Centuri's Early Concept Rocket

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Originally posted by rosko_racer
Preparing the Phoenix for this weekend's launch, I painted the NC and added a long kevlar string to the motor mount. The motor mount was kindly donated by rokitflite: it can be preassure mounted and it has a bt-50 section at the end of it so that it does not go all the way into the rocket (Thanks Scott!!!). I'll secure it with some tape before flying it. I added a string of kevlar and tied fisher's interlock snap at the end and locked it to the NC. Still have not decided what parachute to put in it put it looks like a 12 or 18 inch one. I have several with interlock snaps on them... will choose when I get to the field.

Motor of choice: C6-5 for it's first flight...

Oh Man Raul! Looking Really Good, Can't wait to see her fly Saturday.
ps I've got your Launch rod in the Van:)
 
Today was the day that the Phoenix flew... twice, once on a B6-4 and once with a C6-5... both flight were awesome. On the B6-4 it flew straight and landed with its 18 inch Estes parachute with a 4 inch hole in it...just right. On a C6-5 it flew just like the SIM predicted: it arched into the wind but again it was great to see that the design works... not a scratch on it. Scott, thanks for the engine adapter, it worked great also.

I took the oportunity to fly my scratch built Taurus and my two Galileos, all flights were flawless.

Sorry I do not have launch pictures but my digital camera is slow so I only have one with all my rockets on the launch rack... Enjoy.
 
Originally posted by Micromeister
Here Ya go Raul,
I caught this one, sorry it's a little shakey, First B6-4 flight of the Phoenix:D
enjoy


I can't wait until we get a field where it does not look like we are actually launching rockets UNDER the trees!:D
 
Next month Scott..Sheesh I sure hope your a little more active at the new field;)

Raul:
Sorry I didn't get this composite up earlier, been a busy Sunday and this morning;( If you e-mail me your regular e-mail address I'll send you the higher res pics. [email protected]
 
Im still working on this one. Two days ago I repainted the charcoal gray part of the rocket and today I am working on the decals.

May post pic's later but there is nothing new but what I just posted. I may fly it again next weekend.
 
Well, I draw the decals on PowerPoint and have been trying to print them since last December. I recently converted the PowerPoint file into a PDF file and printed them using an ALPS printer. They look great!!! It is late, I plan to start decalling The Phoenix tomorrow evening. Stay tuned...
 
Go to home depot, They may have long drill bits the size you need. My dad got one last year for when he was running coaxial for the internet. This must've been atleast 2' long and it was probably big enough for what you need
 
I think you were answering an early post from this thread. I am not sure what you are posting about...
 
... The Phoenix gets it decals!!! It has 56 decals total!!! Took me about 3 hours total to put them all. Here are some shots from the top side of the rocket. I think it looks a lot better than without them...
 
Now the bottom shots, two close ups of the decals on the NC and the simulated front landing gear decal... some of the decals are based on the K-50 Interceptor.
 
ah, a close up of one of the decals close to the MM and two of the side under decals.

On it's last flight one of the fins broke off and I glued it back since then but have not painted over the damage. You can see some of the damage on the fin on the right of the top left picture.
 
I think this one is a candidate for a FUTURE clear coat. Lately the clear coats I have done have been reacting with the paint somewhat. I think I am not doing it right. I know I have to do a few mist coats. If I decide to do the clear coating then I will do about 5-8 light mist coats on this one with 15-minutes drying time between coats... that may work.

I plan to fly this one more time then retire it. So far it has three flights. I will use a C6-5 and as an 18-inch Estes chute with a 2" spill hole.

Well, what do you think?

:)
 
Raul,

That looks fantastic!! :cool:
I've been following this from the beginning, glad to see the finished product.
Great work as always! :)
 
Ten years since the last post (almost to the date!) and I still get asked about this build. I am posting a PDF of the full-size templates and decal sheet I used to do this build in case anyone would like to give this a try. I have also started another one of these but with a cut-by-the-middle body tube and centering rings to do the main body... still in the building "Q"... Enjoy the files!

- R_R

DSC00070.jpg

View attachment Centuri Design Manual Rocket The Phoenix Templates 002.pdf

View attachment Centuri Design Manual Rocket The Phoenix Templates 001.pdf
 
I reworked the template files. I do have a copy of the manual so I scanned the front cover for a clearer view of the rocket... that is when I realized the rocket has two top antennas! Also added two additional pattern for the top/bottom fins... on those I originally had to do some guess work and used the smaller fin set. Made some color corrections to the legends to match the patterns. And finally I added the decal sheet I used for my version. I have attached the PDF files.

Remember this was done with two planks of balsa that I ran over a table-mounter router... This should be one of the firsts steps if you embark on this project:
- Cut the balsa planks for the main body to the desired length;
- Run the planks on the router with a 1" round router bit through the middle of the planks ensuring that the bit carves a half circle on each plank. Once the planks are glued together you can fit a length of BT-50;
- Align and glue the planks together. Let it dry;
- Once dry, glue the templates on the balsa and start carving or sanding.

That is pretty much how I did the original one. I noted that the original pictures do not come up when you click on them so I may post them later.

View attachment Centuri Design Manual Rocket The Phoenix Templates 001.pdf

View attachment Centuri Design Manual Rocket The Phoenix Templates 002.pdf
 
I reworked the template files. I do have a copy of the manual so I scanned the front cover for a clearer view of the rocket... that is when I realized the rocket has two top antennas! Also added two additional pattern for the top/bottom fins... on those I originally had to do some guess work and used the smaller fin set. Made some color corrections to the legends to match the patterns. And finally I added the decal sheet I used for my version. I have attached the PDF files.

Remember this was done with two planks of balsa that I ran over a table-mounter router... This should be one of the firsts steps if you embark on this project:
- Cut the balsa planks for the main body to the desired length;
- Run the planks on the router with a 1" round router bit through the middle of the planks ensuring that the bit carves a half circle on each plank. Once the planks are glued together you can fit a length of BT-50;
- Align and glue the planks together. Let it dry;
- Once dry, glue the templates on the balsa and start carving or sanding.

That is pretty much how I did the original one. I noted that the original pictures do not come up when you click on them so I may post them later.
Can I just say, as a noob, how much I appreciate this very cool thing you've done?
 
I built the Pay Dirt, Cloud Buster, Achilles, and The Bug. After building all those plans in the Centuri Design Manual, I thought it would be cool to try to do a rendition of the cover rocket. Then I found this thread from ten years ago! Really great job. Thanks for sharing your templates. I haven't started this one yet. Too many paint jobs to finish from my winter building season.
 
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