Black Brant II scratch build thread

[Worsaer]

As I was looking at the overall dimensions, I wanted to shorten it up a bit a get it closer to scale. I will now be using a cable cutter for dual deploy, and have shortened the forward body tube to the bare minimum length.
(I updated the drawing on the first post to reflect a shorter forward body tube.)

 

[Worsaer]

So, before the effects of the anesthesia for today's unplanned root canal wear off, I 'm taking a few minutes to catch up.


First, to finish the nose cone tracker bay, here's a photo of the 54mm tube before I install it in the nose cone, and after it's seated in place.

And with the removable bulkhead and stainless eye bolt in place.

 

[Getmore]

Really like how you did the nose cone mod. Nice job.

 

[Worsaer]

So I'm cheating on this part - sort of.

Here's my 4" x 10" BlueTube AV bay that already has a couple of flights on it.
In a nutshell, both ends look the same. It has a 38m tube in the center, designed to mount the Raven2 on the 38mm Featherweight AV bay platform.
In this rocket I will likely fly it with one one altimeter, since the Raven allows multiple configurable events for backup charges. However, If I wanted to, I could fly two fully redundant Ravens.

The stainless eye bolt is connected to one at the opposite end via all thread. The four pin automotive style connector is simply a pass-thru to an identical connector on the other end. This allows each altimeter to fire charges on the opposite end of the bay. There's also a thin brass strip that comes in handy for shear pins.

This design does not utilize a switch ring. I'm using the mag switch on the Raven (though a MUCH larger magnet is required to arm/disarm it in the center of the airframe.)
You can see one of the three vent holes on the lower portion of the bay, near the shear strip.




In this photo the AV bay is installed in the rocket, with one of the three vent holes in front, and location of the Mag Switch marked so that I don't forget.
I should also mention that I'm making this particular rocket extra beefy, with full-length couplers lining the entire body tube. So in this photo, the AV Bay is inserted all the way until it stops against the inside full-length inner coupler.

Now with the upper portion of the airframe that slides over the remainder of the AV Bay.

 

[Worsaer]

No more parts to cut, but still a lot of work to do.

Fill, sand, primer, sand, paint, sand, paint, contact Mark at Stickershock...



Here's what she looks like with all the major parts in place. 85" tall, 8 lbs 6 oz, airframe only (no recovery, etc.)

 

[Getmore]

Except for the nose cone it look like a sand hawk same fins.

 

[Worsaer]

After allowing the rocket to 'cure' for about a year (my term for not getting around to doing the finish work), I finally spent time on the filler, primer, and paint.

Here's the finished project. I hope to fly it at TCC's Dairy Aire launch in May.

 

[TopRamen]

Beautiful!!!!:clap::clap:

 

[qquake2k]

That turned out great!

 

[Worsaer]

Maiden Flight at the TCC June launch. No actual take-off photo yet...

Flew a 4 grain CTI K445 White Thunder, the Raven 2 recorded 5,959' at 604mph. Looking forward to flying it on something much bigger next time.

 

[Worsaer]

For the second flight I rebuilt the AV bay for new electronics and tracking, and flew it Friday at LDRS Lucerne Valley on a CTI L585. It simmed at about 9,600', and the winds were calm. Unfortunately, I had trouble enabling my tracker, but chose to fly it anyway. The flight was perfect, but I lost it in the sun, and never saw the apogee event.

Thankfully, MikeC found it when retrieving his own flight, and kindly returned it to lost and found. Thank you Mike.

 

[mikec]

Thankfully, MikeC found it when retrieving his own flight...

FWIW, my best guess of where your rocket landed was about 0.3 miles at a bearing of 22 degrees from the H group of pads, on the road marked "Cambria Road" on Google Earth. Not too far considering; my rocket went to 14,000 feet and was 1.5 miles out on the same bearing despite dual deploy.

 

[Worsaer]

Cool, thanks Mike. Very interesting... I went east on Cambria Road looking for it, instead of west, based on it's trajectory.