What did you do rocket wise today?

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Finished another Majestic, built specifically for the sustainer on a two stage F15-0/ F15-6. I managed to shave an ounce off the 9.6 oz. estimated weight on the box.
Got a bunch of 29mm CTI casings from ndrockets, now I know that CTI makes a tailcone closure for 29mm!
 
Finished another Majestic, built specifically for the sustainer on a two stage F15-0/ F15-6. I managed to shave an ounce off the 9.6 oz. estimated weight on the box.
Got a bunch of 29mm CTI casings from ndrockets, now I know that CTI makes a tailcone closure for 29mm!
You need an h399 for the 6g that goes with that tailcone :). GD29 machbreaker....
 
Starting building again after a year and a half layoff...partly due to being away from home for a year followed by a move across the country (into a house half the size...Wash DC is expensive and small), but also because the rocketry mojo wasn't flowing for a long time. Life was busy and there seemed to be no time for rockets.

All that's behind me now, new house is all setup, and the rocketry work bench finally in place. So, I *finally* started work on a Wildman Jart 4" that I bought years ago...the rocketry mojo is back! Going to keep the 54mm MMT, but stretch the main body tube about 10" to allow for a 54/2560 motor option. First build I've done in almost two years.

So good to be back. Now I just need to launch a darned rocket for a change!
 
Starting building again after a year and a half layoff...partly due to being away from home for a year followed by a move across the country (into a house half the size...Wash DC is expensive and small), but also because the rocketry mojo wasn't flowing for a long time. Life was busy and there seemed to be no time for rockets.

All that's behind me now, new house is all setup, and the rocketry work bench finally in place. So, I *finally* started work on a Wildman Jart 4" that I bought years ago...the rocketry mojo is back! Going to keep the 54mm MMT, but stretch the main body tube about 10" to allow for a 54/2560 motor option. First build I've done in almost two years.

So good to be back. Now I just need to launch a darned rocket for a change!

Welcome back Mark! The "Jimbo Jart" is a great place to jump back in, but be careful with the additional weight. I added an avbay and payload tube to "Jughead", my 5" Jart and had to add tip to tip fiberglass to the fins after several broken parts on them.

Where are you stationed now?
 
Took a senior level engineering final exam on supersonic wind tunnels. Oblique shocks and rocket nozzles. A true a**kicker to the brain. We all left guessing if we'll pass this Dr.Margraves. Legend is his dad assisted in design of the SR-71 turboramjets as a mechanical. Margraves is tough on engineering students as has expectations of design your own damn supersonic wind tunnel to blah specs by yourself. Because You're a Senior Engineering Student.. Teach yourself for random exams. Nice guy to talk with. Very hard classes. Home works due on exam days doesn't help the learn part. Advanced Fluid mechanics with compressible gas flow. /Rant.
 
Gotta love how he thinks a Mach 2.4 CO2 fed wind tunnel project is trivial. Design for 50,000 ft and altitude pressure. It "only" had a variable throat area and diffuser area. And a compressor. And yah had to use ten formulas to make the tables in the back of book to actually start the problem. The book only covered air. Then yah had to find an oblique shock, a normal shock moving through the diffuser after a test section, the start up diameter, the steady state diffuser area, and the operational costs and other mach numbers. Book had three sentences on variable throat wind tunnels. And if areas weren't right it would un-start. Then the book called "diffuser sizing is an art form", because apparently it's still trial and error since 1880. LOL... Guys... Doing an HPR multistage from scratch twice was easier this semester than that Wind tunnel stuff... Prof started calling us cheaters after entire class failed midterm real bad. Naw man we were just f***ing stupid. Dude can do a FEA sim of a Hellfire missile motor and write up graduate documents, walks you through how to design a gimbal for a test stand similar to the NASA unit he used, but teach... Not his forte'. Verbally teaches it. Concepts.
 
.... but teach... Not his forte'. Verbally teaches it. Concepts.

Reminds me of my first karate teacher. Nice guy to talk to but he had me wax his car, sand his deck, paint his fence. I worked really hard, but his assignments didn't help me learn anything. I saw him do karate, but he sure couldn't teach it.

Meanwhile, rocket-wise, I ordered a couple pieces of 38mm motor mount-tube and and laid out patterns for ribs and struts to frame a Haack nose-cone to fit LOC 3 inch motor tube. I also stopped pretending that I am not working on an L2 rocket.
 
