LOC Athena build

[Ron Soto]

preamble:
my wife joined me at our last launch.. and had a great time. this said i picked up a LOC Athena (mostly due to the female naming) so she can have her own, and it's a 'we' thing .

kit:
arrived within a few days along with my 4" Nike Zeus (damn... i just love the way the ABM's look!) and i found that the outer box saved the 2 rockets within.
Athena was packaged complete.

quick test fit: found that the MMT tube is barely long enough (more on that later), and that when building there'll be a cutoff saw usage for the fins.

Building the MMT:
i removed the glassine which made it so i didn't have to sand the MMT tube. as instructed, i laid out the centering rings on mmt tube and found that i'll not be using the 1/8" from the end of the mmt tube as there isn't enough tube length for that .. so i made the ends at about 1/16", formed up the centering rings on the mmt tube and tacked 'em in with CA. i used JB weld 5 min epoxy to affix the CR on the MMT tube permanently.

after curing, the CR's needed to be sanded down.. and as i was test fitting, i noticed that the end of the BT was getting a little soft. So at the end of the aft BT, i squirted in thin CA in about 1" from the end to the end. that shored up the BT nicely.. and i found the test fitting was much easier.

fins: needed some loving mods for the dry-fit. they were a tad long... so i used my cut-off saw and removed just about 1/16".

after completing the fitting of the MMT within the BT, i set up the proverbial dry-fit of BT-MMT-fins. After the mods everything seems to fit pert good. before attaching, obviously i'll be sanding the fins. (speaking of fins... since this has 2 sets of fins i was thinking of how to align.. suggestions are welcome. i was thinking of popsicle sticks or just using 5 min epoxy and hold in place until dry to remove fingers..)

r-

 

[ljwilley]

Looking forward to see how it turns out!

 

[Upsrocketman]

Nice work and nice kit! I love my Athena. Do you plan to build it dual deploy or single deploy?

 

[Ron Soto]

Nice work and nice kit! I love my Athena. Do you plan to build it dual deploy or single deploy?

single for now... i'm playing with DD on my Zephyr as i bought the DD Conversion kit from Apogee. Actually.. i was thinking of just putting in one of my H235's and lett'er rip for my wife's L1.

r-

 

[Upsrocketman]

single for now... i'm playing with DD on my Zephyr as i bought the DD Conversion kit from Apogee. Actually.. i was thinking of just putting in one of my H235's and lett'er rip for my wife's L1.

r-

Sweet! Don't be afraid to fly her fast. The faster it goes, the louder it whistles!

 

[8kcab]

Had the same issue with my MMT. I wanted a threaded retainer on mine, so that ate up even more tube.

 

[-Slick-Ice]

I always 3D print fin guides. There is a good one here:
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4292667

One thing I liked is the fins are angled forward so it has been very durable. They must have changed the design of this rocket and shortened the motor tube a lot because it doesn't match the open rocket file at all. There is a lot of volume inside of the sustainer for a 29mm motor. Typically the payload section bangs into the motor section before the parachute opens. It's also really light with lots of fin area so it floats forever with the 36" parachute.

Masking this area was a pain. I should have ended the white part before the fins.

 

[Ron Soto]

Sweet! Don't be afraid to fly her fast. The faster it goes, the louder it whistles!

Likin' fast.......

 

[Ron Soto]

Had the same issue with my MMT. I wanted a threaded retainer on mine, so that ate up even more tube.

humm... not even sure i could do that with the length of mm tube i was given..

 

[-Slick-Ice]

No way I could have put a motor retainer on mine either. I bought mine like 6 years ago also.

 

[8kcab]

Took an extra piece of mmt to make a small coupler and extension to add length to the forward end.

 

[Ron Soto]

Well heck.. i thought i took a picture.. but i didn't. the eyelet and nut for the forward CR/bulkhead didn't match up.. not dire.. but it did cause me to drive to home depot and get the right eyelet/nut combo. GRRRRRR.

after attaching the eyelet and nut, i epoxied them to the CR. I dry-fitted the completed MMT and fins whilst the MMT was pushed into the BT 'again'.. just to be sure.

headin' out to run a long errand, then i'll be attaching the MMT, and fins, then coupler later on this morning/afternoon with the 5 min epoxy.

weights so far:
MMT: 39g
Shock Cord: 20g

 

[Ron Soto]

I always 3D print fin guides. There is a good one here:
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4292667

One thing I liked is the fins are angled forward so it has been very durable. They must have changed the design of this rocket and shortened the motor tube a lot because it doesn't match the open rocket file at all. There is a lot of volume inside of the sustainer for a 29mm motor. Typically the payload section bangs into the motor section before the parachute opens. It's also really light with lots of fin area so it floats forever with the 36" parachute.

