Fliskits Mudwasp

[gdjsky01]

This is one of the Christmas Kits, amongst many others. With the SCRA moving to the small field for the next few months, I figured I had better get some more small field fliers ready. I have the Dead Ringer, Odd'l Rockets Squatty Body, and some MMX QBits... figured it was time to expand the fleet.


The parts are the usual good quality parts I have come to expect from Fliskits. The fins are 1/16th inch basswood I believe.

[gdjsky01]

The motor mount is pretty simple. Handling the those small engine blocks can be a challenge. Gluing it in required a toothpick and a spent MMX motor for placement

[gdjsky01]

• A little sanding of the glassine on the tube fins.
• Then a straight line extended to the tube edge so it can be seen edge on.
• Then glue on the line
• And use those marks on the very edge to glue the tube fins two at a time

.

[gdjsky01]

In the mean time we glue on the motor mount centering rings. They are small and fragile, and the white glue can make them wishy washy so use it sparingly.

[gdjsky01]

I felt it be easier to get a multi-color paint scheme with the tube assemblies and the fins off. So next I primed and sanded. You'll note the stoooopidly painted (and subsequently sanded down) area of the main body tube where the tube fins mount. Also the tube fins had 1/16th inch masking tape strips placed top to bottom where the tube fin would be glued to the main body tube to keep the paint off of that area.


As I learned from Chris Michielssen I used a scrap piece of cardboard with masking tape mounted sticky side up to hold the parts while I primed them

[gdjsky01]

White paint was next. I did not fill the bassword fins. That was a mistake. While they are quite smooth, they still do require at least a light sealing. Live and learn.

Then red, then blue.

[gdjsky01]

Next I scraped a little paint away from the fin root edges and the valley between pairs of tubes.

[gdjsky01]

On go the tube fins

[peter_stanley]

Looking Good! What size is the main tube, BT-4?

[jflis]

Main tube and outer tubes are all BT-3.

Looking great on the paint. Caution though, this model is very heavy for a micro model and heavy paint just compounds that problem. Expect flights of less than 50 feet...

jim

[gdjsky01]

Yes I was aware as the paint went on I perhaps was making an error. But it is what it is. It's at 11.5gm on the pad. ROCKSIM says I should get 20 meters or so. So yes, somewhere around 40 to 60ft.

[gdjsky01]

Error or not... lets press on shall we?

Here a fin... there a fin... everywhere...
Each fin was put on with thick CA applied to the root. I tried one, let it setup, and gave it a good tug. It was on there. Recall I had scraped the paint away on just a sliver of the fin roots.

Yes, over zealous scraping caused a scratch or three which were easily touched up with a little spray of paint into a paint cap and a small paint brush.

Launch lug glued in place where I felt it would be easy to use.

And the mounting of the kevlar to the nose cone. A little roughing up of the pin and a dab of thick CA and we were fine. A good tug confirmed a decent bond.

[gdjsky01]

The money shots... 10 gm dry. 11.4 with motor. A porker but hopefully will at least clear the launch rod.


All-in-All yet another brilliant Fliskits MMX rocket. I just need to remember that with MMX, light makes flight.

[Scotty Dog]

LOOKING GOOD!
You do have room for more motors........

[gdjsky01]

Son-of-a-gun... Scotty Dog is correct... at least two more. Think I'll fly it on one and then order the requires tid-bits to convert it to a straight 3 across... nice thinking!

[WizardOfAZ]

Nice job! Love the paint! Great build...

LOOKING GOOD!
You do have room for more motors........

HOLY SMOKES!!! Tell me that's a scaled up Mudwasp...

I was just thinking,,, a scaled up Mudwasp would be PERFECT for a L2 cert with single deploy. What would be the min diameter, 54? Or could you do a 38? Wow,,, that's cool. I might just build a 29mm Mudwasp next for fun.

Jim, can you send me the necessary dimensions? Otherwise I'll be ordering another kit soon...

[Scotty Dog]

Nice job! Love the paint! Great build...



HOLY SMOKES!!! Tell me that's a scaled up Mudwasp...

