SPEV 1b

Here are a few pics of my latest project. I have been waiting for parts from BMS, and since they arrived, I have interrupted the work on the ELT to put together this little goody. This is an uprated ESTES K-59 SPEV. It is now D powered, and the seperation point has been moved forward to the BT60/TA5260 joint. In order to accomplish this, a hole was drilled in the TA6070, and the BT50 engine mount tube was lengthened to act as a stuffer tube up until about 3/4" into the BT-60. To add to stability, and give a bit of a Saturn 1b look to the rocket, an additional two fins were added to make a total of six. This was my favorite rocket as a kid, and once this puppy is up and running, I will be able to retire my original which has flown many flights.

The tubes are all soaked inside with thin CA for strength, as this was an issue with my original. The TA6070 is vintage ESTES, and is a bit undersized. This caused some alignment problems that left a gap on the BT-70 joint. I will fill this joint gap during finishing.

Here is the last pic. Note the # of fins.

CA is so darn expensive. While I haven't tried this, I've read of others that have done it and it seems to work just as good at CA and it a whole lot cheaper.

Go to Home Depot or Lowes and get the Minwax wood hardener. Then soak the tubes in it. It's a very non-viscous thinned epoxy or polycylic based sauce.

I use the big brother. Polycrylic to put "nylons" over body tubes with good success.

I'm going to try this some time when I do another BT-80ish type project. I'll be it works a treat!

Alan

Thanks for the tip. How heavy is this wood hardener stuff? I am not going for mid or high power here, so I want to keep the weight down. I like the CA because it is pretty light. I also buy it really cheap: 5 tubes for a buck at the local dollar store.

that's where I buy mine!

btw, we have a place in our town called "Dollar Tree" that has some great hobby scissors for under a buck---big loops for fingers, very comfortable to use, short sharp scissors, lots of leverage, cuts thru a Sherman tank, stainless steel, stays real
sharp

lots of good stuff at the dollar stores

Dollar stores are a wealth of hobby "junk" .

The best one I've been to lately was the Buck-a-Loonie dolar store in Sarnia, Ontario.

The best part was it was all $1 an item but the $1 was Canadian...only 65 cents!

I just loved the name Buck-a-Loonie! Kinda rolls off the tounge!

sandman