Pemberton Bucky jr.

[Mike Howie]

The Bucky Jr. is a nice looking rocket. I've wanted one for a while now. The
retro style just calls out to me. Here's the build thread.

Assemble the 24mm motor mount with the two centering rings. The instructions
tell you to leave out an engine block, and use tape to secure the engine in the
rocket. I don't fly anything longer than a 40mm motor, so I put one in.
Attach the Kevlar shock chord and stuff it back into the motor mount.

There are a bunch of 3/16 launch lugs supplied, that need to be trimmed to
various sizes. Then glued on the motor mount flush with the rear centering ring.
This gives the cool look of exhaust ports to the rear of the rocket.

Remembering the 'Dragonship 7' build from a while back, I now painted the motor
mount silver. Making sure NOT to get paint on the edges of
the centering rings. If you follow the instructions, this is a fine time to paint.
But I had to make a mod.

 

[JAL3]

I built this one while TRF was done. The build went well and the rocket performed well too. I'm confident you're going to like it.

 

[Mike Howie]

Using the fin guide, i marked the bodytube. At the same time I used the main
body angle cutting guide to mark the rear of the body. With light cuts of my
xacto knife I have a good angle on the body.
My Dremel was handy in boring out the nosecone for the nose weight. I epoxied
the weight in, and filled the hole up with the rest of the epoxy. The screw eye
went into the wet epoxy.

 

[Mike Howie]

The fins for this rocket gave me no end of trouble. The fin stock is 1/16 ply.
The kit came with only one sheet of the ply, and I had to transfer the fin shape
from the instructions. I was unable, after a few days trying, to get all three
fins on the wood. I emailed Mr. Layne to ask how to arrange the pattern onto
the ply. He promptly replied that he was going to send me a second sheet of
ply. Thank You!

Remember I said I made mods to this kit? Well, here thy are. I'd never worked
with fins this thin/large before. I was worried that they would keep popping off.
Since I now had this extra sheet of ply, I added TTW/TTMM.

The next problems I had with the fins was that ply is almost impossible to cut
with an xacto blade. I must have gone through 7/8 blades before I was done.
That was one nasty chore. In the instructions, it states you could use a good
pair of scissors to cut the fins out, but you might have a slightly ragged edge.
So I kept at it. When I was done with the main fins, there are two very small
'probe' fins on the front of the rocket. Those I use the scissors on, with no
problem. I sure wished I used scissors on the main fins.

 

[Mike Howie]

Here it is almost all done. I used FnF to get the large fillets. The instructions
say you can use epoxy clay, but warns of the extra weight. That's another
reason for the tabs on the fins.

 

[Pem Tech]

The fins for this rocket gave me no end of trouble. The fin stock is 1/16 ply.
The kit came with only one sheet of the ply, and I had to transfer the fin shape
from the instructions. I was unable, after a few days trying, to get all three
fins on the wood. I emailed Mr. Layne to ask how to arrange the pattern onto
the ply. He promptly replied that he was going to send me a second sheet of
ply. Thank You!

Remember I said I made mods to this kit? Well, here thy are. I'd never worked
with fins this thin/large before. I was worried that they would keep popping off.
Since I now had this extra sheet of ply, I added TTW/TTMM.

The next problems I had with the fins was that ply is almost impossible to cut
with an xacto blade. I must have gone through 7/8 blades before I was done.
That was one nasty chore. In the instructions, it states you could use a good
pair of scissors to cut the fins out, but you might have a slightly ragged edge.
So I kept at it. When I was done with the main fins, there are two very small
'probe' fins on the front of the rocket. Those I use the scissors on, with no
problem. I sure wished I used scissors on the main fins.

Well Mike and John, if you guys promise not to yell too loud I'll break some good news to future Little Bucky purchasers. After a bit of negative customer feedback on cutting the 1/16th ply fins we have decided to go with precut fins. From this day forward all Little Bucky's will ship with beautifully laser cut 1/16th ply fins and nose probes, provided by Don at Squirrel Works, at no extra cost. Anyone who has built a Squirrel Works kit will tell you what a fantastic job Don does on his laser cut parts.

OK, you two can shout at me now...



