What did you do rocket wise today?

[Doug Holverson]

Did you know that I have nothing from Fun Rockets laying around? I got rid of it all years ago. It obviously wasn't a good experience. https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ShootTheShaggyDog

 

[heada]

Glued on 4 fins on a Quest Harpoon. Then removed 3 fins because they were offset down or crooked or upside-down.

Now gonna print out a fin guide. Glue it to foam board, cut it out and try to avoid my mistakes on the next 11 fins (2 sets of 4 and 3 redos)

 

[Joekeyo]

The Super Mars Snooper is almost complete. It just needs decals. If you build this thing CAUTION CAUTION Glueing on the large fins is...challenging. The weight of the pods and the outer fins pull the fins away from the body before the glue dries. The wordless instructions inocently show a bottle of glue pointing to the root edge and then to the rocket. Not a lot of help there. My solution was to double glue; allowing the second application to dry for 8 minutes. I also used a Qualman fin guide to steady the front of the fin. This worked - barely; it was still unsteady. Perhaps a few drop of CA glue might facilitate this process. Conventional methods will not work. Just sayin'.

 

[Charles_McG]

That looks sweet! What nosecone?

It’s a printed nosecone based on a ballistic re-entry vehicle. I found a nice diagram online - but it looked short (about 3:1). The Misty Picture Defense Nuclear Agency report says the Talos Terrier payloads were ballistic re-entry vehicles 18” base diameter and 88.9” long. So I scaled that. Basically a round tipped cone.

 

[Old School Doug]

Finished up on three scratch builds that for now are parked in the paint pile. From the left there's the XRD, my first attempt at a rear eject recovery launching on an 18mm motor. I figure this is something I can test out in the small park behind the house and upsize from there if I want to. Next is the STUB-E1. I had a nose cone filled with a decent amount of nose weight from a prior experiment that "didn't fly so good". So I played around in OR and came up with a short, stout rocket for a 24mm motor. The last is a version of the Sea Snake from the Apogee newsletter plan pack. The original had 4 fins and an 18mm motor mount. This up-sized 3 fin version has a bigger/longer body tube and 24mm motor mount. Now for a little warm weather so I can get some primer laid down.

 

[Antares JS]

That went quicker than I thought. To the paint pile.

 

[tsmith1315]

Laid out a test piece for Cricut Maker to cut. A 29mm-59mm transition composed of two centering rings, 4 ribs and a shroud.



This is 0.28mm cardstock, which took 2 passes and a small amount of knife work to free it all up. I was able to remove the mat, check the cut and then re-insert the mat for a second cut along the same paths. Not bad for a little hobby machine. Too bad they don't offer an interface for real software.

Here's the dry fit. Not bad, though it's fussy to handle at that thickness. I'll tack it together and see how it feels.



My original intent was to cut the rings and ribs from 1mm or so G10, and the shroud from a couple wraps of paper-thin G10. We'll see if that plan changes after this...

 

[Antares JS]

After setting the Gravity Rider upstairs in the paint pile, I did some planning.

I will have been building and flying rockets for 25 years this June, so to celebrate, I'm going to build five Alphas of different sizes:

-BT-5/Micro Maxx (Micro Alpha scratcher)
-BT-20/13mm (Mini Alpha scratcher)
-BT-50/18mm (Standard Alpha kit)
-BT-80/29mm (Maxi-Alpha clone with a 29mm motor upgrade)
-4"/38mm (Madcow Big Fizz with Alpha livery)

I just ordered all the parts I didn't have on hand from eRockets for the first four.

 

[OverTheTop]

What resin printer you using? Our resin printer at work does wonderful work on small and fine parts.

 

[DigBaddy]

Got sandable primer on the BBX. Wrapped the silo. Primed a replacement Multi-Roc sustainer. Painted a rescued rocket (found plastic fins and nosecone in a park, body and motor tubes long gone. Paint job went to hell (cracked) but I ran with it. Going to hope it holds up as it dries.

 

[Adam3836]

Made this with my son today
Traced a rocket onto wood used jig saw cut the rocket shape out painted new piece of wood black and glued everything was fun

 

[TheTank]

Burned the first motors of the year with my boy!

 

[cbrarick]

got some serious work done on my red glare rocket, "Another Bad Idea"
After all, everyone needs a 300" rocket that's 3 inches wide, right?

 

[David_Stack]

Having soliciting feedback regarding amount of payload space needed (Recovery forum, "Recovery Gear 'real estate'") and heeding the advice that a longer payload tube wouldn't be the worst thing, and after then reaching our to Tim at Wildman for a length of Loc 3.1" tubing (Loc was Out of Stock)... Cut a 17" long payload tube to replace the kit's 14" version, and then trimmed 3" from the booster to preserve the same overall length (plenty of stability in OR).

Now I find myself in possession of a 14" length of 3.1" Loc tubing (coincidentally the same length as the body tube in the Loc "Onyx") AND since I replaced the kit nosecone with a Pinnacle one, that leaves me with a Loc nosecone just like the one used for the Onyx . Fired up OR, pulled the Onyx file from Rocket Reviews, and set to work. That file is for the first generation Onyx (no TTW fins), so added fin tabs in turn. The build pile just went to N+1...

 

[BigMacDaddy]

I also got my first launches in for 2022 - actually first launches in a while. My kids are not as motivated to go launch rockets anymore so not sure how to get them re-engaged.

