Neil_W's half-baked design thread

[boatgeek]

Maybe something a little different up front? Not sure what I think yet, what say you all? If my goal is to make my fin cutting as difficult as possible, this sure fits the bill.
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Those canards are a little too far forward for my taste. Maybe try having them start at the aft end of the nose cone? If desired, you could keep the maximum span at or near the same point and just pull the leading edge back so that they echo the leading edge of the monster fins.

 

[neil_w]

I fiddled with it a bit, so far only worthwhile when they bend around the nose. Will keep playing.

The previous canards were fine, just a bit boring.

 

[Raythain]

Maybe something a little different up front? Not sure what I think yet, what say you all? If my goal is to make my fin cutting as difficult as possible, this sure fits the bill.
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I like it. If the aim is upping the degree of difficulty for cutting the fins, make the trailing strakes even longer. Nice long thin balsa points, not with the grain. What could go wrong?

 

[neil_w]

I like it. If the aim is upping the degree of difficulty for cutting the fins, make the trailing strakes even longer. Nice long thin balsa points, not with the grain. What could go wrong?

Ha, I have learned from hard experience that basswood is the only way to go for long pointies like that.

 

[mbeels]

Maybe something a little different up front? Not sure what I think yet, what say you all? If my goal is to make my fin cutting as difficult as possible, this sure fits the bill.
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I quite like the front half of that rocket, it reminds me slightly of a mix between the King Kraken canards and the way the strakes on the Arapahoe give the impression of a contoured shape to the body of the rocket. Hard to describe, but I do like it, reminds me of an eel or something slithery and aquatic.

 

[Daddyisabar]

I like the squid wings up front, the bigger the better. Helps with the "Aquatic" look. So what if they are bad for a silly thing like CP, just add more junk in the trunk (finnage where it should be: at the back of the rocket) and/or more power and stinkin' nose weight. Looks are the most important and a mindsim will assure stability! Build it beautiful and press the button!

Squid canards rule! Fly good too

 

[Rondaview]

I like it. Looks like a cobra to me. I wouldn't move them back. That ruins the affect. I think of snake like space aliens from an old scifi TV show like Star Trek TOS or Dr Who when I see this.

 

[Daddyisabar]

Fins up front are just soooo cool. As Zoolander says: Really Really good looking! A Blue Steel Aquatic look is so hot right now. Be a Fashionista!

 

[jmasterj]

Tweaked fin shapes and lengthened the whole thing a bit. Getting there. Fin cutting is going to be an adventure, that's for sure (unless I con someone into laser cutting for me).
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If you create the STLs (which OR does now, right?) and send me the balsa (I don't have quality balsa on hand) I will send you back the laser-cut fins.

 

[neil_w]

If you create the STLs (which OR does now, right?) and send me the balsa (I don't have quality balsa on hand) I will send you back the laser-cut fins.

I greatly appreciate the offer, but I'm gonna go with cut-by-hand for this one. Will make it a fun challenge.

If you want to do some laser-cutting for me in the future, I have something in mind.

 

[neil_w]

I think I've decided that the new-style canards are an interesting idea for a future design, but don't quite go with this one. I'll probably go with the old ones... or at least, something similar to them (still fiddling with variations).

 

[NTP2]

Are you alright Neil? You never make progress on designs!

 

[neil_w]

I do actually build things occasionally...

...but it is true that I've really gotten bogged down as of late, having great difficulty converging on final designs of almost anything I'm working on. It's a problem.

 

[jqavins]

"Analysis paralysis"

 

[neil_w]

Big time.

 

[neil_w]

Final fin design (at least until the next time I change my mind):






Good enough to get started. By far my biggest concern is doing some sort of decent decorating job on the ping pong ball.

 

[BABAR]

By far my biggest concern is doing some sort of decent decorating job on the ping pong ball.

kind of way back machine. I wanted an alien tiger strip design on my Sporket. I wanted an orange background with black stripes.
painted the background first, allowed to cure Completely.

put vinyl electrical tape on wax paper, I think, and cut out areas that would mask the orange i wanted to PRESERVE.

these peeled off the wax paper (you can probably do same with a sliding glass door), and were Placed on the rocket.

the vinyl tape allows you to get good edges on non-flat surfaces.

i burnished it down as hard as I could.

I MAY have done an overcoat of orange to seal the edges.

then I painted the black.

then pulled the tape.

probably had some ”paint dams”, but didn’t bother me.

Ought to work with ping pong balls.

