What did you do rocket wise today?

Finished building my friend's Apogee Aspire - we hope it will top 1 mile in altitude.
Painted the undercoat on my first scratchbuild - a two-stager
Attached the parachutes to my first cluster - the Quest Magnum Sport Loader
Filled my new external battery with acid and took it to be charged
Built the external battery connector for my launch controller
Bought a spare, 4-foot-long 1/8 inch steel rod
Sawed off a length of PVC to transport my launch rods
Checked the weather and park schedule - this is all in prep for a big launch on Thursday. We name our launches (because they're Facebook events). When my friend (the only person I know who's into rockets) could not come to our October 4 Sputnik/October Sky themed launch, I said, "No worries. Come back for Spooknik!"



One of my non-rocket friends said my last few launches lacked "spectacle." I don't think that will be a problem this time. Besides, I've said that anybody who comes in costume can press the launch button.

Spent a lot of the day standing in front of the drill press using various sized hole saws to punch out bulkhead plates and then stack sanding them to size with a heavy "Perma-Grit" sanding file. It was another experience-building exercise and the finished products far exceeded my previous efforts. Now all my av-bays have "lids" and the nose cone of the OSXP project has a custom bulkhead plate up in the shoulder with a stainless steel eyebolt to which the shock cord will attach. Yes, it's an open eyebolt but the nosecone weighs only a few ounces. The av-bay eyebolts are 1/4" forged closed eyebolts because they support the entire weight of the rocket.

Speaking of OSXP, I'm almost finished with the internal fillets and hope to be able to button up the fin tomorrow so I can add the Estes 29mm motor retainer. Next step will be to try tip to tip fiberglassing the fins using the John Coker method that Timro used on his Weasel 38mm MD project.

Here's a teaser: The "XP" in OSXP stands for "ExPerimental) because I'm trying all the various methodologies I've looked at in the past but not actually used. I'm going to fly smarter.

Cleaned up the Workbench and replaced the Vellum Paper on it.

started putting paint on my aim-54. no the photo is not sideways .
Rex

I was going to tear it up at the Bench tonight while watching Game 7, but around 5:00pm my Right Elbow and Shoulder started killin' me.
Can't get much use out of my Arm now, so looks like I'll just enjoy the Game.

I just purchased the Adventurer rocket from Rocketry Warehouse:

https://rocketrywarehouse.com/product_info.php?products_id=821

I bought this rocket when I received this email:

As many of you already know, on October 15, Dede Blough passed away suddenly.

She was an important member of Rocketry Warehouse, she enjoyed creating new, and better products for the rocketry hobby.

Dede loved traveling the world with her family, along with trying new things. So we're dedicating a new rocket called "Adventurer" in her memory.

We hope you enjoy this rocket, like Dede enjoyed her adventures.

Adventurer 3 Regular Price $229.99 Sale tonight $149.99 (While supplies last )

These kits are in stock and will start shipping tomorrow.

Click to expand...

Got a bunch posted to my build thread:
https://www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?70954-Rocwerks-Reactor-Build-Thread

Rex R said:

started putting paint on my aim-54. no the photo is not sideways .
Rex

Click to expand...

Is that a 4"?

ayup, think I figured about 4^2 of body tube to sand...no idea how much area the fins add .
Rex

OSXP: Finished up the internal fillets, buttoned up the fin can with the rear centering taking care to get the internal rail button blocks lined up, JB Weld'd the Estes 29mm motor retainer in place and used more JB Weld to coat the exterior of the rear centering ring. Now I'm thinking I'd like to use the left over length of 2.6" LOC tube and construct a second fin can but with a 38mm motor tube...

Visited the Big Orange rocket store (Home Depot) and picked up some 1/4-20 all thread rods for my av-bays.

Plans for tomorrow: Construct a John Coker style tip-to-tip jigging fixture but more along the lines of what Timro did (dedicated, much simpler, and involving far fewer woodworking tools/mad cabinetry skills).

Olfa 45mm rotary cutter from Amazon for cutting fiberglass, new print cartridge for printing out Info-Bay fin guide for 2.6 motor tube with 3 fins 1/3" thick, parchment paper and waxed paper from grocery store, fine sand and heavy duty ziplocs, I'm gonna be T2T'ing like a BOSS.

