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Shot the base white on the rest of my Broken Arrow 54. After my test pieces' paint curling fun the other day, I decided to let the white on the bottom section cure for another day before painting the color. So, I'll shoot the two red colors tomorrow. (Fingers crossed)

IMG_6353.jpg

I also tested the Eggtimer Quantum in a highly calibrated vacuum chamber (Pyrex food storage dish plus a vacuum cleaner). The LEDs I used for test charges didn't register with it, so hmm. I hooked up e-matches and those worked fine. I'll try some different LEDs once I get to an electronics store.

I planned on wiring my avbay, but I surfed TRF instead. Oh well.
 
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So far I've done a bit on my Estes V2. I've checked on the find that I am flattening with Windex and 3 heavy cookbooks. I had accidentally warped them by over diluting my wood filler mix. I also played around with my RockSim demo, trying to get the same V2 stable after trimming the fins.

I'm planning to do more though...

On my V2 I want to finish sanding and attach the fins if they're ready. If I get that done I want to start my next project, the Quest Green Mean and build a PVC painting wand stand to put on a lazy Susan.


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Ordered another IRIS 24" drogue for the Wildman RB-05A Sport and a 12" Madcow chute protector. L-1 attempt take 2 next week hopefully. Fixed some open Rocket files for new UTC rocket team. They want to repurpose a old multistage booster as in they wanted to put a nosecone on it then fly it again from my last year university senior design project it had 0.382 stability cal in this new role which I said you guys better add 90 grams of lead you knuckleheads to nose or it'll crash... The lead shot and rocketpoxy on a cone drill and fill brings it to 1.67 which I'll live with. I designed it last year for a much heavier sustainer loft in which in that application it had 2.2 stability cal. They'll have to tweak CG to fly it again since fins are epoxied on. Anyways for my cert this time it's an H219T and not an I300T.. And a Kevlar not random wannabe paracord. Lol.
 
What they thought was such an innocent idea of adding a nosecone to a booster tube with fins was such a horrid idea. Get this, it goes Mach 1.03 and 6800ft without a room for tracker. We Cotronics a 4G Pro29 case in it. I think they want to fly anything for the experience of it. I said 98% certain you will never see nor find it again.

The professor whose an L-1 holder and I will have to review all their sim files because they crashed a couple of sims. They can use missile DatCom and they can't figure out stability. I told them use 1.5-2.0. I prefer 1.7-2.0. Gave them articles. Explained concepts. They not listen. All of the rockets I designed that flew last year were stable. Adjust fins to move CP or change CG it's not hard. Their problem is they never flew a low power rocket.
 
Andrew_ASC said:
What they thought was such an innocent idea of adding a nosecone to a booster tube with fins was such a horrid idea. Get this, it goes Mach 1.03 and 6800ft without a room for tracker. We Cotronics a 4G Pro29 case in it. I think they want to fly anything for the experience of it. I said 98% certain you will never see nor find it again.

The professor whose an L-1 holder and I will have to review all their sim files because they crashed a couple of sims. They can use missile DatCom and they can't figure out stability. I told them use 1.5-2.0. I prefer 1.7-2.0. Gave them articles. Explained concepts. They not listen. All of the rockets I designed that flew last year were stable. Adjust fins to move CP or change CG it's not hard. Their problem is they never flew a low power rocket.
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Put an Eggfinder mini in the nosecone. I fit labratrocketry.com 's sled in a 38mm poly nose.0824171451.jpg

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It's a solid cone. 29mm MD comp part. Optimized length for alt. No room. Just a booster motor fins, nomex, shock cord, and chute. No electronic room. This is a experience gap filler before they go for the TRA record attempt multistage L-1 again building off of last year's SEDS experience. We are considering another Blackhawk 29 for them. But their time is limited. I think they outta go fly a cheap Estes kit. I only flew a few C's but atleast the experience was something before plunging into hpr. Us older team guys are giving them all the advice we learned in two multistage hpr flights and designs. Prof is going for an L-2, But they gotta do it. We got an egg finder TRS, they did not get a HAM license like I did.
 
Finished my Estes Mammoth... for now. Plan is to hot rod it though - carbon wrap, tip to tip, and make it I capable.
 
