Unboxing New Polecat Aerospace 5.5" Goblin

Onebadhawk
Wildman Rocketry
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o1d_dude

o1d_dude

'I battle gravity'
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What the subject line says.

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Cool shipping box, or what?

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Foam pellets to absorb shocks

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Components wrapped in kraft paper

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Now this is attention to detail

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Unwrapped - another decal for my range box

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Dry fit.

Be advised that the tubefin-less booster in the background is a 4" tube and the bench top grids are 1" squares. This bad boy is B-I-G.

Overall, I am quite impressed with the care put into this product from packaging through fit and finish.

Included is an illustrated assembly booklet, 2 u-bolts and associated bolts, washers, backing plates, 9' of 9/16" tubular nylon shock cord, a Polecat decal, 2 rail buttons and associated screws/bolts.

Ordered on March 12 in the afternoon (too late for that day's shipping) and delivered to my doorstep this evening March 17 by the guy in the brown truck. Bear in mind that I live only about 600 miles away from Polecat so your shipping time may vary.

OD says check Polecat out.

Lessee...a metallic black fin can, fluoro pink body tube/nose cone, alt bay in the nose, Cable Cutter...
 
Looks good. I could never get them to respond to my inquiries.
 
Polecat Aerospace was recently purchased and is doing business out of Eugene, Oregon. The new owners are serious about manufacturing kits.

When you call they answer the phone.
 
Looks like a fun kit, Kit! :p

What did it cost? Is the fiberglass on the body tube as rough as it appears in the photos? Can't wait to see this bad boy in person!
 
It looks like a cool kit, might have to order one of these myself. Hey by any chance can I borrow one of your sanding blocks?
 
o1d_dude said:
Polecat Aerospace was recently purchased and is doing business out of Eugene, Oregon. The new owners are serious about manufacturing kits.

When you call they answer the phone.
Click to expand...

Cool. I did not know that Jack sold the Polecat business. Glad to see that they are back though. Great kits. Fairly easy builds. The kits are really tough and can take a pounding. The fiberglass tubes on the old Polecats were a bit rough. I will definitely get some more of these down the road. Have fun with it.
 
Yes, the fiberglass wrap on the tube is rough and there is an overlap.

The directions say to use 60 grit and sand lightly at a 45 degree angle to the tube. From my previous experience with sanding tubes, this is the best way to avoid flat spots. You sand primarily to remove the overlap.

The directions also say to use a high solids primer to fill the pores. Again nothing new here. I have stripped the white paper wrap from several body tubes in the past, sanded/primed them, and gotten glass-like surfaces in the end.

The assembly directions recommend a simple fin attachment process: Apply epoxy to the fin tangs and the area where the fins contact the body tube. Insert. Done. No mention of internal or external fillets. I see two sides to this in that replacing a knocked off fin is easier than one that has cracked or sheared off. On the other hand, this lightweight construction sort of means you WILL be re-installing a fin now and then. Choices, choices.
 
o1d_dude said:
The assembly directions recommend a simple fin attachment process: Apply epoxy to the fin tangs and the area where the fins contact the body tube. Insert. Done. No mention of internal or external fillets. I see two sides to this in that replacing a knocked off fin is easier than one that has cracked or sheared off. On the other hand, this lightweight construction sort of means you WILL be re-installing a fin now and then. Choices, choices.
Click to expand...

These are personal preference choices. My preference was to overbuild. I did internal fillets. I also added a 0.5 inch centering ring at the very aft end, a quarter of an inch or so in from the end of tube to reinforce tube on landing. On my Nike Smoke, the heavy aft end hits first and takes a lot of the shock of landing. The fins don't take a lot of shock.
 
another choice is to foam the fin can put fillets on the outside. Strong yet fairly easy to replace fins
 
o1d_dude said:
I built a 4" Goblin this way and flew it on K1100s without issue, dropping it hard onto Lucerne playa with a 34" flare chute. The way the fins are set up, they won't get knocked around too often. My vote would be to stick with the instructions, that way you get maximum motor versatility :)
Click to expand...
 
Pretty cool rocket for $100 bucks. I am really happy to see Polecats coming back again.
 
o1d_dude said:
Very cool.

Looks like your order showed up PDQ, too.
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Kit, your post about Polecat is going to eventually cost me some big bucks. I didn't know about them and now since I visited their site, I have been drooling over two of their 10" kits, namely the V2 and Nike Smoke kits. Watch out that I don't kick you in the shins at the next launch.:wink:
 
Glad to see them back. I'll be getting that Pershing PDQ.


Sent from my iPhone using Rocketry Forum
 
I bought 5 or 6 Polecat kits from Jack, and am glad there being produced again. One of my favorites is the 5.5 Goblin, and actually used it for my L2 flight. Really tough rocket, but I did add extra fiberglass on the exterior of the body tube, and some lightweight cloth on the inside due to our really hard dry lakebed.

Link is old video of my L2 flight with two keychain cameras. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOpU-piO54w

John
 
jhoward said:
I bought 5 or 6 Polecat kits from Jack, and am glad there being produced again. One of my favorites is the 5.5 Goblin, and actually used it for my L2 flight. Really tough rocket, but I did add extra fiberglass on the exterior of the body tube, and some lightweight cloth on the inside due to our really hard dry lakebed.

Link is old video of my L2 flight with two keychain cameras. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOpU-piO54w

John
Click to expand...

I'm curious. Did you fiberglass the fins or just leave them as is?

I ask because my rockets seem to have an affinity for water and the mostly dry creek is full of round stones. Not pebbles, stones. One time I managed to hit a stone in the water for a double-fecta. Rockets don't swim well.
 
I left the fins as is, contoured the bevel, and sanded, etc. But I did do internal and external filets, and some small strips of fiberglass on the internal fin connection to the motor tube and inside the body tube. I wanted it strong, and I have never dinged or broken anything on the aft end.

If you have a lot of water, you might also saturate the tube ends in superglue, then sand. This will make the nose cone end a little stronger.

Good luck,
John
 
Thanks, John.

Appreciate the tips and will incorporate them into my build. I was already planning to do internal and external fillets but hadn't considered the glass cloth reinforcements. Shame on me...used to do tissue reinforcements in my AMA Free Flight days.
 
I noticed tonight that the 54mm motor tube of the Goblin is slightly undersized compared to the LOC Precision tubing.

This saved me the annoyance of mail ordering an Aeropack Motor Retainer assembly in the LOC size (54L).

Going back to my original idea of Kaplow clips for motor retention so the previously installed t-nuts epoxied in place with JB Weld won't go to waste.
 
I just used screen clips from Ace Hardware.


ImageUploadedByRocketry Forum1412949490.359503.jpg

ImageUploadedByRocketry Forum1412949528.007233.jpg


Sent from my iPhone using Rocketry Forum
 
No worries om the Kaplow clips.

Captain Low-N-Slow showed me a method that works very well for my various rocketry needs.

I frequently use LOC motor adapters so I make "clips" of various lengths to accommodate the adapters. I prefer brass stock but Captain Low-N-Slow uses aluminum. Basically the clips are just strips of metal shaped into a Z shape with holes in the flanges to secure them to the rear centering ring.

Easy peasy.
 

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