Painkiller 3

Gary’s design the Painkiller 3 caught my eye when he first released it, so back in July I placed an order for it.

One of my plans for the Pk3 was using an Aero Pack 54mm tailcone motor retainer instead of the standard Aero Pack 54mm retainer, but the motor mount length that originally comes with the kit wouldn’t be long enough to allow for this, so I ordered a longer motor mount from Gary to accommodate the tailcone.

The Pk3 was shipped crazy fast, I don’t think I could run to the corner store as fast as the time it took Gary to send me an email that it was shipped.

Ok so lets start with the first Pictures. Motor mount with centering rings in the proper place so the fins fit snug between them. 1” Kevlar shock cord V harness JB welded to the motor mount, and the correct motor mount length at the back to fit the Aero Pack tailcone. The body tube was marked and sanded where the external filets will go and holes drilled for injecting internal fillets.

This picture shows the fins already in place with the root edges epoxied with JB Weld. I printed out a fin guide from Payload bay and copied it to foam board then cut it out with a hobby knife, works great to keep the fins secure while the epoxy cures.

I masked off the fin and body tube parts before injecting West System epoxy mixed with chopped carbon fibers I cut from a role of carbon fiber cloth I have. I used 10ml per fin side since the fins on this kit are long.

External fillets were done using a piece of ½” pvc pipe. I used West Systems epoxy and 407 Low Density filler. I find this strong enough since I use internal fillets and the 407 filler makes for easier sanding before paint. I noticed a few pin holes once I sanded so filled them in with glazing spot putty.

Now the Av-Bay, marked the coupler where the 4mm button head screws and vent holes are to go.

I used ¼” all thread and 1/8” hobby plywood to construct the sled and welded the ¼” eye bolt loops solid. I went with the Missile Works RRC3, 160mAh 2S lipo and the featherweight screw switch along with a few other parts that are shown in the photos to complete the Av-Bay.

Last part to build was the glueless nose cone. I used 1/4" all thread and a stainless steel eye nut.

A bit of paint, decal that’s included with the kit and semi gloss clear and I was done.



Switch access hole.

I used 3/8” Kevlar shock cord for the booster side and ¼” Kevlar for the payload side to save space for the 40” Recon chute. Ground testing the main ejection charge was done today, using 2-2/56 nylon shear pins in the nose cone.

That's a very nice, clean build. Very cool.

Do you thread the av bay screws into anything, or is bare FG enough to hold them in place ?

DizWolf said:

That's a very nice, clean build. Very cool.

Do you thread the av bay screws into anything, or is bare FG enough to hold them in place ?

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Do you mean the screws that hold the ALT bay in the BT? Some people use plastic rivets, but I prefer using something like a t-nut epoxied in the coupler and a screw. I wouldn't count on the FG holding a screw without one, as this will be a stress point and using just a hole in the FG will wear...

DizWolf said:

That's a very nice, clean build. Very cool.

Do you thread the av bay screws into anything, or is bare FG enough to hold them in place ?

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Thanks for the comment.

Yes I tapped out the holes for the 4mm button screws. The screws are threaded into the body tube as well as the AV bay coupler. I'm not sure if this will cause any problems over time with wear but if it does I'll just use a t-nut as RecoRocket suggested.

Cool. I'm thinking of doing something similar on mine, and in the nosecone to make it a tracker bay, with one fixed bulkhead on the bottom.

You sure made that look easy!

DizWolf said:

Cool. I'm thinking of doing something similar on mine, and in the nosecone to make it a tracker bay, with one fixed bulkhead on the bottom.

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Yes, I had the same thoughts as you, this is a great place to put the tracker:handshake:

Bat-mite said:

You sure made that look easy!

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Lol, This kit was quite easy and straight forward to build...but I ran into a problem with the external fillets. I tried RocketPoxy on the first set but couldn't get some of the bubbles out to my liking after pulling the fillets with isopropyl alcohol and the pvc pipe. I tried a hair drier to warm it up hoping it would work but maybe I added to much heat and it started curing fast:y:. I used RocketPoxy before for my Darkstar Mini fin fillets and they came out great, but those fins are alot smaller than the PK3. I managed to get it all cleaned off with a scraper, isopropyl alcohol and paper towel. Then sat down and had a drink, no not of the same alcohol. After that I mixed some West Systems and 407 filler and got the fillets I liked.

A few lift off pics from Fall Fire yesterday, flew it on a CTI J400 SS to 3500ft for my level 3 certification with motor ejection main deploy. It's maiden fight went straight as an arrow and found it about a mile away with my com-spec tracker.

Congrats on the level 3! Really nice build.

Thanks Sebastian.
Congrats on your level 2 also! We were in NB this summer visiting my wife's parents that live about an hour north of Moncton along the coast.

Ken I don't believe I saw this thread, if I had I know I would have commented, fantastic job, the boat tail looks awesome! what else have you put it up on?

Hi Gary, it’s been some time since I’ve flown it but besides the CTI J400 its been up on CTI J354 White.

Your Painkiller Micro is a always a blast to fly on 24mm CTI F240 Vmax’s. It’s fun to watch people’s reaction when it disappears from the pad. Many people have asked me where they can get that kit, unfortunately I tell them it’s no longer in production