Upscale Gyroc With A Twist

[Gary Byrum]

There was a little sanding/tweaking to do on the flap retainers and once I was satisfied with that and the humidity level dropped, I took Mr Gyroc outside and gave him his prime. Everyone knows this is when you see all of the flaws you couldn't see before and honestly, there are nearly none at all. I was surprised. I think I know why the girl next door called me a perfectionist the day I was doing all that sanding. WELL HEY! It paid off. She's quite the crafty person also so I guess it does take one to know one.

 

[eedetail]

Nice upscale, i look forward to more!

 

[Gary Byrum]

Nice upscale, i look forward to more!

Thank you.I'll give a day or two to dry well and then a wet sand. I'm still contemplating a paint scheme though. I don't want it to look like every one elses or even the original. Black and silver did cross my mind today....Hmmmmm....

 

[Gary Byrum]

Now you might be asking yourself, "Why would he paint a perfectly good Gyroc brilliant red?" Since I don't tend to stick to original themes (although I do sometimes) I didn't like any of the old choices in colors schemes. This is just the foundation. Wait till tomorrow when I expect to get the rest of it done....hee hee hee.

 

[Gary Byrum]

LW swung this idea by me the other day and I thought it would work just fine. I already had the vinyl stripes so HEY! Meet Van-Gyroc. You'll have to forgive the all the shimmers and reflections of light from the flash. It kinda botches the picture.

In the last photo there is a close up of the tension rig I made from customized tee pins and using a rubber band. I didn't like the idea of a permanent fix with the elastic and opted for something I could take the tension off when it's stored. Note the lack of flash in this pic actually shows off the stripes better.

 

[Scotty Dog]

A stitch in time...
Very Nice Mr Gary Byrum....:clap:

 

[Gary Byrum]

Thank ya vurry much Scotty Dog. Can't wait to see it do it's job. Next up will be a BT 80 version of the Arapaho E. It'll be an Arapahoe F with a 29mm motor mount.

 

[JRL303]

Has it flown?

 

[Gary Byrum]

Has it flown?

Not yet and I'm dying to fly it. There's 2 launches coming up in August, hopefully 1 of them I can attend that I will indeed lift this bird and get a video of it.

 

[JRL303]

Very cool. The Gyroc was my favorite rocket when I was a kid. Looking forward to the video!

 

[Gary Byrum]

Prolly go with a C 11 just to see what I get out of it. Then graduate to a D.

 

[Sooner Boomer]

Have you flown it yet? I'm seriously looking at making one on a BT-60 tube. Plastic NC - gotta figure out how to make that work. Two engine pods (rear-eject, of course), choice of 24mm or 29mm - maybe a cluster. Fins - balsa or ply? Maybe a mix of the two...

 

[Gary Byrum]

Have you flown it yet? I'm seriously looking at making one on a BT-60 tube. Plastic NC - gotta figure out how to make that work. Two engine pods (rear-eject, of course), choice of 24mm or 29mm - maybe a cluster. Fins - balsa or ply? Maybe a mix of the two...

Heck no! Every event this year except for a ROSCO launch this past March has gotten rained out. If by a miracle it doesn't rain, the temps are tolerable and I can magically afford to go to Freedom Launch, I'll definitely fly and video it. I just scaled what you would need for a nose cone and it comes to 4 & 1/8". The closest thing I know of is a 60 NA but it's 4 - 3/4". You might have to turn your own or order it special.

 

[Sooner Boomer]

Oopps. I meant BT-80. Plastic nosecone like used with Fat Boy (80BB) (just because I have the parts). Have to run a dowel of some sort (plastic/wood) down the middle of the nc to take impact of landing (more than once).

 

[Gary Byrum]

Oopps. I meant BT-80. Plastic nosecone like used with Fat Boy (80BB) (just because I have the parts). Have to run a dowel of some sort (plastic/wood) down the middle of the nc to take impact of landing (more than once).

Thats-a gonna be-a purty big Gyroc. Here's an idea. What if you filled the NC with "Great Stuff" or a firmly setting kind of foam filler?

 

[Sooner Boomer]

Thats-a gonna be-a purty big Gyroc. Here's an idea. What if you filled the NC with "Great Stuff" or a firmly setting kind of foam filler?

I think there still needs to be a spot that is hard and can "accept" the force of impact. I'm thinking of a rocket that can handle "The Rock" (parking lot at Lloyd Noble Arena). I was thinking of using a maple dowel that has bracing to transfer the impact through a section of body tube, not just depending upon the nc shoulder or a bulkhead.

And you're right about size. It may not be a 100% accurate scale-up, gotta run the numbers and see what the ratios yield. To keep weight low, I may use foamboard for the fins.

Have you figured out a way to turn off the car roof seeking terminal guidance?

 

[Gary Byrum]

You could still implant a dowel in the nose. My thinking was based on reinforcing the whole NC. That's a lot of rocket depending on heli recovery. I'd go with both. Fix the dowel and foam fill the NC.

Regarding the car roofing seeking issue, NO!

 

[Sooner Boomer]

You could still implant a dowel in the nose. My thinking was based on reinforcing the whole NC. That's a lot of rocket depending on heli recovery. I'd go with both. Fix the dowel and foam fill the NC.

Yeah, both. Belt and suspenders. Or a spring-loaded "probe"...

Regarding the car roofing seeking issue, NO!

Well...we'll work on that one. Although my car seems to mostly attract big boost gliders (and hail...).

 

[BABAR]

I think there still needs to be a spot that is hard and can "accept" the force of impact. I'm thinking of a rocket that can handle "The Rock" (parking lot at Lloyd Noble Arena).

Any chance you can put some sort of "cover" on the nose for flight that is smooth enough to be aerodynamic but soft enough to cushion the impact? Estes had a rocket a while back that ejcted the nose cone with a streamer and some sort of timer on it, idea sort of a poor man's way of detecting altitude (how long did it take to impact.) In any case, the nose cone was made of some plasticky rubbery stuff, sort of like a nerf football. I guess for the purist it is kind of cheating (and maybe kind of "girly", what would you call it, a "nose cozy"?), but seems like a shame to slam a good nose cone into asphalt. Even if it doesn' break the cone, it will do a number on the paint job.

 

[Gary Byrum]

I suppose the wisest approach would be to NOT launch it near a parking lot or otherwise paved surface. Unless that's all you have. I'll just wait till I'm at the sod farm or other earthy surface to launch mine. And also, a concrete surface is a threat for about any rocket.

 

[apburner]

How about trying a rear eject of motor and mount that would separate completely and come down on streamer. That would lesson the weight of the rocket under helicopter recovery substantially

 

[Gary Byrum]

How about trying a rear eject of motor and mount that would separate completely and come down on streamer. That would lesson the weight of the rocket under helicopter recovery substantially

That's how I built mine and if you scroll up a bit (post # 42), you'll find where SB mentioned building rear eject.

 

[Gary Byrum]

Folks, I didn't make it to Freedom Launch but I did get to launch it at this past weekend at ROSCO. That GYROC performed admirably! Everything worked perfect.....except for my video camera. You see, my old Sony Handycam has one of these stupid little lock thingies that circles around the record button. I know it has good reason to be there but it's not something I inspect when I'm videoing. That being said, the flight was in progress when I realized it was locked. (1st taping of the day) Bottom line, no vid this time. If I make the SoAR launch in Commerce GA next month, I'll have one.