What did you do rocket wise today?

Did some more work on my L3 project a Cherokee-D upscale. Looked at the partially completed Big Daddy...then went back to work on the Cherokee-D.

https://www.rocketryforum.com/showt...t-Cherokee-D-L3-build-thread-for-rharshberger

Supervised my daughter mark and build her MM tube for her Panarvia. (Proud to say I didn't have to help out!) Papered and primed the fins for my stretch leviathan. Swore and quit building the tower for my Mercury Redstone about 10 times but ultimately have it together ready for paint.

Launched rockets in the snow! About 40F out and zero wind. 7 Flights and only a few broken fins to fix. Also introduced the neighbor kid to launching rockets. You know he's hooked when after the first launch his comment was "I like the smell!".

Another round of laminating for a couple more retro rockets, the BSD Canadian Sprint and the LOC King Viper III (although looks like Barry may have added this back to his lineup--but was OOP when I purchased it).

dixontj93060 said:

Another round of laminating for a couple more retro rockets, the BSD Canadian Sprint and the LOC King Viper III (although looks like Barry may have added this back to his lineup--but was OOP when I purchased it).

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You got skills Tim, those tubes look beautiful.

rharshberger said:

You got skills Tim, those tubes look beautiful.

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Thanks. Although fairly quick and easy at this size, I'm really working up to the 10.25" Sonotube cores shown behind standing vertical as part of my Cherokee-N build.

dixontj93060 said:

Thanks. Although fairly quick and easy at this size, I'm really working up to the 10.25" Sonotube cores shown behind standing vertical as part of my Cherokee-N build.

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I did a bit more today on my 5.5" Cherokee D upscale, the NC Electronics bay is about done. Will post more on it later.

Edit: Received my Eggfinder TRS from Cris today, I had sent it in for troubleshooting when it failed the partial assembly pretest, evidently I managed to not quite solder a couple of pads on the GPS receiver, even as busy as Cris was he managed to take a look at it for me, as soon as I got it back I finished the assembly, tested it, programmed it and its ready to fly.

Edit part deux: Why does this thread not have a sticky on it after 13.5k replies?

Painted.

50* yesterday in Northern Mi , spent some time outside sanding FG , Kit came with no switch band so the dilemma of booster or payload bay to cut


picture is booster with 6 grain case , booster for sure don't want to cut

Finished up this guy, woohoo!

Finished Eleanor.

neil_w said:

Finished up this guy, woohoo!
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Is that one of the original kits? I loved that one when it came out. I think it's begging for a modern upscale.

Flyfalcons said:

Finished Eleanor.

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She's Beautiful!!!!

Nice Work!

Got the Argent up!
[video=youtube;guBUP5zGmm8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guBUP5zGmm8[/video]

sooner.boomer said:

Is that one of the original kits? I loved that one when it came out. I think it's begging for a modern upscale.

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https://www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?68515-Birdie-upscale

neil_w said:

https://www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?68515-Birdie-upscale

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Funny to see my own thread quoted... Yes, the upscales fly great! I did fly the blue one built later in the thread and ran into issues with melting from the forward mounted motor, but a variation on the first design could be a nice flyer. Clones of the originals (or the Odd'll rockets kit) fly great on 13mm A10 power. My dad has one he has flown for years on 13mm and has to have at least 50-60 flights on it!

Some hotel room fiberglass laminating. Clearly not optimizing here as the picture has no peel ply, breather or vacuum bags. Simply looking for quick, no-fuss finish with parchment paper to smooth things out. Fins are from two OOP kits, Binder Exocet and BSD Canadian Sprint.

After a little paint mishap I sanded her down and decided to go with solid green instead. I'll revisit this camouflage scheme later on another model when I have more time and patience.

Since my fg RED ALERT weighs slightly over 1500g have to make a new payload for lighter bird for waiverless night launch

Made a 2.6 inch fg tube , wrapped a 38mm tube with 5m LED strip and made a pair of CRs to center on the fg tube.

Quick mock up shows that my tube is TOO clear ! See all the individual LEDs instead of the diffused Glow I get from a proline natural tube.

In the quick pic it looks diffused, Glow effect i was going for --in person can see the 300 individual LEDs wrapped inside.

Kenny

I flew to Belgium (actually yesterday, but this has been my first opportunity to post), and watched The Martian again on the plane. That's about all I'll be able to claim for a week or so...

dixontj93060 said:

Some hotel room fiberglass laminating. Clearly not optimizing here as the picture has no peel ply, breather or vacuum bags. Simply looking for quick, no-fuss finish with parchment paper to smooth things out. Fins are from two OOP kits, Binder Exocet and BSD Canadian Sprint.

