The rite of passage: Apogee Zephyr

[novahobbies]

I finally started in on my Zephyr today. Super simple build, nice and straightforward. I worked on dry-fitting the motor mount parts, sanding them out, and then doing the basic glue-up for the mount and fins. All in today, probably just an hour and a half, and most of that was just sanding. But DARN! Nice big model!

 

[Hobie1dog]

great rocket, lots of them around here

 

[novahobbies]

great rocket, lots of them around here

Oh yeah, for good reason. It's a great L1 model for an excellent price. Love the size, too. Big enough to really feel like a HP model, esp when you've spent most of your time with Estes level models, but small enough to fly in a lot of fields under different motor options. I really wanted something simple to L1 with. I know I could have done it with my Katana Jr, but I decided I'd prefer to keep flying that one on mid power motors. I wanted something bigger and heavier for my first true HP.

 

[novahobbies]

Quick update. The inner fillets are done, and the outer fillets are drying.


Not my best work for the internals. I've done better. But the fin-motor tube joint is tight with epoxy pushed deep in.


Outer fillets are much nicer, and strong:


Time to dry for an hour, and then pull some tape!

 

[novahobbies]

The outer fillets look good, they've dried to the point of tape removal, and the coupler is epoxied in place

 

[novahobbies]

We're getting close to putty-them-fins time. All major construction is done. Just gotta flip the rocket and pour a small pool of epoxy down by the front centering ring, and then lock up the aft CR and glue it up. I started a little paint today, too. Just the big black nose cone.


But before I'd done that, I noticed something....funny.


Naturally I ran up to do the flip/side of that abomination, too:

I guess worst-case-scenario, I've got a Frankenstein of a model I could make if I had to.

 

[DJRNY]

I finally started in on my Zephyr today.

Thanks for sharing your build thread. My Zephyr is next in my queue, hopefully I'll start it in a few short weeks.

 

[novahobbies]

As I was reading R-soto's thread I realized....UGH, I forgot to order a retainer ring and a 29-to38mm motor adapter. Looks like Apogee is about to get yet another order from me.
Last night I got the back centering ring epoxied in place, and.....that's it. Nothing else needs to be done on the "build" side until the model is puttied and painted. Which will hopefully be done by this weekend, we'll see how it goes. Lots of chores this weekend so it's up in the air (I wish the ROCKET was).

 

[novahobbies]

Doesn't look like a lot, but quite a bit did get finished today. Grey auto filler primer was laid down this morning early, followed by a good sanding, some filling, more sanding, and finally a coat of gloss white on the hull and a second coat of canyon black on the NC. I'll easily be able to get to the green and black on the fins tomorrow, and then probably wait a few days to let everything off gas and seal up before vinyl. Looks good even just like this!

 

[novahobbies]

Supergreen.

 

[novahobbies]

And we're done with paint. Barring any small touch-ups after the full build is done of course.
Now it's time to just let the paint fully cure for a couple days. I'll probably put the vinyl on Tues night or Wed.


I still need to order my retainer ring and a 29 to 38mm adapter. Should have done that when I ordered this, but such is life. I might as well place my motor order as well while I'm at it.

 

[novahobbies]

For those reading this who actually own and have flown their Zephyrs: did anyone add an extension to the existing shock cord? I had a few FB people talking about adding longer cords, but my gut reaction is that I'd be introducing a fail point if I was trying to add another extension of nylon.
The kit-supplied strap is already in place.

 

[novahobbies]

OK, got my retainer ring, 38 to 29mm adapter, and some extra doodads ordered from Apogee. Vinyl tonight? Maybe!

 

[novahobbies]

.....and with that, she's done. 11 days from start to finish. That's not too shabby at all!
The Apogee order showed up early today, so I got the retainer ring epoxied in place, plus the 38to29mm adapter glued up, and finally on a whim at 9:30pm I said "screw it..." and grabbed some soapy water to put the decals on!
I'm really very happy with how she came out.




I have it here next to the damn model that started me down the path to HP.....the Leviathan Vanderburn clone with plywood fins.
Seriously, every step from that point to this is because of that Leviathan. Even back then while I was building it I thought, "I could L1 on this if I wanted...." and built it with that idea half in mind. I think she'll always live in the MP world though. She's SUCH a solid flyer on F motors.
As for the Zephry, I need to decide when I'd like to L1 on it! I'm not part of a club, but there IS a fairly local club that launches monthly. Guess I'll have to get out of my introvert mold enough to (gasp) go maybe make a friend or two.

 

[-Slick-Ice]

I know that feeling. It made it a lot easier watching a launch to figure out how things worked without actually interacting with people.

Also gave me an opportunity to perform a social experiment and track how long it took people to return to the parking area after launching their rocket so I could decide on a reasonable altitude to keep mine at.

It looks great!

