What did you do rocket wise today?

Found my Loadstar that got lost in the woods 2 years ago!

Painted the last of the clubs new LPR and MPR pads, just need the paint to dry then the pad numbers and club logo can go on. Painted the Estes Goblin Testors Sublime Green (body and fins, nose cone is black), love the Sub Green its almost the perfect shade I was looking for a Green Goblin .

Did a little painting....

Applied some primer. Went on ok, but every time I paint I am reminded of what an awful painter I am.

Did some work earlier then did some more rocket work later...

The Estes Goblin, I really like the Testor Sublime Green for this one, now that color coats are on its on to decals tomorrow.

The V2, masking is done, the blue tabs are for the red and white stripes on the 3rd picture, the green vinyl is paint mask (a very light coat of dark/midnight blue was sprayed on to seal the edges of the mask), the 3rd picture is of the various WW2 naval markings, the V2 will be getting a late war color with early war markings (sort of), I made lots and in different sizes from .25" roundels to 1" round/tall done on white background decal paper (Bare Metal Foil brand in this case from my local Hobby Town USA) typically I have 50 or so sheets of clear on hand from Papilo or Bell (can't remember which at the moment).

The beginnings of my rocket for NarTrek Bronze, mostly leftover parts and pieces, its designed to be lightweight enough to fly the all four flights on one rocket, there is a second stage yet to be built, if I can keep it light enough the Parachute Duration should be doable on a A motor even though a B motor is permitted, currently the build is zeroing in on the sim weight of 1.71oz with motor very nicely, the life expectancy of the rocket is going to be pretty short due to the light construction methods. Nose cone will be Blue XPS foam turned/sanded to shape on my wood lathe.

Finished the Goblin and my take on a WW2 Navy version of the V2. Did decals on both rockets and started on the decals for my Mega Der Red Max, got the X882 decal on the nose then botched the wide black stripe with skulls for the top of the airframe, the decals was so thin that any attempts to reposition it led to the decal shredding into smaller pieces, I was majorly frustrated with it after 15mins of trying to save it.

Anybody know if coating the Estes Decals with Krylon Crystal Clear will work to strengthen them? And does any have an extra of the wide black stripe decal with skulls that they would be willing to part with?

Applied 2nd coat of Rust-Oleum Gloss Cherry Red to my modded Big Daddy. I was going to use Rust-Oleum Gloss Deep Blue for the NC but I'm really diggin' the all red look. So now I have to come up with a new scheme for the details/accents.

I was getting ready to install decals on my freshly painted Crossbow SST, when I found a launch lug in the bag. Somebody must have accidently put a second lug in the bag I thought. Looking a little closer at the rocket, I realized they didn't.

Took a shot of the Saturn V in distance with stormclouds yesterday.



Concert on the loading docks behind my church wrapped up just in time to avoid the wet.

Got home from work a day early, picked up more paint and clearcoat on the way home, and finished painting the Drago! Yay! That was the biggest time-sensitive task that I had to do for the big launch later this month. Vinyl and electronics to go!

Joined the NAR.

Today I bought a Yamaha generator. It is rocketry related because it will power the AC unit of our new trailer. The trailer that we bought so that my wife and daughter can attend launches...

RocketFeller said:

Today I bought a Yamaha generator. It is rocketry related because it will power the AC unit of our new trailer. The trailer that we bought so that my wife and daughter can attend launches...

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I like the Yamaha unit very much..
Wildman East has 2--- 2000 units and he loves them..
I had looked at the 4500 for my RV but didn't pull the trigger..
Which unit did you get Dan ??

Teddy

RocketFeller said:

Today I bought a Yamaha generator. It is rocketry related because it will power the AC unit of our new trailer. The trailer that we bought so that my wife and daughter can attend launches...

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Nice! I hooked into a Yamaha 4500 model at the 50 mile race I timed last weekend. 15 hours of continuous, clean, and very quiet power. I was impressed...I get a little scared when races say they will have a generator available. Power and clean power are two very different things.

