EXPjawa
Well-Known Member
I've finally pulled together most of the parts needed to start a project that I've been thinking about for a while now. This will be a 4" upscale of an Estes Der V-3, built from LOC tubing. I built a clone of the original Der V-3, and I almost always fly that first at every launch I've been to since. It seems natural to want to take that design and go bigger. If it works well, then I plan to also use this for a Level-1 flight.
However, one issue I'm going to put to bed right away is that this design is going to be 29 mm. I know that some (many?) might argue that it should be 38 mm from the start, given that it might be a L1 rocket and technically high-power. I still think of this as a heavy mid-power rocket (like the Mega Red Max), which is why this thread is located here. What's more is that most of the flying I (currently) intend to do with this is squarely mid-power range, and my preferred way to fly this is in a low-and-slow fashion. There are a lot good motor choices for this design that fall into the 29 mm range, including a number of single-use options to get started. At this time, I don't want to get into the expense and complexity that comes with larger motors and higher flights, that's not the fun part for me. My reasons for getting an L1-certification isn't to go higher and fast, at least not at this time. Rather, its more about opening up options for engine combinations, especially in larger clusters. If this build is to be used for L1-certification, I want it to be rugged, simple, and fairly low flying. KISS pretty much sums up the approach I want to take, and staying with 29 mm keeps with that. If I ever do want to go higher and faster, I'll build a bigger one.
Anyway, now that's out of the way, this will use 4" LOC tube, 1/4" light ply fins, a 36" or 45" Top Flight chute (depending on engine choice). Several of the minor parts came out of a box of parts I got from TopRamen on trade (thanks!). The parts:
This is the design, per Rocksim:
It should be pretty close to scale, the nose cone is just about the right size/shape. Overall size & weight is expected to be roughly similar to the Mega Red Max, which I see as a sort of cousin. Length will be just short of 36", with a 15.25" finspan. Its built heavy enough to keep it slow & rugged, as desired, and expect performance to be pretty similar to the original. It'll be finished as per the original as well; I've already spoken to Gord about upscaled decals.
I drew up a tube marking guide using UG at work, so I can plot that full scale and have accurate marking to cut the fins slots. One area I am deficient is that my fin jig is too small for the 4" tube, so I'll have to align the fins the old fashioned way (which I do more often than not anyway). I expect to start on this in the next few days as time allows...
However, one issue I'm going to put to bed right away is that this design is going to be 29 mm. I know that some (many?) might argue that it should be 38 mm from the start, given that it might be a L1 rocket and technically high-power. I still think of this as a heavy mid-power rocket (like the Mega Red Max), which is why this thread is located here. What's more is that most of the flying I (currently) intend to do with this is squarely mid-power range, and my preferred way to fly this is in a low-and-slow fashion. There are a lot good motor choices for this design that fall into the 29 mm range, including a number of single-use options to get started. At this time, I don't want to get into the expense and complexity that comes with larger motors and higher flights, that's not the fun part for me. My reasons for getting an L1-certification isn't to go higher and fast, at least not at this time. Rather, its more about opening up options for engine combinations, especially in larger clusters. If this build is to be used for L1-certification, I want it to be rugged, simple, and fairly low flying. KISS pretty much sums up the approach I want to take, and staying with 29 mm keeps with that. If I ever do want to go higher and faster, I'll build a bigger one.
Anyway, now that's out of the way, this will use 4" LOC tube, 1/4" light ply fins, a 36" or 45" Top Flight chute (depending on engine choice). Several of the minor parts came out of a box of parts I got from TopRamen on trade (thanks!). The parts:
- 22.25" length of LOC 4" tube
- 4" ogive nose cone from Apogee
- 11" section of 29mm mmt tubing from TR
- 45" red Top Flight chute
- 3/16" ply centering rings from Rocketarium
- 29mm Estes plastic retainer
- 1010 die cast guide buttons from TR
- 1/2" elastic shock chord from TR
- coil of kevlar chord (300#, I think) from TR
- a couple of sections of 1/4" light ply and a fin pattern
This is the design, per Rocksim:
It should be pretty close to scale, the nose cone is just about the right size/shape. Overall size & weight is expected to be roughly similar to the Mega Red Max, which I see as a sort of cousin. Length will be just short of 36", with a 15.25" finspan. Its built heavy enough to keep it slow & rugged, as desired, and expect performance to be pretty similar to the original. It'll be finished as per the original as well; I've already spoken to Gord about upscaled decals.
I drew up a tube marking guide using UG at work, so I can plot that full scale and have accurate marking to cut the fins slots. One area I am deficient is that my fin jig is too small for the 4" tube, so I'll have to align the fins the old fashioned way (which I do more often than not anyway). I expect to start on this in the next few days as time allows...
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