Madcow Torrent for Jr. High Power Certification

I agree that the stock fins are plenty strong, but I want to make sure this rocket will stay together no matter what. if for some reason the parachute fails to deploy, or something else goes wrong, the fins are likely to receive much less damage.

RAHagen said:

I agree that the stock fins are plenty strong, but I want to make sure this rocket will stay together no matter what. if for some reason the parachute fails to deploy, or something else goes wrong, the fins are likely to receive much less damage.

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This is why I glassed my fins and it came in handy. In my first flight my shock cord separated from the lower airframe and the lower part of my DX3 free fell from 1000ft. I'm afraid that if i didn't glass the fins one might of been damaged when it hit the hard soil. True it is not necessary at all but if it gives you reassurance then go for it. Just keep in mind it will add weight and depending on the final weight you may not to be able to fly it on lower impulse motors.

Thanks conman13, I'll keep that in mind while choosing a motor.
I was able to work on the rocket today! I got a fair amount done. I was able to assemble the electronics bay that came with the rocket, and attached some velcro to attach the battery for the flight computer which came in today to the sled.

The Flight computer i'm using is the Telemetrum: a dual deploy, GPS, Altimeter with real time telemetry link. I thought, if i were to get a flight computer, I might as well get one that does it all and not have to buy more electronics later on. The best part about it is that it's a tracking device that can fit in a 29mm coupler tube so I don't have to worry about losing rockets anymore! well.. at least 29mm and up ones. One thing I've run into is that the manual for it states that the antenna must be stuck straight forward in order to achieve proper connection to the receiver, but the e-bay is at least four inches too short. I'm thinking however I'll just drill the pressure vent in a such an area so that I can thread the antenna outside the body and secure it to the outside wall instead of on the inside.
Anyways, I was also able to fiberglass the fins on my rocket today. Thanks to the advice of Aksrockets and others on other threads the fins look great!

I waited a little too long to cut off the excess so i had to do so with a band saw so I still have some touch up work to do. All in all though, i'm very happy with the results. At the moment I'm debating with myself if it would be worth trying to airfoil, or at least round the fins. It would be nice to airfoil them, mainly for the aesthetics, but with how far i've gone with glassing the fins, I think it would be much simpler to just leave the fins square. Tomorrow, I hope to attach the fins to the body tube and finish up the the electronics bay. we'll see what tomorrow brings.

Key word of advice. NEVER use Velcro to hold a battery down there is a chance of it coming undone and the battery coming undone which could lead to the battery disconnecting from the altimeter. Instead use 2 zipties 1 running parallel and one running perpendicular to the battery. What I do is drill 4 holes that the zipties will fit through. 2 on either side of the battery.

conman13 said:

Key word of advice. NEVER use Velcro to hold a battery down there is a chance of it coming undone and the battery coming undone which could lead to the battery disconnecting from the altimeter. Instead use 2 zipties 1 running parallel and one running perpendicular to the battery. What I do is drill 4 holes that the zipties will fit through. 2 on either side of the battery.

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Okay thanks. I'll make sure to do that.

Today I finished cleaning up the fins and glued down a couple areas on the edges that failed to get sealed on. I then was able to dry fit the fins onto the body tube. It's starting to look like a rocket! Hope to get them attached permanently tomorrow.

Didnt realize there were more posts lol. Good work on the fins.

Today I got the fins glued to the airframe, and got fillets on four of the six edges.

conman13 said:

Key word of advice. NEVER use Velcro to hold a battery down there is a chance of it coming undone and the battery coming undone which could lead to the battery disconnecting from the altimeter. Instead use 2 zipties 1 running parallel and one running perpendicular to the battery. What I do is drill 4 holes that the zipties will fit through. 2 on either side of the battery.

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Zip ties can also snap--nothing is fool proof.

It's looking great. Any idea what motor you're gonna fly it on?

dixontj93060 said:

Zip ties can also snap--nothing is fool proof.

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True. But much better then Velcro.

jmwiese said:

It's looking great. Any idea what motor you're gonna fly it on?

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I'm thinking just a baby H like the H123. The site I plan to fly on has a 3300 foot altitude limit, but last time I flew that high I watched the rocket (the one in my profile pic) promptly float away, never to be seen again. I do have a question about the cessaroni certification deals on apogee components. Since I have to have somebody else buy and handle the motor, can they purchase it for me?

RAHagen said:

Today I got the fins glued to the airframe, and got fillets on four of the six edges.

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Nice ! Like I said, a clean buiild is a very good thing.

RAHagen said:

I'm thinking just a baby H like the H123. The site I plan to fly on has a 3300 foot altitude limit, but last time I flew that high I watched the rocket (the one in my profile pic) promptly float away, never to be seen again. I do have a question about the cessaroni certification deals on apogee components. Since I have to have somebody else buy and handle the motor, can they purchase it for me?

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Is Duncan OK closer to you than Gunter TX ? DARS will be sweatin' it out this Saturday and we can go up to a mile. https://www.dars.org/NAV-Special.html

As to your Apogee question, I believe the person you have purchasing the motor must be a NAR or Tripoli member. But a quick call to Apogee should get you the answer.

