What did you do rocket wise today?

I got this ready to go.
320 grams fully loaded with a G80-T.
Rocksim predicts just about 6500feet.1200ft/sec max velocity.

I can't wait to lose this one. Most likely. Probably. I hope not.

Todderbert said:

Ordered an Estes Panavia and Sahara. They look like fun kits for low cost.

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So you now have a short Partizon with Argent fins, and a short Argent with Partizon fins.

The last remnants of the PSIIs

I dug in more boxes and found more old rocket parts. Decided to try and order some body tubes to make something out of them. Discovered 13mm tubes are not to be easily found in Europe . Ordered a Quest UFO thingy off of Ebay, and wonder how hard it would be to make a disk from scratch.

Kelley said:

wonder how hard it would be to make a disk from scratch.

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I have a pdf file someone shared a while back.
pm me your email address and I will send it to you.
I was watching that Quest Saucer, wondered whom had the luck of getting it.
Too bad it was in such bad shape. But buildable.

I have Ebay Germany and it was still in the package. I have read one has to be careful with the antennae thingies as you can break it if you try and follow the directions.

I started basic MMT assembly of an Estes Guardian (#2179)... At work. :grin:

Bought an Estes Show Stopper for $5.00 on the clearance rack at Hobby Lobby.

Got my Firefly altimeter in the mail. It be tiny!

Put the finishing touches on my Estes SEQUOIA (which is now a SONOmA cuz Estes can't constrain me) and showed it off at club meeting.


And I got to assess the damage done by a Quest C6-5 to the aft end of my Amazon.
Dislike Quest C's. They burn weak, they burn loong, they burn Hot! Had to use plyiers to extract the E2X retainer then BROKE the charred casing trying to remove the motor. The nozzle end is still stuck in there. Fortunately, perhaps the most generous rocketeer in the country is a member of my club and had a BT55 E2X retainer to spare.

That Sonoma looks great Nytrunner. Where'd you get that scale? I like that too.

Walmart lol. Still like it?
Its only got resolution to .05 oz or 1 gram, but that's close enough for blackpowder and cooking in my book.

I've got two digital scales, but they're not flat like that one and seem to be in the way, so they're usually out of sight and out of mind. I've never weighed a model rocket before. I wonder if I should start? :confused2:

TangoJuliet said:

I've got two digital scales, but they're not flat like that one and seem to be in the way, so they're usually out of sight and out of mind. I've never weighed a model rocket before. I wonder if I should start? :confused2:

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I weigh mine for a couple of reasons.

1) compare to to face card weight, see how heavy I'm building
2) plug real weights into OR sims.

I also weigh parts for similar reasons. Not all the time, but reasonably often.

Lately my biggest use of my scale (.1g resolution) is when buying balsa!

Laid down another 7 glue joints on my upscale Quinstar. Approximately 26 down, 14 to go! For this part anyway...

Worked the altimeter bay for my FG MiniFrenzy dual deploy:

Altimeter Bay is mostly done, mainly just picking up some 4-40 nylon screws and stand-offs for mounting the altimeter and building a box for the battery to sit in. The bulkhead use my usual technique of well-nuts for wire pass through. The all-threads were eliminated by the FG sled and aluminum angle. The altimeter in the photos and that will be used in the rocket is a Eggtimer Quantum, it uses a WiFi switch for arming and disarming the altimeter so that no additional switches are needed. I also still need to disassemble the whole unit and threadlock the nuts and screws that need to be permanently attached (pretty much all of them except the two nuts that retain the upper bulkhead). The charge wells are 5.56 NATO/.223 Rem casings trimmed and then drilled through the primer pocket to accept a stainless steel #8 flat head machine screw, they hold a bit over 1 gram of BP which is about twice the recommended amount estimated for this rocket.

A couple days ago I finished the paint and decal on my Mini Frenzy. I'm on the road now, letting the paint cure for a while before adding the clear coat. Looking forward to seeing all the parts back together in full color.

Got a JLCR and Alt3 from Apogee today! Going to play with them for a few months before trying L2 at NSL.

Picked up a StratoCF for a Binder 4" dual deploy Excel. Browsed Estes and picked up some Fletchers, they were back in stock for $3.59, and the PSII Scion.

