Family Drag Race Build

Even though our club's event for this weekend had been postponed due to drought, we decided to meet anyway to hang out, stare at all the rockets we couldn't launch, and enjoy a Wildman steak sandwich. An ugly coincidence, the burn ban had been lifted at midnight Saturday, but the park ranger told us "no fly". No biggie, we were not prepared anyway. Tim had a box full of the LDRS promo kits still available, so I had my kids take a look at them, they likey. My son was excited to build his first fiberglass rocket, my daughter was just excited about it. Took full advantage of her excitement, because it doesn't happen often with rocketry. To make an already long story short, we left with four of the promo kits - son chose natural color (he's excited to build it "Tim Style"), Daughter chose red, Stable Half chose red, I picked blue to mix it up (a decision I'd later regret, get to that later). Family Drag Race, IT'S ON!

This is what Tim calls a sandwich. By the time I got to the "sandwich", I was full. Delicious.

The parts.

The kits are simple, which made them nice to do as a group. I started by making some shock cord mounts from braided kevlar, these will be epoxied to the motor mount tubes. I was shooting for five (one for Andy too), but somehow ended up cutting and tying six.Won't go to waste.

I am getting things together to start on mine also. We can do a spot landing competition on these at MWP also. They only go 4-500ft up on the H motor :grin:

Maybe I had everyone's kits on the brain when I was getting parts together, I'll cut some more Kevlar if you or Rex (or anyone else) who bought these Saturday wants it. So far, I've found these kits to not really need much to slap together. I'm trying out a different (to me), cheap, easy, method of motor retention that I learned of on Saturday, seems like it will work out well. Details to come.
Hmm, 4 to 5 hundred on an H... Not too sure about that - if that is the case, I'll be happy I'm making the mods I'm making on mine. I'm kinda hoping Rex draws this thing up so I don't have to, I'll resort to bribery if need be.

4-500' my clavicle! gee a shock cord mount sounds nice...see attached unpainted no epoxy (no retainer either). looks like a fair amount of nose weight (approx 4oz) will be needed for a G64.
rex

View attachment wildman_jart.ork

Rex R said:

4-500' my clavicle! gee a shock cord mount sounds nice...see attached unpainted no epoxy (no retainer either). looks like a fair amount of nose weight (approx 4oz) will be needed for a G64.
rex

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Thanks much Rex, you've got a ditty bag coming if you want it - I'll mail it to you if you'd like. I'll have to plan for adjustable nose weight in mine, don't think I'll need too much with the I 200

What about the I1299?

blackbrandt said:

What about the I1299?

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I only have 29mm's to work with - I200 is as big as it can be. Besides that, there's no motor eject with Warp 9 loads. If I put a Warp 9 load in it, it would REALLY resemble the name Rex gave it above.:wink:

Awwwwwwwwwwww... Maybe a slight edit?

blackbrandt said:

Awwwwwwwwwwww... Maybe a slight edit?

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As in larger hole? I'm not sure I understand what you're referring to.

Yep! Howabout a 38mm motor mount?

blackbrandt said:

Yep! Howabout a 38mm motor mount?

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Many reasons:
Would leave virtually no room for tracker/recovery gear
It is much easier to help the other three people involved (who are learning the basics) if all the components are the same
The rocket will require less nose weight with the long 29mm motor, as opposed to a shorter 38
When I build a kit, I use the parts - I'm not one to open a kit and throw half of it away
It's just not nessasary - any "I" will be more than enough

Bummer. That would be cool...

We started building the kits the usual Wildman way, epoxying the shock cord mount to the motor tube. In line with that, on the nozzle end, an 8-32 screw was epoxied to the motor tube. A friend told me about this method last Saturday, he said it's how Cosmodrome does it. I'd never heard of it, so I figured we'd try it out. The screw head was ground flat on one side, so the threads of the screw could be epoxied to the motor tube. What's left protruding out the back will be used for motor retention. Doesn't seem too solid yet, but it will be later.

blackbrandt said:

Bummer. That would be cool...

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They're cheap! Get yourself one!!:y:

Are they this one?
View attachment 92085

qquake2k said:

Looks like a fun family project!

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So far, so good!

blackbrandt said:

Are they this one?
View attachment 92085

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That's the one. Has a nice "Alpha"-esque look to it.

He doesn't have them on his site. He only has the LDRS special.

blackbrandt said:

He doesn't have them on his site. He only has the LDRS special.

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I guess he's only selling them in person. If he has any left when he's back next month, I'll grab one for you if you want.

How much are they?

blackbrandt said:

How much are they?

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$31.00

Next order of business is the forward centering ring. The centering rings are all over the boards - some too big and too small both inside and out. I matched them all the best I could and dealt them out. The forward rings were notched with a sanding stick to slide over the shock cord tether, and slid down to a waiting ring of masking tape to maintain proper location.

I heard a rumor that, someone was planning a spot landing contest at midwest power using these...preferably with chute .
rex

Rex R said:

I heard a rumor that, someone was planning a spot landing contest at midwest power using these...preferably with chute .
rex

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We'll have three there, don't think I can talk the daughter into it.

This is an awesome build thread!!! It's great to see the children building there own rockets. After all they are the future of our hobby.

geodehunter said:

This is an awesome build thread!!! It's great to see the children building there own rockets. After all they are the future of our hobby.

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They're doing a great job of it, too! My son and I build all the time, my daughter is another story. We sat out on the patio yesterday working on these for a solid three hours, without any distraction. Maybe she's finally coming around.:dark:

After the forward rings were cured, we prepped the inside of the tube for motor mount installation. I didn't mention it before, but all bonded fiberglass surfaces are being prepped with 60 grit "rock" paper. A piece of that was attached to a dowel to rough up the inside of the air frame just above the fin slots. I'm not a fan of the "injected fillets" process, so I'm surely not going to try to get my kids to do it. Would be way more fartin' around than nessasary anyway. After the inside of the tube was roughed up, a ring of epoxy was put in with a skewer, and the motor mounts were pushed and twisted into place. The aft centering ring was then set in place to keep the tube strait while it cured.

While the motor mounts were drying, we worked on the aft ring and fins. The aft ring needed a hole for the retainer screw, that was taken care of with a 3/16" brad-point drill and some needle files. Fin edges were then sanded smooth, and the tab surfaces were prepped for epoxy.