Just a quick word of advice from someone who's flown the rocket. For a certification flight, I'd find a motor with a bit more kick just to make sure it comes off the pad at reasonable velocity and with enough stability. My cert flight with the torrent on an H152BS was just squirelly enough to make my heart skip a beat. The H225WT is a better choice in my opinion (Robert at AMW suggested this one) and will only take it to about 1200 ft - maybe 100 ft higher than the H125 would. I had a great single deploy flight on the H225.

Since you're glassing the fins, you have some extra weight down low, too...

wfcook said:

Just a quick word of advice from someone who's flown the rocket. For a certification flight, I'd find a motor with a bit more kick just to make sure it comes off the pad at reasonable velocity and with enough stability. My cert flight with the torrent on an H152BS was just squirelly enough to make my heart skip a beat. The H225WT is a better choice in my opinion (Robert at AMW suggested this one) and will only take it to about 1200 ft - maybe 100 ft higher than the H125 would. I had a great single deploy flight on the H225.

Since you're glassing the fins, you have some extra weight down low, too...

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+1 keep the velocity and stability of the rocket coming off the rail in mind.

samb said:

Nice ! Like I said, a clean buiild is a very good thing.




Is Duncan OK closer to you than Gunter TX ? DARS will be sweatin' it out this Saturday and we can go up to a mile. https://www.dars.org/NAV-Special.html

As to your Apogee question, I believe the person you have purchasing the motor must be a NAR or Tripoli member. But a quick call to Apogee should get you the answer.

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They are actually about the same distance, however I don't think I'll be able to finish the rocket by then. I've been discussing it with the Lv. 1 certified person at Duncan and we are planning an attempt in August. I did plan to go to DARS at first but I knew I couldn't do a launch that soon, and I already have connections in Duncan. I'd rather not wait another year to do my cert at DARS either. 😛

wfcook said:

Just a quick word of advice from someone who's flown the rocket. For a certification flight, I'd find a motor with a bit more kick just to make sure it comes off the pad at reasonable velocity and with enough stability. My cert flight with the torrent on an H152BS was just squirelly enough to make my heart skip a beat. The H225WT is a better choice in my opinion (Robert at AMW suggested this one) and will only take it to about 1200 ft - maybe 100 ft higher than the H125 would. I had a great single deploy flight on the H225.

Since you're glassing the fins, you have some extra weight down low, too...

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Thanks I'll make sure to keep that in mind. I have a tracker for this rocket so if it does drift, I can find it this time. 😊

RAHagen said:

They are actually about the same distance, however I don't think I'll be able to finish the rocket by then. I've been discussing it with the Lv. 1 certified person at Duncan and we are planning an attempt in August. I did plan to go to DARS at first but I knew I couldn't do a launch that soon, and I already have connections in Duncan. I'd rather not wait another year to do my cert at DARS either. ��

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No worries, whatever works for you. I didn't think you'd have this puppy ready for Saturday. You have some nice electronic toys, I'm jealous. :wink:

My H225 flight went to 1189 ft.

Good luck! I'm pulling for you!


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It's been a while since I last posted to the thread. In that time I have been able to complete the two final fillets on the fins. I used the rocketpoxy for the fillet material, and overall I think the glue works quite well. It does run after a while sitting. it would be perfect if it were just a bit thicker. I drilled the holes in the e-bay for the flight computer, and tested the telemetry link between the receiver and the flight computer. I was also able to fill the spirals in the main body tube. I'll post another post with some pictures... my computer is mis-behaving.

Here are the photos.

Just dry fit the electronics bay, upper payload bay, and nose cone with the main body tube. Starting to look like a rocket!

I don't be posting for a week or so, because my family is gone on a vacation and i won't be able to do any work on the rocket. Just thought I'd let you guys know.

Just got back from Our family vacation! Will be posting another update tonight!

Today I was able to finish filling the spirals on the rest of the rocket body. I also did a bit more work on the e-bay. All that is left is to solder the wires going from the switch to the flight computer to the switch. I'm ready to begin finishing the rocket. My dad an I are restoring a car, and have some extra metallic blue paint that i'm planing to use for the color coat. Not the best color for finding a rocket, but with it's low max altitude combined with the tracker on board I doubt I'll have to worry about losing it. I should be able to begin priming tomorrow.
Robert

Today is priming day! So far today I've put down a coat of sealer primer, sanded, put a coat of build-up primer, sanded again, and put one more coat of build-up on the rocket. Won't know for sure until I sand it, but I'm thinking one more coat of build-up primer is in order before the body will be smooth. After that I'll be ready to start color coating.

The rocket with second coat of build-up primer:

Finally finished priming and sanding today right before a thunder storm rolled in down here in north Texas. It's amazing how much longer it actually takes to do the painting on a rocket then you originally plan it to take.

Anyways, here's a pic of her all pieced together and sitting on an old Low-power rocket stand I had sitting around the shop:

Looking good!


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Thanks wfcook.

RAHagen said:

I'm thinking just a baby H like the H123. The site I plan to fly on has a 3300 foot altitude limit, but last time I flew that high I watched the rocket (the one in my profile pic) promptly float away, never to be seen again. I do have a question about the cessaroni certification deals on apogee components. Since I have to have somebody else buy and handle the motor, can they purchase it for me?

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Welcome and good luck.
And there's nothing baby about the H123. It's got a decent burn time and will lift heavy rockets very well.

JP