Scratch tube fin 3 inch

The Rocketry Forum

Help Support The Rocketry Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

BeerorKid

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 12, 2012
Messages
1,148
Reaction score
36




I need to build a decent 3 inch rocket that can take the eggfinder. This is what I am going with.

The tube fins on my last GORLAXIA ruled, so tweaking that.

I have ply MMT rings and just need to decide how long I want her, but she will take 3 grain cases no prob. Nosecone will come from other GORLAXIA rockets.
 
Nice. The salami-slice tube fins make for an interesting assembly/alignment process.

I've built exactly one with tube fins like that. Just saying.

EDIT: If it's not too late, try removing the white glassine paper where the joints will be and instead of 5 minute epoxy, use a longer cure that will soak into the tube fiber. When not if the rocket hits the ground hard in a breeze the impact will probably separate the tube fin from the body tube. You might also want to reinforce the outer facing tube segments with a second layer of body tube or coupler material as the fins tend to deform and crack under landing impacts.
 
Last edited:


EDIT: If it's not too late, try removing the white glassine paper where the joints will be and instead of 5 minute epoxy, use a longer cure that will soak into the tube fiber. When not if the rocket hits the ground hard in a breeze the impact will probably separate the tube fin from the body tube. You might also want to reinforce the outer facing tube segments with a second layer of body tube or coupler material as the fins tend to deform and crack under landing impacts.

That is great advice for future builds. As with my other tube fin rocket, I relied on lots of epoxy to get it done.

It was a quick and dirty build for sure. I skipped a clean build for function. 1 minute epoxy is basically hot glue. (only used to connect the tubes to each other on the outer ring. 5 min epoxy connects them to the main body tube) It seems darn sturdy though. Kept the tube fins from the aft (cept the 2) to save them from getting knocked off from a hard landing.



The purple and green is kind of a tired 80s color matching, but I had the paint in the house and went with it. She will fly with a black nosecone from my other GORLAXIA rockets.

Now to stuff a MMT with a long tube in there.
 
Last edited:


MMT mounted shock cord installed and the MMT is in the rocket. All that is left is the rail buttons.
 
[video=youtube;KrKYH-uMvZY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrKYH-uMvZY[/video]

She flew great on a G131 Smoky Sam

[video=youtube;z18_e7AFOZw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z18_e7AFOZw[/video]

and a G88 Smoky Sam
 
Love those tube fin rockets,very stable.How do you get away with building on the kitchen counter?
 
Love those tube fin rockets,very stable.How do you get away with building on the kitchen counter?

Lucky for me epoxy scrapes off the laminate with ease. We are still working on a room where I will get a proper work bench.
 
Lucky for me epoxy scrapes off the laminate with ease. We are still working on a room where I will get a proper work bench.
A good workbench is highly recommended.

So is a room you can use as a workshop or at least as a hobby room. You will not believe how much more productive you can be.
 
Back
Top