Trident I missile build

Here I sit, thinking I have a lot of painting to do, so instead I have been working on a new project, a scale of the Trident I SLBM. I really couldn't put my fingers on any good dimensions, but I found a few drawings with length and diameter and have kind of winged the rest.

I am looking at using 1/8 inch thick lexan for the fins and to counteract all of that weight in the back, a bunch of weight in the nosecone.

Overall length is about 35 inches with a diameter of about 5.4 inches.

Nose cone made of balsa, plus weight comes in at roughly 19 ounces.

So my first question is will the standard Aerotech ejection charge push out the nose cone and a 58 inch chute. (As you can see from the rocksim info, it is only marginally stable without a motor. With an H242T, margin goes to 0.69. So More weight will be added in the front)

Chute may seem too big (and maybe it is), but currently my estimated weight is over 2000 grams.



I've attached the rocksim layout.


Thanks,
John

Nice looking design! I have had mixed results with clear plastic fins. I think the thicker the clear plastic fins the better. I assume that the fins are TTW. Good question about the ejection charge. Roachwerks does a good job with custom balsa nosecones. You will probably need extra nose weight for stability and to carry the chute out. Off the top of my head it is hard to say for sure about the chute being carried out by the nosecone. There is always the backyard ejection charge test. It is pain to set up, but can save a lot of grief in the long run.

Diameter was 74" tapering to 72" at the equipment section. I don't remember the length of the aerospike. I handled the C-4 from '89 to '95.

aerostadt said:

Nice looking design! I have had mixed results with clear plastic fins. I think the thicker the clear plastic fins the better. I assume that the fins are TTW. Good question about the ejection charge. Roachwerks does a good job with custom balsa nosecones. You will probably need extra nose weight for stability and to carry the chute out. Off the top of my head it is hard to say for sure about the chute being carried out by the nosecone. There is always the backyard ejection charge test. It is pain to set up, but can save a lot of grief in the long run.

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Thanks. I've contacted Roachwerks about the nosecone. Hopefully he can come up with something with just the outline of the nose fairing I was able to provide him. The fins are TTW and there is a bunch of extra weight in the nose and will probably be more to get good stability (I've asked for the nosecone to be hollowed out to allow the weight to go as far forward as possible while maintaining some wall thickness on the balsa). Have never done one of the ejection charge test before, but thus might be the time to learn how.
John

judo said:

Diameter was 74" tapering to 72" at the equipment section. I don't remember the length of the aerospike. I handled the C-4 from '89 to '95.

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I was on the Madison from 86 to 90. Crawled around the ejection chambers more than a few times and got to see the inside of a few equipment sections and stick my head in some innerstages.
Always wanted to due a test launch, but never looked forward to refurbing the tube afterwards, so I guess things turned out OK.

Where were you out of?

Madison Alum said:

I was on the Madison from 86 to 90. Crawled around the ejection chambers more than a few times and got to see the inside of a few equipment sections and stick my head in some innerstages.
Always wanted to due a test launch, but never looked forward to refurbing the tube afterwards, so I guess things turned out OK.

Where were you out of?

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USS Henry Clay (SSBN 625G) '88-'89 out of Charleston/Holy Loch.. I did the last two gold crew runs before decom. First one was after ERP; 28 day patrol, 12 days alert. Second was regular length. Following that I did two years on Canopus (AS-34) in Kings Bay and three years at SWFALT. I did another 15 months aboard Chicago (SSN 721) out of San Deigo. They sent me way the heck out there because I wouldn't re-enlist for another six to go D-5 school and another 4-year sea on a Trident II boat. Until I got there, the Chicago thought my orders were a typo; They'd never had a Missile Tech on board before. They were expecting a TM, not an MT.

I had a roommate on the Madison during that time but I don't remember which crew. You'd remember him. Last name of Marston, aka "Firestarter." They were underway and he was duty laundry queen. A lint fire started in the dryer. Marston steps out of the laundry room into the lounge and calls away the fire over the 4MC, but doesn't say a word to the off-duty crew actually sitting in the lounge.

Here it is, almost Memorial Day, and I haven't done squat on any of my builds. Haven't done any more painting on my Tripod or Diamondback upscale. Haven't put the noseweight in my Renegade or started prepping either of my Togs. Haven't made a launch pad for my Helix.

