Wildman Wild Child & DarkStar 'mini's all glass are here!

rocket sok
shop deals on amazon
the rocketry show
SilicdyneTRF
The Rocketry Forum

Help Support The Rocketry Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
its the drag race at thunderstruck this year lol there will be a few of us tromping around looking for them. I have a few back up lvl1 capable flyers ready to go
 
gagreen said:
its the drag race at thunderstruck this year lol there will be a few of us tromping around looking for them. I have a few back up lvl1 capable flyers ready to go
Click to expand...

I also purchased a Wild Child from Darryl, but for the drag race at LDRS.
 
there is just something about these little fiberglass hot rods that screams put a giant motor in me and launch multiples at the same time. I also think that an i + a wildchild + a drag race is just a perfect way to go at my first lvl1 attempt. lol
 
Bring it to red glare and I'll drag race you to level 1. We'll spend some quality time looking for them!

ps get your syringe from walmart, a lot cheaper - get the one that you use to give meds to little kids. Bet you might even talk your way into one, but they also sell them.
 
The foam and fly process is really intriguing but i am new to the foam, does it add much weight to the rocket or is it a relatively light material?
 
Ruben- I'm really sorry nobody responded to your inquiry. Yes foam is lighter than the typical epoxy build. The adhesive characteristics of the foam 'lock in' the components,spreading the forces seen thru the airframe. Think of monocoque construction on an F1 racecar-same performance!
 
I ordered the wild child sweet deal and now I'm reading through all the threads I can find on it while I wait. I hate waiting for now toys to arrive!

I'm going to do the foam and fly thing, but I have a question about fillets that I haven't found an answer to.

If you use the foam, do you need to do external fillets on the fins?

The instructions don't mention fillets (fillets are only shown for the non-foam method), and I can't find any examples of foam and fillets in threads here.

My guess is they aren't needed, but I thought I'd ask.

Thanks for the help!
 
What's the minimum foam density recommended for the foam version?

Edit - oh, and what's the actual fin thickness. I'm thinking of modding it, and I could order the parts now if I knew.
 
Derek said:
I ordered the wild child sweet deal and now I'm reading through all the threads I can find on it while I wait. I hate waiting for now toys to arrive!

I'm going to do the foam and fly thing, but I have a question about fillets that I haven't found an answer to.

If you use the foam, do you need to do external fillets on the fins?

The instructions don't mention fillets (fillets are only shown for the non-foam method), and I can't find any examples of foam and fillets in threads here.

My guess is they aren't needed, but I thought I'd ask.

Thanks for the help!
Click to expand...

Because pressure changes can cause bleeding of gases out of the foam, paint over the fin/airframe joint can form large and ugly bubbles. For this reason only, I applied minimal epoxy fillets on my DS Mini.

G.D.
 
Derek said:
I ordered the wild child sweet deal and now I'm reading through all the threads I can find on it while I wait. I hate waiting for now toys to arrive!

I'm going to do the foam and fly thing, but I have a question about fillets that I haven't found an answer to.

If you use the foam, do you need to do external fillets on the fins?

The instructions don't mention fillets (fillets are only shown for the non-foam method), and I can't find any examples of foam and fillets in threads here.

My guess is they aren't needed, but I thought I'd ask.

Thanks for the help!
Click to expand...

I haven't used this method but I'm pretty sure fillets aren't needed but small fillets would be good for aerodynamics and a finished look.
 
Holy cow! 2 answers (and a new question) in less than 5 minutes! thanks!

I never though about the outgassing. I figured the joints may not end up looking too pretty, but I guess I'll find out. But it sounds like thick fillets aren't necessary.

Thanks again!
 
fyrwrxz said:
Ruben- I'm really sorry nobody responded to your inquiry. Yes foam is lighter than the typical epoxy build. The adhesive characteristics of the foam 'lock in' the components,spreading the forces seen thru the airframe. Think of monocoque construction on an F1 racecar-same performance!
Click to expand...

Depends on the volume of foam and/or length of epoxy fillets. I did some calculations on a long 4" fin can (Madcow Frenzy), and concluded that epoxy would be less mass. I like the foam for ease of use more than anything. You can really optimize with the type of foam that expands to greater ratios with a few drops of water (PML sells it).

Calcs here:

https://www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?30648-Frenzy-(base-model)-build&p=281580#post281580
 
Dr. CJ ....answering page!

Yes foam saves rocket lives too! No fillets are needed for structure, but if painting fins a different color than body tube, a small fillet will make taping much easier.

Foam we used was same as PML stuff. Gotta go now.....play doctor with some nurses.

It does help to wash parts with soap & water, then sand them a bit.....helps the foam stick....Mo Better!
 
thanks for the tips!

blackjack2564 said:
Dr. CJ ....answering page!

