Thank you. It turned into a handfull of a job but thats expected. Hopefully it gets up Saturday!
Super Big Bertha 24mm D motor max...Had booster idea. Now a tail transplant to 29mm.
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Its all packed in the car and ready for a flight 2morrow. I'm going to a new spot so I'm probably fly this after my Big Daddy goes up to test things out...
I'm going to fly it 2morrow. I'm still debating on what motor. Once I get to the field I'll know what I want to use. I'm just praying for a good flight an Recovery, this rocket has been in my fleet since I was a kid. So its definitely fun to see one go up like I had years ago. But I'm not sure I'll use the JLCR on it, and some of my rockets I just leave the fins edges alone. I was going to airfoil these but decided not too. And dumb as it sounds I want a little more drag like you said to keep it a bit lower. I'm going up to URRG in NY next month they have a giant field. So using something a little more altitude happy would be no issue. I mean like a strong F, I just don't have the field around here with the wind we get too. Ill post updates, I'm not even sure I would attempt a D12 motor I don't think it would go high enough now. Last time I weighed it was a little heavier than before but not much, it was about 320g nows its about 335g or so. At 320 grams OpenRocket showed a D12-3 @ 220 feet for Apogee. I have some older E9-4s I trust enough to maybe plug that in first and see what it does.
Unfortunately, I didn't get a flight in. It was too windy to even try last Saturday with SPAAR here in PA. Lost one on the 2nd flight and cut it after that. I'll probably wait for paint until I get some flights on it. It still sits in the cradle, with all fins still attached after last weekends transport... 
Sent it up today on a E9-4, if it did eject it was very late. Underpowered anyways, but its fixable. Stupidity on my part...
Going to replace that top section, and get rid of that baffle I think. It needs a better shock cord too. This thing was a mess to build. Had I know it was gonna break apart thr shcok cord would have been done very differently. Next time its going up on a F minimum. It should have had enough hight to eject and save it, it just didn't.
Going to replace that top section, and get rid of that baffle I think. It needs a better shock cord too. This thing was a mess to build. Had I know it was gonna break apart thr shcok cord would have been done very differently. Next time its going up on a F minimum. It should have had enough hight to eject and save it, it just didn't.
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Well started repairs, its just horrible how this thing is built, lol. I really was going to put an eyelet bolt in the top centering ring and run a line up but didn't because of this baffle. The baffle needs to go unfortunately, its just not going to be suitable for this rocket. I really need to and I'm going to upgrade that shock cord, but im not sure to where to attach it yet. I have a half noon shaped piece of wood with a hole in it for this kind of repair.The nosecone is broken at the shoulder too, so I cut that cap off, will fix it, and add an eyelet with epoxy, shock cord, etc..At the rate I'm going I could have just built a new one 29mm, and just used this nosecone. But hindsight is 20/20, I'll keep going. This is part of it, unfortunate, but still fun.
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I took a minute to mess with this, I cut the coupler down in the nosecone a little bit more. Used a pair of pliers to break that eyelet lose in the body tube, its just a screw in one. It seemed good enough when I was freshening up the rocket for the D motor. But took the holesaw kit and drilled out that ejection baffle. Messed around with that and found an obnoxiously long coupler I'm going to use. I took a small drill bit and made a groove in that upper coupler plate that ill run the shock cord thru. Ill find some thing clean that stuff out of there I don't want snag points. Not sure what's next, lol...
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I got a nosecone bulkhead made, and a little wood block that the shock cord will attach to the body tube with, somewhat made. Might go over that idea again a little better..
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Been messing around with it here an there. Not sure how far I've updated this thread, but just put glue in that new shock cord attachment/piece of wood. Also got epoxy started on the nosecone with that cut down coupler and old shoulder piece. I still need to clean up the inside a little. I'm still not sure If I want the entire length of that new tube or just half. Either way I need to trim cut and sand a lot...... So I'll post updates but the slow process of glue or epoxy and dry has started. Its going up on Sept 16th, so it will be done by then, again. Hopefully I get a successful flight on a F motor. Had the nosecone not been broken I would have launch it on a G40 the day it lawn darted on a that E9-4.
I'll be excited to get a good flight out of this, its been a interesting learning curve. And it's funny to sit and look at the rocket not much original is left! Lol....
I'll be excited to get a good flight out of this, its been a interesting learning curve. And it's funny to sit and look at the rocket not much original is left! Lol....
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I took the black part of the nosecone and put 5 min epoxy in it. I'll let that dry then the next step is the eyelet bolt and bulkhead. Which I took some extra epoxy and put it on the bottom of that rather than waste Loctite.
