What did you do rocket wise today?

Added to my build pile with an order to eRockets (don't tell my girlfriend :no. I'm slowly obtaining all of the Estes kits I wanted when I was a kid back in the 80's. There's a few that I'll have to clone I think.

Today I looked at parachutes. That is all lol.

Today I glued the bridle harness and the top centering ring to the motor tube of my 5" Jart. Maybe tonight I'll get wild and sand the fins so they're ready to glue on.

jd2cylman said:

Today I glued the bridle harness and the top centering ring to the motor tube of my 5" Jart. Maybe tonight I'll get wild and sand the fins so they're ready to glue on.

Click to expand...

Now don't over exert yourself there Adrian!

Finished the motor mount for my LOC Expediter. Added a third centering ring. And my arm isn't long enough to reach the top centering ring from the top of the booster for an eye bolt harness attachment point, so I epoxied 1" Kevlar strap to two sides of the motor mount.

dixontj93060 said:

Now don't over exert yourself there Adrian!

Click to expand...

Coworker and I are going to a movie. Fin sanding delayed... No danger of over exertion.... Whew....

Yesterday I was able to do my first backyard launch of the year with my daughter (she wanted to fly her Sky Hawker and blue Crayon Christmas rockets), and ended up with my first tree of the year due to accidentally putting a full A3-4T in her mini Bandit instead of a 1/2A. D'ooooooooh. I was able to yank the body tube and fins down, but the shock cord broke and the nose is still up there. I'll work on that later.

Also took delivery of an Estes Shuttle. Technically I haven't broken my New Years resolution of no new kits yet, as that was a Christmas present from my brother.

Today I started on my Madcow cardboard Mini AGM-33 Pike. Should be a fun one! I have some Sand Beige and Classic White paint sitting around, so maybe a desert themed paint job for this one?

Got the tops on my new "rocket workbench" 25sq ft of Baltic Birch work space, the tops are 2-1/8" thick laminated from 3 panels of Baltic Birch ply (that like 30 something plys of birch), eventually I will get around to drilling dog holes and adding the end vise and my regular woodworkers vise. The benches are built in two pieces so that when the new shop is built I can just move them into it. First coat of polyurethane is on the tops. Sometime next week I will make the transition piece from the tablesaw (foreground) to the bench, the transition sits on the lip under the bench tops and allows access to the back of the tablesaw and dust port.

I got myself a Jolly Logic Chute Release for Christmas. Finally, today I hooked up the band & pin, and gave it a test!
I showed my wife, she really liked it and can't wait to see it in action! But about 10 minutes later, she came to me and said that "it's gonna cut down on your exercise".

TALON said:

...But about 10 minutes later, she came to me and said that "it's gonna cut down on your exercise".

Click to expand...

That's easy to fix...just launch way more rockets.

Made hollowed core for a BT80 upscale bertha and laminated 1/32 aircraft plywood skins on one side.

Got the aircraft plywood at Michael's for $6 with a 40% off coupon. Need to get another sheet as I miscalculated how much I needed ... anyway, these fins should be nearly unbreakable and total cost will end up about $12. Should be pretty light too.

Our next club launch is May, hoping to have 4 berthas (regular, baby, upscale BT80 and downscale BT20 with 13mm motor).

Love the bertha!

GrouchoDuke said:

That's easy to fix...just launch way more rockets.

Click to expand...

You know, my wife is so good she would approve that idea. She actually suggested thst I get back into rocketry.:eyepop: Am I lucky or what?

Read pages 435-455 of this thread....slowing down now.

Coating the fins with TiteBond, the ones for the "One of Those Rockets" Wizard.
Cut out balsa fins for the Centuri "Spirit of America" clone, sanded to all the same size and tapered the leading edges. Coated them with a coat of TiteBond.
Sanding on the glassine of the body tube for Centuri SoA in preparation to give it a few coats of glue.
I think I will paper the fins before I put them on, maybe going to try a coat of epoxy over the paper to try it out.
Probably built the engine mount for it as well tonight.

