Project Red Queen: It has begun!

Anybody seen the Resident Evil movies? I love them for all their cliché zombie-slashing goodness. Or maybe it's just Milla Jovovich that I really like.

So I figured I'd make a rocket that incorporates some fanart and thematic elements from the movies, with my own twist. I've been wanting to design an asymmetric rocket for fun anyway, so I'm wrapping it into this project. As a disclaimer, there are no rockets in the movie, excepting perhaps shoulder-launched weapons.

Here is my current thought as to a design:



And the associated Rocksim file:
View attachment Red Queen v2.rkt

I still have some work to do:

I'm as yet undecided whether there should be 3 strakes spaced around the body tube, purposefully not in line with the fins, or four strakes, (two sets of two) that match up and join with the fins. Thoughts?

Also I have to adjust the design just a bit to use actual nose cones and stuff I have on hand. I'm not buying anything for this build.

I'm also considering some sort of treatment on the top or bottom like a flying bridge or something. Stay tuned... it should be fun!

Hmmm... slow weekend.

But I'm kind'a excited to see more!

Marc_G said:

View attachment 134871

Anybody seen the Resident Evil movies? I love them for all their cliché zombie-slashing goodness. Or maybe it's just Milla Jovovich that I really like.

So I figured I'd make a rocket that incorporates some fanart and thematic elements from the movies, with my own twist. I've been wanting to design an asymmetric rocket for fun anyway, so I'm wrapping it into this project. As a disclaimer, there are no rockets in the movie, excepting perhaps shoulder-launched weapons.

Here is my current thought as to a design:

View attachment 134878

And the associated Rocksim file:
View attachment 134879

I still have some work to do:

I'm as yet undecided whether there should be 3 strakes spaced around the body tube, purposefully not in line with the fins, or four strakes, (two sets of two) that match up and join with the fins. Thoughts?

Also I have to adjust the design just a bit to use actual nose cones and stuff I have on hand. I'm not buying anything for this build.

I'm also considering some sort of treatment on the top or bottom like a flying bridge or something. Stay tuned... it should be fun!

Click to expand...

You are not alone... I've wanted to make an Umbrella Corporation rocket for a while now!

I actually did get out flying.

And had family stuff to do so didn't have much build time. I did start on the tail cone but will document it later.

I also picked up the pod cones from a vendor (Evil Ed!) At the launch. I didn't have enough matching cones in my stock.

I think the design is close to final but I need to weigh some components before locking it down.

OK, let's start at the aft end. It will be a rear-eject model, so I need to make a tail cone / motor mount / parachute protector assembly.

I'm using a PNC-60NA nose cone as a tail cone. I'll chop off the tip, so that a heavy wall BT-50 fits through. BT-50H from BMS, I believe it is.

I placed the tubing over the tip of the cone, and marked all the way around.

Oops had some photo upload troubles!



Then it was razor saw time:



I purposefully cut it such that the hole would be a little too small at first. I then tested with a scrap of the engine tubing and saw I had a few millimeters to remove.



I braced the cone in a section of BT60 and chocked it up on my disc sander, bracing it to maintain a 90 degree angle:



I carefully buzzed off the excess material little by little, turning the cone periodically. I also frequently removed it and using my little finger reached inside and removed plastic buildup from the inside. When there was just a few tenths of a millimeter left, I took it off the sander and used a manual sanding block to get it just right, so that the fit was snug but not constricting on the motor mount tube.

I next cut off the section of plastic where the shock cord attachment would be, including the indented part:



(actually I cut this off a while ago, to ease dry fitting the motor mount tube as shown in a previous picture, but didn't get around to documenting it until here)

I then wanted to build up the shoulder so that it would go completely around evenly. I used some BT-60c coupler material, and some CA to stiffen it all. Two layers, the first going all the way around inside the nose cone, then another layer cut to fit the contour of my butchered plastic, then hardened with CA. Note, I originally was going to use CA just to tack the first layer together, then epoxy for the main bond, but I got too much CA in there and it stuck quickly... but no worries, there will be plenty of time for epoxy later. Here are some pics:



I've smoothed some CWF over the remaining rough spots where the plastic and CA-hardened cardboard material meet. I'll sand it down when dry then harden with some medium CA. My experience shows this will make for a nice solid material I can smooth down to a glasslike surface. And it doesn't have to have high bonding strength, so I'm not worried about it eventually becoming brittle.

Here's a concept, with things dry fit, using a short bit of engine mount material, a centering ring, and the transition (before gluing the bits of coupler all snug):



This may be a bit tough to follow but in a day or two I'll have made decisions on how long the motor mount tube should be. The model will be rear-eject, so I need to have room for the parachute, protected from ejection heat/particles.

