What did you do rocket wise today?

Put the final paint coat on my Baby Bertha. Next up is a clear coat and then on to the next project!

Resolved the length issue with the Landru/Missileworks 3" altimeter sled with the stationary sander. Removed about 3/32" from the "smart" end of the sled and now everything fits inside a 6" LOC coupler with doubled up 1/4" ply bulk plates. No modification necessary if you're using fiberglass BPs so keep that in mind.

Added all the fiddly bits to the bulk plates and sealed the charge well with High Temperature Silicone Sealant and the terminal strips with the regular silicone sealant.

Refastened the U-bolt hardware and this time I SHOOK THE BOTTLE of threadlocker before applying the blue goo. All is well now.

Re-masked the two alt bays for paint and had the dreaded Rusto 2X primer crackling. I really don't like that stuff but was trying to get rid of the half can I'd left from the previous bad experience. Should have just pitched it.

Epoxy'd the nose cone bulk plate w U-bolt into the LOC 3" nose cone from which I'd removed the bottom of the shoulder with the bandsaw. Yes, it's a little more work but the results are well worth the effort. Now that I have the technique down, I'm going to upgrade a few of the unmodified nosecones in my fleet.

Tomorrow I plan to order another Missileworks RRC2+ altimeter, re-prime the vent bands, do a test fit using shock cord, blanket, and drogue to see if I can whack an inch or so off the tube fin rocket's booster section. Will do the same with the payload bay. I'm trying to get the rocket's overall length just a bit closer to what is was before the zipper incident that provided the DD conversion "opportunity".

If time permits, I plan to make up some deploy charge Initiator/containers for the booster section using those little plastic Aerotech (Membrane Solutions) micro centrifuge tubes. Gotta do some ground testing, ya know.

I cut the trays for the 54mm Wildman nose cone altimeter bays I'm working on this morning.

Actually worked on the av-bay of my L2 rocket to include the camera. Now all that's left to do is to finish the mount for the 1/4x20 bolt that secures the camera.

How do you attach the bay to the nose cone?

ChrisAttebery said:

I cut the trays for the 54mm Wildman nose cone altimeter bays I'm working on this morning.

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See post 10442 above for more pictures. You epoxy the ring on the lower left of the first picture into the NC shoulder.

blackbrandt said:

How do you attach the bay to the nose cone?

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It's very easy to figure..... he is using a centering l;arger than the bilkhead, so the centering will be cluged to the nose.

Oh, OK. I get it.

I got my decals for Binary Sushi today. Da dadada da da!!!!! They are 1/2 inch too big. Oh well... I'll figure it out.

T34zac said:

Actually worked on the av-bay of my L2 rocket to include the camera. Now all that's left to do is to finish the mount for the 1/4x20 bolt that secures the camera.

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And now the mess of wires I call an av-bay includes in flight video:

I learned a very important lesson today: when mixing epoxy, first ensure you have the right epoxy! :bang:

I was getting ready to do my first-ever internal fin fillet, as I had just received an order of milled fiber from Fibre Glast yesterday. So I mixed a decent amount of the epoxy, added the fiber and mixed it in, and when I started pouring it in the first tube-fin ridge, I noticed that the cup was pretty warm. As I was working to spread out the epoxy it was already turning hard. Within a few seconds it was basically unworkable. I was left wondering if adding the fiber had caused the setup time to accelerate that quickly, then glanced back at the box I pulled the epoxy bottles out of, moved the other box that was obscuring the number on the front, and saw that I had grabbed my 5-minute Z-poxy instead of the 30-minute Z-poxy box!

So before it completely set I managed to shove a blade between the epoxy and fin to separate them reasonably well (I don't think it re-attached afterwards, it wasn't spreading very well to begin with), and tried the same on the motor mount but didn't feel as good there (the cardboard obviously provides less resistance, and it doesn't help that I don't have any 54mm casings to put in the MMT while I did this either). I was clearly working the fin a bit loose from the original 5-minute epoxy tack I did while in the body-tube (this is a Binder Design fin-can build so you first tack the fins to the MMT in the body, then slide the the fins & MMT out the bottom to do the serious epoxy application including the upper centering ring), so I stopped and applied a proper mix of 30-minute epoxy to the other side of this fin. I'll continue to work around the mount and when I get back to this first corner (probably Saturday morning, I want to ensure the other side of that fin has plenty of time to set) I'll take a stab at removing the botched epoxy and re-do it with the 30-minute epoxy. I was hoping to be priming the rocket this weekend, we'll see if I can stick to that schedule after this blunder. But I think I'll be triple-checking the bottles I grab for at least some time to come.

Airfoiled and finished the fins of my E motor Estes Cosmic Explorer upgrade. Filled the tube spirals, attached the fins, and did fillets.

Somehow managed to get one of the fins on a little crooked - not perfectly perpendicular to the airframe. You have to look carefully to tell, but it still bugs me.

Laid down a few coats of Rusto Night Sky Metallic on the two alt bay vent bands and top coated with Rust Crystal Clear Enamel. Stripped off the "delicate surfaces" masking tape before the paint set completely to prevent oopsies. Sanded the internal part of the bay to flatten the static port holes. I like the color contrast between fluoro pink and metallic black.

