What did you do rocket wise today?

Scotty Dog said:

Is that florescent green? Brand?

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It isn't fluorescent, its darker than that. Its a Duplicolor ceramic engine paint called "Grabber Green", which is a near match for the yellow-green vinyl that Stickershock uses. Or at least I think its their yellow-green. It is worth noting, however, that even though "Grabber Green" was an official Ford color from 1969/70 timeframe, this color does not match that. So, if you buy Testors paint in that color, or something matched to that color name, it isn't the same. The Ford color had more blue in it.

Also FWIW, this was not the color I intended to paint this rocket. I had purchased a metallic pearl-lime color and a pearl black for the cone. Then I got carried away with priming, and sprayed the rocket with the white (enamel) base coat. Well, the pearl paints I bought are lacquers. So, I decided not to take a chance on spraying that over the enamel and improvised with what I had on hand. I do have probably half a dozen different shades of green here, but most were too pale or too dark for what I wanted. This was a decent middle ground...

Got my "Second Wind", and have a semi-working prototype of my Pad Pack.



Obviously someone else has to carry the rocket, or you have to make two trips.

It is not even heavy, but having carried heavy loads in combat situations in Iraq, I appreciate that value of expending all the ammo to "Lighten the load". Logistics is always nearby for resupply, but when you have to pack stuff around, you might as well be comfortable, so an extra supportive and well designed harness goes a long way in keeping you in the fight, or in this case, keeping your head in the game to perform a safe and effective launch.:wink:
Zip-Ties and Duct Tape/100mile an hour tape are your best friends.
Whenever I have a misfire, it is usually do to something being "Too Something". Too Bright means I go to get my sunglasses, resulting in me forgetting to take the tape off the guide rod on an MMX model, or something similar. Distraction breeds failure, so go unimpeded by things like fatigue and back pain, and do a clean launch!

It's also far from done, as the individual components need to be skeletonized and wrapped in fiberglass and the struts for the tripod need to be made of Carbon Fiber.:wink:

The Mylar Blanket is only there to shield it and it's carrier, and not a Structural Component. The assembly can be hidden with at least a hopeful degree of hope, if the user does his part.
Idiots used to use these tricks to cheat in the Army, but it was effective in some circumstances, and became trade craft.

If I don't add a tactical aspect to a build like this, it has less appeal to me, as one of my other hobbies is military stuff and studying battlefield tactics and logistical support.
I have back problems from an injury, so if I'm actually going to build this mess and actually go use it just to show the folks here that it works in real life, I have to have more than one hobbies worth of inspiration.:wink:
I'm inspired enough by this one that I'm going to add a Go-pro mount to it, and then I'll just borrow my friends Go-pro since I can't afford one.
He'll totally be into this.
Asking him to help will give me a body to carry the rocket.

Logistics.

I was once given the weekend off as a sort of "Battlefield Favor", so I went and hung out with the guys at Metro and launched Radiosondes Balloons for our Artillery.
The balloons transmitter had a water activated battery, and I will either acquire or build my own version for this build, because if you need a man portable rail system, you will need to drink lots of water, so that will be in abundance and a heavy battery won't do.

Got the TALOS cone ready for assembly.
Time to use my clay and paper modeling skills! :

TopRamen said:

Got the TALOS cone ready for assembly.
Time to use my clay and paper modeling skills! :


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Lookin good.

Got up early this morning and prepped my basement shop utility work bench for rocket building activity.



My old range box can be seen at lower left next to the drawers. My current wood shop project can be seen atop the bench - the restoration of an antique stair saw to add to the tool collection. Soon as that's done, it's on to the Lynx kit.....

Just uploaded my new TRF Avatar a few minutes ago.
This model is the 'Lunar Patrol-II' built and flown in 1976 -77



The gliders are what was left over from a prang of the original MPC kit booster, so I re-designed a new carrier vehicle. This was by far my favorite rocket to launch. The gliders were trimmed just perfectly for a tight circle. It was a sight to see flown with a B6-2 motor. A real crowd-pleaser at demos.

Today I went to start work on my BT-5 Heat Seeker, when I learned that my Designers Special kit doesn't contain BT-5 parts. D'oh. Oh well, got the white paint laid down on the PSII Nike Smoke.

Today we attached two of the fins to the fin-can assembly of our upscale dragonfly. We used Aeropoxy structural adhesive, which seemed to be really nice stuff. We have been using the laminating resin, but this is the first time with the structural adhesive, which is much more viscous.

We also glued in a SS threaded coupler for the aft rail button.

Tacked the first fin on my Mongoose 54. Also, got good weights on all components, and updated the OR file.

I've had about 20 projects in limbo the last 3 weeks due to life circumstances, so I've focused my efforts on studying research rocketry topics.

Summary of research:
EX is just like homebrewing beer: all the info you want is never in the same place, tribal lore rules the day because most amateurs are not equipped with the vocabulary to understand scientific reports, and it doesn't matter how much you spend you'll never be satisfied with your process.
Finding data about a specific formula is tough because people only want to post about their modified version of it.
The guy who says "I wanna do it my way" always gets burned. Literally.
Figuring out where to buy stuff is its own research topic.

Completed my order for a Altus Metrum TeleGPS and TeleBT, along with a few other small items.
And earlier this week I received my BMS order of school rockets for my rocketry lesson at my old middle school next week.