Here are some pics to mock up what I'll be doing. Note, in these pics I'm using a BT50 (not 50H) because I haven't gotten around to sanding all the centering rings a bit to fit the thicker walled tube.



I've made some notes about where the parachute folds / wraps in:


I'm still undecided about how long the motor mount tube should be... need to test some things out. Eventually cut the tube approximately where the red dotted line is.

Gradually moving forward. Last night I polished up the filled in tail cone and added a little CA to the filler to make it tough.

Then I got out my BT50H and made the bottom centering ring fit by removing one wrap from the inside. I then positioned it on the tube and determined where it needed to be on the tube to rest on the inside of the bottom of the tailcone. Attached it with Titebond II after scuffing the tube surface a bit.



The centering ring isn't strictly necessary, as the hole in the tail cone will act to hold the tube in place. But I wanted more surface area joining the motor mount tube to the tail cone, and wanted to distribute any forces from a rough landing away from the point where the plastic tail cone meets the motor tube. A rough landing could easily rip the flimsy tailcone apart if the thing landed just the wrong way on the engine protruding from the motor tube. Having an internal centering ring, coated in epoxy and bonded to the inside of the cone, gives me another point to spread the force, and at least in my mind improves the bonding between motor tube and tail cone.

If I have time tonight, I will cut the motor tube to size and epoxy it and the two BT50-60 centering rings onto the cone. I don't particularly like using epoxy, but it's the right glue for this job.

And the poll results are in!
90% of cloned Alice's approve!

Love it!

Marc_G said:

The model will be rear-eject, so I need to have room for the parachute, protected from ejection heat/particles.

Click to expand...

Having never built a rear eject rocket, I'm wondering how the parachute is packed to ensure it comes away from the motor tube after ejection?

DLB- where'd ya get the "Milla" pic? I might have to peruse that website... :wink:

Bradycros- I've been wondering the same thing, and have been playing around with a couple concepts. I'm now leaning toward using two smaller parachutes (say, 12" each) minimally folded. Plenty of room for these along the sides of the extended motor tube. Turbulence of ejection makes them fall away from the ejected tailcone/tube assembly, and the rush of air inflates them. I'm considering, quite seriously, making a simple test rocket (3FNC) to use with my tail assembly, to try it out, while the rest of the Red Queen gets built.

Anyway, yesterday I had a few minutes to epoxy up the tail assembly:



I used epoxy I got in the paint aisle at Hobby Lobby. I forget the brand, and will edit it in later. I'm not a fan of epoxy because I hate the smell. And I get it everywhere. But I managed to acquit myself pretty well on this one. I coated the scuffed up interior of the plastic tail cone near the hole, and coated the inside of the built up shoulder, and the bottom of the rear centering ring, and the smaller ring at the base, then stuck it all together. Then tried to put on a collar of BT60 material., to hold the centering ring against the end of the tail cone shoulder.

That's when all heck broke loose. I was using thin plastic bag material as a release sheet, and it wouldn't work because it added too much diameter to the shoulder for the BT60 piece to go over. I eventually wiped off excess epoxy from the shoulder, made a cut in a piece of sacrificial BT60, and slid it over without release sheet. After an hour or so, I went down and peeled it off. A few places stuck to squeezed out epoxy and will need to be sanded, but by and large it worked out.

In the pics above, the forward ring is not yet bonded to the tube... I'm still working out cordage strategies.

Tonight I plan to start cutting fin material. I'm on the fence between pre-filled Basswood and going the balsa route and CA-papering them.

Marc

Do you think a short streamer attached (taped) to the top center of the parachute would aid in draging the recovery gear away from the motor tube, allowing the parachute to unravel then inflate?

All good ideas. Thanks.

Progress slow this weekend but I have fins cut and the first two on. Pictures pending.

Got the two pairs of main fins on:

First I printed out an alignment guide using the VCT tool. I entered in the fin angles and designated a width for the lines (I printed it as 3/16" thick fins, even though I'm using 3/32" basswood, to make it easier to align by looking down... this just works better for me). In the center of the body tube circle on the paper I crazy glued a short sacrificial length of BT60c coupler.

I lined up the body tube on the guide (snug fit on the coupler which you can't see) and made tick marks at the center line of each fin:


Extended the lines, then used a short section of BT60 (blue) with a plastic coupler (black) since some of my fins sweep down... I needed a standoff.