Finished Glassing a couple Sets of Fins, Ordered more FG Cloth, ordered a Book, U.S. Guided Missiles, by Bill Yenne, Made a Conduit Detail, did some sanding and Bondo Work, added a Ring of 1.5oz. FG to the Nose Cone end of a Scratch Build to reinforce it, made a Coupler for the 1.6" Scratch AIM-120 AMRAAM that I'm working on, and just had a Rockety Day in General.
Most of this occurred yesterday ofcourse, but til' I go to sleep, it still counts as a single Day of Rocket Stuffs.
Tomorrow I'm going to the Hobby Shop and Hardware Store, so it will be another Rockety Day.

Made a trip to the LHS and picked up some BSI 15min epoxy, a Perma-Grit two-sided sanding block ($30...Ouch!), and 2" thick block of foam to make a Timro tip-to-tip jig.

Stopped at the local industrial parts house (Blue Collar Supply) and but 8 forged closed eye-bolts, 4 in 1/4-20 and 4 in 5/16-18. Plan to use these on my new av-bays and nose cones. Also picked up some stainless hardware, some nylon lock nuts, a few more large syringes for injecting epoxy into my 3" Blackstar.

Spent many hours this afternoon trying to get my PC to access secure websites...any secure website. It seems I inadvertently changed the PC's clock time/date to Novemeber 30 which played havoc with with the OSCP certificate security checks in Firefox and other secure apps (antivirus, mail, etc.) Finally figured out what happened, reset my calendar back to the right date and was then able to properly go online and download a custom fin guide from Payload-Bay for the T2T jig.

Realized I'm going to have to give another nosecone the truncation treatment and install a plywood bulkhead in the shoulder to provide enough room for the main chute and shock cord of my favorite tube fin rocket. Good thing I bought extra closed eyebolts.

Finally bought some JB Weld and installed the motor retainer on my Super Flash.

Messed around in OpenRocket with a potential Level 2 capable rocket based on John Coker's ARLISS-K design. I don't know that I'll get to building it this year, (or even next,) but it's fun to think about.

Made an Av-bay for my Binder Design Jaguar. Not completely done yet but it's almost there.

Ordered some Braided Kevlar for Shock Cords, and went to the Hardware Store and the Hobby Store. Got some other stuff to that I forgot about and did'nt put in the Pic, like more JB Weld and 3 Estes BT-80 Body Tubes. I stole the Body Tube from my V2 to go into my Current Scratch Build, so I needed to replace that, and will have two Spares to build another Scratch Build, perhaps a Lightweight Fiberglassed Exocet or Harpoon in 29mm with a Payload/Electronics Bay?

Ordered two of the Eggfinder TX GPS transmitter kits that Cris has on sale for a scary good price.

I also stared at the Wall of Kits at the Hobby Shop, and realized that there was nothing there that I cannot Build without buying the Kit, and that I'de rather do it my way anyhow.
That's always a nice Feeling.

TopRamen said:

I also stared at the Wall of Kits at the Hobby Shop, and realized that there was nothing there that I cannot Build without buying the Kit, and that I'de rather do it my way anyhow.
That's always a nice Feeling.

Click to expand...

....*sniff*...they grow up so fast

Ordered 8 nosecones from SEMROC and a Nikon L830 camera. Fun day

Scoped out some parts to order so I can scratch an Estes Stealth Fighter with some unused molded body parts for it. And bought some primer for 4 built rockets that have not yet been painted.

The finished Av-bay for my Binder Design Jaguar.

Got a Madcow Scooter from Fedex. Washed all parts, sanded & prepped, started assembling the MMT.

RAHagen said:

The finished Av-bay for my Binder Design Jaguar.

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Is that kit OOP? I found it on rocketreviews.com, but didn't see it on Binder Design's website.

I've been creating the internal fillets in my Formula 200. It is a laborious process, pump, mix, add chopped CF, mix, pour, smooth, ... wait ... - lather, rinse, repeat.

Went to WallyWorld for some elastic I use in the smaller rockets. I was surprised to find 3/16th" bungee and a light weight paracord, both for around $2 for 18 feet. I checked the bungee and it's made with white rubber which stretches much farther than black rubber due to the additives. Black rubber is good for tires not for strechie things. The paracord would be good for those who make their own parachutes and would be great for putting lines back on de-mil'd Military chutes of 18 foot and under. I have a 5 foot Top Flight that's getting new shroud lines

Mega Red Max repairs, specifically drilling the back CR to add epoxy fillets inside the fin can, as well as new external fillets with titebond trim glue. It should now be moffet proof!

Beveled some fins.

Joined the NAR and made some major progress on the PainKiller 3 build.

Finished beveling the last forward fin, made a fin alignment jig with foam core, and epoxied in the forward fins on a 4" Madcow Frenzy.

put some color on the Aim-54, next is to get the nomenclature on it .
Rex