I was just thinking,,, a scaled up Mudwasp would be PERFECT for a L2 cert with single deploy. What would be the min diameter, 54? Or could you do a 38? Wow,,, that's cool. I might just build a 29mm Mudwasp next for fun.

Jim, can you send me the necessary dimensions? Otherwise I'll be ordering another kit soon...

Cannt seem to get any info about the picture.
I looked at RCS online and didnt see anything there either????????????
Anywhoo-I found this picture by searching "Rocket Motor Clusters"
I got lucky in finding that picture of what looks kinda like a Mudwasp.

http://www.rocketmotorparts.com/home.html

[gdjsky01]

The name of the image is gatescluster. I'll take a SWAG that is Porthos II, a Gates Brothers scratch build.

The Gates Brothers made a meteoric tear through High Power Rocketry in the late 90's and early 2000's. Sadly one passed away.

At one point, IIRC they had dozens of L motors in their possession. Or maybe it was M's.

[jflis]

The Wasp came out REAL sweet She should do fine. I have heard of this beast being clustered but am not sure what success folks have had. With all those tubes, it sure is begging for a cluster...

[gdjsky01]

The Mudwasp flew today and had a great maiden flight. Altitude was right around 75 feet. Hard to judge maybe a bit more, maybe less. Recovery under streamer was perfect.

A great kit!

[jflis]

Again, with the pictures! Man, you're doing a great job on'em!

Good looking bird there.

[shreadvector]

The Mudwasp flew today and had a great maiden flight. Altitude was right around 75 feet. Hard to judge maybe a bit more, maybe less. Recovery under streamer was perfect.

A great kit!

I think I have your micro rod adapter.

[gdjsky01]

I think I have your micro rod adapter.

Yep. Knew I forgot something. I have several. I'll snag it next time. Thx for holding on to it. Launch was great.

[gdjsky01]

Again, with the pictures! Man, you're doing a great job on'em!

Good looking bird there.

Feel free to use them. And thanks!

[Blakkzakk]

OK. I want one, too.

[AlfaBrewer]

Wow,,, that's cool. I might just build a 29mm Mudwasp next for fun.

I kit bashed a Super Neon XL into an upscale of a slightly modified Mudwasp. The mod was to trim the tube fins in half to match the length of the SNXL tube fins. The upscale has a 29mm motor mount.



The Mudwasp is a great flier. I haven't had a chance to fly the upscale yet. The last launch I was able to get to was kinda windy - 15mph at the surface and 60mph gusts at altitude.

Decal by Stickershock

[cbrarick]

I'm gonna fly my wasp at NERRF....should turn some heads given my normal flights. I was thinking about putting it on a standard estes rod cause I bet it will fit on one of the empty tubes and I don't have a pad for it.

after all, Flis will have cake so we should fly a Fliskit or two or maybe more

[gdjsky01]

As you can see in the picture, I use an adapter that slips over the normal 1/8 inch rod. Its just a hunk of wood with a launch lug on one side and a MMX rod stuck in the top. It was not my idea. Shreadvector showed me it. His are fancier with a slot for the old plastic MMX ignitors. Me, I just use a slver of balsa to hold in the ignitor.

[jflis]

Hoping to have several micro's to fly at NERRF (as well as NSL). Hope LOT's of folks bring their FlisKits kits out to get some air as we celebrate our anniversary all year long!

[Micromeister]

Got around to adding MMT's inline with the core motor on my very heavy MudWasp.

Added 2- T2++ (.316"OD) tube liners & T2+ Motor tubes to the supplied T3 (.375") pod tubes. To divert some of the Hot gas & flame at ejection from the Core T3 tube at the top of the Pods, a short piece of Stainless Steel tape was wrapped around the Core tube just at the forward end of the pod tubes extending about 1 inch up.

Swing testing with the new motor configuration and 3 MMX-II motors was positive without any additional Noseweight.

Had hoped to launch the clustered Mudwasp last weekend but didn't make it to the launch.

Edit:
forgot the photo.