TALON said:

You know, my wife is so good she would approve that idea. She actually suggested thst I get back into rocketry.:eyepop: Am I lucky or what?

Click to expand...

That is spectacular. So....launch way more rockets!

dmgrime said:

Our next club launch is May, hoping to have 4 berthas (regular, baby, upscale BT80 and downscale BT20 with 13mm motor).

Click to expand...

Ever thought about pulling down the Mini Bertha plans from JimZ and just building it?

Worked on a Baby Bertha kit. Bought some F15-6 motors from Hobby Lobby with the 40% off, not bad for $9.00 a launch for my PSIIs.

90% done, 90% to go on the Mini Pike.

Dear dmgrime: Interesting fin construction tech. I am also making a BT-80 Big Bertha and a BT-80 Astron Ranger. A mere 1.588271228 up-scale enlargement from the original BT-60 kits. Fun projects, indeed. The two fin patterns are slightly different, but I cut both sets out of two Revell, 1/4"x4"x36" balsa stock using a very new, very sharp, blade exacto blade. keep us posted.

Kruegon said:

Ever thought about pulling down the Mini Bertha plans from JimZ and just building it?

Click to expand...

Indeed I did! Mini Bertha was BT-20 and I printed out plans from JimZ. I couldn't find a suitable nose in BT-50 but did in BT-55 from erockets.biz (semroc). Looks like I'll be able to have a fleet including versions at BT-5 (13mm min dia), BT-20 (13mm), BT-55 (18mm), BT-60 (18mm), BT-70 (24mm) and BT-80 (29mm).

Will post pics as I can!

dmgrime said:

Indeed I did! Mini Bertha was BT-20 and I printed out plans from JimZ. I couldn't find a suitable nose in BT-50 but did in BT-55 from erockets.biz (semroc). Looks like I'll be able to have a fleet including versions at BT-5 (13mm min dia), BT-20 (13mm), BT-55 (18mm), BT-60 (18mm), BT-70 (24mm) and BT-80 (29mm).

Will post pics as I can!

Click to expand...

Ever see what's available on the Polecat website?

BT-80 Big Bertha and BT-80 Astron Ranger's business end. I build them 2x2. It is easier that way.

Notice the BT-70 Astron Ranger's cluster assembly also underway, pictured between the completed BT-60 Big Bertha and BT-60 Astron Ranger clones in the fin picture above. Yes, I am also building BT-70 Astron Rangers and Big Berthas as well. 2x2.

Did some parts organization. I've been accumulating a bunch of parts and stashing them here and there. Finally broke down and bought a few storage drawer systems and a shelving box for body tubes, balsa and sandpaper sheets. So now everything is grouped together: nosecones, couplers, centering rings, motor tubes, lugs....etc.....funny how you have more than you thought...turned out I have a crapload of recovery gear...chutes, shock cords, streamers.....more than I should compared to other stuff.

More work on my 29mm MD build. I finished shaping the fins & boat tail. Epoxy is next...finally!

Bought more motorzzz... lots of 'em.

got some work done on a little something I'm working on, well it started as a baby bertha kit...I've made a few changes .
Rex

Looks cool Rex, check stability? Kinda looks like it would be unstable.

I sanded some fins, recoated with TB. Was sanding on a BT, but the sandpaper was wore out.
So had to peal off all the old sandpaper and clean the melamine board I use for a flat surface.
Then added a new strips of 2.5" in 120 & 180 to one side, and 2, 6" 220 disks to the other.
Should be good for another 3 years or so.
Gotta love that 3M gold sandpaper.

Finally got a paint window, weather wise. Finished the Sahara paint, now only have to drill a small set screw for the nosecone. I built this kit with the upper section as a payload bay, so now I have a 29mm payloader. Got the red coat applied to the Airborne Surveillance Missile yesterday, should shoot black this evening. Started construction on a Hi-Flier XL, building to use RMS 24/40 and 24/60 motors. Today I'll get the coupler converted to a baffle, and order a nice nylon chute for it. I plan this bird to be a frequent flier with the Astron Sprint XL.