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I recently built and launched a night capable rocket. It was constructed with a total of 16 small 12v strobes and flew on an Aerotech I278 Redline. I was glad I did. It was definetly worth it! Although I don't expect several rocketeers are building rockets containing this much electronics(for lighting reasons anyways) I would still be happy to hear from anyone who has built a night rocket,large or small:D
 
I sure hope you had a FAA Waiver for that night launch...otherwise you violated Federal law.....Micromister(?) was arrested and fined once for flying model rockets at night without a FAA waiver......
 
a local club (LUNAR) had a night launch a couple weeks ago. I built a "Jupiter Icy Moon Orbiter" for that. the inspiration was this .

it is made of 60cm BT55, with wings made of balsa strips covered in bristol board. a 9v battery powered 8x blue LEDs in 2 BT20 tubes at the bottom, for the xenon ion thrusters. the nuclear power unit was a 3cm tube of BT80. the whole thing flew really nice on an E9-4.

I put 45g of buckshot in the nose cone. there is no sin of stability that can not be overcome with ballast!

sorry I don't have any pictures of it on the computer. I will post some if you guys want.


our other night launch rockets - Estes Echostar, custom Big Blue Streak, the Mighty Crayon 5 - all had glow sticks taped on the outside. that works really nicely too!
 
Wow.......I would have never thought so many rocketeers are doin' the night rocket thing. Thanks for all your info... nice to know that there are so many others that have nightime blastitis! The scratchbuilt night rocket that I constructed was a 2.5X's upscale version of a baby bertha. It is 42"tall and has a 4"diam. fiberglassed airframe. The fins, with a total fin length of 14 3/8" are constructed of circuit board fiberglass, and yes they will house a whole lot of l.e.d.'s in time to come. Having designed this rocket to have 12 small stobes on the outer part of the airframe was definetly quite a job enough to build before the launch date. I think the thing that required so much work on this bird was the ejection tube. Basically what I designed was a tube inside of a tube(3" inside of 4") with 4 specially turned centering rings. The main reasoning behind the inner tube is 1.Protect the wiring 2. Prevent lack of pressure to insure good ejection. The inner tube is removable, so as to still have access to the wiring harness and is all kept secure with a 2 1/4"x 4" 'U' bolt on the bottom of the tube and is secured by aircraft fasteners on the top of the airframe. All the circuit boards( 6 to be exact) were mounted in compartments cut into the finbays w/4 panel covers. Oh, and by the way, the nosecone has 4 more strobes too. :).
I'll throw some pics up on the night rocket real soon......
Thanks again guys(and gals)

Remember, wherever you go........................thats where you are...
 
Originally posted by cls
...with wings made of balsa strips covered in bristol board. a 9v battery powered 8x blue LEDs in 2 BT20 tubes at the bottom, for the xenon ion thrusters. the nuclear power unit was a 3cm tube of BT80. the whole thing flew really nice on an E9-4.
Click to expand...

Sounds cool! I built my own night rocket with a ring of 9 ultra-bright blue LED's from www.lsdiodes.com around the base. The effect was pretty nice, but the narrow light cone meant you didn't get the full effect unless the tail end of the rocket was directed right at you. I'm going to rig up a lot more of these on the body & fins for the next flight, to increase the visibility.

BTW, where do you find bristol board? I've heard of the stuff and have asked for it at a couple of local craft stores - nobody seems to know what it is. I've heard it's great for rolling cones and shrouds which is why I'm looking for som.
 
for bristol board go to an art supply store or craft store like Michael's. it will run about $0.50 a (11x17?) sheet, so $10 for 20 sheets.

it's my favorite for doing just about any paper construction work. it glues up real nice, takes primer and paint well.

yeah, hobby shops don't know about it.


... sounds like we all ought to post pix of our night rockets!! I'll go get the camera out.
 
Originally posted by vjp
Sounds cool! I built my own night rocket with a ring of 9 ultra-bright blue LED's from www.lsdiodes.com around the base. The effect was pretty nice, but the narrow light cone meant you didn't get the full effect unless the tail end of the rocket was directed right at you. I'm going to rig up a lot more of these on the body & fins for the next flight, to increase the visibility.

Sounds way cool....More lights is always a good idea, however be careful when adding lights(l.e.d.'s or strobes) to the outside of the airframe. Some real problems can be encountered with the addition of lighting on the airframe itself. Such as loss of ejection pressue when holes are blown through the airframe where lights or wiring comes through. A inner ejection tube may be neccessary to protect both wiring and ejection pressure thus preventing the comprimise of stability to the airframe itself. I have literally seen rocketeers blow there l.e.d.'s right out, lose ejection pressure and end up with a lawndart...............

Good luck~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >>>=====> Fly High
Click to expand...
 

Sounds way cool....More lights is always a good idea, however be careful when adding lights(l.e.d.'s or strobes) to the outside of the airframe. Some real problems can be encountered with the addition of lighting on the airframe itself. Such as loss of ejection pressue when holes are blown through the airframe where lights or wiring comes through. A inner ejection tube may be neccessary to protect both wiring and ejection pressure thus preventing the comprimise of stability to the airframe itself. I have literally seen rocketeers blow there l.e.d.'s right out, lose ejection pressure and end up with a lawndart...............

Good luck~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >>>=====> Fly High
Click to expand...

Don't worry:) I've got a stuffer tube ducted through the main body with a wiring conduit going to an electronics bay about 1/2 way up the main BT. Main switch is on the side, rearward LED's are activated by a liftoff-sensing leaf switch in the tail cone. The new lights will use external wiring conduits for the fins, epoxied on, and the side illumination lights are going to be on their own separate circuit in the nose cone. "Trust me - I know what I'm doing!":D
 

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