What did you do rocket wise today?

[OverTheTop]

Had a frame printed (resin) to hold the GPS/magnetometer module for the VTS. Not screwed to the deck yet.

 

[kuririn]

Yesterday/last night:
1.Glued the fins and lugs on the Doorknob.
Just need to add glue fillets and assembly is done.

2.Glued the screw eye and nose block into the tail cone/transition section of the Zeta (Estes Design of the Month).
Glued the coupler motor mount in.
Heads up to cloners- the shroud and nozzle templates are the wrong size. Printed at 100%, the shroud is oversized and the nozzle is undersized. Reprinted both at Payload Bay.
Fin template was on the same sheet, size appears OK. Dry fitted the template, tail ring appears to be centered.
Just need to cut and glue on fins, tail ring, and lugs and assemble recovery hardware.

3.Started working on a BT-58 Phoenix missile. Fin set and decals from erockets. I think this may have been considered as a Semroc kit but never made it into production. Nice thing about this one is it has details that I haven't seen in any other Phoenix kit.
Sanded/Unsanded.


Dry fitted to body tube:

And the real thing:

Need to sand three more. Ugh.
Laters.

 

[Walter Longburn]

There are about a billion $1 coins sitting in bags that Congress ordered made but no one wants.

I'd gladly take them!

 

[SCooke123]

I worked on the SPEV a little: got the engine mount glued into the body tube and fins sanded. Next session I need to take some WIP pics.

 

[Bruiser]

Today was launch day. I was planning to launch my recently rebuilt Vapor but Hobby Lobby was out of E12-6 motors. I was also planning on launching my recently finished (or so I thought) Black Brant Vc but I ran into problems with it.

Not wanting to miss a launch I brought out my tried and tested NorthStar and launched it. I used an Estes E16-0 in the booster staged to a F15-6 in the sustainer with a JLCR set to 400 feet. Launch went great with a nice low stage and good altitude with the sustainer. Winds were shifting this way and that so I had a little walk but no damage on touchdown.



-Bob

 

[GalantVR41062]

My daughter picked up a plastic model set of the solar system. She helped put them together, stickers, and location. I had the job to tie the fishing line to the planet and tack.

After laying it out she wanted me to build and paint a rocket to hang with them.... I reminded her that she has a whole shelf of smaller rockets.

Bonus they glow in the dark.



Also reviewed my 2020 goals, made in Dec 2019.... had 10, good effort on 5. I don't think I will make a goal list for 2021 but continue the list from last year. I hope and pray the launch season is more open and my family/friends can attend the launch.

 

[Cl(VII)]

Base coat down on the 2-stage DS Jr.

 

[wolsen]

Painted the New Shepard. Overall it’s looking ok, though I wished i had done a better job on the nose cone. Maybe I’ll turn to 3D printing someday and print a better capsule, or I may go back to the drawing board and turn a new one (it’s pink foam) at some point. For now, I’ll not let perfect be the enemy of good(ish). When the vinyl from stickershock23 gets laid on it will make it look better.

 

[mbeels]

That looks great! Really nice work on a non-traditional scale model, it will totally unique!

When the vinyl from stickershock23 gets laid on it will make it look better.

Definitely, no one will notice any small blemishes.

 

[jd2cylman]

I did a thing again...
Two altimeters on a 3” printed sled. Second battery goes in the top cut off sled. Missile Works RRC2+ and RRC2L.

 

[Nytrunner]

HARA's inaugural 2021 launch happened today. It was a little iffy between cloud cover, winds, and temp in high 30s (especially that 20 mins an hour before waiver open when there was wintry mix/snow blowing 10 degrees off horizontal. IN ALABAMA), but no rockets were lost that I'm aware of! I spent most of the day answering questions, being nosy around rockets, helping new folks at the pad, and shifting LCO duty.

I did get to fly H.A.P.I the electronic Partizon on a G80 in order to test the RRC3 that got corrupted on Long Tom's last hard landing. So far so good, data was recovered.
I put a chute release on a backup chute in case the RRC3 was borked, but the apogee and main charge fired properly, and it gently drifted down on two chutes when the release let go.



The strangest thing about the flight wasn't the altimeter, it was the motor! The nozzle cap melted onto the back, and the ejection charge didn't appear to eject the red cap. Good thing the RRC3 did fire properly because I don't think motor backup showed up to the game.



Turnout wasn't bad for such a terrible weather day. We had 38 flights including a 4x Mars Lander prototype on a K850 (~900' apogee) and a redemption flight for a 2-stage project that failed sustainer ignition last launch. Total N-s was about a mid-grade M which isn't bad considering the couds weren't much higher than 3k'



Amusingly, Joe Barnard was at our launch all day to test out his new board and I completely missed it because he had a hat and mask on (that read.....BPS.space.....)
I only realized it when he came up and asked if we had a shovel (that story will have to wait until Joe decides to share)

And the Packers are on to the NFC championship!

Overall, very good day

 

[wolsen]

That looks great! Really nice work on a non-traditional scale model, it will totally unique!