Launched Rockets
https://www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?138727-Personal-Launch-Report-2017-02-04

Sanded CWF on my Big Daddy, started the project back in Nov of 2015 (that's when I applied the CWF too!).

Finished my Wildman Drago 4XL (except for paint and decals, needs to be warmer to do that outside. Now trying to decide if I start on Wildman Drago 5 or my two stage rocket.

Working on the Centuri Spirit of America clone, got a quote for the decals.
Just about finished with the V2 fins, touch more work on the fillets on the Solar Warrior.
Sanded and added another coat of TB to the Bullpup fins, BT is done. Just have to glue in the Engine Mount.
Just have to finish the BT of the Scrambler clone. The balsa adapter got a it's first coat of TB, diluted and epoxied a 3/8 oak dowel threw it.
Unlike the directions, I'm not gluing the clear payload tube to the adapter. Instead, I'm connecting the nose cone and adapter with kevlar.
With a 3 way swivel near the nose cone end for attaching an altimeter.
Made up an order to eRockets for the remaining parts and decals for the Scrambler.
Hoping that the wife has the money this week as she promised.
Order includes a balsa nose cone for a Ranger.
Some nice young fella is sending me a old Ranger kit that needs a new nose cone.
I'm hoping to find a way to attach the camera to the usb port on the computer so I don't need batteries, and video the glue process I use.

Started assembling my Missile Works Rtx 3D cases and putting in the innards. Wish I would have asked more questions. Now I have to try to solder wires to the power switch. Fine soldering is not my forte. I mostly do 14ga wire... This will be bit trickier. Not sure my soldering iron will go low enough to not melt the switch. I'll put in the smallest tip and use my thinnest solder, but still. The only other trick I'll try is using a pair of hemostats as a heat sink on the terminal. hopefully I won't solder the heat sink to the terminal...

jd2cylman said:

Started assembling my Missile Works Rtx 3D cases and putting in the innards. Wish I would have asked more questions. Now I have to try to solder wires to the power switch. Fine soldering is not my forte. I mostly do 14ga wire... This will be bit trickier. Not sure my soldering iron will go low enough to not melt the switch. I'll put in the smallest tip and use my thinnest solder, but still. The only other trick I'll try is using a pair of hemostats as a heat sink on the terminal. hopefully I won't solder the heat sink to the terminal...

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Bring it to the next launch. I'll help you out with that one. We can run to Tims and take care of that in the shop.

GRIFFIN said:

Bring it to the next launch. I'll help you out with that one. We can run to Tims and take care of that in the shop.

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Awesome!!
Will do!

I finished building all the main parts for my quarterly challenge rocket (geometric/flat-sided rocket). It's going to be a fun little rocket!

Over the weekend actually... At work.

Estes Guardian (which I think begs for an upscale BTW) and the Estes Supernova. Motor Mounts were left out so I can take them home and add Kevlar/elastic shock cords, then I'll seal the balsa parts and paint them. I'm also thinking of adding a few scale-like details to the Guardian before paint.

Things must have changed over the years.
My dad never talked about his WWII service.
But one of the few things he said is you never have free time.
You are always in a hurry to get somewhere to stand in line.
You make military life seam like a dream job where your hobby is your job.
Please, tell your secrete. Every American wants to know!

TangoJuliet said:

Over the weekend actually... At work.
View attachment 311180
Estes Guardian (which I think begs for an upscale BTW) and the Estes Supernova. Motor Mounts were left out so I can take them home and add Kevlar/elastic shock cords, then I'll seal the balsa parts and paint them. I'm also thinking of adding a few scale-like details to the Guardian before paint.

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Did a few repairs, cleaned off the mud and touched up the paintwork on a few rockets. I want them to look good when I do a schools presentation tomorrow.

Woody's Workshop said:

Things must have changed over the years.
My dad never talked about his WWII service.
But one of the few things he said is you never have free time.
You are always in a hurry to get somewhere to stand in line.
You make military life seam like a dream job where your hobby is your job.
Please, tell your secrete. Every American wants to know!

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I haven't been Active Duty Air Force in over 18 years! My Civilian job affords a lot of "hurry up and wait".