*Painted 12-1* *LEVEL 2 ATTAINED* *build started 4" Black Brant VC*

Here's what I'm thinking right now.

4" Black Brant VC
Fiberglass tube and couplers
1/4" plywood airfoil fins with 6 oz fiberglass
leaving the bottom 4.5" of tube without through the wall fins for future booster
Parachute will probably be 60" from Aerocon systems

Planned motor is CTI J250 Skidmark

Planned date is Freedom Launch in Orangeburg.

Any comments or ideas to adjust this are welcome.

View attachment BlackBrantVC_54mm_Level2.rkt

Looks great, I will be there.

I will be there also. If you go TRA, I can bring the test. Good luck.

Chuck, I only belong to TRA. If I can test early, I would like to. I plan on picking up what I can from Ken at the next launch. Hopefully I can get a successful dual deployment under my belt then too with the Arcas. I also plan on being at most of the summer launches.

TRA 14513 Level 1
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Looks like a solid approach --here's wishing you the best of luck!


Later!

--Coop

Since it seems that people agree that this is a suitable plan with no major flaws, I went ahead and cut the fins.

The canards are airfoiled now, the main fins are sanded around the edges to match each other. I'll airfoil the mains after I give the belt sander a break.

TRA 14513 Level 1
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Got back around to this. Sanded down a bit of a hexagonal airfoil into the main fins.

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VARifleman said:

Here's what I'm thinking right now.


leaving the bottom 4.5" of tube without through the wall fins for future booster


Any comments or ideas to adjust this are welcome.

Click to expand...

If you think you may do this.........don't forget to put conduit through the CR's for staging!

I used 1/4" ss tube for that in my HV Arcas build that is in progress. I have not finished or tested it to see how well it works. Do you think that will be sufficient?

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So I had a thought about a design change. I'm thinking of using quantum tube instead of fiberglass becausse it's cheaper, lighter, and I had success with it on my level 1 attempt. I would then do a fiberglass overlay on the fins, but not one over the outer airframe.

Thoughts? I will likely order the materials in the next few weeks.

VARifleman said:

So I had a thought about a design change. I'm thinking of using quantum tube instead of fiberglass because it's cheaper, lighter, and I had success with it on my level 1 attempt. I would then do a fiberglass overlay on the fins, but not one over the outer airframe.

Thoughts? I will likely order the materials in the next few weeks.

Click to expand...

My L1-2 rocket was a 4" Quantum tube PML Endeavour. By the time I did my second L2 attempt there wasn't much QT left and by the time it made its last flight there was none left.
Personally I would use fiberglass wrapped flexible Phenolic, Blue tube or Giant Leap MagnaFrame. In my opinion they all have better adhesive bonding qualities than QT and less problems due to temperature changes.
Just my:2:

I haven't stopped this, it's just taking a while to gather the materials.

This past launch I was able to pick up a 4" 3:1 ogive profusion nosecone and I've made some bulkheads for the avbay.

Cut the centering rings too. Here's my setup for it. I use a drill press and a 4 1/8" hole saw for the outside. I turned the ouside down on the lathe and cut the inside with a 2 1/4" hole saw. Once I have the motor mount tubing, I'll touch up the inside to size with a dremel.

VARifleman said:

I'm thinking of using quantum tube instead of fiberglass becausse it's cheaper, lighter, and I had success with it on my level 1 attempt.

Click to expand...

I'm not a fan of quantum tubing. I'd say go with phenolic and then you can fiberglass tip-to-tip if you want to.

Well, after consideration of all of this, I'm planning on moving forward with the original plan of filament wound fiberglass. I like the quantum, but with the potential for staging in the future, the robustness of fiberglass gives me some piece of mind. I'll just have to budget for a pricier build though.

Alright, funds acquired, shipment is in...time for a bath....

electronic or motor deployment?

Planning on raven deployment, motor charge left in as a backup.

Dry fitup today for thw fin can. Had to shave a little off the fin tabs, and a little out of the center of the centering rings

Middle centering ring and coupler epoxied in place. 1/4" hole for tubing is drilled through the centering rings to allow for air start and booster separation wires.

Motor mount sanded and ready to be cleaned. All epoxy connections are sanded with 220 and cleaned with pvc cleaner. No touching of the cleaned area afterwards.

Copper tubing for staging conduit, 1/4" ubolt for shock cord anchor glued on the backside, and centering ring epoxied in place on the backside. I'll fillet the exposed side when doing fillets on the fins.

Before I attach the fins, I marked for lauch rail guides with a piece of angle iron and drilled and tapped for them.

I prepped for the fins as before with light sanding and pvc cleaner, and attached the first fin with epoxy on the root and tacked with superglue to hold it steady in the alignment plate I made from some scap paneling.

All 4 fins attached.

Internal fillets completed, some work still needed on external.

PML railguides attached. Rear is epoxied and screwed in to the drilled and tapped fiberglass, the front goes through both the airframe and coupler, so it is just screwed on right now. I'll make sure it glides freely before gluing it down.

Last fillets settling.

I removed the excess epoxy from the tubes with a dremel, a rat tail file, and a wood lathe tool. I then epoxied in the last centering ring. It is pressed against the fin tabs and doesn't have a fillet on the rear outer tube to allow free travel for the coupler on the future bottom stage.

First canard fin going on.