with LL's & fillets finished, a 1/2" x 9" yellow teflon streamer was cut & tied to the butterfly knot in our shockline. stuff in the tube we install a MMX-II motor we attach a kevlar swing string to see how we're doing. Totally unstable...
Time to Hollow our new Fliskit Nosecone. A dremel with a end cutter bit is used to remove as much balsa as I can down pertty close to the tip, leaving about 1/16" wall around the shoulder. re-set back in the model body we start adding patties of clay wrapped around the nosecone again finding the balance point we give it a swing. more clay needed add and adjust string. Re-swing and repeat until we get a nice level swing flight path.
I've got the amount written down but don't have it handy here. I'll add the Mass amount a bit later. __._grams Nose weight required.
Placing all the clay on my gram scale we convert to #9 shot and start to load the Nosecone.
Now we add our 90lb kevlar attachment loop into the bottom of our hollow cone it's OK to have about 3/4" of loop extending from the cone sometimes it is more then needed other times..we'll you'll see in a moment.
with Loop centered in the hollow opening start loading in the shot.
CRUD! Even with the nose hollowed as far down and thin as I dared we have more shot then room...what to do???
Actually it's not that big a deal. With some Blue painters tape or plain old masking tape add a couple wraps around the shoulder of our hollowed NC. Keep the tape "tube" extension as round as you can in the process. Add the remainder of the required nose weight while dripping a drop or two of CA as you go, then with all the shot in place a small amount (couple drops) of 30 minute epoxy onto the mass letting the glues settle around the balls before adding the next drop. Once you have a level of epoxy that doesn't soak in stand the NC in a spent motor casing or other holder keeping everything as NOSE DOWN vertical as possible. Because it's never known exactly how much room will be needed for our nose weight it's a very good idea to make the kevlar attachment loop a bit oversized extending at least 1/2" beyond the aft end of the shoulder.
After overnight curing...do not rush this process. Remove the masking tape and sand with 120grit papers until you have a smooth fitting extended mass NC shoulder. Works like a champ, I've done this on countless models over the years. The epoxy clad Nwt. generally outlasts the model.
Time to do a little surface prep sanding, bevel the strakes and shoot on a coat or two of cheapy grey primer just to see where we are. Balsa NC may need 3 coats.
That's as far as i've gotten on this one... More as she proceeds.