Guidance Forum?

[edwinshap1]

First I should legitimize this idea. I have heard of other forum ideas bounce around (High Performance and the like), and they are too specialized to really warrant another entire forum. However, on the general discussions forum group, there are three "somewhat" specialized forums, namely:

• Propulsion
• Software/Electronics
• Recovery/Ground Support

Propulsion: The stuff that makes your rocket go up (most of the time).
Software/Electronics: The stuff that makes you confident that your rocket won't explode (most of the time).
Recover/Ground Support: The stuff that makes your rocket come in slow (most of the time).

Now, this "Guidance Forum" is just the best name I can think of at the moment, but it is essentially a fin forum. It would be a place for people who want to discuss fin shapes, sizes, and types with each other. Topics could range from tube fin design/shape to how fin shapes effect flight profile to what materials work the best for different conditions to reinforcement under different stresses.

This would be a great resource for new people and old hands alike as we all put fins on our rockets (most of the time), and they all have shapes.

What do you guys think, would this be a beneficial forum for you? I know I have a couple questions regarding fins that don't technically belong in any other forum, as I save the MMX, LPR, MPR, and HPR forums for entire rockets, not just specific questions regarding one aspect.

[Pantherjon]

I think this subject can be handled rather easily in the Techniques forum..

[Reinhard]

Back in the day, when Carl Tulanko ran it, TRF had an "Advanced" section that covered such topics. Unfortunately, it was discontinued for reasons unknown to me. A guidance forum might be too specific, but something similar with a broader scope, like the old "Advanced" forum, would be a nice addition in my book.

Reinhard

[troj]

A couple things...first, I don't see the point if a "guidance" (or stability or whatever) forum. If we start that trend, where does it end? What about glue? Motor retention? Construction techniques versus painting techniques?

"advanced" - who decides what is advanced? It's relative to the experience level of the user. And now we have advanced HPR versus advanced LPR verses advanced construction..,

The whole concept of "Advanced" is, to me, a but unfriendly

[k-rad du0d]

There are already too many subforums as is.

[shreadvector]

And how!

http://www.google.com/search?q=forum...archBox&ie=&oe=

There are already too many subforums as is.

[Micromeister]

+1 for this topic being handled perfectly well in the Techniques Forum.

[MarkII]

I am not opposed to seeing new subforums, if they make sense. This idea just seems to be too narrow, and can be handled in existing forums. I don't browse TRF by forum anyway, but do pay attention to them when I read posts in order to gain context. For example, a fin material question in the Beginners forum will call for a different answer than one in the High Power forum. The OP's idea might have been better pitched as a "Design" subforum, a la YORF. (YORF has a whole section devoted to Design, with multiple subforums.) TRF, at least since I have been here, has been less focused on "design" and more on construction techniques, projects, propulsion, electronics and flight. (By comparison, YORF rarely has a thread about motors or propulsion, and almost never one about electronics.) TRF does have threads about design, but they don't seem to be so dominant to warrant their own section here. Specific design questions fit well in the "Techniques" subforum here.