My Road to LDRS 34

As the name suggests, this will be my build thread(s) for my LDRS projects, all 3 of them.

The first, is a scratch built 4" rocket made out of an advertising tube and a pine nosecone made by my grandfather. It was cleverly named the avenger by my 4 year old brother. Looking at the pictures, you should be able to see why... It will fly on 38mm motors likely the H123 for the first flight ( I love that motor).

The second rocket will be very similar to the first because it is also 4" scratch built with a pine nosecone. This one is called Spider-man ( again, it should be evident why)( you catching on to the theme yet?). This will likely fly first on a H148 ( Again, I love this motor).

And Lastly, my most difficult project ever (though not difficult to many people I have met), a 38mm Minimum diameter. Yeah, yeah, I know it's not that difficult, but I've never done a minimum diameter before. I am hoping to fly this on a H669 in youth "drag race" between conman13, blackbrandt, and myself. I say "drag race" because I am too sissy to fly to 10,000 ft. at Mach 2 like the others, instead, I am only going to 4,500 ft at Mach 1. This will be my most time consuming project, yet it will be my last. I need to save up money for supplies and motors before I can begin that.

I should be starting on the avenger later this afternoon or tomorrow. The 38mm MMT will be here in about an hour or two and that's all I need. I just need to run down to the hardware store to get some 1/4" eyebolts for this.

The pictures are giving me a hard time so that will be in the next post.

Well... Maybe I won't start tonight. Even though the MMT went out for delivery, the mail guy didn't want to get out of his car in the rain to deliver it. That kinda makes me angry. Now I have to wait for tomorrow afternoon's mail. :eyeroll:

BTW... Here are the screenshots of the first "Avenger" rocket... OR file to come later tonight.

Guess What showed up!!!!! First off on this build, we can't forget the obligatory parts photo.


The next thing I did was dry fit the Motor mount. After measuring it and test fitting it, I glued the forward and middle rings on with a nice wood glue fillet. Yes, you heard me, I'm using wood glue for everything except the externals. I'm leaving the aft ring off for internal fillets.

Then I cut the fin slots...

Alright, this morning I went out to my workshop and filleted the other side of both centering rings. I was careful to make a small fillet on the part where the fins would go.

After that, I worked on my rail button mounts. I don't know if you saw in the parts photo, but I "pre-made" my rail button mount because I let it dry for several days. I made a line on the body tube, and drilled 3/16" holes in the airframe. I drilled them slightly smaller so that the 1/4" machine screws I am using for rail buttons. When I was making the blocks, I was unaware of how close the hole would come to breaking the centering ring. the hole went through half of the 1/8" birtch ply. But I'm not concerned with all the blocks on top of it.

Also, for anyone who may be interested... I have started a rocketry based blog- www.codysrockets.weebly.com or click the link in my signature. I am featuring these three builds as well as a Partizon I have just finished. Thanks!

That nosecone looks very nice! How much does it weigh?

eggplant said:

That nosecone looks very nice! How much does it weigh?

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The nosecone is 29 oz. Definitely don't need to add nose weight!




I went to the hardware store to get my 1/4" u-bolt for the forward CR and 5/16" Eyebolt for the nose. I forgot to take pictures but I also glued in the motor mount. Gluing a HPR MMT with wood glue is hard, especially when the CR's are a little bit loose. It'll be a lot easier to handle once it is stopped from sliding up and down the body tube. Since the CR's are loose, I am going to make a 1-2" coupler to put in front of the forward CR to ensure it doesn't go anywhere ( not that it would before)

Another Update! Man, I'm getting a lot done today!
First thing, Here are the pictures of the MMT glued in. I glued the first fin on because I noticed that even though the gap is not even on both sides of the CR, the tube is. I can fill that gap when needed. So first is the picture with only one fin. Then next picture shows that with the opposite fin in, it is centered which is what I needed. there is also a picture of the inside of the airframe. I inserted a 1 inch section of airframe that I made into a coupler than I glued it in. I'm a little concerned that It will block me from attaching the quick link, but not much. sorry for the blurry last photo.

Pictures to come tomorrow. Today I put the second set of internal fillets on. I am doing both the joint to the MMT and to the BT at the same time.

Sorry I have been doing a bad job updating this thread. for the few of you that are watching, I put the last set of internal fillets on. Tomorrow afternooon once I make sure that it is dry, I will put the aft CR on. I will make sure I take pictures for that.

Looking forward to seeing these rockets. I too am going to make a rocket that will fly at LDRS 34 as it breaks the waivers for CMASS and MMMSC by a couple miles...

T34zac said:

Looking forward to seeing these rockets. I too am going to make a rocket that will fly at LDRS 34 as it breaks the waivers for CMASS and MMMSC by a couple miles...

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Looking good Cody just ordered something to start mine




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conman13 said:

Looking good Cody just ordered something to start mine

View attachment 181159


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Good choice and from a great company too.


Alexander Solis

Level 1 - Mariah 54 - CTI-I100 Red Lightning Longburn - 6,345 Feet

T34zac said:

Looking forward to seeing these rockets. I too am going to make a rocket that will fly at LDRS 34 as it breaks the waivers for CMASS and MMMSC by a couple miles...