Anyway, I posted launch videos of the other launches in other threads but here are a couple of videos of my Mini Honest John launches - on B6-4 and then on a C6-3. I bought some bird scare ribbon that I used as a 2" x 3' streamer . Worked pretty well (although it did not deploy on the 2nd launch -- I did not leave quite enough room for the 2" ribbon in the space between the two nose cone pieces so had to stick it in NC a bit and it got stuck. I need to re-print the top part of NC and leave a bit more space.

 

[Mugs914]

Got some paint on the hypersonic glider booster... Link to project thread.

 

[jmasterj]

Put the fins on my 4" Black Fly.

More than halfway done the cuts on my 6-fin 2.6" Kraken mod.

Making good progress on my goals for the year.

 

[Wally Ferrer]

A nice quick build... on to the paint pile!

 

[neil_w]

Read through the first few chapters of my recently (2020) discovered 1st-edition copy of the Handbook of Model Rocketry. It never ceases to amaze me how pretty much all the basics of model rocketry that we follow today were nailed down more than 50 years ago.

Obviously there is a lot of new stuff since then, like electronics, 3D-printing, and HPR. But the fundamentals were all there, right up to and including the good-old Xacto #11 and razor saw.

I wish my copy were in better condition. I believe it was purchased used, some zillion years ago, and it was already in bad shape when I got it. But still readable.

 

[mbeels]

Obviously there is a lot of new stuff since then, like electronics, 3D-printing, and HPR.

And simulation software!

 

[DigBaddy]

Read through the first few chapters of my recently (2020) discovered 1st-edition copy of the Handbook of Model Rocketry. It never ceases to amaze me how pretty much all the basics of model rocketry that we follow today were nailed down more than 50 years ago.

Obviously there is a lot of new stuff since then, like electronics, 3D-printing, and HPR. But the fundamentals were all there, right up to and including the good-old Xacto #11 and razor saw.

I wish my copy were in better condition. I believe it was purchased used, some zillion years ago, and it was already in bad shape when I got it. But still readable.

Nice to have something that hasn't suffered from the mindset of "If it ain't broke, break it and build in planned obsolescence for larger profits so customers can buy the same stuff again and again."

If the bicycle industry did rockets, they'd be changing body and motor tube dimensions a few mm at a time, while changing motor specs, rendering your old models into garbage if they broke so you can just buy a new one. "This 2.5646 mm wider motor is the new 'standard' for improved stiffness of the motor casing, sorry it doesn't fit your 3 year old rocket."

 

[mbeels]

If the bicycle industry did rockets, they'd be changing body and motor tube dimensions a few mm at a time, while changing motor specs, rendering your old models into garbage if they broke so you can just buy a new one. "This 2.5646 mm wider motor is the new 'standard' for improved stiffness of the motor casing, sorry it doesn't fit your 3 year old rocket."

... 3% stiffer, and 4% more "vertically compliant".

 

[DigBaddy]

... 3% stiffer, and 4% more "vertically compliant".

And you'd need a toolbox full of different Park tools just to remove the different motors every flight.

 

[Re-Bar Ricky]

Finished my Estes Ranger clone (minus attaching the nose cone - need a screw eye that fits). Then off to the "wait til spring to paint" pile.

Now to figure out what's next......

 

[Astronaut Cheeseball]

The time has come to build the Interceptor.

 

[Charles_McG]

Finally got around to epoxying up the fincan of my Sandhawk build.

The Sandhawk is pretty long. I’m going to have to ponder how I want to run the staging wiring further forward.

 

[OverTheTop]

I guess I have something that looks like a Yalga:

Next Up: Prime and Paint

First LPR I have built in probably five years.

 

[Hardline]

Wayco and I pulled a lot of boxes and bags out of the cupboard and found some RDAS, GeeWiz, ARTs and various "stuff". UhClem wanted the RDAS stuff but if anybody wants any of the other stuff can look at it here:

https://www.rocketryforum.com/threads/r-das.170566/#post-2231918

 

[cbrarick]

If the bicycle industry did rockets, they'd be changing body and motor tube dimensions a few mm at a time, while changing motor specs, rendering your old models into garbage if they broke so you can just buy a new one. "This 2.5646 mm wider motor is the new 'standard' for improved stiffness of the motor casing, sorry it doesn't fit your 3 year old rocket."

I should introduce you to my collection of 7. 8. 9, 10, 11 and 12 cog rear wheels.....since I started in 90, we have the following campagnolo releases (friends don't let friends ride fishing gear)
1991 8 speed
1997 9 speed
2000 10 speed
2008 11 speed
2018 12 speed.

In the process, we changed wheel dish, axle length, spacer size, chain width and derailleur throw. you might be able to increase one cog, in some wheels but not all. You almost always need to replace your shifter and derailleur. My TT bike was made for 8 speed, won't even fit a 10 speed wheel, which is ok because I only ran 3-5 cogs

 

[rharshberger]

I should introduce you to my collection of 7. 8. 9, 10, 11 and 12 cog rear wheels.....since I started in 90, we have the following campagnolo releases (friends don't let friends ride fishing gear)
1991 8 speed
1997 9 speed
2000 10 speed
2008 11 speed
2018 12 speed.

In the process, we changed wheel dish, axle length, spacer size, chain width and derailleur throw. you might be able to increase one cog, in some wheels but not all. You almost always need to replace your shifter and derailleur. My TT bike was made for 8 speed, won't even fit a 10 speed wheel, which is ok because I only ran 3-5 cogs

Funny, I wont fish with the inferred brand either.....