Wow! Are you gonna kit that, Rick?
Neil_W's half-baked design thread
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Thanks for posting this. I've been dying to talk about it.
So, what's the scoops? New kit designed by Neil W.?
Very cool! Do you have any more details? How did you make it?
Just as an FYI: I had communicated with Rick about designs in the past, but he totally surprised me with this one. I'll let him comment on his plans for it (if for no other reason than I don't know them ).
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Now that is cool. I wonder if it would work with break away segmental recovery!
Time for some imagination fuel: Hypersonic planes. I posted a couple of these to another thread.
First, go look at this Google Images search, and soak up all the coolness.
A couple that caught my eye:
This one comes closer to having a cylindrical airframe than most:
Someone built this in Kerbal:
Love it, love it, love it. Totally buildable, too; just need to add someplace for a central motor.
First, go look at this Google Images search, and soak up all the coolness.
A couple that caught my eye:
This one comes closer to having a cylindrical airframe than most:
Someone built this in Kerbal:
Love it, love it, love it. Totally buildable, too; just need to add someplace for a central motor.
Seriously cool. I could browse those images for a long time..... This one jumped out at me:
And I've seen this one posted here on TRF before. Not much of a cylindrical fuselage, though. This one would be tough.
The challenge with so many of these is making them look good when build around a normal body tube. All the compound curves are tough to execute at small size. The noses tend to be extremely long and pointy, good candidates for 3D-printing. The rest requires some creativity.
Those building larger might be able to do something decent with composites, but still not an easy task. How do folks build those crazy RC jets fighters? I assume it's all fiberglass, but don't really know.
Those building larger might be able to do something decent with composites, but still not an easy task. How do folks build those crazy RC jets fighters? I assume it's all fiberglass, but don't really know.
At least some of them are fiberglass, with internal bulkheads, stringers, spars, and whatnot. But that's an area of R/C that I haven't ventured into.
Yeah, the compound curves would be tough. I wonder how well it would work to apply some model airplane techniques to it such as formers around an internal stuffer tube with some combination of balsa stringers, sheeting, or paper transitions (depending on the shape). Some boat hulls and canoes get nice compound curves with strips cut and bent to shape.
I assume you can do just about anything with stringers, provided you leave enough room for a core tube. And it sounds incredibly fun and time consuming.
BUT...
I don’t have the CAD chops to design the whole thing properly in the first place. It wouldn’t be impossible to do manually, but... yikes.
BUT...
I don’t have the CAD chops to design the whole thing properly in the first place. It wouldn’t be impossible to do manually, but... yikes.
A little while back @LW Bercini asked for ways to spruce up an already-built-and-finished rocket. I fiddled with it and came up with this:
It's not the direction LW was looking for, but I like it so much I am going to fiddle with it and see where I can take it from here.
It's not the direction LW was looking for, but I like it so much I am going to fiddle with it and see where I can take it from here.
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Purty.
How about a yet another set of mini-mini-winglets, half-way between the front set and the nose cone?
That area is too empty, and is begging for some attention.
Nytrunner
Pop lugs, not drugs
Call it the Starjammer
Are you interested in copies of my original patterns?
No thanks, I have all I need for now. Lots will change (or maybe not, who knows
).
This is one look that I was thinking about.
For the sake of dynamic stability, you may want to consider an anhedral for those "wings" (unless you have "rudders" underneath that cannot be seen in the illustration)
I like it, it's like a sporty coupe. If a rocket was a convertible, that is what it would look like. Is that what you're thinking on the paint scheme? Or are the graphic details still coming?
I have one under there, but it's probably not enough:
Things are still very preliminary here. Main thought to convey was the two angled vertical stabilizers in line with the spars connecting the wings and canards.
An anhedral might look OK, as the whole thing drifts closer to Interceptor-ville...
But I think the wing shape + connected canards is fairly different from anything I've seen, so some passing similarities to other designs is fine.
No graphic details yet because the design isn't close to final.
I like the idea of it as a convertible.
Take a look at the Estes Orbital Interceptor. It used anhedral wings and no other stabilizers on the underside
That's a good comparison (and a simple but very nice-looking rocket as well).
Anhedral version. The top looks kind of lonely in this version. I tried a strake up there but didn't like it. More work needed.
Yeah. I did a 2.6x upscale
First, I like the twin tail.
Instead of an anhedral to the whole wing, what about half of it in the original position then turning a corner into down-sloping ends? The corner could be right where the cord changes or a little further out.
A convertible spacecraft is like a screen door on a submarine, but in reverse.
For the lonely top, how about extending the canopy? Go from the front to the high spot just the same as you have, then extend that height a little way aft over the body tube, then have the curve for the aft end come down into the tube. Think of it as room for the copilot or, if the imaginary scale is bigger, the navigator and flight engineer.
Instead of an anhedral to the whole wing, what about half of it in the original position then turning a corner into down-sloping ends? The corner could be right where the cord changes or a little further out.
A convertible spacecraft is like a screen door on a submarine, but in reverse.
For the lonely top, how about extending the canopy? Go from the front to the high spot just the same as you have, then extend that height a little way aft over the body tube, then have the curve for the aft end come down into the tube. Think of it as room for the copilot or, if the imaginary scale is bigger, the navigator and flight engineer.
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Not a fan of the anhedral. Neil, is this puppy stable in OpenRocket with just the wings at 90 and 270 (in other words FLAT) and with ONLY top side vertical stabs? Zero below the wings?
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Isn't this @lakeroadster. 'S rail rocket?