Stitched up a 36" long kevlar shock cord out of 1/2" material I had laying around for the booster (might want to use the motor deploy as a back up). Now thinking about making a longer 3 loop shock cord to put the payload section further away from the booster. Next time I see the Princess I'll have her reach inside the booster section and remove the quick link holding the current shock cord in place. The 36" kevlar booster shock cord may add enough to the overall length that the current one will work okay.

All of this is for the tube fin DD conversion project.

with no weather for flying I went ahead and shot some rattle can acrylic onto my 18mm BT50 payloader. Classic White with black roll markings. Even if I say so myself I am very pleased with it (defects or not)

Got my AltimeterThree in the mail today. Had it paired with my iPhone 5 within about 30 seconds of opening the box. Really looking forward to flying this thing!! Also got some mounts, for my larger rocket e-bay I'm going to try to angle in the "optimal for max Gs" orientation, from whatever article talked about that (I think it was a Peak of Flight article perhaps, need to dig it up).

applied a second clear coat to my Baby Bertha. When dry, attached the shock cord and parachute. Here's the finished project:



Too bad the wind's way too brisk for a launch.

woferry said:

Got my AltimeterThree in the mail today. Had it paired with my iPhone 5 within about 30 seconds of opening the box. Really looking forward to flying this thing!! Also got some mounts, for my larger rocket e-bay I'm going to try to angle in the "optimal for max Gs" orientation, from whatever article talked about that (I think it was a Peak of Flight article perhaps, need to dig it up).

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I would recommend doing some "test flights" before actually flying it to make sure that you get the pairing / recording / data transfer process. (include moving out of bluetooth range after starting a flight recording, and then coming back in range) I managed to not record the flight my first time using the AltimeterThree because I wasn't paired properly.

Just playing around with some CF......




JD

Fin work on an Argent and MIRV. Priming/sanding/priming the MIRV fins before installing. Sanding around all that styrofoam would be a pain. Why are the fins for this kit two piece? It will be interesting to see if it flies as advertised, the comments in the forum have me wondering.

rbelknap said:

I would recommend doing some "test flights" before actually flying it to make sure that you get the pairing / recording / data transfer process. (include moving out of bluetooth range after starting a flight recording, and then coming back in range) I managed to not record the flight my first time using the AltimeterThree because I wasn't paired properly.

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The A3 still records the data internally, it doesn't depend on the phone for that, right? I'm sure by the time I'm a safe launching distance from the rocket I'll be too far away for Bluetooth range, and certainly by the time it's near apogee it will be way too far away. Did it somehow get out of recording mode once it lost the connection, or did you fly it again without downloading the first flight data / re-arming it? I never got data from my very first flight of the A2 because I powered it on but forgot to go through the menu to set it to Launch mode, so it was still displaying the "Flight 0" data when I recovered the rocket. I haven't done that again since (5 successful flights), but I definitely like the sound of something I can verify it's recording just before I walk away from the pad.

Sent a pic of '50 monies' as Jart reward to a contact in Holtville. ..

Also opened up my CTI Pro75 6XL motor received to confirm I had a complete closure set ..and am good to go ! Thanks Wildman ! :wave:

Next repairing Prius HV battery to get it out of the garage and make room for some real prepping and building..what the garage is for !

Kenny

In between brewing two 5 gallon batches of Irish red ale, I tried out my airbrush for the first time on an Estes Viking. Now on to the second batch of Maitheas Copar (Copper Goodness in Irish).

I did some painting today, and last night I finished off my modified Estes Super Alpha. It has three canted MMs, tres-like, though I didn't use the tres motor mount kit. Instead, I made the CRs and did all the tube cutting freehand. I think it is sturdy, but we'll see when it flies.

KenRico said:

Sent a pic of '50 monies' as Jart reward to a contact in Holtville. ..

Also opened up my CTI Pro75 6XL motor received to confirm I had a complete closure set ..and am good to go ! Thanks Wildman ! :wave:

Next repairing Prius HV battery to get it out of the garage and make room for some real prepping and building..what the garage is for !

Kenny

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Playing around inside that battery looks like a good way to get killed, yikes! How many miles did you get out of the battery before It needed overhauled/replaced?

Cl(VII) said:

Playing around inside that battery looks like a good way to get killed, yikes! How many miles did you get out of the battery before It needed overhauled/replaced?

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172k .. right now. Overall we have gotten off almost scot free with just gas and oil and some tires.

Kenny

Nothing.

I was hoping and even planning on getting a bunch done this weekend, but alas, a biology project put an end to that.

Nate

KenRico said:

172k .. right now. Overall we have gotten off almost scot free with just gas and oil and some tires.

Kenny

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Being I'm only at 73k, that is a really encouraging answer. Mine has been nearly maintenance free as well.

Assembled and installed the motor mount in my Punisher. Beveled 2 out of 6 fins for my Darkstar Jr. Tore apart the av-bay in my Shape Shifter Jr and started rebuilding it so I can interchange it between the Shape Shifter and the Darkstar. Need to order a few things for that though.

added terminal block connectors to 2 eggtimers

Dropped by my storage unit this morning and dug up some more rocket parts...