What did you do rocket wise today?

Finished the balsa skeleton for my APRO Lander II.

greeted mr mailman at the door and transferred a box-o-motors, a couple kits, some scratch build parts, and a pair of new chains for my chainsaw from his possession to my shop!!
will be greeting him again tomorrow,too!

Bought some more paints and clear coat from HL using the 40% off coupon, started assembling a Fliskits Educational Cut-away BP Motor, cut BT's and selected balsa wood from my stash for a Rotaroc, and painted balsa filler onto the fins/wings of an Estes Lynx.

tomsteve said:

greeted mr mailman at the door and transferred a box-o-motors, a couple kits, some scratch build parts, and a pair of new chains for my chainsaw from his possession to my shop!!
will be greeting him again tomorrow,too!

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...I'm interested to see this new form of rocketry, Chainsaw Rockets...leads to some intriguing possibilities...like using rockets to recover rockets in trees...

dave carver said:

...I'm interested to see this new form of rocketry, Chainsaw Rockets...leads to some intriguing possibilities...like using rockets to recover rockets in trees...

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Self recovering would be pretty cool. Chainsaw rocket with GPS guidance to return to the LCO area. Hopefully loud enough that people move out of the way.

While not today but on Saturday, had a great launch with Tripoli Mid Ohio. Flew a Rocketry Warehouse Osprey 75 on an aerotech K535 dms. Managed to get 8994 ft and 1128 ft/s, which broke my personal records for fastest and highest. Great weather for the launch and great people there too.

dave carver said:

...I'm interested to see this new form of rocketry, Chainsaw Rockets...leads to some intriguing possibilities...like using rockets to recover rockets in trees...

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drone action!

actually, I have an estes Athena hangin in a tree in the park behind us and another one hangin in the little patch-o-woods next to us, but I don't think the parks dept would be happy with me cutting them down, so im gonna stck to the oaks in my yard that need to come down. although id like to cut down the 38"DBA walnut that has about 18' of clear trunk. im thinkin theres some nice lumber in it. but ill settle for the oak.

ordered up some veneer for more scratch building this winter. thinkin a woodie rocket would be sweet!

tomsteve said:

drone action!

actually, I have an estes Athena hangin in a tree in the park behind us and another one hangin in the little patch-o-woods next to us, but I don't think the parks dept would be happy with me cutting them down, so im gonna stck to the oaks in my yard that need to come down. although id like to cut down the 38"DBA walnut that has about 18' of clear trunk. im thinkin theres some nice lumber in it. but ill settle for the oak.

ordered up some veneer for more scratch building this winter. thinkin a woodie rocket would be sweet!

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I've always wanted to dangle a hook from a drone and go "fishing" for my rockets that are lodged in the tops of trees. But (1) I don't own a drone, and (2) if I did, I'd be scared of losing it in the tree too!

I finished building 6 PP samples of a new Estes kit that hasn't been seen yet. Yesterday I built a second prototype of model I test flew Saturday four times that flew better then I had hopped. Hopefully it will become a new future kit. Not sure if Estes has ever done one of this type of sport\competition type model.

John Boren

It's a rainy day, so no painting, but I did spend most of the afternoon in my workshop (and at the dining room table) working on several projects.

First was assembling a Fliskits cut-away engine kit.




Then I inboxed and assembled my $0.99 Booster.


Attached shock cords to near complete models.


Worked a little more on a Rotaroc.


And got a little more done on the Estes Lynx.

welp, I TRIED to greet mr mailman nicely. all was good until he didn't have my parts that were sposed to be here today. so, out of spite, I came in and ordered parts for a king kraken scratch build. that'll show him to not have my package!!!LOLOLOL
seriously, I was good with it. just happened to see the king kraken for the 1st time today and that thing is friggin cool!!
buuuuuut, im thinkin that build wont wait til winter. we shall see!!

JumpJet said:

I finished building 6 PP samples of a new Estes kit that hasn't been seen yet. Yesterday I built a second prototype of model I test flew Saturday four times that flew better then I had hopped. Hopefully it will become a new future kit. Not sure if Estes has ever done one of this type of sport\competition type model.

John Boren

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Teasing us again? Shameful! But can't wait (although per my other thread I really don't need more)

A big thumbs up to my friend Adrian (jd2cylman) who delivered an old rocket part to me at MWP14. This Rowe's Retainers (out of UK) tailcone was purchased for my L2 build in 2007. I used some elbow grease to clean and shine this thing up. It will be a perfect addition of bling for my retro-look Binder Terrordactyl build!

I made, packaged and shipped six original size Guillotine Fin Jigs to Apogee. Then I went to Wally World where I bought some groceries. Now I'm watching the election results on CBS.

Voted, then started making my own area great again by working on restoring tools. Also recruited some new members to my civil defense militia, but they might not be necessary if thing go properly.
There are folks that would love to take rocketry out of our hands entirely, and their last name begins with a C.
Today was the day to worry about that!


ETA: Sweet! Looks like we can dis-band CD-1. That's a real load off my shoulders! Maybe find time to build some rockets now.

Woke up, was shocked at election results, smoked a pipe, said goodbye to my wife, added fillets to an Argent build, stared at some other parts for a while, started my own rocketry website and facebook group, got two kids off to school, dishes, crockpot dinner, picked kids up. Thinking this evening I'll continue on my backyard sauna project...

Tomorrow is back to work,,,, but only for a day,,,, then headed to the cabin for the weekend! And I certainly won't work on rockets up there...

