Gap Staged Red Nova Build

[Joel Shepherd]

I hope at least a few people will find this interesting or even useful. I photograph my builds (which go very slowly) mostly so I can remember what I did and why, along with a bit of commentary on each, and stuff it all into Flickr.

So, here is a build of a gap-staged Estes Red Nova. with a 24mm booster, 18mm sustainer and streamer recovery. It hasn't flown yet: here in Seattle, there are too many soccer players, cows and fire hazards to make flying easy during the summer and fall. In a month or two that'll change. Comments, questions, constructive criticisms welcome!

https://flickr.com/photos/45382703@N00/sets/72177720306130940
-- Joel.

 

[K'Tesh]

Looks like Fun!!! I'll post a link to my sims of the Red Nova (one is gap staged, the other is stock). Hope they can help.

 

[Sooner Boomer]

I hope at least a few people will find this interesting or even useful. I photograph my builds (which go very slowly) mostly so I can remember what I did and why, along with a bit of commentary on each, and stuff it all into Flickr.

So, here is a build of a gap-staged Estes Red Nova. with a 24mm booster, 18mm sustainer and streamer recovery. It hasn't flown yet: here in Seattle, there are too many soccer players, cows and fire hazards to make flying easy during the summer and fall. In a month or two that'll change. Comments, questions, constructive criticisms welcome!

https://flickr.com/photos/45382703@N00/sets/72177720306130940
-- Joel.

Have you done a sim of only the lower stage? A big problem with these conversions is that the lower stage or booster can be stable after staging. This is a bad thing as it will impact the ground front-end first, probably at a considerable velocity.

 

[Joel Shepherd]

Have you done a sim of only the lower stage? A big problem with these conversions is that the lower stage or booster can be stable after staging. This is a bad thing as it will impact the ground front-end first, probably at a considerable velocity.

No, or at least not until just now: thanks for the question. It looks like, with an empty D12 casing in the booster, the CG and Rocksim-calculated CP for the booster are within 1/4" of each other, so it looks like when the booster is descending its stability will be minimal.

 

[Joel Shepherd]

Looks like Fun!!! I'll post a link to my sims of the Red Nova (one is gap staged, the other is stock). Hope they can help.

Cool: thanks! I hadn't seen the thread before: looking forward to seeing what else is there.

 

[mh9162013]

Very nice pictures and great build!

Also liked the clever way of attaching the fins so they were perfectly aligned with each other.

 

[SolarYellow]

No, or at least not until just now: thanks for the question. It looks like, with an empty D12 casing in the booster, the CG and Rocksim-calculated CP for the booster are within 1/4" of each other, so it looks like when the booster is descending its stability will be minimal.

If you set up the file as just the booster, maybe put a flat, zero-mass "nose cone" on the front and export the detailed sim results, you may be able to see OR predict the unstable booster tumbling prior to apogee. That would make me comfortable.

 

[BEC]

A local long-time rocketeer (Jim Pommert) has built and flown this as a two-stage model. It works quite nicely.

 

[Joel Shepherd]

A local long-time rocketeer (Jim Pommert) has built and flown this as a two-stage model. It works quite nicely.

Ha. Maybe he and I can drag race at the next WAC launch!

 

[B_RadB]

I built my Red Nova as a two-stage, and have flown it multiple times on D12-0/C6-7. Flies great. It looks like it should have always been a two-stage rocket!