Definitely, no one will notice any small blemishes.

Thanks! And yeah, Mark over at stickerschock23 does a great job. I should have waited but I couldn’t resist... definitely kicks it up a notch. Still gotta do the windows to the capsule, but I can do that tomorrow.

 

[OverTheTop]

Mounted the GPS/magnetometer to the main deck of the VTS. Mounting frame was 3D resin printed.



I am hoping there is not much magnetic interference from the servo just underneath it. It is tricky finding a location that doesn't have much magnetic interference. I may transfer it to the next deck up, just below the NC, if there are problems in this location. I won't know until I have it all wired up and run the compass calibration algorithm.

 

[Cape Byron]

Mounted the GPS/magnetometer to the main deck of the VTS. Mounting frame was 3D resin printed.

Beautiful work, as always.

 

[wolsen]

Capsule decals one

 

[Cl(VII)]

I need to work out my finishing for this paint, so I picked the easiest part to practice on. I lightly sanded the white base layer with 320 grit, and sprayed the Rusto 2x Satin Magenta in five very thin coats about five min apart...subtle and understated, just like me.



I plan to carefully wet sand, and go over with a gloss clear. I’ll let it have a week to cure first.

 

[tOD]

Building a motor mount for a Mach1 Messier65. My first try at fin pockets.

 

[NateB]

Easy build, but I have a Li'l Thor ready for filets and finishing.

 

[bobbyg23]

Finished fillets and rnws on my 4" LOC Phoenix

 

[rockladen]

On Saturday at the Austin Area Rockerty Group launch, flew the 4 inch Black Brant II on its third flight this time punching it with a CTI 54 mm K1200 motor. 14 to 1 thrust to weight ratio, 833 mph, 6,639 feet altitude.
Image credit to Harry Spears "The Motorman".

 

[Back_at_it]

Been meaning to build myself a cloned Sizzler #1906 for a long time now. This was one of my favorite rockets to fly back in my childhood. Always flew straight as an arrow and never did me wrong.

Nothing ground breaking here. ERockets Fins, Apogee BT50 tube, Estes plastic nose cone (still looking for the correct PNC-50Y). Standard Estes motor mount with 200# Kevlar around the upper ring as a leader for the shock cord. 1/8" Kevlar line attached for the shock cord.

Built with TBII and thick and quick for the fillets. Fins filled with Minwax Sanding Sealer.

Sprayed with Krylon gloss White then taped off and sprayed the top with Gloss black. Vinyl was cut on my Cricut.

 

[NateB]

I did some more work on my Lil Thor to get ready for finishing. The instructions that came with my Thor 54 said to apply thinned epoxy to the 3D printed parts and the fin surface. It is probably overkill to do the same on the LPR one, but I did it anyway to get a feel for how much to apply and how much work it will be to sand it smooth before priming.

 

[neil_w]

For "reasons", I went back and reread some of my old build threads. That was weird.

 

[GrouchoDuke]

Painted the nosecone of my modified Hi-Flier XL (with 3D printed fins). I just need to tie the chute on and it’s ready to go.

 

[HHaase]

Been meaning to build myself a cloned Sizzler #1906 for a long time now. This was one of my favorite rockets to fly back in my childhood. Always flew straight as an arrow and never did me wrong.

Nothing ground breaking here. ERockets Fins, Apogee BT50 tube, Estes plastic nose cone (still looking for the correct PNC-50Y). Standard Estes motor mount with 200# Kevlar around the upper ring as a leader for the shock cord. 1/8" Kevlar line attached for the shock cord.

Built with TBII and thick and quick for the fillets. Fins filled with Minwax Sanding Sealer.

Sprayed with Krylon gloss White then taped off and sprayed the top with Gloss black. Vinyl was cut on my Cricut.

View attachment 446857View attachment 446858View attachment 446859

Looks great. Makes me feel 8 years old again. I've wanted to do one of them for quite a while. Was my first rocket.

-Hans

 

[Hobie1dog]

Finished the layout on the AV Bay for my Formula 98 that will be primary or backup for my L2 attempt. Just need to take it all back apart, paint, and reassemble for the last time.

View attachment 441681

Going through older posts and I find this exquisite.

 

[TheTank]

Going through older posts and I find this exquisite.

Thank you! I appreciate it. From decades of competing with giant scale RC aerobatic airplanes, I found that if I took the extra time (probably 30 minutes on an Av-bay sled vs. hours on a plane) to plan things out and keep them tidy... i suffered far fewer maintanence and failure issues. I literally build all of my sleds the same way with almost an identical layout using the same parts.

 

[TheTank]

And since im in this thread... yesterday i finished (all but paint), my 4” Wildman DarkStar. Now time to clean up my trashed shop!

 

[Scrapmaster87]

Finished printing the 4th part of a case organizer tray, some filling, primering, masking, and painting. And started a 2nd case tray for my 29 and 54mm cases.

 

[Wally Ferrer]

While waiting for delivery of the Traveling Box 'o Parts, finished this, now ready for primer/paint...