What did you do rocket wise today?

was in the mood to start working on my Estes Sky Dart II...opened the package and checked the tubes, then went to erockets and ordered some bt50s. someone must have needed to work at it to get the end of the air frame pear shaped(with crease) (sigh).
Rex

Got my confirmation E-Mail from AC Supply.
I realized that it's been more than a year since I bought a Kit.

Worked on a downscale design of an Estes Pegasus. Going to be a small one. Also more sanding on the Crossfire and Argent. The Argent will have to wait a while for paint until the weather breaks.

Finally tacked the fins onto my Estes Ventris. Part way through them drying, I got the bright idea of using my fin alignement guide. It was a good idea.
Applying the fillets will be interesting. The fin alignment guide is a big BMI CAD unit. The rocket is vertical when on that. Glue will just drip down. I'll figure something out.

Decided on the Madcow Little John FG 4.0 w/ 54mm motor tube for my Level 1 rocket. Ordered it with 38mm adapter, CTI Pro 38 Starter kit, 44" Angel Shoot, nomex shoot protector, and Aeropak motor adapter.

- Continued working with the MIM-23 HAWK schematics to bring my BT-60 scale (1:8.55 scale) closer to the real thing.
- Also scaled it up for BT-80 (1:5.3 scale) to see if it could still fly on E motors. It could! The E30s from Estes and AeroTech would make this work

Sanding.. Painting.. Sanding.. Filling.. Sanding.. Painting....

Krusty

Finally took the plunge and broke out the Ultimate Wildman project. Thread located here. The placeholder name was my students' reaction to taking the nosecone in to school one day.

Other than that, some work on 3D printed parts over the weekend.

And sanding; big rocket => big sanding.

Doug

Laid down the final color on the October Skies XP payload section.

Mounted the new LED shop light over the rocket workbench.

Stack sanded a bunch of 4" diameter 1/4" plywood bulk plates down to fit inside a 4" Madcow body tube. Used a 2-1/8" hole saw to cut out the undersized hole for a 54mm motor tube. Sanded the holes to size on the spindle sander and fit them exactly with a bit of hand sanding at the very end. Why not use a 2-1/4" hole saw you ask? Because the resulting hole is too big. Now if there were a 2-3/16" hole saw...

Worked on my DRT Build, and started musing about a BT-55 build with a conical Nose Cone.

Placed an Order with BMS for more building supplies.

Recieved Confirmation E-mail from BMS. Also got some more Nichrome Wire in the mail.

Started on my Minie-Magg. Also started to tackle the ruined paint job on my Mega Der Red Max. Sanding away all day. Was going for fluorescent yellow, got lazy and over coated.

Got 5 printed 29mm nose cones; 4 offset, one ogive with a printed sled for a Perfectflite Firefly.


Now time to try this:

Crumb fire said:

Got 5 printed 29mm nose cones; 4 offset, one ogive with a printed sled for a Perfectflite Firefly.
View attachment 256380
View attachment 256381
Now time to try this:
View attachment 256382
View attachment 256383

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The offset cones are pretty cool. I can just see the Arianne V's you can make with cones like those. Who did the work?

slipperyfrog said:

Started on my Minie-Magg. Also started to tackle the ruined paint job on my Mega Der Red Max. Sanding away all day. Was going for fluorescent yellow, got lazy and over coated.

Click to expand...

LOL i've done that before. Just a little more.. Just a little more.. Just a little... oh...

Krusty

Found these Ratcheting Clamps that I bought on Friday, but forgot about. They were at the Feed Store, and it was the only set they had, or else for $1.99 each I'de have bought all they had.

I drew up the French Rubis--a test rocket for the upper stages of the Diamant satellite launcher:



It's the one on the right. Actually, I've finished the whole dimensioned drawing, just about fit for publication. I think that makes ten completed drawings this year. Here's a photograph:

dave carver said:

The offset cones are pretty cool. I can just see the Arianne V's you can make with cones like those. Who did the work?

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My friend did the work. The off set nose cones could also do an Energia rocket...

Did the FG Layup for that BT-55 with the Conical Cone that I have been thinking about.

Today I finished my bulk plate and centering ring project. The Frenzy now has centering rings to anchor both split fins and I have another pair of bulk plates to substitute in place of the Madcow provided alt-bay plates. I'm planning to use the 4" MissileWorks/Landru dual alt sled on the Frenzy and the all-thread bolt holes don't match up. Yes I could fill them and re-drill but I was geared up at the drill press, have a stack of 1/4" aircraft ply, and when done, I'll have TWO 4" alt-bays.

I also cut some extra 4" 54mm centering rings for the motor mount of big tube fin rocket Steppin' Razor III.

Forgot to mention the trip to the local Woodcraft store this morning where I picked up another 1" sanding drum and 60 grit sleeves for the above project. The 80 grit sleeves were taking too long.

I'm actually getting pretty good making centering rings.

Ordered a Rocketarium 24mm Aluminum Retainer to play with and some PML Urethane 1010 Rail Guides that I think will work nicely on one of my Tomahawks.

I went last night to pick up some Deft at Lowes. My loses does not carry it anymore and the very helpful person told me to use something else. I asked her if she spent all winter working on a project, would she risk all the work on a product she was not familiar with? So now the hunt is on for Deft in my local area.

I finished gluing/filleting the fins and bodywork on my BT70 Advanced Target Drone, plus finished the paintwork on my Astron Cobra clone. That one just needs the decals and recovery installed.

grouch said:

I went last night to pick up some Deft at Lowes. My loses does not carry it anymore and the very helpful person told me to use something else. I asked her if she spent all winter working on a project, would she risk all the work on a product she was not familiar with? So now the hunt is on for Deft in my local area.

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My local Home Depot carries Deft. Just saying.

Opened a box that arrived from AC Supply. It contained these fine items:



Should be good on low power motors for the upcoming season.

o1d_dude said:

My local Home Depot carries Deft. Just saying.

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Bit of a drive for me! Thanks, I will check with mine but I am not hopeful.

Got some Ping Pong Balls for making NC Lacquer.



[video=youtube;lZjvoQAhiDY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZjvoQAhiDY&feature=youtu.be[/video]

TopRamen said:

Got some Ping Pong Balls for making NC Lacquer.

View attachment 256484

[video=youtube;lZjvoQAhiDY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZjvoQAhiDY&feature=youtu.be[/video]

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Looks they will work just fine.

Put my build list in order:

- Estes V2 (epoxy fins)
- TLP Flail (print parts and start build)
- Scratch MIM-23 HAWK (last scale verification and order material)
- Scratch Six-Fingered Max (24mm Red Max with six fins)
- Scratch Two-stage rocket for ABC motors

Put together an order for Wildman.

Went to THOR meeting (March is the annual auction) and picked up some great buys. Estes Maxi Honest John, Saturn IB and V, parachutes ranging from tiny to massive, some HyperTek tanks and motors (that might be a fun experiment) and assorted little bits. I plan on doing some more work on the Ultimate tomorrow night.

For the rocket club at school, I sent in orders for a healthy chunk of rocket tubes and motors for our spring launches. If only we could finish up the TARC cert flights.

Doug