What did you do rocket wise today?

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Happy Thanksgiving!

Today I took stock of what I am thankful for. Among other things, I am extremely thankful for the support of the community as I have been starting my venture making 3D printed / CNC'd model rocket kits. I have launched 8 semi-scale builders kits so far and I'm hoping to keep creating a few kits a month going forward.

Everyone have a great holiday with your family and friends and thank you again!

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Work continued on the Port-O-Potty rocket. All the centering squares are in as well as all the stringers. There are 6 centering squares and 12 stringers. Each level took 120 grams of epoxy. I use PC Super Epoxy. I am able to do each level all at once. Even the upside-down fillets. This epoxy stays where you put it, doesn't run or drip. It doesn't need fillers. It is a slow epoxy. It starts to cure after about 20 minutes. Full cure in 2 or 3 hours. I sprayed the half can of foam primer I had on the styrofoam roof. It needs more. But the only place I can find any is on Amazon and they want $25 a can. No thank you. I'll put a coat of GoodFila CWF on it and sand it smooth. If you haven't tried the GoodFila stuff, do yourself a favor and get a small 8oz container and try it. You won't be disappointed. The 38mm mmt is in the 4" BT. Now I need to do the fins. I think they will have to be very large. My current thinking is an 8 to 12" root and a 24 to 36" span. From the BT to the edge of the P-O-P is 12". I think there will be a lot of turbulence around the fins as this brick goes up. So a large span is needed to get some of the fin into clean air. Does anybody have an opinion on the fin size? I just weighed it 3673 grams, that's 131 oz or 8.19 pounds. I didn't have any idea what it would weigh in the end and I'm surprised it is as heavy as it is. I knew it was going to be heavy because of all the epoxy, but with the foam board construction I didn't think it would weigh what it does. The I 280 is looking more likely as a motor choice. The fins will be 1/4 plywood. 4 fins. The fins will be attached to the 15" of BT protruding from the P-O-P body. I added a strip of 1/4 plywood to the inside of the rear panel to screw the rail buttons into. I'll glue one of my clear plastic domes to a coupler for the nose cone. I drilled a 1" hole for an EggTimer Apogee in the NC bulkhead. I believe it will be a short up and I won't be using motor eject. I think it will come to a stop as soon as the motor stops. I'm not worried about nose weight. There is plenty already. I think I'm going to have to buy a new parachute. The biggest chute I have with the most drag is a 48" Rocketman 2.2 CD and that's rated at 7.5 lbs for a 15 fps landing. I'll get the next size up. I just now saw, in my email, that Rocketman is having a 20% off sale. I might just get the next two sizes up.20221121_010424[1461].jpg20221121_191358[1486].jpg20221122_210946[1507].jpg20221123_112943[1511].jpg20221123_121334[1510].jpg20221124_173508[1517].jpg I ordered a lot of plywood from BMS and will pick it up tomorrow. Then start on the fins. Here are some pictures of the progress. The 5th picture is of the inside of the body. The epoxy you see was put on a minute or two before I took the picture and the body is laying on it's side. I would welcome any input you all have. This is uncharted territory for me.
 
Went through all my high power paperwork for motors/sims and old paper work for kit directions organized and removed what’s not needed
Took inventory of kits still needing to
Be built
That’s what I got done for rocketry today so far
 
measured and weighed the old Delta II rocket and sent the info to cwbullet so that he can possibly 3D print the 8 booster nozzles for me.
 
Prepped my dual deploy Argent for the next TRA/PHX launch. Since I'm running out of H115's, I decided to crank it back a bit and fly it on a G75 Metalstorm, which we have plenty of.
Yesterday I prepped my LOC Queen Viper with three CTI H100 Imax 2 grain motors. Flew it earier this month at Holtville Havoc on three H120 Red Lightnings and really enjoyed the flight.

Queen Viper launch pad.jpg

Talking to Sharon this morning and we decided to do a cluster day next weekend. My LOC Viper 3 will start off with three E12's, and we will finish up with "Tweety Bird", which is my avatar pic:
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The above pic was taken on its maiden flight at TCC in California, LDRS 37 in 2018. Its a 7.75" scratch built rocket that I did a build thread on here:
https://www.rocketryforum.com/threads/tweety-bird.144668/#post-1988008
That flight was powered by a center mounted L640 dual thrust, and the picture was taken just before the two I218 white thunder motors fired, followed by two I120 Imax motors three seconds later. Apogee at 5187 ft.
 
I epoxied the centering rings in place on the Pink Lady. I'll do the external fillets on them tomorrow.
 
Sent up 6 today (4 C6 and 2 D-12s). 5 more tomorrow. This weeks total will be over 20 launches.
 
More work on the Brocket kits.

Realised that:

A - I need to improve my inventory system and,
B - I have enough parts to make up a few 'Two-up' dual 13 mm cluster kits. Yes! A 13 mm cluster kit! Complete with Qualman baffle and laser cut fins and fin guide this is one of my favourite designs from my notebooks. Personally, I love this rocket. I'm excited, can you tell? :dancingelephant:
 
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Hit the Wildman sale this morning for a few CTI reloads and Top Flight streamers. Managed to NOT buy any more kits this time.
Inventoried our research motors, still have a few built motors we made up for the Colorado launches that were cancelled last summer. Only about 40 left to build, gonna have to start mixing again soon....
Then went out and cleaned and prepped "Slick Willy", (4" Punisher). Building a 76/6000 research motor for it.
Later, Sharon came down from her Ivory (computer) tower and we prepped a bunch of low power/mid power rockets. If we don't fly them at TRA/PHX next weekend, we will fly them at the New Years launch.
 
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I hit up the Wildman sale also. Restocked on some motors.

Also removed all the clamps holding the wicker in the fan blades on my latest rocket. It's ready for next months launch.
 
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