Masking this area was a pain. I should have ended the white part before the fins.

unfortunately i dont have a 3d printer..

 

[Ron Soto]

this afternoon:

epoxied the completed MMT into the BT by drizzling epoxy between fin cutout on all three sides. and pushed the MMT into the BT. prior to that when dry-fitting the last time i marked the offset for the MMT into the BT (picture).

attached fins by epoxying the base of the fin and then sliding the fin into the BT cutout. i did 2 fins at a time.. my thought was i can see the 'line' better with the 2 fins versus the single fin.

NC: sanded with 400 grit, filled in the deep pockets with putty, sprayed with fillable/sandable primer, sanded with 800 grit.. and it's ready to be painted.

BT: sanded with 400 grit to roughen up glassine, and filled in spriles with putty. sanded with both 400 & 800 grit. there's still some left to do.. but will be finished tomorrow.

 

[8kcab]

Didn't take enough pictures for a build thread. Here's my Athena finished.

 

[Ron Soto]

Didn't take enough pictures for a build thread. Here's my Athena finished.

Life Happened... LOL

it's finished and my wife got her L1 this past saturday. we put an H135 in her Athena and it rocked to 2784'

 

[-Slick-Ice]

I still think mine ended up looking like a brunswick bowling pin. I kind of want to repaint it.

 

[8kcab]

Sorry, meant I didn't take enough for my own build thread. So just tagging on to yours. Congrats on the L1, planning on mine this fall.

 

[Ron Soto]

finish-up..

BT, Booster, and NC: finishing these were as follows..: used both 80 (lightly), and 400 sandpaper to roughen-up originally, putty in deeper indentations and spirals, sand with 400, then 800s until smooth, heavy coat of fillable sandable primer, sanded lightly with 400 to get out the heavy areas, then 800 until smooth as a baby's butt. (using the 800 or 1000 to get that smooth finish is no easy task even on this small rocket.. in my next build the LOC 4" Nike Zeus is 5x the size.) In some cases, more fillable sandable primer was applied and sanded the same was as described. My wife Isabel, picked Rustoleum Heritage Gloss Candy Pink (saying this.. if you use the Heritage line of paints be forewarned that additional coats are 1hr and 48hrs (not 24 as in there other paints) . We applied three light coats, and mostly the paint was glass-like. we sprayed a second coat at 1hr, and the third 48 hrs later.

my wife Isabel received her L1 certification. this said as you'll see the Athena did come down somewhat hard and the NC to Booster will have to have some loving care. BUT.. nothing dire and nothing that wouldn't prohibit the rocket from flying right then and there.

Congratulations' to my wife on her L1.. NAR # 119715!

Photo Credits: i want to thank Wes Munn. Wes, you and your camera are GREATLY APPRECIATED by everyone that fly's in Dalzell. Thank you for taking pictures!

Ron

 

[David_Stack]

Congratulations on the L1 achievement. One question (and not intending to 'poke a bear' but...). The build thread reads like you built the rocket. I thought the individual certifying had to do the construction?

 

[Ron Soto]

Took an extra piece of mmt to make a small coupler and extension to add length to the forward end.

have a picture of that..?
r-

 

[Ron Soto]

Congratulations on the L1 achievement. One question (and not intending to 'poke a bear' but...). The build thread reads like you built the rocket. I thought the individual certifying had to do the construction?

i'm posting in the first person, but should have posted in the 2nd person... basically i was there the whole time the Athena was built as Izzy had no experience in building. this said, she was a trooper! she caught on quickly and in some aspects by reading the instructions she was able to figure stuff out. i will say that when 'sanding for smoothness' i showed her how and she completed about 1/3 of it.. but i could see that she was getting "well how much time to i have to spends on this.. and do you want dinner tonight?" hahahah... so i took over..And although i did show her how to 'spray' the color and let her practice on a piece of wood, she said it might be best if i shot the color..

all in all, i think she did a great job..

r-

 

[8kcab]

No, wish I would have taken a picture. I just used about 2 inches of mmt, then made a coupler out of mmt and glued it together.

 

[Pabsst]

Didn't take enough pictures for a build thread. Here's my Athena finished.

I like that paint job. Classy

 

[8kcab]

Thanks Pabsst, I really like how it turned out. The metallic blue looks awesome in the sun. Was my first time with large decals (the gold), and didn't get them super straight.

Took the borescope to the mmt. Here is what the coupler looks like internally. I have about 295mm of motor tube available with the coupler. So I am limited to 29/240 or Pro29/5G cases at max.