My case is done for the Eggfinder Rx LCD + GPS module.

IMG_4854.jpg

I ran some tests walking around the neighborhood between it and my twins' Eggfinder Mini av bays. Everything is working great.

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I also stopped by the local hobby shop and picked up some 2-56 machine screws to attach the Featherweight screw switches to my twins' Formula 38 avionics bays. DONE!

IMG_4857.jpg IMG_4858.jpg
 
I also stopped pretending that I am not working on an L2 rocket.

The Serene Rocketeer Prayer:

Rocket Gods grant me the serenity
to accept the Rockets I should not build;
courage to build the Rockets I can;
and wisdom to know the difference...
 
I've spent the last week fighting paint issues.

Plastic nose cone - primed it OK. Wet sanded it. Must not have waited long enough to completely dry. Painted top coat and got fisheye
Waited a few days and sanded the bad spot off. Re-primed. Primer crazed. (and it was more than the required 48 hours later from the top coat)
Sanded bad spots. Re-primed - more crazing
Did even more sanding. Re-primed. Only one small spot had some crazing - left it as it will be skinned
Went to do new top coat. Static charge appeared to attract every dog hair and piece of lint for 5 miles (well, not quite that bad but still).
So I need to wait for it to dry and lightly sand to remove the junk

:facepalm::facepalm::facepalm::facepalm:
 
Kicked that SAAB 372 thread's ass with Open Rocket.. Because no one else would.
 
The Serene Rocketeer Prayer:

Rocket Gods grant me the serenity
to accept the Rockets I should not build;
courage to build the Rockets I can;
and wisdom to know the difference...

Insofar as I may be heard by anything, which may or may not care what I say...

--
RZ


I've got a mess of grading to do, and two exams to write, but I am going to get into the shop this weekend and work a bit on this

EACviper2_5inch.png

I've got the fins milled and assembled, all of the centering rings cut, and the airframe tubes cut. I need to cut fin slots, cut the upper parachute bay tube (is there a name for blind stuffer tube installed in the upper half of a separable airframe?), cut the motor tube, and start assembling... should be easy, right?
 
Added a Pico to Jughead's sled, and built another Eggfinder for Sharon's Stinger. The latest version of the Eggfinder has a new method of mounting the GPS module. My little 15w Weller pencil didn't have the juice to fill in the slot so I had to find another soldering iron that could.
 
I battled the freezing cold temperatures, and the snow, and walked to my local park to fly my flying saucer on a C6-5.


Thanks,
 
I finally carved out enough time during daylight hours to spray the color on my Mouse 38. Here are a few shots of peeling off the mask.

It's definitely not perfect, but looks great from about 5 feet away - good enough! I did learn not to leave on the EnduraMatte vinyl mask as long as I did (a week maybe?). It was pretty stuck on there and the edges aren't as clean as they should be. All the previous times I've used it as a mask, I stuck it on and painted on the same day. It works great if you do that.

IMG_4875.jpg IMG_4876.jpg IMG_4878.jpg IMG_4879.jpg IMG_4887.jpg IMG_4891.jpg
 
Wayco, I am assigned to the Pentagon...not where I wanted to go, but where the AF decided I needed to be. My F-35 field experience coming back to haunt me, as I am working the program for the AF (not JPO). After the luster of working in the five sided building wears off, its damn staff work. I live professionally in front of a computer or in meetings...ugh. I’d rather be on a flight line job. But, after being away from home (again) for a year, coming home every day is *nice*.

And, good point on the weight. The upper airframe piece I have is actually CF airframe. Will not negate the coupler weight, but will help some. I’ll keep it from becoming a heifer Jart.

Stuck a fin for the first time in almost two years today! Damn it’s good to build a rocket again. Cannot wait to fly this beast (Wildman Jart 4”). Space heater is trying hard to cure ES6209 after a VA snow day.IMG_1512930539.879144.jpgIMG_1512930555.046897.jpg


Sent from my iPad using Rocketry Forum
 
My Mouse 38's paint is dry & everything fit checks fine. I need to add nose ballast and attach the recovery harness to the nose cone...then fly!

IMG_4917.jpg
 
Got to playing around with the parts bin, and a salvaged washing machine agitator...yeah, that'll fly.

 
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