Onebadhawk said:

I like the Yamaha unit very much..
Wildman East has 2--- 2000 units and he loves them..
I had looked at the 4500 for my RV but didn't pull the trigger..
Which unit did you get Dan ??

Teddy

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We ordered the Atima 2600/3000 watt inverter from Costco. It was $1199. I had also looked at the Honda generators, but ended up decidig on this one. The size/output is just right for our RV and it is hard to beat Costco's return policies. I read that the Yamaha is slightly louder than the Honda at idle, but slightly quieter under load.

https://www.costco.com/Atima-2600-w...ine-Inverter-Generator.product.100400514.html

Cl(VII) said:

Nice! I hooked into a Yamaha 4500 model at the 50 mile race I timed last weekend. 15 hours of continuous, clean, and very quiet power. I was impressed...I get a little scared when races say they will have a generator available. Power and clean power are two very different things.

Click to expand...

Good to know - I don't run a lot of electronics, but it would be a bummer to fry an iPad...

Got the Drago outside for a few pics.

Flyfalcons said:

Got the Drago outside for a few pics.

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That looks awesome!

Flyfalcons said:

Got the Drago outside for a few pics.

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Sexy! And no I was not referring to you Ryan:roll:

Packed for the trip to help at the TARC final....and got primer on my Citation Patriot.

I fly out in the morning (so I can help set up the ranges on Friday).

P.S. Ryan - that's gorgeous.

Finished my MC GoDevil 54 in time for LDRS. Re-named it with StickerShock graphics. Clear coated with "Spray Max High Gloss Clear" a 2-part clear in a rattle can. First flight will be on an AT J1299. DD w/RRC3 avionics.

That’s pretty, William. Nicely done.

WFWalby said:

Finished my MC GoDevil 54 in time for LDRS. Re-named it with StickerShock graphics. Clear coated with "Spray Max High Gloss Clear" a 2-part clear in a rattle can. First flight will be on an AT J1299. DD w/RRC3 avionics.

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Beautiful! Are you considering putting a "doomsday M" Loki M1378LR in there at some point? I haven't heard of a ton of MD projects with that... Do you even have room?

LithosphereRocketry said:

Beautiful! Are you considering putting a "doomsday M" Loki M1378LR in there at some point? I haven't heard of a ton of MD projects with that... Do you even have room?

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Thanks. No M but I do have a Loki L1040 to fly in it either at XPRS or Balls

Put Stickershock stickers on "Tweety Bird". Then did a photo shoot with me and the pilot:


Painted the Avalanche with Duplicolor Clear Effex, but no pictures yet. Then setup the avbay with ejection charges.
First flight will be at LDRS on Saturday. Also the first time I have ever participated in a drag race with a points system...
Prepped my Blackstar Jr., flying on an I285 Redline. Once again, I'm attempting to fly all four of my Darkstars at one event. The Jr. and my 3" Blackstar on Wednesday, Red-Tailed Extreme on Friday and Redline (6" Ultimate Darkstar) on Saturday.

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I launched a bunch of rockets with a team of kids who are working on the space-themed a First Lego League projects this year. I easily had as much fun as the kids, and I was blown away by how bright and innovative they were. Their lego robots and the code running them were awesome.

BDB said:

I launched a bunch of rockets with a team of kids who are working on the space-themed a First Lego League projects this year. I easily had as much fun as the kids, and I was blown away by how bright and innovative they were. Their lego robots and the code running them were awesome.

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That is awesome.

Helped set up the range for the TARC finals today. Also had a chance to chat a bit with Ellis Langford (new President of Estes Industries) a bit outside the theatre where the range crew and then student briefings for tomorrow took place.

Flew the 2 stage Nike Cajun MPR today successfully at the first day of TCR's May launch, read the flight report at the link below.

https://www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?145099-Nike-Cajun-2-stage-MPR&p=1785150#post1785150

I prepped a bunch of old rockets for today's TriCities Rocketeers launch at the Sod Farm. Fun times ahead!

I just ordered a thrust vectoring system from BPS. The thread about the Aerotech G8 moved it up to my must-have list. Conveniently, Joe started taking orders again today.