Upscale Fliskits Flea - 'The Tick' HPR build

Installed the rail buttons. Screws are going into the 1/2" plywood bulkheads that are conveniently in just the right spots. One of the few applications where I use a little 5-minute epoxy - I coat the inside of the hole using a toothpick and then install the screw.

Built and installed the forward bulkhead / attachment point assembly. 2" piece of BlueTube coupler, 2 G-10 bulkhead plates to make a cap, and a forged eyebolt. Aeropoxy used to assemble and install.

Got the shear pin system installed, 3 per separation point. I use 2-56 brass inserts, and 2-56 nylon machine screws (cut down to around 3/16" of thread length). The brass gives you a nice sharp shearing surface, and are easy to replace when needed.

Rocket construction mostly complete. Still need to drill altimeter vent holes, and one small vent each in the booster and payload sections. Ready for final finishing. The nose isn't up to Flea specs yet, but since it is fiberglass I should be able to cut the tip off and mold a rounded tip. Probably will fly it as is for now.

On the paint stand with the first light coat of Duplicolor high build primer.

Tested the shear pins and charges at this weekend's MMMSC launch. Clean and sharp shears on all pins - courtesy of Blue Tube and the brass inserts that I screw the pins into. Chutes arrived Friday from TopFlight also. Down to painting now, the rocket is ready to fly otherwise.

Two coats of Duplicolor high build primer, now filled spirals with thinned lightweight wallboard joint compound. Sanded about 1/4 of the fills. Once sanding is done I'll wipe it down with a slightly damp cloth to get the sanding dust off and continue with 1-2 more coats of primer.

Improved the electrical connection to the battery by installing ferrules.



You can see them on the sled, as well as on the charger connector. I used the standard crimp edge on my strippers - 2 firm crimps does the trick. To install: strip the wire a bit longer than the metal tip of the ferrule, slide the ferrule on (the wire should just stick out of the end of the ferrule), crimp and trim. Various stages of installation in the shot below.

Painting one fin. Color scheme will be one blue fin, blue nose, remaining fins and body will be yellow.

Here's the fin ready for painting. I used 3M Automotive Refinishing tape for the initial mask, blue tape and paper to keep the body clean.



Fin painted, mask still in place.



Final result. The mask lines are sharp and look great.




I'll let it cure for a few days and then on to masking it off and painting the rest.

Ordered a quart of the Duplicolor Paint Shop Chrome Yellow from the Watertown, MA O'Reilly Auto. Should be at the store on Tuesday. I'll be running it through my HVLP head and expect to lay down the full color coat in about an hour - it only needs 5-10 minutes between coats, and HVLP makes fast work of this kind of task.

Should add, the blue fin and nose were done with Duplicolor Engine Enamel. It's a fairly high build paint from a rattle can - really nice stuff.

Looking good so far Matt! When are you expecting to fly this?

Berwick, October 11. On a J or K, still deciding on the exact motor. Maiden fight, so I want to put it under thrust for <2.5s and observe its behavior up to say, 4,000ft. Straight up would be best!

Masked the blue fin in prep for final priming and painting.



It will get two light coats of the Paint Shop primer and 2-3 coats of color. RTF after that!



--
NAR #91867, L2
Member CMASS, MMMSC, RIMRA, CATO

Applied the color coat. Came out nicely. HVLP is the way to go on these bigger rockets. No problems with my cheapo Harbor Freight head - I keep it clean and it keeps working.



Debating whether I'll put a coat of clear on it - probably. If I do I'll stay in the Duplicolor system and get a quart of their Paint Shop clear & apply with the HVLP gun.

Very nice!

Finished rocket with waterslide decal and 2 coats of clear.



Close up of midsection.

Got the laundry sorted out. Currently planning on drogue forward, main aft, the unconventional approach.



Main is 60" TFR Crossfire, drogue a 24" Crossfire. All cords, protectors are from TFR as well.

matthewdlaudato said:

Finished rocket with waterslide decal and 2 coats of clear.

View attachment 186249

Close up of midsection.

View attachment 186250

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Looking very cool.

Down to final flight prep. Rocket is now in the basement where I'm getting the electronics back in place and doing the final mass and CG measurements. Decided on the 3G J760 for first flight. It has a flat thrust curve that should give me 12:1 T/W ratio during nearly its entire 1.7s burn. Sitting at 2.3c static stability right now, but I'll have a better figure tonight once I load all laundry and simulated motor mass. No wind predicted for Saturday so not too concerned.

T34zac said:

Looking very cool.

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Thanks - it is definitely my best paint job to date!

matthewdlaudato said:

Thanks - it is definitely my best paint job to date!

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Definitely better than my paint jobs. Can't wait to see it.

First flight of The Tick was nominal. Pictures and stats when I get home - very pleased with this rocket!

The Tick on the pad with a J760 in it. Rail is (maybe?) 5deg off vertical, which was as it turned out an unnecessary but harmless precaution (wind was very mild).

In flight near apogee - if you zoom in you can see the blue fin (pixelated - it's moving, and I'm handheld with a 200mm lens). The rocket exhibited very little roll or windcocking - on a vertical rod I expect it to be 'straight up' on a calm day.

Just past first ejection event.

Just past main ejection event. The chute shrouds are bunched up and wound up a bit tangled - should be able to fix this with more careful packing, and possibly tethering the chute towards the booster end of the shock cord instead of at the forward end.

Everything out and almost on the ground. You can see the tangling pretty clearly here, but the rocket landed quite softly so I'm relieved if not fully satisfied.

My favorite part of any 'first flight' of a rocket - touching down safely on the ground in walking distance from the pad (about 300 ft away or so)!

Nice flight and perfectly executed.

ParrytheWind said:

Nice flight and perfectly executed.

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Thanks Dom - almost forgot you took those pics!. And thanks for your's and your son's help at the pad - it's a fairly heavy rocket (15lb loaded) and a bit more than I can handle getting up on the pad solo.

One thing I noticed was that the altitude was nowhere near my sim. It flew to 2831', whereas it had simmed to nearly 3800'. Went back and checked the sim - I had put the fin profile as 'rounded' in OR, but in reality, the fins are thick (over 1/4") with lightly rounded edges. They effectively have a square profile. When I changed the profile to 'square' in OR, the sim value matches almost exactly the flight data. At some point I may do a 'fix' of the rocket to better round the fins, but for now, I'm happy that it's a good, straight flier and should see nearly mile-high when I fly it on a K1440 in November.