Work pays for all the fun stuff (and the necessary stuff), but sometimes she's a cruel mistress. And sometimes just cruel.

I did take a half day off last week and went to my daughter's school to launch some rockets: Fliskit Green Crayon, Fliskit Tumbleweed on a 1/4A, Fliskit Fric and Frac on a C6/B6, Fliskit Thing a ma Jig on an A8, Art Applewhite 18mm Hourglass on a B6, Art Applewhite 24mm Delta on a C11, Estes Ricochet on an A8, Estes Mean Machine on a C11, Dynastar Grappler on a D12 and a Quest Starhawk on an A8. Mostly low to the ground flights to keep the rockets in a small field and to keep the smoke and noise down low so it would be cooler. I had fun, as did most everybody else. The sophisticated 6th graders were glad I was there because it got them out of class for a while.

Sorry, no pictures. Charged the camera the night before and left it sitting on the counter.

But I did spend a little cash, getting the parts together for my Trident I. Got the LOC tubing, some 1/8 lexan and a really nice looking nosecone from Roachwerks.
(Thanks, Gordon, it came out really nice looking)

This weekend, I'm heading home to New Hampshire to see my mom (family in tow), so I won't be getting anything done on the projects for a while, or get to go to the next 2 ROCI launches (1 of 4 is not a good start for the year).

But the summer is here, good painting weather mostly and late light, so progress will be made.

Really sory about the hole in the tip I forgot.

Hopefully you can drill a hole in balsa.

Started sizing the body tubes. Without the aerospike, rocket stands about 29 inches tall. Next will be cutting out the fins.

Been working on the fins. Used a dremel and cutting discs to cut out some rectangles, (busted I don't know how many cutting discs doing that), staked the four parts together and used a coping saw to cut out the fins, then a sander to clean up the edges.

Next up, the slots for the fins. Can't find a program for making a fin guide for a 5.14 in diam tube, so the old fashion calculate and measure will have to do.

Give this a try.

View attachment finguide[1].pdf

Thanks. I had looked at payload bay (got their name from your Fly Me thread), but got wrapped around the fin wrap limitation and didn't look any further. Guess I've been living in a box too long and can't find my way out half the time.

Madison Alum said:

Thanks. I had looked at payload bay (got their name from your Fly Me thread), but got wrapped around the fin wrap limitation and didn't look any further. Guess I've been living in a box too long and can't find my way out half the time.

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Glad to hear the Fly Me thread was of some help to you. Some TRF members have voiced their opinion to the complete opposite. :grin:

Got a little more work done on the Trident I. Used a fin allignment guide from payload bay to mark the fin slot locations and cut them out. One turned out a little too thin and will require some sanding/filing to get the fin to fit. A pieced together view of what I have so far. Next up is the engine mount.

Finally back to the Trident I build. Worked on the engine mount and while I was looking at the picture I took, it dawned on me that I had made a major goof and epoxied both centering rings onto the engine tube, leaving injecting epoxy inside the tube to glue down the fin tabs to the engine tube as the only option I see, short of starting over. Bummer. Well, anyway, here is the engine tube. Need to add the shock cord mount, sand the centering rings so it fits in the tube and shave a little off the fin tabs so they seat onto the engine tube surface OK.

Good to see you`re back at it ,I was wondering what happened.Keep at it !

Regards

Paul t

Sanded the centering rings so that the motor mount fits into the body tube. Now it slides in smoothly, but not too loose. As I was working on that , sanding fit check etc, it dawned on me that there is a reason for soaking the ends of the body tube in super glue, and after doing so, it dawned on me that it's better to do it before you start trying to fit the centering rings into the tube and booger up the end. At least I imagine that there is less sanding involved, which equates to better,at least for me. Anyway, got a good fit on the motor mount into the body tube. Don't know how much more I will get done on this today, as it's time to go out and run the lawnmower around the back yard and chop up the leaves. Also need to go to the hardware store to get an eye bolt to attach the shock cord to.

Got the fins tacked in today. Also got a couple of 10cc syringes to use for the interior filets. Still need to put one more centering ring in the back to act as a base for the rounded off aft end of the missile. Then the motor retainer and an attempt at a realistic looking nozzle. Then a bunch of work on the front end. Don't know if I am going to try to put on all the stuff thats attached to the back of the missile and nozzle, but for sure not until it flies once.