Found a local source for Depron foam so I picked up a couple sheets to get me started on a "School of Frank" large lightweight design.

Sprayed the red on my Semroc Ruskie:

EXPjawa said:

Sprayed the red on my Semroc Ruskie:
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Is that rug? You spraying in the living room?

Today ..still home with bad back,so..........more going thru boxes of rocket stuff. Picking out some more prizes for me Summer Build Off contest.
Would like to apply some primer,but the weather sucks.
Maybe start a new scratcher, ... :lol:

Scotty Dog said:

Is that rug? You spraying in the living room?

Today ..still home with bad back,so..........more going thru boxes of rocket stuff. Picking out some more prizes for me Summer Build Off contest.
Would like to apply some primer,but the weather sucks.
Maybe start a new scratcher, ... :lol:

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Those are just scraps of old rugs on the concrete shop floor. They do have a bit of paint on them...

Just launched some Klima motors...

Moonraker1 said:

Just launched some Klima motors...

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Never heard of Klima motors. Can you share some background?

I ordered some awesome new graphics for my Wildman Punisher from Stickershock.
Also ordered some avbay hardware for same Wildman punisher from OneBadHawk.

Can't wait for it all to come together.

I'm pretty sure there is a thread on them here somewhere. German build and they work great

primed and painted darkstar jr. 70* day , rare that I paint without snow on the ground

Scotty Dog said:

Is that rug? You spraying in the living room?

Today ..still home with bad back,so..........more going thru boxes of rocket stuff. Picking out some more prizes for me Summer Build Off contest.
Would like to apply some primer,but the weather sucks.
Maybe start a new scratcher, ... :lol:

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+1 I support that spraying on carpet if he did lol

Last Sunday I launched rockets for the first time this year. Edited together the video today.

[video=youtube;LkZIY48kTNA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkZIY48kTNA[/video]

Got what I hope is the final yellow coat on the Star Trooper and the first coat of primer on my MMX Sparrow AIM-7 scratch build.

Ummmmmmm,cough, oh-boy..Started yet another wacked out scratcher. BUT!!!!! I did get the pieces parts of another scratcher primed. WHOOO_HOOO!!!!!

Also, spent some time on contest rules, sorted thru some rocket stuff, and sent out a friend request.

Sourced my first and most critical component for my nose cone turning jig/lathe.
I will build around this part, my Headstock, which is essentially just parts I got out of a busted up Harbor Freight belt sander.
I'll make a box and a hot wire foam cutter with guides to get the general shape, turning it a few degrees for each pass of the hot wire.
When I have the shape as near to good as I can get it with the wire cutter, I will give it the juice and shape the final contour by hand.
I've seen the videos on youtube of folks doing it that way, and it looks good.

It will be awhile yet before I have the time and resources to complete the project, but I have to get rid of the accumulation of scrap metal and junk that I have, so in throwing away the rest of this machine it was finally time to get the parts I'm actually going to use.




It used to look something like this, but I got sick of having to fix it with C-clamps and everything else.
Next time I'll invest in a quality product.
I know, that is WAY too much motor. I'm actually going to use that motor on my drill press, but it is equal to the one that is already on there but burned out.

Cl(VII) said:

Lookin good.

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Thanks, but all my preperation was for naught, as the rim of the shoulder was off enough that even with my Jig, it was imperfect enough to drive me nuts!
I should have just built the whole thing from scratch, rather than try to use a POS Estes V2 Tail cone.
That'll teach me a good hard lesson!
Damn this new Digital Caliper! I probably could have made it align right if I "Eyeballed" it, but I measure everything now, and I did'nt even need the caliper, just a feeler gauge made of a piece of balsa to see that the angle was wrong.
Ofcourse I figure this out after the epoxy had cured.

Ohwell, live and learn.
I sawed the top off, by EYEBALL, then specked it, and to my amusement, had done quite well. I will make a jig that will let me lathe the correct shoulder into it, then I will cut the ENTIRE shoulder off, and add my own fiberglass shoulder with bulkhead.
There is not much, or ENOUGH shoulder there to begin with.
It is AFTer all, no pun intended, meant to be a tail cone, not a nose cone.
It's not the fault of the cheesy plastic part, it is my fault, so atleast I can make it right, but for those that might follow in my footsteps, don't use an Estes V2 tail cone to try to make a TALOS nose cone. It's a good start, and if you don't really care, it will be fine with a tilted hat.
I have too many sleepless nights invested in this to let it be "Good Enough".

Still sorting out parts and pieces, trying to match instruction sets up with unbuilt kits, etc.

I spent much of last evening tearing carpet out of a rental property (this is where the segments of carpet on my shop floor came from) ahead of having new laid down on Monday, then working on "fixing" the paint work on a 1/10 scale car body where it bled under the masking. So, I didn't have a lot of time for rocket stuff. But I did pull the masking tape off of the Ruskie. At least this one came out near perfect:


Now it just needs the decals. The design of this kit has me contemplating building another with a modified nose cone and paint job as a Gee Bee R1 or R2, assuming I could come up with decals for that...

Tacked another fin on the Mongoose 54, ordered some adhesive vinyl to finish up my Ventris, and watched the SpaceX launch AND landing.

received a box o motors, expanding foam, chute, streamer, and 1.1 NC from wildman! christmas in may!
got me some igniters dipped and drying.
gonna clean up and paint a 1.1 NC for my minimum dia. screamer.