Nice work on your Bucky, Mike.
Really like the TTW fin attachment, even though we have never had any problem with the fins popping off.
Can't wait to see the finished product.

 

[JAL3]

Well Mike and John, if you guys promise not to yell too loud I'll break some good news to future Little Bucky purchasers. After a bit of negative customer feedback on cutting the 1/16th ply fins we have decided to go with precut fins. From this day forward all Little Bucky's will ship with beautifully laser cut 1/16th ply fins and nose probes, provided by Don at Squirrel Works, at no extra cost. Anyone who has built a Squirrel Works kit will tell you what a fantastic job Don does on his laser cut parts.

OK, you two can shout at me now...



Nice work on your Bucky, Mike.
Really like the TTW fin attachment, even though we have never had any problem with the fins popping off.
Can't wait to see the finished product.

I'm not going to shout...too much.

Actually, I'm glad to have done it the way I did because I had not done that before and it was a learning experience. I did utter a few choice words at the time though...

I did them with an X-acto and went through LOTS of blades.

PM me and I'll issue your pennance.

 

[Pantherjon]

Can I join the chorus shouting at you Layne?..LOL I tried like the dickens to get the fin patterns right on the supplied ply and didn't 'get it'..Said 'heck with it' and cut the fins out of some basswood I had laying around..LOL

Then, when I got done, I liked the look of the rocket so much, I did a DOWN scale of it!

Nice lookin Bucky Jones there Mike!

 

[JAL3]

Maybe I'm missing something. I had no trouble getting the template to fit. I had 2 generous pieces of the plywood and have saved the scraps for another project.

 

[Pem Tech]

Can I join the chorus shouting at you Layne?..LOL I tried like the dickens to get the fin patterns right on the supplied ply and didn't 'get it'..Said 'heck with it' and cut the fins out of some basswood I had laying around..LOL

Then, when I got done, I liked the look of the rocket so much, I did a DOWN scale of it!

Nice lookin Bucky Jones there Mike!

And you have a nice Bucky as well.

ANd the Little Little Bucky, (Or would that be Micro Bucky?) looks great. Would you share the specs with us?


Well heck....
We could have sent you more ply. Be careful with the basswood fins, the original prototype had paper laminated basswood fins and they were prone to breaking along the grain. Keep me informed of how it works out.

 

[Pem Tech]

I'm not going to shout...too much.

Actually, I'm glad to have done it the way I did because I had not done that before and it was a learning experience. I did utter a few choice words at the time though...

I did them with an X-acto and went through LOTS of blades.

PM me and I'll issue your pennance.

*ahem*
Forgive me father for I have sinned.

 

[InFlight]

Layne, he actually he gives it to you in Latin.

 

[JAL3]

*ahem*
Forgive me father for I have sinned.

The penance involves lots of kits. You had probably better get to work. I'll let you know when you are done.

 

[JAL3]

Layne, he actually he gives it to you in Latin.

Et tu. Rai?

CORRECTION

The vocative should have been Raie

 

[Pantherjon]

And you have a nice Bucky as well.

ANd the Little Little Bucky, (Or would that be Micro Bucky?) looks great. Would you share the specs with us?


Well heck....
We could have sent you more ply. Be careful with the basswood fins, the original prototype had paper laminated basswood fins and they were prone to breaking along the grain. Keep me informed of how it works out.

The little one I call Baby Bucky Jones..LOL..I believe a roughly 2/3 downscale powered by 18mm motors..I still have the RS file for it so you will have the precise info...which is now posted..lol..Just change the .txt to .rkt..

Like I said, I just didn't 'get it' at the time..When I went over to Jim's place to work on another rocket I brought the ply to make an av-bay sled, and he showed me how the fins were supposed to have been laid out on the ply to get 3 with the 2 sheets provided..After he showed me it was like 'DOH!'..So simple it escaped me..

View attachment Baby Bucky Jones.txt

 

[Pem Tech]

The penance involves lots of kits. You had probably better get to work. I'll let you know when you are done.

You mean like this one?

 

[JAL3]

You mean like this one?

You've got the general idea. Now you need to put your nose to the grindstone and churn them out.