BADAZZ MK III Defender L1 build

Let me begin by explaining why I got sidetracked on my 19th anniversary and was also 10 minutes late for an important work meeting. One person was to blame: the mailman! Now, before you jump to conclusions, let's just say he made a special delivery. And before you jump to any more conclusions, behold.....



I am pretty sure Eric's machines only have one setting. Dead Sexy. Is there really any other word for this?



or this?



This will be my L1 cert rocket, so it is safe to say I am greener that the fiberglass on this airframe when it comes to building this. Now that I have painstakingly admired every last part, I am wondering what to do first when it comes to preparing the parts. Do I clean them? If so, how?

So, I have looked around, and it sounds like some people give their fiberglass a bath, and some just clean it up with some denatured alcohol. I can almost hear the collective sigh from the seasoned builders, but hey, we gotta start somewhere!

I finally figured out the trick getting the centering ring into place. Took some steady hands and skill, both of which I don't have. I think this was only due to a few small bumps on the inside of the glass that I should have sanded away. Getting it super straight and pushing it back with some even pressure was the trick. Tied the long shock cord in before hand, and used it to help move the retainer along.

Great kit. Good luck with your build. I cleaned my Badd Azz with the Madcow recipe, 3 parts water, one part rubbing alcohol, a few drops of dish soap. I learned a lot from reading Madcow, Wildman, and old Polecat instructions. Don't worry about not being an expert. Seek information, do your thing, and go have fun. We are all learning. Your rocket should haul Azz so you might want to think about that for your L1. Whatever happens, evaluate, learn, and move on. As Clint Eastwood says "improvise, adapt, overcome!". This hobby is a blast.

4kids49 said:

Great kit. Good luck with your build. I cleaned my Badd Azz with the Madcow recipe, 3 parts water, one part rubbing alcohol, a few drops of dish soap. I learned a lot from reading Madcow, Wildman, and old Polecat instructions. Don't worry about not being an expert. Seek information, do your thing, and go have fun. We are all learning. Your rocket should haul Azz so you might want to think about that for your L1. Whatever happens, evaluate, learn, and move on. As Clint Eastwood says "improvise, adapt, overcome!". This hobby is a blast.

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4kids49- thanks! I will definitely put that in the recipe book for future projects, i just used dish soap and a ton of elbow grease to get the black gunk off, but this would have saved me a bit of work! Crazy coincidence, but I was watching Eastwood in the Outlaw Josey Wales when I read your post.

In the works with Mark at Stickershock to pay homage to a movie I loved as a kid. More to come.....

Had to route the fin slots just a tiny bit for the perfect fit.

Major Tom said:

4kids49- thanks! I will definitely put that in the recipe book for future projects, i just used dish soap and a ton of elbow grease to get the black gunk off, but this would have saved me a bit of work! Crazy coincidence, but I was watching Eastwood in the Outlaw Josey Wales when I read your post.

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I use the Madcow recipe first, before any sanding. I then move to straight rubbing alcohol for any discolorations (ink related). If that does not work, some light sanding generally takes care of it. I wipe down again with alcohol after sanding. You will figure out what works for you. The Madcow recipe is for fiberglass. Is yours fiberglass?

Yes, it's all fiberglass. Amazingly well built machined parts as well. I like the look of the fiberglass too much to paint it! I think my decals are going straight onto the bare glass. It will look great I think. As long as I put it together right! It's simple I'm sure to most, but no instructions so I am trying to figure it out on my own. Learning a lot! Anyway, I was afraid to sand it because I am not going to paint it, which makes it a little harder to clean perfectly...but it came out alright. I didn't know the manufacturing put so much gunk on it!

Ok, this is going to sound like a really dumb question, but if I am not going to dual deploy, do I still use the av bay as the coupler? Is this supposed to be epoxied into place?

Major Tom said:

Ok, this is going to sound like a really dumb question, but if I am not going to dual deploy, do I still use the av bay as the coupler? Is this supposed to be epoxied into place?

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If you are going with the traditional dual deployment, then some people like to epoxy the AV-Bay into the upper half. But I prefer to use other methods to attach it, like PEM nuts or Plastic Rivets.

Dear God NO!
I would not do that!!

Eric1 said:

Dear God NO!
I would not do that!!

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Wait, don't epoxy or don't rivet?

Don't epoxy!!
That's what the 3, 2-56 screws are for!!

Pm me!

Eric1 said:

Don't epoxy!!
That's what the 3, 2-56 screws are for!!

Pm me!

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Ok, Eric pointed me to an excellent build thread that made me realize he had already done the work for me! My Daughter laughed at me when I showed her my oversight. Her words, " they are going to think you have no idea what you are doing!" Go to bed, daughter of mine. 😁

Major Tom said:

Ok, Eric pointed me to an excellent build thread that made me realize he had already done the work for me! My Daughter laughed at me when I showed her my oversight. Her words, " they are going to think you have no idea what you are doing!" Go to bed, daughter of mine. 😁

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Better to ask than be sorry. It can be a bit overwhelming at first.

This is such a cool-looking rocket that I built one also:
jcrocket.com/defender-mkiii.shtml
Planning to fly it on a J510 next month (should go to over 11,000').

JohnCoker said:

This is such a cool-looking rocket that I built one also:
jcrocket.com/defender-mkiii.shtml
Planning to fly it on a J510 next month (should go to over 11,000').

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Nice work! I love that machined av bay and your mods to it! Can I ask how you did your internal fillets?

Major Tom said:

Can I ask how you did your internal fillets?

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I tacked the fins in place with CyA and then applied the internal fillets, one at a time (both sides of a single fin).

I made a fin guide to hold them in alignment, and this time the outside of the guide was octagonal. By having twice as many sides to the polygon as there were fins, I could position it with one fin down for the internal fillet (one at a time).

Eric1 said:

Don't epoxy!!
That's what the 3, 2-56 screws are for!!

Pm me!

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Haven't been able to touch this for quite a while with the holiday and a backpacking trip. Came back to a package from stickershock! Went to put some screws in, and realized a slight problem. The airframe and av bay have 4 holes for the 2-56 screws instead of 3, which is what the BP is threaded for. Because of this they cannot be aligned. Unfortunately, I epoxied the eye bolt into the BP before I noticed the holes were mismatched. Eric, is there any way I can get a BP for the av bay with 4 holes ( and a fourth screw)? Probably going to need a new eyebolt too.

I guess I will need to drill and tap as Eric is carrying 3 hole BP's only for now. Has any one done this with a hand drill?

Eric is sending me a new BP with the correct configuration. Super nice guy. Buy from him, he deserves your support. Got the inner fillets done, and marked the fins and BT for the outer fillets. Need to round up some good epoxy since the stuff I used for the the inners was not quite what i had in mind. Pics to come soon!