First fin goes on (double glue joints with Carpenter's wood glue). You can see I used a purple sharpie (extra fine point) to make the lines stand out better:



More fins go on:







Tonight I'll put on the strakes if I have time.

Strakes are on. Pics tonight.

https://bloody-disgusting.com/news/9959/100-alice-clones-pose-with-jovovich-at-red-carpet-premiere/

Some show in Las Vegas a few years ago.
Alice Clones everywhere.

With Milla( very pregnant Milla )

Wow! So many clones, so little time...

Meanwhile, the strakes are on, just need a little very thin filleting.

Here are some pics taken before my wife gets back from the store with the makings for apple pie.






I don't quite know how I'm going to paint in the crevice between the strakes and the pod fins. Fortunately, I'm planning an "organic" finish for her, so it won't really matter.

Note the pods, with yellow nose cones. I picked these cones up from Ed Hartle at the recent AMOREA launch in Indy. I thought they were BT20 but they are actually a better fit for Series 7 tubing. No problem; got some of that laying around. The tubes are 2.75" long (Slightly shorter than in the Rocksim file) just because I think it looks better that way. I will be trimming much of the tube shoulder (which is thick and dense) off, to reduce weight in the pods. I will also flatten the aft cones a bit, to make them look more jet exhaust-like. All in good time. Stand by; the build continues.

Marc

I like it very much so.
Get those pods on and it will have a whole dif look. Nice!

The build part is complete. She's just about ready for primer.

I still have to decide whether or not to put in a balsa nose block partway down the tube to reduce the amount of space to be pressurized at ejection. I'm leaning to "yes". Any input from you folks?

Here she is in current state:



And Yes, I did remember a launch lug! Ventral view:



I expect I'll get primer on her probably tomorrow, but then she will sit until I get back from vacation. So, this thread will go dormant until I get back and get sufficiently caught up to experiment with some finishing ideas. I haven't decided whether I'll go waterslide or vinyl for the decals I'm considering... lots to consider!

Marc

Marc_G said:

I still have to decide whether or not to put in a balsa nose block partway down the tube to reduce the amount of space to be pressurized at ejection. I'm leaning to "yes". Any input from you folks?

Click to expand...

I'd do it. I tend to use long engine/"stuffer" tubes in my builds for much the same reason--reduce the area that you need to pressurize.

And it occurs to me that if I anchor into that nice solid nose block, I don't have to worry about yanking the cable out of the nose cone plastic anchor. And it will be easier to manage adjustments to nose weight since I can tightly friction fit (instead of gluing in) the nose...

OK, decision made. I think I have one of these blocks...

The build is officially on hold for about two weeks. I will pick it up from here when I can get to it.

I'm back from vacation, so the build continues.

While away, I considered the form of The Red Queen and decided it needed some collimated antiproton emitters. So I added them.



They are made from bamboo skewers.

I also made a nose block with embedded eye bolt, weighing in at 20.5 g not counting the Kevlar that is attached:



Using Titebond II, I glued the block in such that it approximately halves the volume to be pressurized during ejection. It acts as a forward mass object, though a bit short of being called "nose weight."

Earlier this week I sprayed the Red Queen with a medium coat of Rustoleum filler primer:



Detailed inspection of the body tube shows pronounced spirals:



I thinned some CWF with a few drops of water and used a fine brush to paint it onto the spirals. A light on the workbench helped me see the spirals while painting.



I diverge from what I believe to be the consensus opinion about filling spirals first, then priming the rocket. I find that during sanding off of the excess CWF, spot putty, spackle, or whatever, I am likely to overly scuff the glassine adjacent to the material I'm sanding off, and the result is that when I lay down my first primer coat I get swells and fuzzies in those areas. It may be I'm just not sanding carefully enough. But by putting down the sandable primer coat first, I can quickly sand down the material around the spirals, without fear of messing up the tube. Most of the filler primer along the tube will be coming off anyway. I should have used an old gift card as a squeegee to remove most of the excess material, but I ran out of time. The result will be a bit more sanding than I prefer.

This weekend I'll be sanding this thing down and if all goes well, hitting it with a coat of white primer (I'll be using acrylic paints on this project, so it will be Auto Air Sealer White). I also need to do some paint tests on the red/black/white color scheme I'm working on.

Marc

Really like the lines on this, mixture of dorsal forward swept fins with dowels, ventral backswept with pods, and strakes.

I was wondering how it would look with a slightly pointier nose. Not sure the rounded one quite matches the rear end. Probably just me.

In any case, very pretty bird, even in the primer stage!

Roundish nosecone on purpose. I plan to make it into an umbrella logo (from the movie) in an umbrella shape!