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I sanded down the bulkhead outer edge on a angle so it fits in the cone a little better. Then did a knot, I left some hanging on purpose for future attachments(altimeter, tracker, etc..). Then put a smidge of CA on that eyelet bolt where it ends and meets. Oh I put it in the vise first and squeezed that gap shut. As I have to do in pretty much all the eyelet bolts. Not a big deal, next step is that bulkhead in the nosefone and epoxied. Might wait until 2morrow its late..
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I let that epoxy dry overnight on the new shock cord attachment "mount". Then added some Elmer's to the inside of the main BT and brushed glue inside. Then put the coupler in and after wiped it with water then rubbing alcohol. Should be looking at epoxy in the nisecone later today and primer probably Friday. Some of the glue was inside the tube fro. The coupler so I moved the rocket around a little then positioned it so it was down facing.
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Well now that the crazy flying season is over, its time to finish these projects. Started with this one last night. I'm going to start putting the chute at the end of the shock cords, definitely makes more sense. But after the crash this had in August, the body tube is badly damaged. My best thinking is to just cut it, coupler it, glue it back together and paint it, again.
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Well flying season being pretty much over now for me here in the Northeast, this needs more surgery. That failed ejection did a number on it back on August 27th. I worked on it quite a bit to get it fixed for Sept 16th, it flew beautifully on that Aerotech F23-4FJ at Halifax. That was probably the best moment this year in low power.
But the tube was pretty soft, I found more couplers laying around and honeslty wasnt going to put anymore into this. Its eaten quite a few 15" body tubes and couplers to fix it. But, thats part of the game. I put this and few aside to work on my L1 Certification rocket, but now I'm back to this. I'm ready to finish filling it, then primer, sand, more primer, sand some more, and finally paint again. But think its a smart move this now 29mm to fix this before I do all that. I'll just cut it apart, put the coupler in there to add strength and then thats it. Glue it back together and I'll start what I said above. This year has been great, now its time for finishes and repairs.
But the tube was pretty soft, I found more couplers laying around and honeslty wasnt going to put anymore into this. Its eaten quite a few 15" body tubes and couplers to fix it. But, thats part of the game. I put this and few aside to work on my L1 Certification rocket, but now I'm back to this. I'm ready to finish filling it, then primer, sand, more primer, sand some more, and finally paint again. But think its a smart move this now 29mm to fix this before I do all that. I'll just cut it apart, put the coupler in there to add strength and then thats it. Glue it back together and I'll start what I said above. This year has been great, now its time for finishes and repairs.
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Good build thread! What did it end up weighing before the E9 flight? Not quite enough ummmph. I could show you a similar video of a LOC Graduator on an E12 with a delay about 1/2 second too long and a similar flight path and it ended up looking just like your Bertha. I’ve also since rebuilt it.
Sent it up today on a E9-4, if it did eject it was very late. Underpowered anyways, but its fixable. Stupidity on my part...
Going to replace that top section, and get rid of that baffle I think. It needs a better shock cord too. This thing was a mess to build. Had I know it was gonna break apart thr shcok cord would have been done very differently. Next time its going up on a F minimum. It should have had enough hight to eject and save it, it just didn't.
I had the same problem with my Delta IV Heavy. Flew on an Estes E12-4 not enough altitude and the delay was too long. Nose first into the turf. Chute ejection charge went off just before she hit. Stupid mistake. Repairs almost completed. will fly next time on an Aerotech E30-4T
Nice repair on yours.
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Yeah, it was definitely pushing it. I simmed it in OpenRocket and it called for 220 ft, I'd used a few of those E9-4's just prior and they worked flawlessly. I knew that this would be a very low flight, and the chute would definitely be late. If it had ejected the NC all the way it would have saved it. I knew the chute would probably be out very late, but it would be enough to send it.
It was a learning experience, I was really going to use an F motor that day but didn't. I think too with the weak ejection it just wasn't enough. You can see in the video where it tried to eject and the airframe wobbles about 100 feet off the ground when its coming down. It just wasn't enough of a charge or just very little. It should have been enough to get the NC and then laundry out completely, and the airframe probably would have just hit fins down or landed sideways. That field that day was extremely muddy, that was a good thing too. I should have taken a picture of it in the field but didn't. I left my phone lay back by the pad and just wanted to seebits death for myself...lol...
That flight is my fault too, but I didn't want to send a rocket even remotely high that has had issues. Removing the ejection baffle was also necessary, I probably could have kept it in but just drilled more holes and make a chute stop out of it. But thank you, it did repair well, but it needs one more minor surgery then ill get back to sanding and primer. I need to finish the fins yet, it was pretty much out in hold as I was focused on my level one certification build/flight.
I like yours! I think it happens to all of us. Mine was somewhat ignorance maybe in ny part, but saftey related too. This poor rocket of mine says its had enough fixes, lol. I agree 100%...I'm too lazy to get up here's a picture of my rocket repair rack, lol...
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