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Oh my... Mines not breaking any waivers... I just wanted something new to fly.

conman13 said:

Looking good Cody just ordered something to start mine

View attachment 181159


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:eyepop::jaw::y:... I think that says it all.

Take your time on these and get them perfect, you've got the better part of a year from the launch!

codysmith said:

Oh my... Mines not breaking any waivers... I just wanted something new to fly.

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I like things that go REALLY high!

patelldp said:

Take your time on these and get them perfect, you've got the better part of a year from the launch!

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Thanks. I am trying to use some of the skills I have learned from HPR on these. I think what will take me the most time is this MD rocket if I do make it.

Alright. Here is an update from what has been happening. First off, here is a picture of the first set of internals:
Imagine me doing that 4 times. It's nothing exciting so I didn't take ony pictures of the other 3 sets.

Next, I waited for the entire fin can to dry completely. I let it set for about 3 days to make sure that the big globs of glue were completely dry. Let me just say, this was my first experience doing internals like this. My fins are so strong now.

This morning I went out and glued the aft CR on.




Then I quickly tested my retainer. I understand it's big and bulky and that I'm adding weight to the wrong end of the rocket, but with a heavy wooden nose cone, it is very stable. In case you didn't catch my picture of my retainer earlier, it's just a CR with three holes with nuts epoxied on one side. I fit the motor mount so that the bolts would fit perfectly. The retainer will be epoxied in once I get the epoxy.

codysmith said:

Then I quickly tested my retainer. View attachment 181515View attachment 181516 I understand it's big and bulky and that I'm adding weight to the wrong end of the rocket, but with a heavy wooden nose cone, it is very stable. In case you didn't catch my picture of my retainer earlier, it's just a CR with three holes with nuts epoxied on one side. I fit the motor mount so that the bolts would fit perfectly. The retainer will be epoxied in once I get the epoxy.

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Hmmm... Have you tried a wooden retainer before? Are you sure your retainer isn't going to burn/char beyond recognition?

dixontj93060 said:

Hmmm... Have you tried a wooden retainer before? Are you sure your retainer isn't going to burn/char beyond recognition?

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I personally have not, but when I was thinking of ideas for retainers, I asked about a wooden one made by Hangar 11. I heard good reviews about it. If it gets really charred after a few flights, it won't be hard to make a new one in about 30 seconds.

Alright, this morning I went into the workshop and found that the glue was not entirely dry. So.... I waited. It was finally dry by this afternoon, so I had my mom get me some E6000 glue. I have a lot of experience with it and I wanted to try it for fillets. So the first thing I did, was glue in the retainer: After the picture, I coated the retainer with it to give it a little more fire resistance.
After that I did the first set of fillets with it. They are a little small, but the fins were really strong in my opinion so I don't think it will make a major impact:

Yesterday, I did the second set of fillets



Today I did the third set... So exciting.:eyeroll:

So after letting everything completely cure, the construction phase is done and most likely will not be painted until next spring because I don't want to risk scratching paint over the winter. Not sure when I will start the next build... Still have plenty of time. I think I will also use this thread for cool things that I learn about scratch-building such as me attempting to learn how to turn a foam nose cone. I will try it eventually.

codysmith said:

Yes, you heard me, I'm using wood glue for everything except the externals.

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No reason to use anything else for wood and paper rockets. My L2 rocket was built the same way. The only epoxy was in the external fillets.

AlfaBrewer said:

No reason to use anything else for wood and paper rockets. My L2 rocket was built the same way. The only epoxy was in the external fillets.

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That's what I believe. Anything that won't be seen ( Internal MMT Conponents) are fine with Wood glue but for cosmetic reasons, I prefer epoxy externally.

Looking good Cody. And I take it your doing this on your own dime?..No handouts/freebies?

Scotty Dog said:

Looking good Cody. And I take it your doing this on your own dime?..No handouts/freebies?

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I figured out the total cost of this build... except the NC because my grandpa made it for me as a gift. I spent about $15 on this build total. Paint will also be an expense later on.

I think your wooden retainer can work just fine. Just sand it well and put a good thick coat of paint on it.

Using non-rocketry tubes to build rockets can work just fine, but I've had some issues with them. The first ones I used were heavy 1/8" thick wall tubes (2" ID, 2.25" OD) I build my L1 cert rocket out of. It was DD and flew a couple times on AT I1299N-P Warp9 motors where it pulled 80+ Gs. and did just fine. Others I built from thin wall mailing tubes and they didn't do as well. They held up to the motor thrust fine, but landings tended to cause them to split and bend. One rocket only lasted 3 flights before the landings totaled the BT. Non-rocketry tubes are built with much less compression so the walls are softer and more pliable.

My recommendation is to put a thin coat of glass on any thin wall non-rocketry tubing you use for a BT. Also, spray a heavy coat of paint on the inside to keep the ejection gases from causing issues since these aren't usually finished as well as the rocketry tubes are. Just be careful of spraying paint down the tube if you used a standard MMT. The motor won't want to fit if you get too much paint in there.

Good Luck and look me up at LDRS34