beantownJPL
Up up and away... Wait! Come back!
A member of the club I belong to is moving away, decided to downsize his collection of "stuff" he didn't want to haul to his new location and donated it to the club to sell off as "garage sale" items.
My boy became enamored with this rocket, and for $15, I certainly didn't take much convincing for me to dig into my pockets, realize I have no cash, and give the club treasurer an IOU on the spot (now paid in full ). He didn't have any information at all on the rocket, so I'm turning to the eagle-eyed experts here for a little help.
The rocket's rough build is essentially complete, stands at ~42" tall, stoutly constructed of ~2.25" O.D. thick-walled tubing with 3 fins cut from ~1/4" ply . The airframe separates in the middle for recovery ... shock cord is included along with a rather nice Nomex chute protector.
The forward section has a large payload bay, with two ~1/4" holes drilled in it (I'm assuming) for pressure equalization for an altimeter.
The nose cone appears to be molded plastic, quite stout with an ogive profile.
It's got a 29mm motor mount with a rather "old school" looking motor retention system consisting of a couple of bent wires screwed into the aft centering ring. The centering rings themselves also appear to be plywood.
It's got a 1/4" launch lug, no rail guides/buttons.
Dry weight is about 590 grams without a chute or motor.
Compared to what I've been flying to date, this thing is new territory. It looks strong enough to come in ballistic, leave a crater and still be ready to fly again! Definitely built to come down hard, load another motor and fly again 10 minutes later.
So ...
Any and all input on how to finish this bird is welcome!
My boy became enamored with this rocket, and for $15, I certainly didn't take much convincing for me to dig into my pockets, realize I have no cash, and give the club treasurer an IOU on the spot (now paid in full ). He didn't have any information at all on the rocket, so I'm turning to the eagle-eyed experts here for a little help.
The rocket's rough build is essentially complete, stands at ~42" tall, stoutly constructed of ~2.25" O.D. thick-walled tubing with 3 fins cut from ~1/4" ply . The airframe separates in the middle for recovery ... shock cord is included along with a rather nice Nomex chute protector.
The forward section has a large payload bay, with two ~1/4" holes drilled in it (I'm assuming) for pressure equalization for an altimeter.
The nose cone appears to be molded plastic, quite stout with an ogive profile.
It's got a 29mm motor mount with a rather "old school" looking motor retention system consisting of a couple of bent wires screwed into the aft centering ring. The centering rings themselves also appear to be plywood.
It's got a 1/4" launch lug, no rail guides/buttons.
Dry weight is about 590 grams without a chute or motor.
Compared to what I've been flying to date, this thing is new territory. It looks strong enough to come in ballistic, leave a crater and still be ready to fly again! Definitely built to come down hard, load another motor and fly again 10 minutes later.
So ...
- Can anybody identify this as some sort of kit build or is it just another scratch-built 3FNC? If it's an uncompleted kit, I'd like to complete it "as intended". Otherwise I'll just let my imagination go wild.
- The nose cone fits very loosely. What's a "nice" way of tightening it up besides just wrapping some tape around the shoulder and calling it a day?
- This is the heaviest rocket I've ever considered throwing hundreds of feet in the air ... what are some common pitfalls I should seek to avoid?
- Could I use this rocket for my L1 cert., since I could easily load an "H" or even an "I" composite motor in there, or do I literally have to build it "from tubes to paint" to qualify?
Any and all input on how to finish this bird is welcome!
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