Re-assembled the workings of my 1941 Power King 280 8" Table Saw.
It has a miter gauge accessory that will be really great for making fins.
It will be such a choice tool for even delicate woods like Balsa, as it was designed to not be just a table saw, but can handle dado and sanding too, but I'll only need it to saw. It's just top of the line!
There are not many around, and I'm very honored to have gotten it.



Yes, it will be used to make parts for rockets. I just got sick of X-acto knives and having to sand things manually, as everything like that is painful. I now will assemble a complete actual machine shop to do the work that causes me pain.
I'll still be at the helm, but the scale and intensity of work can go back to what it was when I first joined the forum back in 2013.
I simply can't keep up anymore, and these machines are typically had for less then $50, and sometimes even free, and they do an entire days work in seconds. I certainly must have them all!
They are priority one of making ME great again!
Just spotted a free industrial Vacuum pump too! Like the kind that is actually supposed to be used for Aerospace stuff!

It started out looking like this:



It has some serious potential now with me at the helm.

Built my clearance sale Trajector, hoping for a launch this weekend. Paint work continues on the BBIII.

Put brackets in my trailer to hold removable PVC racks on the wall. Gets stuff up off the floor, gives the trailer more usable space.

Was interrupted from sanding a primed Crossfire by a couch delivery. A delivery I was not expecting for like...5 days

So not technically done today but Wednesday, just getting to post this today.

After reading up on how to do fiberglass tubes, I decided to jump in and try it. Best way to learn.

Notes for next time
#1: have a clock handy so I know how much working time I have left.
#2: Loose fibers love static electricity and will go everywhere if you're not careful. I have a strip of tape against the wall, sticky side out, so that I have something to grab the loose fibers next time.

For my "test piece", I grabbed a short extra section of BT-80 and carefully stripped the thin glassine off. Man, I thought BT-80 was flimsy before, with that layer off its like toilet paper tube. Hardly much strength left.



I decided to try wrapping two layers of 2oz fiberglass, using BSI 20 min epoxy. I tried doing it similar to one of John Coker's videos: lay it flat, wet it, then roll it on. Worked pretty good other than the flimsy BT-80 making it hard to roll. The parchment paper worked pretty good as well. Came off easy after it was cured.

After it fully cured, looked good and was as firm as a PSII tube. One small bubble though - you can see it towards the bottom in the pic. I'll have to watch that more carefully next time.

Had to spend the last 2 days spackling and sanding some drywall in my daughters house

Decided to take a break...and spent the evening sanding some F&F off some tubes and fins...

Put the ARLISS on hold, and started a job for the club.

The rod adapters they have are carbon steel, and corroded severely. I have 60 each 3" long pieces of 5/8" 304 stainless, and I'm making new adapters. Been facing and beveling ends.

Once that's complete on all 60, re-chuck and drill.

I wasn't going to buy another kit to build since I'm getting a stack of kits to build at home, but... It's another very slow weekend at work, and... I had a Hobby Lobby 40% off coupon, so... I picked up an Estes Crossfire ISX. I'm now about half-way into the build on it.

Finishing up an STM-012 and my wife is starting in on her Lazer Lance.

I guess I was overdue for a sacrifice to the rocket gods, as my Estes Ascender loaded with a lot of electronics drifted off to a new home at the top of a way too tall tree. I was able to locate the rocket thanks to the Eggfinder onboard. Its now stranded in the tree along with my Jolly Logic Chute Release and Altimeter 3. D'oh!!! At least I know its final resting place! Been around long enough to know it goes with the territory in this hobby.

JimZNJ said:

I guess I was overdue for a sacrifice to the rocket gods, as my Estes Ascender loaded with a lot of electronics drifted off to a new home at the top of a way too tall tree. I was able to locate the rocket thanks to the Eggfinder onboard. Its now stranded in the tree along with my Jolly Logic Chute Release and Altimeter 3. D'oh!!! At least I know its final resting place! Been around long enough to know it goes with the territory in this hobby.

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Post a small sign letting folks know it's harmless and offering a small reward?

JimZNJ said:

I guess I was overdue for a sacrifice to the rocket gods, as my Estes Ascender loaded with a lot of electronics drifted off to a new home at the top of a way too tall tree. I was able to locate the rocket thanks to the Eggfinder onboard. Its now stranded in the tree along with my Jolly Logic Chute Release and Altimeter 3. D'oh!!! At least I know its final resting place! Been around long enough to know it goes with the territory in this hobby.

Click to expand...

Ouch, an expensive loss. Even though I'm on vacation in the Keys, still wish I was there!

dhbarr said:

Post a small sign letting folks know it's harmless and offering a small reward?

Click to expand...

Winds shifted and it landed in a wooded area on private property across the road from the farm we fly from. I approached the property owners and they blew me away with how helpful they were. The GPS had the rocket some 250 feet in from their driveway. They let me lead them back into their woods and we spotted it snagged high in the top of the tree. The property owner brought out poles and other methods for trying to get it down, really eager to help. He was even looking for ways he might climb an adjacent tree to get it for me, but that wasn't viable. He even told me the tree was a little too healthy compared to some of the others around, else he would have cut it down. Again, just blown away by their eagerness to help. While we didn't get the rocket down today, he said he'd get in touch with me if it comes down somehow.

JimZNJ - Sounds like you were fortunate to find a land owner who took an interest in what you were doing. I have no doubt he'll make every effort he can to get your rocket back to you.

Today I ordered some AT Single Use G motors from Wildman for my Laserhawk and Mega Der Red Max!