Blue Tube scratch build

[bill2654]

I'm dedicating this rocket to my dad. He passed away a few years ago and one of my earliest childhood memories is when he would come home from work, we would all go to greet him at the door and he would pick me up and throw me up in the air and say "Alley Oop"! This was also the name of his B-17 squadron in WWII, the "Alley Oop" group. The 4 squadrons in the 92nd Bomb Group all had different variations of Alley Oop, which was a popular comic strip character back then, as their squadron insignias. So everytime I throw a rocket up in the air, it will be called Alley Oop. The original insignia has Alley Oop riding a T-Rex with a bomb in his tail. I had Mark at StickerShock change the bomb to a rocket. Great job Mark! Well thats the story behind my inspiration for this rocket so...on with the build.

 

[bill2654]

The Fed-X fairy (oops better scratch that) the Fed-X guy finally brought me the package I had been waiting for. My Blue Tube from Always Ready Rocktry! The 3' airframe came in a 48" lenght and the first thing I did was cut it in half. My new 10" miter saw cut this stuff beautifuly. Next I marked my fin locations. I had the fins already made up a week in advance but did'nt get any pics of that.

 

[bill2654]

Next I cut out the fin slots with my dremel. This takes a bit of patients and a very steady hand. I dry fit one of the fins to make sure I had a nice tight fit.

 

[bill2654]

Next I epoxied the middle cetering ring to my 15" long 38mm motor mount.

 

[SMR]

View attachment 32353Next I cut out the fin slots with my dremel. This takes a bit of patients and a very steady hand. I dry fit one of the fins to make sure I had a nice tight fit.

That does indeed require a steady hand. Nice job! Looking good.

 

[bill2654]

After a break for a little refreshment I started the assembly of my bulkhead/baffle. Next I weighed every part that went into this build for my Open Rocket sim.

 

[bill2654]

Next I did a dry fit mock-up to make sure everything fit good. Then I poured my epoxy into the airframe and let it run down all the way to the middle ring. Repeating this till every fin was glued to both airframe and motor mount.

 

[bill2654]

Next I glued in the front and rear centering rings

 

[bill2654]

Next came the bulkhead/baffle assembly. I cut my airframe in half for two reasons. One for a future e-bay installment for dual deploy system

and second for the anti-zipper aspect.

 

[bill2654]

Now it's time for the fillits and the final prep then it's ready for paint. I'm sort of leaning towards a bright yellow body with cherry red NC and fins. I have'nt decided in a paint scheme yet but I will post more pics of the finished "Alley Oop".

 

[bill2654]

I forgot to add that the fin jig you saw me use in this build was the best thing I ever built. If you get a chance build yourself one!! Here is my OpenRocket file.View attachment Alley Oop-Blue Tube.ork

 

[UPscaler]

That jig is awesome, how did you make it?

The rocket looks GREAT! What are you going to fly it on?

 

[bill2654]

You can download and print fin templates off the internet, I forget excactly where, I just googled it and found a site that had 3 and 4 fin templates. As for the jig I saw it here in the High Power section under "The Aliens Are Coming" thread. Used a piece of masonite and traced the template on it and cut it out with a router.

 

[UPscaler]

You can download and print fin templates off the internet, I forget excactly where, I just googled it and found a site that had 3 and 4 fin templates. As for the jig I saw it here in the High Power section under "The Aliens Are Coming" thread. Used a piece of masonite and traced the template on it and cut it out with a router.

There's the problem! No router. Time for the steady hand jigsaw/dremel technique!

 

[EMiR]

Nice and clean build there Bill,

Good choice on body tube too

Good thing about this style of rocket, is they always nice strait flyers, and are quick and fun to build..

 

[Scott Evil]

You can download and print fin templates off the internet, I forget excactly where, I just googled it and found a site that had 3 and 4 fin templates. As for the jig I saw it here in the High Power section under "The Aliens Are Coming" thread. Used a piece of masonite and traced the template on it and cut it out with a router.

Was it here?

https://www.payloadbay.com/index.php?page=Tools&action=FINGUIDES

 

[bill2654]

Here is the finished rocket. I might add some more red graphics, lines or something in the middle. The wife says it needs "something" more.

 

[gdiscenza]

Hmmm, if the wife says it needs "something more" I'd take that as implicit permission to spend some money on decorations from Stickershock23!!

G.D.

 

[bill2654]

I know when he see's this post he will have some suggestions of his own for me.:clap:

 

[Ol'sparky]

Yep, it needs to be stickershocked.