Next up - TVC assembly and testing.
The parts come in 3D-pre-printed ABS plastic segments.
Instructions are clear, detailed, and well illustrated. I will not be documenting the assembly because it was really quick and easy, and because I've already completed it without taking any mid-step pictures.
Basically, everything went exactly as per the instructions below:
https://static1.squarespace.com/sta...1546285548065/Signal+R2+-+User+Manual+1.8.pdf
If you are building yours, and you are stumped, PM me, and I will do my best to help.
After some cutting and sanding, the assembled end product looks as in pictures below.
The bit on the left is the Signal R2 circuit board in 75mm mount brackets. The bit on the right is the TVC mount:
View attachment 375968 View attachment 375969
Here is the close-up of the TVC mount itself.
View attachment 375989 View attachment 375990
Here is the assembly fully powered up, in action:
The weights:
TVC mount, fully assembled, with wiring harnesses plugged in: 96.3g
Signal R2 computer mounted on brackets: 106.9g with 850 mAh battery, 56.0g without.
I'm not sure about the need for any plugins.
The only difference between TVC and "classic" flight profile is that TVC rocket will stay stable at near-zero, and even negative acceleration levels (back sliding, or descending). So all you really need to do is to trick OR into not panicking about aero-unstable flight. I did that by adding 4 8" tall and 4" long fins of 0-weight to the back of my Saturn V rocket.
Why 4? Well, OR complained of "too many parallel fins" if I went with 5+ (I don't really know if that warning matters).
Now OR sims the flight profiles from build-in weights and motor thrust vectors without any complaints. Results appear to be reasonable, and cross-reference nicely with SatV model w/o TVC or phantom fins.
I suspect that OR height estimates are a bit exaggerated, since some of the thrust will be angled, but I can live with the presumed error (likely on the high side) of 10-20%.
Can't fault you for having great taste!
I wont wait that long - will probably test fly the "mid tube Nerds" rocket on Estes F15 as soon as the weather clears (might be a week or two, the way things are trending right now).
Then "Nerds" rocket will get bolted inside Saturn V, and the full stack will fly on Apogee/AT F10. Those motors should arrive some time the next week.
OR sims the F10 flight of 550g / 19.4 oz Saturn V to 566 feet, with gentle 3.5G of acceleration. Rod clearing speed of 33 f/s.
That looks a bit too fast to be a good show, so I might add more ballast to the Saturn V rocket (around the CG, not the nose!) to slow down.
+200 g of ballast around CG slows ascent rate down to ~23 f/s, with apogee at 201 ft and acceleration of 2.3G. Hmmmm.
I am thinking 3 or 4 nut-serts epoxied to the mid-body centering rings will be sufficient to secure the Saturn V airframe to the "Nerds" TVC rocket core. Top and bottom centering rings will just friction fit to keep the inner core centered inside Saturn V airframe.
The main Saturn V airframe will gain 3-4 extra holes (below/above or on top of mid-section wraps - TBD), but those will only add character! I might cover the holes with white vinyl flaps to hide them alltogether.
Thoughts?
Questions?
Next steps - "Nerds" rocket assembly, and TVC PID calibration.
What's PID, you ask? Stay tuned.
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