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I have started (yet) another build this summer, guess I'm a glutton for punishment who likes to spend long hours in a murderously hot Florida garage. Anyway, this begins the construction of the "BLUE BRUISER". This will have a 75mm motor mount so I can use bigger motors.
Here is a screenshot of the design in OpenRocket.
As you can probably tell, its a mashup of Blue tube and the fins and nose cone from a LOC Bruiser. I've already built a LOC Bruiser, LOC Warlock, and LOC Doorknob over the past few years, all of which are 7.5" designs with the "loc-n-fin" method of fin retention. I like it and will be using the same fins on this build.
Here are some pictures of my original Bruiser build back in 2012. You can see I probably overkilled the epoxy on the fin locks, but they aren't going anywhere (but up).
On all three of these builds, I had applied tip to tip fiberglass and they have flown dozens of times without any fin issues. I had eventually converted my LOC Doorknob to dual deploy, and it has had many successful flights on "L" impulse motors. My goal is to fly this Blue Bruiser on full "M" motors. With such a large, draggy airframe, it won't be going supersonic unless I use a really large "M". I'll probably be sticking to motors in the Aerotech 75/5120 range. The L900DM is also a fun motor for that size case. These fins will get fiberglass tip to tip (1x 6oz and 1x 3oz) as well and I'm confident as long as I stay sub mach, things will be fine.
The blue tube airframes, motor mount, and avionics bay are on order from Always Ready Rocketry, and a 75mm Aeropack motor retainer is on its way from Wildman. I considered an SPC aluminum thrust ring but I didn't want 20+ ounces of weight right at the back on the rocket. As you can see from the design file, stability is currently marginal and will probably require some nose weight. I'll swing test it when its complete to find the actual CG and add nose weight until it is comfortably stable.
Hopefully the tubes will arrive this week so I can glass them. Please - no comments regarding if this step is necessary. I know..... its Blue Tube. But I'm doing it regardless.
So, enjoy the build and hopefully this will be punching big holes in the sky before too long!
Here is a screenshot of the design in OpenRocket.
As you can probably tell, its a mashup of Blue tube and the fins and nose cone from a LOC Bruiser. I've already built a LOC Bruiser, LOC Warlock, and LOC Doorknob over the past few years, all of which are 7.5" designs with the "loc-n-fin" method of fin retention. I like it and will be using the same fins on this build.
Here are some pictures of my original Bruiser build back in 2012. You can see I probably overkilled the epoxy on the fin locks, but they aren't going anywhere (but up).
On all three of these builds, I had applied tip to tip fiberglass and they have flown dozens of times without any fin issues. I had eventually converted my LOC Doorknob to dual deploy, and it has had many successful flights on "L" impulse motors. My goal is to fly this Blue Bruiser on full "M" motors. With such a large, draggy airframe, it won't be going supersonic unless I use a really large "M". I'll probably be sticking to motors in the Aerotech 75/5120 range. The L900DM is also a fun motor for that size case. These fins will get fiberglass tip to tip (1x 6oz and 1x 3oz) as well and I'm confident as long as I stay sub mach, things will be fine.
The blue tube airframes, motor mount, and avionics bay are on order from Always Ready Rocketry, and a 75mm Aeropack motor retainer is on its way from Wildman. I considered an SPC aluminum thrust ring but I didn't want 20+ ounces of weight right at the back on the rocket. As you can see from the design file, stability is currently marginal and will probably require some nose weight. I'll swing test it when its complete to find the actual CG and add nose weight until it is comfortably stable.
Hopefully the tubes will arrive this week so I can glass them. Please - no comments regarding if this step is necessary. I know..... its Blue Tube. But I'm doing it regardless.
So, enjoy the build and hopefully this will be punching big holes in the sky before too long!