With the inner rings done, I moved on to the ring supports or fins, or whatever. Those were fiberboard I think and were the cats meow to iron on the chrome monokote.

[gdjsky01]

And here's the results so far...

[gdjsky01]

Now comes the, this is making my life harder part. Time to glue the three tubes to each other... Normal, since they'd be unfinished this is a "Hey who cares, just glue them together in a triangle pattern and be done with it... what the BFD?"

See with a gap in the chrome monokote where the outside tips of the fins get glued, those gaps now became critical to be a 120 degrees spacing around the main tube. Otherwise the fins would be spaced improperly to get the tip to touch the uncovered area OR they be stuck to the monokote and leave an unsightly gap. So putting the rings together now becomes a really chore as those gaps need to be in the right spot Crap... what to do...??


Picture one shows I used a large tube marking guide. What I did is I lined up the gaps in the chrome monokote along the radial 3 fin lines. The weights are to hold everything in alignment as I dab thick CA into little fillets.

[gdjsky01]

Well I said this was not a complete build log... so fast forward a bit and here we have the rings set off with gloss black vinyl strips on the outsides. The rings are glued on the coupler, trapped between the upper and lower body tubes. You can also see a piece of the end of the kevlar which is trapped between the coupler and the upper body tube.

And the tubes are painted with Valspar Red

[gdjsky01]

And so we cut to the chase...

I marked the tube after painting, scraped the paint away where the fins attached to the body tube and attached them with thick CA. The outgassing did not fog the monokote too much as I was very conservative on the amount of CA used.

Ditto the launch lugs...
The nose cone was finished with a few coats of Red Devil white enamel.
Total weight, a svelte 6.3 grams with the streamer!! Huzzah!

[jflis]

VERY nice looking! I love the use of trim-mono-kote. good stuff!

[kruland]

Wow! I love it. Gonna have to get another one now.

Kevin

[hcmbanjo]

Wow Jeff!
I didn't know where you were going with the finish colors at first -
The end results are amazing!

Great work!

[Micromeister]

Outstanding Jeff:
What a great looking model!

[Justin]

I love the chrome stuff. what a great idea! makes me want to dig out my micros!

[MarkII]

I agree with Jim; using the chrome monocote was a brilliant idea! Executing complex masking schemes on micro rockets is an exquisite challenge, which is why it took me (cough) four years (cough) to complete my Just Past Due. Using monokote would have shortened that time considerably, plus my chrome airframe would have still looked like chrome a day after the paint dried.

[gdjsky01]

Thanks for the encouragement and kind comments.

I am indeed going to experiment more with Monokote. Note I did not use TRIM Monokote. I ironed on the chrome Monokote on the ring supports using the low setting on the iron. I found they did bow a tad, but flattened right out when the other side was done and placed right under a book to cool.

[gdjsky01]

to complete my Just Past Due

Still looks great! My wife got me a Long Overdue! Wonder what she is trying to tell me!???

[jflis]

Mark,

Nice looking JPD there . That's another fun kit and it helps to teach the fine/fun art of cutting tubes once you get good (and comfortable) with that skill, your options for scratch building go up an order of magnitude!

[gdjsky01]

Quick follow up. She had her 1st and 2nd flights today. Both were picture perfect, unlike my photography! (When will I learn: ALWAYS manual focus!).

Anyway she surprised everyone with how high apogee was and recover both times under streamer was perfect. An fantastic kit!

[jflis]

Actually, those are very nice pictures Getting launch shots of micro's is no easy task, so consider yourself well rewarded!

She's a great little flier, isn't she? Love the Dead Ringer!