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I get the feeling you use one of these frequently...

Got into the upper 40's today so took advantage and got a coat of primer on the Estes Partison after work.

Sent from my VS986 using Tapatalk

The nose one for our upscale Dragonfly arrived today. I would like to say that Dan at Python Rocketry did a great job and was very good to work with - Thanks!

We had to take it to the gym to stand it up. This was a new problem, but not a bad one to have...

michigander said:

50* yesterday in Northern Mi , spent some time outside sanding FG , Kit came with no switch band so the dilemma of booster or payload bay to cut picture is booster with 6 grain case , booster for sure don't want to cut

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Which kit is that? 4.5" Arcas with 75mm hole?

Finished up the sled for my Eggfinder, it's going into the nosecone of my Mongoose 54.


800 Mah 2S lipo on the backside:


More about my build here:
https://www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?130487-Wayco-s-RW-Mongoose-54-build

Wayco said:

Finished up the sled for my Eggfinder, it's going into the nosecone of my Mongoose 54.

800 Mah 2S lipo on the backside:

More about my build here:
https://www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?130487-Wayco-s-RW-Mongoose-54-build

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Looks good Wayco, should be a blast to fly.

rharshberger said:

I did a bit more today on my 5.5" Cherokee D upscale, the NC Electronics bay is about done. Will post more on it later.

Edit: Received my Eggfinder TRS from Cris today, I had sent it in for troubleshooting when it failed the partial assembly pretest, evidently I managed to not quite solder a couple of pads on the GPS receiver, even as busy as Cris was he managed to take a look at it for me, as soon as I got it back I finished the assembly, tested it, programmed it and its ready to fly.

Edit part deux: Why does this thread not have a sticky on it after 13.5k replies?

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I was able to text Chris my problem and he was able to tell me which solder joints were no good. His electron-fu is not weak.

Igotnothing said:

I was able to text Chris my problem and he was able to tell me which solder joints were no good. His electron-fu is not weak.

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His Electron-Fu is great, we tried the photos and email and he identified a few issues, but eventually we were unable to find anymore issue, so he said I could send it to him and he would look at it when he had the chance, that was just before Black Friday and he did warn me that it would be after all that before he had the time, he was good on his word, and found the issue. My fault, I failed to get a few pins on the GPS block completely soldered, they looked okay but weren't, he fixed it sent it back, I finished assembling the same day and now have a functioning Eggfinder TRS.

Began repairs on a Wildman 2.6" Darkstar.
Strange crash. My L1 son didn't assemble his AT 29mm motor correctly and it vented out the top and bottom. Caused the rocket to fly in an arc and it struck the top of a t-shaped steel fence post before the chute could deploy. Broke the body tube and we lost 2 fins somewhere in a foot of snow.
Cut the bad chunk of the body away. Top is good. Fin can is good. Middle was kinked on that fence post. Am going to splice it with a coupler.

Cut carbon to wrap around the inside of the top of the body tube. (What is a mandrel called when you use the inside?) And cut a bunch of pieces to replace the fins. I know it is weird to repair a fiberglass rocket with carbon, but I need some practice with carbon. I have some old Aerospace Composites laminating epoxy so I laid up the fins and have them curing between some tiles and clamps.

Will figure out how to laminate on the inside of something so small tomorrow. Maybe I will laminate on the outside and cut it lengthways.

Patched my 3" Darkstar payload tube after relocating the camera. I decided to add a patch even though I filed the holes simply because this is the payload bay and is subject to pressure from the deployment charges.



Sanded the inside of the tube for better adhesion



Cut the patch, I only had carbon fiber. I like to leave a very thin boarder to prevent fraying, which can be removed after and does not inhibit the CF from absorbing the epoxy.



Applied some tape to a sheet of clear mylar just to keep it in place once inserted into the tube



Applied epoxy to the front of the patch then transferred it to the mylar then made sure the epoxy had full coverage on the backside



Rolled the mylar and inserted it into the tube



Mylar inserted and patch pressed flat to work out as many air bubbles as possible. Tape wrapped around the end of the tube to prevent mylar from moving



Inserted a balloon to apply pressure while the patch cures



Mylar removed and patched sanded and feathered out



Wiped on then wiped off a thin coat of epoxy to smooth it out no rough edges to catch on the chute, it added minimal weight and all finished