EACViperShelfQueen.png

Finished it. Final weight is 620 grams, and most of that is at the wrong end. The fancy airfoil fins ended up weighing a lot more than I'd expected. Its going to take just about an ounce of nose-weight to get this thing stable on G70-something -- which will put the mass at about 0.65 kg.

I also managed to miss a long drip of epoxy that leaked out past the fin tab -- so now the finish isn't even "looks good from a distance".

Oh well, the sims say it can fly -- even though I may never launch it -- and I figured out how to do a bunch of things I hadn't tried before. I will do them better next time.

Anybody have advice on the best way to secure a tungsten fishing weight in the tip of an Estes Pro Series 2.5 inch plastic nosecone?
 
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This is my second for today, but I think I've accomplished all I have time for. I didn't get my Quest Mean Green started, but I did decide that I am going to be replacing my warped Estes V2 fins with some basswood, and I've made a template for that. The balsa ones I've got were too badly warped by an over-diluted filler and maybe I'm too impatient, I but the flattening process doesn't seem to be working very well. ☹️

I did finish a PVC stand I'm going to use to hold painting wands, so that's something.

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Loaded up for LUNAR launch tomorrow. Weather is looking MUCH better than earlier forecasts. Have a maiden flight for the Mach 1 Rocketry Portia, and what may be highest altitude ever on the speed of cardboard contest. Couple of veteran Loc 4" fliers as well.
 
Shot color. Sadly, I got some tearing along the edges when I removed the paint mask. I think I waited too long before removing it. It'll be good enough, but it definitely won't be a perfect paint job. Oh well. I'll wet sand & clear it in a few days.

JPmaMFo.jpg
 
Shot some Wicked Blue on the Quicksilver today. Got only a tiny bit of overspray on it, but overall I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

71dT1nql.jpg


WHLpCYal.jpg


I can't tell if the light area on the fins is actually thin paint or just a reflection. I'll wait for it to dry fully and look at it under different light. Next up, a light scuff with 1200 grit to remove any dust, then a whole bunch of clear coat.

PS - Tamiya masking tape is great!
 
I flew two! rockets today!!! Finally broke the weather curse and got a couple of rockets up. First H148R I've ever flown. Nice motor!
 
Mostly just worked on the tractor the last couple of weeks. Starting to run out of Airfest prep time but at least the truck will fit my junk better.
 
Cleaned up my workbench and threw out the trash. Painted the glider on my Orbital Transport, inventoried my next build (USS Atlantis Refit). cleaned and applied floor polish to my small fleet and repositioned on my shelves. And then I sat in my tiny rocket lab and listened to AM radio for an hour gazing at glue, primer and paint, engines, launch equipment, and sand paper. Then bought more supplies on Amazon.com. Yikes! I love my hobby as someone returning 40 years after my adolescence!
 
Repainted the nosecone of the BT80 WAC Corporal that CATOed in October. -- and this nonsense happened.

craqleur.png
 
jlabrasca said:
Repainted the nosecone of the BT80 WAC Corporal that CATOed in October. -- and this nonsense happened.

View attachment 340499
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Yup. Join the club! I found that being fearless and sanding it all off and repainting will correct this problem. I have learned as a newbie that most non-glue problems are easily fixable but once you put glue down...it takes time and thought. But few problems are unfixable. Wings break before the glue joint. Even those are fixable. Fix. Launch. Break. Fix...and launch again. And the "looks good from 30 feet for launch" axiom works every time.
 
Flew "Easter EggSpress" to 550' on an H250G. Dropped 36 eggs on streamers at apogee. They all fell great. All the kids at Snow Ranch loved it. Will do it again in April.FB_IMG_1520738579348.jpg

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Oh just of a little of this and a little of that. UCLA just put a nice bird in the air today. She flew great until something mysterious happened in the clouds and then she took a little dirt nap. With a little tlc she might wake up lol. That is a Ethanol-Lox motor putting out something like 600-650lbf and we flew out of the FAR site in Mojave, CA. Tentative altitude estimate from telemetry was 11,500 feet.

RocketLaunch1.jpgRocketLaunch2.jpg
 

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