Fliskits Crayon

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peter_stanley

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I worked on my Fliskits Green Crayon tonight after picking up a few things to help with the build. I bought an X-tra hands/magnifier tool, a pair of fine point curve tweezers, paint and thick and medium viscosity CA glue. All of this seemed to help. The only thing I wish I had is better light. I don't have a lot of experience with micromaxx rockets. I built a micro Sonda II B a few years ago.

My craftsmanship is not the best. I'm sure there are tips on this forum I haven't read yet.

Here are some pics of what I've got so far.


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Don't be intimidated by the small scale. Most MTTM kits aren't that hard to build once you get used to handling the parts. I put everything into a bowl so that I don't lose any parts while I'm building them. They go together like typical model rocket kits. The Crayon is a good one to start with because it doesn't have too many parts or assembly steps, and with the full body wrap, it is easy to finish. It looks great when it's done, too. You appear to be off to a good start there.
 
Mark, the use of a bowl is a good idea. Another is to do the entire build on one of those cafe trays. The foam ones are great!
 
Very nice. I got mine to about the same point last night finishing up the evening inhaling the wonderful aroma of sanding sealer. Tonight it will get paint and the wrapper. I have to say that due to clumsy fingers and bad light, this was a pretty challenging little kit for me although it was quick and fun. Cutting the fin stock was also a good reminder that I REALLY need to pick up some fresh #1 blades.
 
Not intended as a hijack but it didn't make sense to start a second thread. Here is my build as I put it together for my website. If not already demonstrated in my previous posts, I am very happy with Jim's kits and you may notice a "Long Overdue" that is in the process of construction in the background of some of the photos. On to the build...


Opening the package I found all parts to be of high quality for the size. Speaking of their size, the parts for this thing were tiny. I was actually quite scared to breath to hard around them.
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The first two steps of construction are to insert a very small motor block into the small motor mount tube and then to apply four centering rings on the tube. I found that a great deal of care was required to do this and utilized only a very light film of white glue for each. With each centering ring in place and the glue dry a short section of main body tube was slid into place. Once complete, this will be the fin can and rear eject pod.

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Next up it was time to take care of the fins and launch lug. A paper fin pattern is provided on the instruction sheet that can be transferred to some clear plastic stock. I found this step to be somewhat difficult as my hands are not very steady and I was out of fresh #1 blades for my hobby knife. A great deal of sanding with 220 grit sandpaper was required to get them somewhat uniform and I would have followed up with some 600 grit if I had some left. The launch lug was easy enough to apply. Thick CA was used for both and some CA fillets were also applied.

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The supplied kevlar shock cord was attached to the nose by forcing a knot into the balsa and then adding a fair amount of CA. Once the CA cured the nose was secured to the body tube with wood glue and 3 coats of sanding sealer were applied to the nose.

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It's time now for some paint and it was kind of fun to break out some Testors paints on a rocket. A little bit of yellow on the nose and bottom of the main body tube and some black on the fin can. Ideally the fin can would have been flat black but gloss was all I had on hand. Also, remember that I have never had great finishing skills.

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With the paint dry, the "wrapper" was cut to size with a hobby knife and a very thin layer of white glue was spread upon the entire surface before it was wrapped around the body tube and allowed to dry. The kevlar shock cord was then tied to the top of the motor tube just aft of the fore centering ring and a few drops of thin CA were applied to maintain the knot and it's position on the tube. All that remains it to attach the streamer.

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Your build looks great James. I finished mine this evening. Here are a few pics...

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I tried to keep the fins clean, but got a spot of paint on one of them (hidden from view).

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I started working on a launcher. I have an old Quest Silo launcher, but decided to make my own. I'm doing something along the lines of the Jim Flis spent Estes motor case type.

I bought some music wire, and cut to 12" lengths. I bent one end, wrapped some tape around, and inserted in the case from the top down, and out through the nozzle end. I added some glue outside where the rod came through. I also added some on the inside, and packed with a small piece of paper towel.

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I'm going to use this big heavy tripod I picked up from Goodwill. It doesn't have the part where you mount a camera. I just put a 1/4" bolt up through the bottom, using washers and extra hex nuts. The motor tube will fit over the hex nuts. I'll probably friction fit that part with masking tape before launch. Once the glue dries I'll start working on some kind of stress relief for the clips. I'm borrowing a lot from what Jim Hendricksen posted here.

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Here's a tiny tripod I won't use for launching, but looks cool on the kitchen table.

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Yeah, and also ignore my random rambling in that old thread. You'll have a real hard time creating anything better than CJ's pad design.
 
It's so exciting to see the Crayon rockets getting more attention lately! It's a great family of kits and the addition of the two new colors is really nice. I would actually like to get about a dozen colors available and am looking into that :)

Those of you familiar with the red and green crayons may have noticed a change to the artwork on the two new colors. We have changed the shape of the black bands at each end of the artwork. In the near future ALL of our crayons (and the downloadable art on our site) will reflect this new art.

Keep watch! :)
 
I liked that Yellow Crayon so much I just ordered one for myself. Then I checked my porch. No Package! Jim, you getting slow? Lol jk :p Seriously, I did order one :p
 
Nice work on the crayons guys.

I was just playing with my Micro stuff the other day and this thread reminded me I never updated the launch pad thread with my final version.

