Aerofinsim

I know there has been some drama surrounding this software in the past, but has anyone had any luck procuring this? I see now that sales have been halted but he is willing to donate the software to students or other interested parties.

https://www.aerorocket.com/products/orderform.html

Anyone had success with that route?

I have an earlier version that I bought ten years ago or so. It is installed on an old computer, and I am not sure where the install disk is.

I might convert that old pc, assuming it will start up, to a virtual.


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No success.

EDIT: Randomly came across this and saw the date after the fact. Have you had any mentionable updates?

Ahhh,
I have an older version but stumbled onto his website and apparently Finsim 4.5 was made into a free download if anyone is interested. Looks like this was "freshly" done. He also has a discussion about the flight of the N5800 rocket "Don't Debate This".
https://www.aerorocket.com/finsim.html Kurt

I downloaded it to check out. I am not sure when I will have time, but what is new?


Mark Koelsch
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markkoelsch said:

I downloaded it to check out. I am not sure when I will have time, but what is new?


Mark Koelsch
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Click to expand...

I think it's spelled out on the website. https://www.aerorocket.com/finsim.html#LINK6 Gotta scoll down and read the details. I believe Mr. Cipolla might have been tired of the "babes in the woods" who would inadvertantly buy his software and expect significant support and hand holding. I don't blame him as he is trying to make a living by free lancing his services. That may be the reason he took the software out of paid circulation. Too much free support expected. I gather this by reading the bottom of this page: https://www.aerorocket.com/consulting.html

Now, he might have made the decision with FinSim to put it out there for free to support the hobby expecting that those who attempt to use it would assume that Mr. Cipolla is not under any obligation to supply free support. I believe if people start pestering him, he'll cut off downloads.

I for one admire him for making it available. Perhaps some folks could get together in a little "self help" group to work with the program, help each other so Mr. Cipolla could go on with making a living from more important consulting work. Kurt (Note well: I don't know Mr. Cipolla, I've never talked with him except to sort out a license issue many years ago. The views above are pure conjecture on my own and may or may not be the true intention.)

TRF,

I have corresponded with John on several occasions. I have always found him courteous and helpful. I believe that if you approach John more as a fellow flyer and less a business then you will share my experience. Not sure how many copies have sold but it can’t be many. At $50 each a reasonable man might say he was just covering basic costs like having a website. And now it’s free to our community, John’s and yours!

I might also suggest the first step in making a “self help” group is that everyone read four papers:

FinSim tutorial – comes with the application.
A Particular Problem of Fin Flutter – draft of a book chapter easily found on the net.
NACA Technical Note 4197 – summary of NACA report 685
NACA Report 685 – the meat of the thing. Check out graph 1-B and understand the constraints. Do see the Appendix.

These papers will blow you away. The trick is to keep reading and rereading. Stick with it and, after a little effort, you will begin to understand more about the power and limitations of FinSim.

Feckless Counsel

This is an exciting development. Thanks, Feckless for the study materials.

I'm off to read and re-read.