Little Red Express - L1 Cert Rocket

[msurocketgurl]

That's a picture of my L1 Cert Rocket, the Little Red Express. It was scratch built. 3" diameter with two sets of fins. The fins are g-10 fiberglass. Its called the little Red Express because I'm a Mopar nut so I named it after the Little Red Express Dodge truck from back in the 70s.

After I got certified back in October (second attempt) I was so excited that I created a website for it: https://www.freewebs.com/msurocketgurl/littleredexpress.htm

 

[Pantherjon]

Congrats!:congrats:Kewl lookin rocket too!

 

[msurocketgurl]

Congrats!:congrats:Kewl lookin rocket too!

Thanks - it was my second attempt. First attempt was back in June at Southern Thunder (Manchester, TN). Had a perfect flight to 1300' and then about 200-300' off the ground the nose cone attachment broke. :cry:Now I do a little modifcation to all my nosecones.

 

[msurocketgurl]

:cry: It crashed

https://www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?t=40932

 

[Stormbringer]

That cool! Congrats on your L1.

Now you can say good by to vast amounts of time and money.

 

[mc2-2]

Joy
You said that you do a "LITTLE MODIFICATION ON ALL YOUR NOSE CONES NOW." Would you share that with us??

Bye the Bye I saw your flight at SOUTHERN THUNDER 07. Hope you'll join us in 08.

Thanks
Irv

 

[msurocketgurl]

Joy
You said that you do a "LITTLE MODIFICATION ON ALL YOUR NOSE CONES NOW." Would you share that with us??

Bye the Bye I saw your flight at SOUTHERN THUNDER 07. Hope you'll join us in 08.

Thanks
Irv

First of all, we definitely plan on attending in '08. We loved it last year and it'll probably be part of my boyfriends birthday present.

The modification is that there is now an i bolt in the nosecone for the attachment point. It was already cut out for the altimeter so we just threaded a screw on the back of the i bolt and then epoxied into place. Maybe you can see it in this picture:

 

[r1dermon]

do you use a piston for ejection?

with a gaping hole in the bottom of your NC, and an altimeter in that space as well, it's possible that the ejection gasses will get into your NC and probably wont be pleasant for your ALT.

me personally, i go with a plywood bulkhead (for a NC mount). drill the center for an eye or possibly a U bolt, and screw it in the sides with wood screws. that way the bottom of the NC is totally air tight,

just a suggestion...other than that, nice rocket.

 

[msurocketgurl]

do you use a piston for ejection?

with a gaping hole in the bottom of your NC, and an altimeter in that space as well, it's possible that the ejection gasses will get into your NC and probably wont be pleasant for your ALT.

me personally, i go with a plywood bulkhead (for a NC mount). drill the center for an eye or possibly a U bolt, and screw it in the sides with wood screws. that way the bottom of the NC is totally air tight,

just a suggestion...other than that, nice rocket.

no i didn't use piston ejection - we are looking into that for my next rocket.

Usually the nosecone doesn't have the gapping hole, but i let my boyfriend talk me into it...last minute plans suck. We've come a long way since we've built that rocket.

Thanks btw!

 

[r1dermon]

what's your normal method of sealing it?

 

[msurocketgurl]

we usually have a bulkhead in place over the hole.

 

[r1dermon]

was there a reason why he talked you out of having a bulkhead installed? sorry if it sounds like im prodding, im just trying to understand more about it...

 

[msurocketgurl]

We had planned to leave at 2 that morning and didn't leave until 6 so we were running around like chickens with our heads cut off when i finally got to his apt and we accidently left the bulkhead.