Guess I better get the camera out & take some pics. I did come up with an even better way to mount stuff. The old C-motor fits inside of a D adapter trick.

Use it to quickly mount the rods on the drag race pad.... you'll see....
 
Holy (insert four letter word here) those are tiny!!! I've been thinking about getting one of these little guys, just a quick question, where do you find MMX motors?
 
Holy (insert four letter word here) those are tiny!!! I've been thinking about getting one of these little guys, just a quick question, where do you find MMX motors?

At FlisKits.com, of course :). We carry the standard motors as well as the new NE motors (no ejection charge), both with the new Q2 Un-dipped igniters. We also carry packs ofe igniters.
 
I flew the Crayon today. I messed up and used one of the NE motors. It came in ballistic hitting concrete, but only suffered minor damage on the tip. I think I'll just paint over it and make it look used :)

I ended up using the small table-top tripod for my launcher base. After extending the legs it looked long enough, and worked out well. I used some folded up aluminum foil for a blast deflector. I didn't mention this before, but I crafted some rod safety caps using Might Putty. That's the orange thing showing in some of the photos below.

Also, I setup an Aiptek HD camera to try to get some good video stills. I got something, better than nothing. It was too fast to capture much. Here are some pics pre-launch to launch.

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Outstanding!

Those are some of the best Micro flight shots I've ever seen.

How do you like the way the pad worked out?
 
Outstanding!

Those are some of the best Micro flight shots I've ever seen.

How do you like the way the pad worked out?

Thanks! I love how the pad worked. Your design is really good, and versatile. I hope my version did it justice. I drilled a hole like you showed for the main stress relief wire, then used the same kind of wire with clips, taped to the pad and wrapped around one of the legs. I hooked my launcher clips to that end. Had no problems at all.
 
Here is the video, slowed to 10% speed. It's very brief.

https://youtu.be/hx_Ue4ucfLw?hd=1
"...and with a thunderous, bone-rattling roar, it's off!" :D

Nice photos, and nice video! :clap: I like how you caught the very hot, glowing igniter in some of the still photos, too. Getting sharp, detailed lift-off photos of MicroMaxx rockets is no small feat. ( :wink: )
 
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Outstanding pictures! It's incredible just how fast these little buggars get off the pad, isn't it?? :)
 
Super Photos and Liftoff shots! Just gotta love Micro Maxx Anything LOL!

don't know about the rest of you but I Simply Hate Bending over or getting on my knees to launch rockets of any size.
Might I suggest adding one of the cheap multi section digital camera tripods as the base for your MMX Launchers. I have one that is 10 segments I think. Fits in the palm of your hand closed but extends to over 45" Sure makes hooking up a breeze. As I recall I picked it up at Walmart for under 10 bucks.

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That's a good tip. I think I saw one of those at Wal-mart the other day. They are very inexpensive. I might still use my megla-saur tripod from Goodwill since I have it.
 
Here are stills from the second flight. It looks like once it gets a little ways up the launch rod the camera can't keep up. These guys are fast. Also flew my Art Applewhite Micro Stealth, pics follow below.

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first post here,

"ehem"

can you post a pic next to an actual crayon please? that would be awesome. thanks,
-Jake
 
nice. ive got a shopping cart ready. when will the MMXII-1 motors be back in stock so i can add them too?
 
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I think I have a photo of my Crayons with a full size Crayloa in the build file?

Well didn't lay them side by side but in the first couple pics below the red crayon laying on the table is a real crayon.
The silver crayon laying on the green base is a real full size crayon.
I'm pretty sure Jims are the same diameter, maybe a little longer with the ejectable fincan?

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i think i might make a bunch from scratch like you did(?). but im gonna make it run on mini engines and make it look like those jumbo crayons that preschoolers use. im still gonna buy one of jims to use the mmx engines though.ive got a crayon and a honest john in my cart as well as the printable triple threat in my bedroom. just no engines
 
I think I have a photo of my Crayons with a full size Crayloa in the build file?

Well didn't lay them side by side but in the first couple pics below the red crayon laying on the table is a real crayon.
The silver crayon laying on the green base is a real full size crayon.
I'm pretty sure Jims are the same diameter, maybe a little longer with the ejectable fincan?

what size is the dowel that your white one is hanging on?

EDIT: also, when i order, is there any way to special order a set of decals for the honest john? im a huge fan of the green and i think with an orange streamer, recovery will be fine
 
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what size is the dowel that your white one is hanging on?

EDIT: also, when i order, is there any way to special order a set of decals for the honest john? im a huge fan of the green and i think with an orange streamer, recovery will be fine

1/4" I'm pretty sure. T2+ tubing is .281" od. .255" ID. with .013" wall.

Making the 8 basic color pack was a Hoot! I get more request for the "box of Crayons" then other Micro Odd-Rocs. it is/was a fun project.

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EDIT: also, when i order, is there any way to special order a set of decals for the honest john? im a huge fan of the green and i think with an orange streamer, recovery will be fine

I found some dry transfer lettering at HobbyTown for my Fliskits HJ. You can search for mg740 45 usa gothic white to find places that sell it online. It looks like Tower Hobbies has some.

Let us know how those turn out. The Fliskits crayon and Honest John were my first two Fliskits kits too. They are addictive. I just ordered a Deuce.
 
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