The Double Arcas

[UPscaler]

The Anti Gravity Group is at it again.

This time, we thought it would be fun to upscale a full-scale rocket. So, we proudly present The Double Arcas.

9.25" in diameter, 15 feet tall. 98mm in the middle, four 54s, and four 38s. The seven motors in the 12" Punisher just didn't seem wild enough

Like last time, @tjsnakez cut all the pieces and myself and Shane (@PosTart , as he goes by around these parts), and Matt are here to slam it together.

Step one is the nosecone. We wanted a proper scale one, so we decided to do it ourselves. Taylor made up a fancy jig and a combination of hot wire cutting and sanding netted us a pretty solid result!

Up next is glassing it!

There will be videos of this build coming out on my YouTube channel, too!

Stay tuned!


Braden

 

[Hobie1dog]

What a project. You guys do it up BIG

 

[pathtouch]

For the hot wire, do you just connect it to a car battery charger or something?

Came out pretty darn good looking.

 

[tjsnakez]

For the hot wire, do you just connect it to a car battery charger or something?

Came out pretty darn good looking.

There are a couple ways to do it - for mine, I used a 12v power supply with 1A output. The wire is 18 Gauge nichrome.

 

[tjsnakez]

A couple weeks ago I made all the parts so we could be ready to go when Braden and Shane got here!

 

[tjsnakez]

Here are some better pictures of the nosecone jig. I used two 1/2” shaft bearings to hold the 1/2” all thread. This allowed us to spin it in place while remaining aligned with the nose profile guide. After we got it to a rough shape with the hot wire cutter, we threw the all thread in the big Milwaukee drill and spun it like a hillbilly lathe to turn the high spots down!

 

[rfjustin]

Here are some better pictures of the nosecone jig. I used two 1/2” shaft bearings to hold the 1/2” all thread. This allowed us to spin it in place while remaining aligned with the nose profile guide. After we got it to a rough shape with the hot wire cutter, we threw the all thread in the big Milwaukee drill and spun it like a hillbilly lathe to turn the high spots down!

View attachment 588956
View attachment 588957

Whose tubing and couplers are you using?

 

[UPscaler]

Whose tubing and couplers are you using?

They're from Ken at Performance Hobbies!

Joe Hill was nice enough to meet Taylor halfway on delivery while he was on the east coast. Which is great, because we can't imagine the cost of shipping two 9"x6 foot tubes.

Braden

 

[UPscaler]

More glass, more glass!

Fins: glassed
Airframes: glassed (and heat shrinked. Heat shrunk? Heat shrunked.)
Nosecone: Glassed

Here comes the sanding, folks.

Braden

 

[loopy]

More glass, more glass!

Fins: glassed
Airframes: glassed (and heat shrinked. Heat shrunk? Heat shrunked.)
Nosecone: Glassed

Here comes the sanding, folks.

Braden

I think heat shrunked is definitely the technical term you're looking for here.

 

[UPscaler]

Up next is fiberglassing these big giant airframes. It was a bit daunting of a task, but the soller sleeves really helped the process move along. The heat shrink tape, on the other hand, was tedious.

After a quart or so of epoxy, the tubes are looking pretty good, aside from the parts the heat shrink didn't reach. So far, the tubes only weigh 9 pounds each...which is a bit concerning for the finish weight. If it stays lighter than we are thinking, we're going to have to pull back on the motors a bit.


Braden

 

[UPscaler]

Gatling gun mode engaged!
We built the motor mount assembly and slid it into the airframe to glue the fins in without the outboard tubes.

This allowed us to add internal fillets to the fins, then glue the motor tubes in, and proceed to add internal fillets to the fin/motor tube joints as well.

Next up is gluing the whole shebang in and getting to external fillets.

Braden

 

[firemanup]

This will be flying at Airfest right?

 

[UPscaler]

This will be flying at Airfest right?

Yep!

 

[UPscaler]

That sure is

an rocket

Braden

 

[bad_idea]

Everything I could say would invite a TWSS joke.

 

[UPscaler]

Here is the video of the build! We'll likely have one more video on the painting from @tjsnakez channel and then it's launch time!

See you at Airfest! The current motor plan is:
N2000W
4x J350W
4x J275W

Braden

 

[bunkermonkey9]

Did you guys fly it yet