 

[Ron Soto]

Doesn't look like a lot, but quite a bit did get finished today. Grey auto filler primer was laid down this morning early, followed by a good sanding, some filling, more sanding, and finally a coat of gloss white on the hull and a second coat of canyon black on the NC. I'll easily be able to get to the green and black on the fins tomorrow, and then probably wait a few days to let everything off gas and seal up before vinyl. Looks good even just like this!
View attachment 623183

just wondering.. is that your garage, or house. i had my zephyr in the house for a few hours after painting... and it totally knocked out the bedroom i had it in. the fumes gave both my wife and i immense headaches. even though it was 40 degrees, i opened both windows (in the bedroom.. with the door shut) and stuck a fan in one to suck in fresh, and pull out the fumed air. now i'v got a parabolic heater in my shop where i build.

for my Z, i taped off the fins prior to painting white, then taped off the white to paint the fins black.

good luck on your L1..

r-

 

[novahobbies]

just wondering.. is that your garage, or house. i had my zephyr in the house for a few hours after painting... and it totally knocked out the bedroom i had it in. the fumes gave both my wife and i immense headaches. even though it was 40 degrees, i opened both windows (in the bedroom.. with the door shut) and stuck a fan in one to suck in fresh, and pull out the fumed air. now i'v got a parabolic heater in my shop where i build.

for my Z, i taped off the fins prior to painting white, then taped off the white to paint the fins black.

good luck on your L1..

r-

Thanks!
Garage:


Nerd room in the house:


Sometimes I bring things in a litte early, but I try to wait for smells to dissipate before coming into the house. This week was a little difficult, I was letting paint cure halfway in the garage and then the rest of the way in the house because it's been so wet outside lately.

 

[gldknght]

For those reading this who actually own and have flown their Zephyrs: did anyone add an extension to the existing shock cord? I had a few FB people talking about adding longer cords, but my gut reaction is that I'd be introducing a fail point if I was trying to add another extension of nylon.
The kit-supplied strap is already in place.

I built mine stock with only the included shock cord. Have flown it a few times, no issues.

 

[Old School Doug]

For those reading this who actually own and have flown their Zephyrs: did anyone add an extension to the existing shock cord? I had a few FB people talking about adding longer cords, but my gut reaction is that I'd be introducing a fail point if I was trying to add another extension of nylon.
The kit-supplied strap is already in place.

I did make an extension (appx 4ft) after reading a couple of posts about zippering with the stock cord. I've flown mine several times both with and without the extension and have seen zero appreciable difference. So for my 2 cents, I wouldn't bother with it.

 

[waltr]

The stock cord is fine IF deployment goes near apogee. This means the motor Delay must be set to the correct time and it actually does fire ejection charge at this correct time.

The cord can be easily braided which help dissipate energy when pulled apart. This helps to prevent zippers when the delay time is off apogee.

 

[novahobbies]

The stock cord is fine IF deployment goes near apogee. This means the motor Delay must be set to the correct time and it actually does fire ejection charge at this correct time.

The cord can be easily braided which help dissipate energy when pulled apart. This helps to prevent zippers when the delay time is off apogee.

So, this. Yeah, I was thinking of daisy-chaining it.

 

[waltr]

Yes, daisy chain the cord is a big help. It does prevent tangling and absorbs energy.

Next is to attach the chute directly to the cord about a foot or two down from the nose cone. This puts all the weight directly through the cord to the chute and NOT on the nose cone plastic molded loop (Have seen this loop break on an L1 cert light for a fail).

 

[novahobbies]

Yes, daisy chain the cord is a big help. It does prevent tangling and absorbs energy.

Next is to attach the chute directly to the cord about a foot or two down from the nose cone. This puts all the weight directly through the cord to the chute and NOT on the nose cone plastic molded loop (Have seen this loop break on an L1 cert light for a fail).

This is actually something I've done with most of my MPR kits. It's personal preference of course, but my take on it is this: say the nose cone molded ring breaks. What is more important to protect? The plastic nose, or the cardboard and thin-wood sustainer? Which had more work put into it? Which part is more likely to survive a 500 foot drop?
Personally I'd rather replace a nose cone versus the main body in 99% of those cases. But again - that's just a personal bias.

 

[Old School Doug]

I believe I learned of this method from the LOC 4" Goblin instructions. Since then I've avoided using the plastic nose cone loop on all my high power builds. The photo shows the method of drilling two holes on either side of the center line slightly larger than 18ga electrical wire. The wire is twisted and soldered, then fed back through one of the holes. A piece of electrical tape or zip tie compresses the loop and keeps the soldered end inside the cone. I figure with this method, if the ejection charge is enough to pull the wire out it'll be the least of my problems !!

 

[novahobbies]

I ordered a nice selection of motors from Hobbylink today, including a few MP motors that can push this off the ground. I have to wait for my HP cert before I can play with the big boys, but in the meantime I picked up a few 29mm MP motors that will get her into the air a little. Hobbylink was out of G80s except for the 10s delay, which openrocket said "DO NOT DO" when I plugged that in. 10 second delay crates a massive velocity at deploy. My next best options are a G74-6 and a G77-7. Both keep the model under 1000, both hit about 35 ft/s off the rail, and both have fast but acceptable velocities at deploy. It's interesting that the G74-6 actually looks a little safer. Slightly better acceleration AND lower deploy speed over the G77. I may save that one for something else, we'll see.
For my first HP, I think I need to get an H100, but I'm really worried about that deploy speed.

 

[jmasterj]

The G77 builds it thrust more slowly than the G74. The latter is one of my favorite non-RMS options for small 4" rockets.

 

[novahobbies]

The G77 builds it thrust more slowly than the G74. The latter is one of my favorite non-RMS options for small 4" rockets.

That makes sense, and it's good to know, thanks. I'm diving into learning about high power motors this week. Want to make sure the H100 will work, but that 14 second delay is WAAAY too long. I'm letting TVM show me the ropes on the Apogee construction vids. ;-)

 

[novahobbies]

Yep. Another thing to buy. Gotta get that delay drill.

 

[novahobbies]

Final weight w no motor: 1,432 grams

 

[jmasterj]

Final weight w no motor: 1,432 grams

Bummer, no class 1 flights then. If you can trim 30 grams you'd be good to go on the G74! I came back to this thread and realized that in no way would a G74 be a good choice for a 1400g rocket.