Look'n good.

Thanks. Haven't decided yet how close to real I will try to get on this. There are a couple of real good shot of the aft end of the rocket with all the hydraulic units, nozzle control struts, cabling etc. on flikr under the navy museum cold war gallery, so that gives something to think about. May just rough in the body with the aerospike and see if it survives the first launch before investing much more time in it.

Nice so far!! It's gonna be a looker for sure!

Thanks. I am going to try for the in service look, though the test model paint jobs they used for land launches (I think) seems much easier. I don't plan to go overboard on the painting until it flies once, as I am not sure that the fins are going to survive a hard landing, and our launch site has one of AMA's mini air strips in the middle, which is good for launching but not so good for landing.
Started on injecting the epoxy today. Prior to starting the actual weight was a couple hunderd grams less than Rocksim predicted, so it may come out close to what the sim is saying when done.

Made some more progress on the Trident I. Got the fin fillets in place, although they still need to be sanded down on the lead and trail edges. Also got the equipment section part of the body epoxied in and the shoulder of the motor part of the tube sanded down to transition between the two. Next up is to put sanding sealer on the body and sand that down, then add the rail buttons and the rear centering ring. So far I'm only 3 months behind and $900,000,000 over budget. Also about 100 gms over the predicted Rocksim weight with the cg about 1/2 an inch further back. Don't think I will have to worry about losing sight of this puppy.

Another picture, which looks remarkably similar to the last 2 or 3.

Oh, as you know ,you can never have too many pictures LOL !

Indeed ,going over budget does happen ........but WOW......you seem to gone over your own "Fiscal Cliff" as it were !

Things are looking good ,almost there it looks like.Are you able to paint outside right now in Indiana ?

Take care


Paul T

Outdoor spray painting is gone by the wayside until spring, but I think I can brush on some sanding sealer out in the garage. I also have a bunch of work to do sealing up the nosecone, adding the aerospike, adding the nose wieght etc. Our next launch date at Muncie isn't until next April, so there is plenty of time to get this done enough to fly. Sometime I'll also be doing a ground test on the ejection system, as the nose on this weighs a bunch and I am not completely sure if it will come out with the standard AT ejection charge. Never done one of those before, so it should be intersting.

Got some more time to work on the Trident I today. Cleaned up the lead and trail edges of the fin fillets and applied 2 coates of sanding sealer. Not a pretty smell at first, but it grows on you. Also got some wood filler applied to the nose come. I guess sanding is on the menu in the near future.

Did some messing around on payloadbay.com to rough out the aft end. Just did this in paper for now but plan on going with cardstock for the finish. Don't know if the nozzle will be an issue with catching on fire. I have an Aeropak retainer under there. Looked at the Giant leap nozzle retainers, but I don't think they were big enough on the 38mm version.

Beg pardon mister ,but what are the fins made of (Lexan ?) and how thick are they ?

I have a project in mind that will require clear fins ,but in all my years of scratch building ,have never used these materials.Any info would be great.

Thankyou !

Paul T

They are 1/8 thick scratch resistant lexan from McMaster Carr. Kind of pricey. Product code is 8707K112, but also comes in smaller sheets, I think. There is a little bit of info over on YORF under building techniqes. I had to use search to find them, even after someone told me where they were in another thread. There is one thread on sanding lexan and another on clear plastic fins. Lexan is kind of heavy and not as strong as the G10 fins, but hopefully it will do the job. Certainly clear enough.

Madison Alum said:

They are 1/8 thick scratch resistant lexan from McMaster Carr. Kind of pricey. Product code is 8707K112, but also comes in smaller sheets, I think. There is a little bit of info over on YORF under building techniqes. I had to use search to find them, even after someone told me where they were in another thread. There is one thread on sanding lexan and another on clear plastic fins. Lexan is kind of heavy and not as strong as the G10 fins, but hopefully it will do the job. Certainly clear enough.

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Thankyou ! I might need thicker ,say 1/4" ,weight will not be a problem and found locally here in town.

I`ll do the search on YORF

Take care


Paul T