Yes foam saves rocket lives too! No fillets are needed for structure, but if painting fins a different color than body tube, a small fillet will make taping much easier.

Foam we used was same as PML stuff. Gotta go now.....play doctor with some nurses.

It does help to wash parts with soap & water, then sand them a bit.....helps the foam stick....Mo Better!
Click to expand...
 
I think I have a problem with my planned use of an estes retainer for the wild child. the maximum od of the estes retaining is 1.75". I have a feeling that the od of the airframe is slightly over 1.5", so that will look pretty strange.

Can anyone please tell me the od of the 38mm g12 tubes?
 
Yes, the Estes retainer will be bigger than the body tube. The aero pack retainer is near the exact same size and looks great. The rocket is worth the investment.
 
I was able to get the od from openrocket (1.62"). The estes retainer would look pretty bad on it so I added an aero pack retainer to the order.

thanks for the help!
 
I got my wild child friday! this is my first fiberglass kit and it is quite a bit heavier than the cardboard and plastic kits I'm familiar with. it surprised me!

I went with the foam and fly method. I could not get the kevlar loop to stick to the nose cone with ca, so I ended up using a little epoxy to tack it in place instead.

I've never used the foam before so I read up about it as much as possible. I foamed the nose cone first since it is easier and should be a little less forgiving. I masked the shoulder and kevlar loop to prevent getting covered with foam, and I was really glad I did. I added one drop of water, but that was a mistake. there was a lot of overflow! zero drops would have been better imo. I also made the mistake of trying to clean up a little of the excess as it was growing and ended up with a bigger mess. lesson learned!

For the fin can foaming, I carefully taped the mmt and around bt and built a little shelves to prevent the foam from running down the sides. This time I didn't add any drops of water, but I think the 15 ml per part was still a little too much. I used a monoject syringe with the tip sized to just fit in the gap between the mmt and the bt. I ended up pretty well, imo!

IMG_20130106_140240.jpg

Another thing I learned with the nose cone foaming was to wear gloves! this stuff is brutal to get off your fingers. I still have a little on me!

The build went really quickly with the foam. The only thing left to do are small fillets and mount the aeropack and the rail buttons. I think I only have about 2 hours of labor in so far. it is mostly waiting for stuff to dry.

I chose not to mount the rear cr, however I didn't like the look of the foam so I dug a little out and filled the space with epoxy. It came out pretty good, except for a couple of bubbles in the epoxy. oh well the aeropack will hide most it them.

So far I'm really impressed with the kit. it fits together perfectly and seems bombproof. I need to find a motor that I can actually use with this thing. the sims show small f's fly to over 1500', which is way more than I'd like for the first flight. however I think the weight is way off in the model so I need to weight it when I'm done.

I'm already dreaming up mods for it. I'm thinking of added a 12" payload section for a tracker. then I'd feel better about sticking a big motor in it.

Fun stuff! Thanks Wildman!
 
Last edited:
What type of screws are you using to mount your rail buttons on these small kits? I'm thinking the fiberglass is strong enough to handle just screwing them into it, but should I use a coarse threaded wood screw or a machine screw and tap the hole? I'm not even going to try to hit the upper centering ring as it is smaller than the diameter of either type of screw and will probably just end up splitting.

either way I'm thinking a little dab of epoxy will keep them from working loose.

another option would be the conformal rails from glr, but I already have some buttons and I'm hoping to not order anything else to finish the build.

any suggestions are greatly appreciated!

thanks!
 
Your rocket should weigh in at right around 1lb. ready to fly. You will find F-motors in the F-24-7W or F-39-6B F-240 V-max will go between 800-1100ft.

Most rail buttons come with the screws....#8 I believe. A 1/8 bit is used for drilling hole and the screw will self tap.

BEWARE: rear screw usually needs cutting off/dremeling/shortening. The motor mount tube is VERY close to Airframe.

I fly mine with a streamer on windy days....no worries... fiberglass can take much harder hits.

I just tape my tracker to shock cord, never been an issue.
 

Similar threads

blackjack2564
WildMan Sport build instructions thread.
2 3 4
Replies
98
Views
23K
Joe Rocket 97
Joe Rocket 97
smapdiage9
Wild Child Build
Replies
23
Views
6K
CORZERO
CORZERO
blackjack2564
WildMan dual deploy option for DarkStar-WildChild- EagleClaw mini's...interested?
Replies
17
Views
2K
DizWolf
D
nute
Redshift- 38mm Minimum Diameter Rocket
4 5 6
Replies
166
Views
37K
nute
nute
rfjustin
WILDMAN WILD CHILD AND 29MM AEROPACK REATINER
Replies
4
Views
1K
rfjustin
rfjustin

Latest posts

Back
Top