 

[neil_w]

Contingency plans in case the ping pong ball doesn't work out.

 

[jqavins]

I have faith that you can do the ping-pong ball. I have my doubts about electrical tape giving a good edge on a sphere of such small diameter; it would probably work on a softball, but I'm leery about using it on a ping-pong ball. I'd be happy to be wrong. I favor the dip technique. With an LED inside, if you want to go to the trouble.

 

[jqavins]

Regarding the fin design that you called the "final fin design (at least until the next time I change my mind)", if you're still open to suggestions, read on. If you're not still open, just stop reading and move on.

I commented earlier that I think the two canards are not enough decoration for the long tube. So I offer the following thoughts:

1. Add the nose cone canards, not instead of the two you've got, but in addition.
2. Move the existing canards a little bit aft (or forward) and add something else between them and the nose (or fin section).
   • Perhaps more canards, maybe smaller, and maybe at the complementary radial positions.
   • Or something entirely different. Pew-pew sticks on small pylons is all that comes to mind, but you can probably come up with something more original. (Pew-pew sticks would have to be either in the complimentary radial positions or aimed out from the body, or they'd shoot the canards off.)

 

[neil_w]

I've read up on hydrodipping a bit and I suspect it's just not gonna happen. Not totally out of the question, but seems unlikely. My plan right now is a couple different colors of fluorescent paint (thinking green, which I already have, and orange), applied irregularly around the ball. Will supplement with some squiggly patterns underneath, applied with black Sharpie (which should show through the fluorescent paint pretty easily). Not sure if I'll try taping anything.

I have absolutely no idea how this will look. Undoubtedly not as good as the idealized image I have in my head. If they come out looking like crap, I'll try something different. Fortunately this is all done completely separate from the rocket; the ball must be pre-painted.

 

[jqavins]

Your plan seems sound. The internal LED still sounds like a good idea, and also still sounds like a level of complication that very likely isn't worth it. But it would be cool. (Making the ball light up would be easy. Protecting the battery, limiting resistor, and wiring from ejection gas would be a challenge in a small diameter rocket.)

 

[mbeels]

This might feel like cheating, but it looks like there are colorful ping pong balls out there.

Solid:

https://www.truebrands.com/colorful-beer-pong-balls,-set-of-6-by-true.html
If this website is rendering them correctly, it is just a small circle image (which is odd...):

https://www.zazzle.com/rainbow_colors_ping_pong_ball-256294544359041145
Hard to tell from this image what these ones look like:

https://www.miscota.com/cats/classi...MI2PO01ZzOgwMVr0xHAR02BAMrEAQYAyABEgLsV_D_BwE

 

[NTP2]

This might feel like cheating, but it looks like there are colorful ping pong balls out there.

Solid:

https://www.truebrands.com/colorful-beer-pong-balls,-set-of-6-by-true.html
If this website is rendering them correctly, it is just a small circle image (which is odd...):

https://www.zazzle.com/rainbow_colors_ping_pong_ball-256294544359041145
Hard to tell from this image what these ones look like:

https://www.miscota.com/cats/classi...MI2PO01ZzOgwMVr0xHAR02BAMrEAQYAyABEgLsV_D_BwE
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I like the cat toys!

 

[neil_w]

Those cat balls actually look interesting, but according to the website they're only 30 mm. And the standard delivery charge of $23 is a bit discouraging.

I've given up on the idea of the rainbow balls, too hard to apply color on top of them.

 

[mbeels]

Those cat balls actually look interesting, but according to the website they're only 30 mm. And the standard delivery charge of $23 is a bit discouraging.

I've given up on the idea of the rainbow balls, too hard to apply color on top of them.

Oof, yeah, that's no good.

 

[jqavins]

If this website is rendering them correctly, it is just a small circle image (which is odd...):

https://www.zazzle.com/rainbow_colors_ping_pong_ball-256294544359041145

Odd indeed. And a shame, because this one would be really good without any overpainting if the pattern went all the way around.

 

[neil_w]

Odd indeed. And a shame, because this one would be really good without any overpainting if the pattern went all the way around.

Yeah, that is an awesome design. But it's to be expected, these are (mostly) just custom logo products, with a printer applying to a small area. Doing a completely would be a much more complex process.

 

[mbeels]

If anyone decides to build an up-scale version, it'd be cool to see this fly at dusk:

https://blinkee.com/product/mood-sp...MI5cL-rKPOgwMV_GBHAR0e6ADLEAQYBCABEgJ0XvD_BwE

 

[neil_w]

That is cool.