Flis Trifecta Build

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gdjsky01

Kim's Rocketeer
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With the two months of the year the Southern California Rocketry Association (SCRA) is banished to a much smaller field fast approaching I thought I'd look for more unique rockets to fly in the 200' or so altitude limit.

With Jim Flis claiming it goes less than that on 3 A10s, and with me having a sh&t load of A10-0s, I thought I'd give it a shot.
I went onto eBay and placed an order with JonRocket.com along with a frick n frack to eat some C6-0s when things return to normal. I like ordering from JonRocket.com. Gotta love a crew that have good service and run RocketReviews where I log all my flights. AND he is right here on TRF.

The obligatory parts shot. I have already removed the balsa from the laser cut sheets. I did not notice mine said #34 until I looked at an older build thread here on TRF and reminded me to look. Oh well... I have enough 'collectibles'. More flying, less collecting!
IMG_7574.jpg

Next picture is my idea for covering the surfaces. Lightweight colored packing tape. Back in the day I was thinking of flying R/C foam wings. Like the Zaggie. They were all the rage. And you covered the foam with strapping tape, then packing tape for color. So I bought six rolls. And there they have sat for 10 years.

IMG_7575.jpg


Here's a picture of some additional plates I cut out to test the idea. As long as I 'carefully' wick thin CA into the edges, I think the tape will not peel back. We'll see...

The idea is to alternate red/black and green/yellow.

IMG_7577.jpg

IMG_7578.jpg


Question to ya'll: If I use packing tape on the plates and fins, do you think I still need to paper the upper fins per the instructions?
 
IMHO the tape would do just fine. The kids love my Trifecta. I don't know if I messed something up, but each stage on mine goes in a slightly different direction. They laugh themselves silly.

Mike
 
Most interested in this build thread :)

Having never used that tape, I don't know about the need for papering them, but you should be ok. Make sure you are able to apply strong glue filets as these fins are subjected to a lot of stress :)
 
I really am disappointed in all of you! Surely ONE of you out there thought, "Wow... that tape thing is going to be one major PITA when it comes right down to it." but did you try and stop me? Nooooooooo.....

:lol: :rofl:

Alright... I am committed. All I was trying to do is save time filling all the wood...

Sheesh... So this is going to be a PITA and it's not exactly as fast as I had hoped... I was okay until this:

Make sure you are able to apply strong glue filets as these fins are subjected to a lot of stress

Now I have to make little trim cuts to get the fillets to the wood... :facepalm::bangpan:

So here's a sequence of one side of the process...
2013-03-30-Trifecta-0008.jpg 2013-03-30-Trifecta-0009.jpg 2013-03-30-Trifecta-0011.jpg 2013-03-30-Trifecta-0012.jpg 2013-03-30-Trifecta-0013.jpg

As you can see it's pretty straight forward. This part is anyway.
 
Here we've trimmed a side. We repeat for all tip plates and all colors. Same for the 'fins' or tip plate holders....

2013-03-30-Trifecta-0017.jpg 2013-03-30-Trifecta-0018.jpg 2013-03-30-Trifecta-0019.jpg
 
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Here if you look at the last tip plate and the one fin or plate holder (red) you can see the PITA of trimming away tape to expose wood for gluing...

2013-03-31-Trifecta-0021.jpg

Oh well everything is an experiment. It's all good fun!

 
The end results justify the means.
I think its a pretty cool idea using the tape.
I got as far as the "Filler" on my Tri build and thats when the "Stop Work" order came.
Looking at the transparency of the tape has giving me some ideas.
Thinking one could draw a pattern on the wood with a sharpie or such and it would show thru the tape.
Maybe something that looks like solar panels.
Anywhoo--Looking real good and thanks for the tip.
 
Nope Riot Games (aka da work) killed this thread... been getting home about 8pm'ish... just not enough time between showering, wife, and dinner, to get much done. :wink:

It's progressing... one or two plate/fins a night... More pictures tomorrow. I almost have all the plates mounted to all the fins. Then it's a matter of stacking tubes and gluing on the fin/plate assemblies to fit 'well' together.

Today was a launch day... and tonight dinner with a visiting friend.
Launch report in the morning over in the usual forum section...

Thanks for checking in though... some nice scores you have made on eBay... I can't tell you how much money eBay has cost me over the years!!! But I do get good bargains (I only bid enough to be a bargain, otherwise, no bid).

 
Hmm, that packing tape thing is an idea I would likely never have had. Not sure about it but can see some good points - first one being along the lines of anti-fin-cracking reinforcement.
So far I have avoided Ebay like the plague - has the feeling of a black hole from which you'll never escape, going by watching what has happened to my model train and sci-fi friends. ;)
 
Here's a few pictures of me trimming the tab area and the body-tube to fin root area of tape on one of the up stage fins. The basic idea being leave some wood exposed to take a glue fillet. They'll all be on the inside. I doubt anyone will really notice them, except me of course! :roll:

The process was the same for all nine.
Laminate with tape trimming most of the excess close.
Seal the edges I would not be trimming tape from with a tiny amount of thin CA (the edges that would not be getting wood glue)
Trim off a tiny bit of tape from the fins and the plates where wood glue would go
Then put together the fins and plates into assemblies.

2013-04-07-Trifecta-0003.jpg 2013-04-07-Trifecta-0005.jpg 2013-04-07-Trifecta-0006.jpg 2013-04-07-Trifecta-0008.jpg 2013-04-07-Trifecta-0009.jpg

 
The first picture is some V blocks I used to keep the fin to plate angle close to 90.

Then there is a picture of what a bunch of them now look like... the weight of all the parts covered parts and the body tubes are .28 (7g) ounces. So I should be able to keep it well under the .4 ounces (11g) listed on the package... maybe... :grin:


2013-04-07-Trifecta-0001.jpg 2013-04-07-Trifecta-0002.jpg
 
Looking good! Fliskits has a whole bunch of neat kits. I've got a Frick n Frack, but haven't tried the Trifecta out yet.
 
Moving right along.... The first stage comes together..

2013-04-07-Trifecta-0009-2.jpg

Getting on to the second stage... the second stage fin roots overlap the first a bit. Maybe I did something wrong. But keep glue off of that overlap or you'll have a single stage! :y:

2013-04-07-Trifecta-0007-2.jpg

Starting to come together...

2013-04-07-Trifecta-0009-2.jpg
 


And on to the third stage....

2013-04-08-Trifecta-0010.jpg



2013-04-08-Trifecta-0011.jpg



2013-04-08-Trifecta-0012.jpg

After all the plates and fins dried I heaped everything on the scale to see where I stand... filleting is next...
2013-04-09-Trifecta-0019.jpg
 
Well my friends. I know it's not as comprehensive as some build threads, but we are done. I attached the launch lug per the instructions and then proceeded to add strips of tape to the tubes. On the bottom stage I added some HVAC aluminum tape. Play with black, red, and green sharpies on the edges (tho I think I may have been better off without that).

So without further Adieux, my finished Trifecta.


2013-04-12-Trifecta-0001.jpg

Today at the ROC April Launch the Trifecta would have been perfect as it was ANOTHER 'W' blow out... alas I took bigger things as that is what I wanted to launch there... so it awaits it's maiden...

Another excellent, as usual, step on the path to Flis-topia...

 
Sweet build :). You've made me proud to be a rocketeer!

Be sure to have plenty of spotters, with assigned stages to watch...
 
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