Interceptor-M with Booster

It sure sounds like we're having fun!! Todd will be posting some more photos of the beast shortly. We had it upright on the rail for a few tests and man that thing is tall! Can't wait to get some paint on it. And we have some mega nice decals that will make this baby look really sharp! Look for more posts soon. Rick

Hey all-

I'm WAY behind on posting pics... Luckily Rick Frelke has offered to sort them out and get them posted! He'll have some goodies up for you soon.

Okay... To tide you over until Rick gets around to doing the post...

The Interceptor team owe a HUGE thanks to Excelsior Rocketry and San Diego Copy for sponsoring our decals for the rocket!!! There just aren't enough exclamation points for that last sentense!!! Without their help, the rocket wouldn't have it's distinctive scale look!

Check out their websites and send them some business!

https://www.sandiegocopy.com/
https://www.excelsiorrocketry.com/

The decals are inkjet printed on self adhesive vinyl. Each sheet is roughly 3'x6'! If you've built a stock sized Interceptor, you know that it can take hours to cut out and apply all the multitudes of tiny decals. I spent 8 HOURS :surprised: just cutting all of them out sheets and trimming them down to be ready to apply... And there are more coming! Round two will be the decals for the booster!

So I will attempt to fill in some of the blanks as far as build pictures go. Thanx to Todd and other members for the pic's as I am a bad photographer.

First up is the dual ignitor test with 1000ft cable and new launch controller. Jim did an excellent job, quality work. No problems

Second is picture of booster mated to main for a jolly good fit

Lastly is the Tony Hawk camera looking down @ booster/main seperation point. Otta be some great video from this baby!

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Next we have some great shots of the beast sans primer but finally built, Side view, front view and view with the crew (minus a few).

The final two pic's are of that beautiful bird verticle on rail for the first time. The booster is being mated to the main in the first verticle shot. Just verticle bird in the second! Oh baby, the top of that thing is almost 20ft up.

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And finally some still shots of the ejection testing day. Todd had posted earlier the video of the ejection testing that Jim had shot, the now infamous "Dude" video. The stills slow things down so you can see things a bit more clearly...DUDE!!
Please note, I live on a 5+ acre parcel so we have plenty of room, no worries!

The first 2 pics show the main seperation ejection test. The top section (about 8ft long x 10" dia) flew approx 30 feet on 6 gram 4F charge.

The third pic shows the booster nose ejection test, duuuudde, lets do that again. flying over 40ft on 3gram 4F(it has to pull out the chute)

And the final two show the booster/main ejection test. That worked perfectly and the booster fell away as planned.

Next up: more primer, sanding, finish paint and decals. Getting down to crunch time. It always seems like its a rush to the finish! But what a rush it is!! Be in touch...

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Its coming along nicely!!

Sure is a great looking rocket

WOW! Those decals came out fantastic!! I am glad I could assist with this project.

Phred

rickfrelke said:

Lastly is the Tony Hawk camera looking down @ booster/main seperation point. Otta be some great video from this baby!

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Very nice work guys. I didn't fully realize how big this was until you had it assembled and vertical. Others have said it before, but wow.

I'm curious about your camera setup. Can you share some details? I think you said that was a Tony Hawk camera - any mods to it? In particular, where did that cool amber shroud that covers it come from? Did you make it, or was that "borrowed" from something else? Looks like a very nice design....

The shroud is a dumpster dived canopy off an RC helicopter and the camera was 30 bucks on-line records to an SD card and has to strips of scrap 1/4inch ply to hold it in place.

Phred,
Without your help we could have never had such a cool looking project! Thanx a million. Once the decal-man (Todd) gets done with it we're gonna have a museum peice! Hope to hang it from the ceiling of the warehouse when we're done with the flight. Thanx again Phred

And San Diego Copy did a superb job with the printing! Please support the vendors that have helped with this project:

https://www.sandiegocopy.com/
https://www.excelsiorrocketry.com/

What's Up Hobbies will be onsite at Plaster Blaster so I'm sure we'll get some supprot from Jack too. He always is there to help out.

Just in case you want more info on Plaster Baster you can go to that web page as well:

https://www.plasterblaster.com

Oct 3, 4, 5 is just around the corner! see you all there

I'm a little more on the ball with photos this week....

Here's the final configuration of the booster motor assembly. The co-pilot has been added, the motor tube signed by all present and the obligatory dollar bill glued in place...

After the booster motor mount went in and the epoxy had set up, the final sanding was done and the Interceptor went out for paint.

Rick, Jim D, Jim M, Andy, Kevin and Scott man handled the beast around and got a nice looking paint job on it!

Here's the (mostly) finished paint... There are a few touch ups needed... Darn LOC cones didn't take the paint well and it got lifted with the masking tape.

And here we have the beginning of the decals...

I cut out the new booster decals and they are ready to go. After starting on the nose decals, it occurred to me that I needed to stop and work from the rear of the rocket forward to get the spacing on the long "USAF" decals right....
Unfortunately, this meant that I have to wait until the paint on the rear half cures!

Thanks again to Excelsior Rocketry and San Diego Copy for making the decals into a reality!

BONUS PHOTOS!!!

We all know that there is nothing worse (rhetorically speaking...) than launching your rocket in the hot arid desert and not having some nice, cold nose weight to drink after your flight!

Rick found the solution to our problem! Neoprene can koozies and blue ice packs to keep our ballast at a temperature near LOX. Maybe if we are lucky, we can get that "venting steam" look to the rocket!

The koozies were a great idea and all, but they are now SO much better since we took a spray can and a PRS logo stencil to them...

Must be flying below radar, no replys to those awesome pic's? I tried the James Bondo log in without success, hopefully next time! Its game on for the decals on Sat then load this baby for the run to Plaster. Jesse told me we have the use of V's tower so no need for extension legs, yeah! peace.

Man, that is lookin sharp! One righteous lookin nose cone with those decals!

Finally got the new log in to work properly it appears! I do enjoy the finish work required on these big projects, lots of "bondo"!
We hope to finish decal work and clear coat this Sat then prepare rig for transport to Plaster Blaster. Can't wait to fly this baby!

Bondo said:

Finally got the new log in to work properly it appears! I do enjoy the finish work required on these big projects, lots of "bondo"!
We hope to finish decal work and clear coat this Sat then prepare rig for transport to Plaster Blaster. Can't wait to fly this baby!

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Hey Rick-

LOVE the new screen name! Now we just have to find you a cool little avatar image...

Maybe something like...

https://blog.makezine.com/upload/2008/04/bondo.jpg

Dude, that is one "Bondo-Man"!! Maybe a bit much for my taste but definetly on the right track. I'll look around to see what I can find. Any one, feel free to send along any suggestions!

Hello again all-

Well... These are the last of the building photos... The Interceptor is DONE!!!

The paint cured over the last week and is nice and glossy. If we'd had another couple of weeks, a second coat would have made the surface glass...

Scott Lawson wired up the last of the LEDs and got them attached. This thing is going to be amazing at night! Front to back... The LED scanner on the nose. Incandescent red lights top and botton behind the "ballast box". Wide angle spread red and green LEDs on the leading edge of the strakes. White high intensity LEDs in the tips of the "antennas". Red and green LED clusters on the wing pods.

Way to go Scott!

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And the moment you've all been waiting for! Here's the finished product!

Putting on the decals took nowhere as long as cutting them out did. It was only about 5 hours to put them all on. Jim Deveau turned out to be the perfect partner for me for the job. He's nearly as anal retentive as I am!

The vinyl that San Diego Copy printed them on is fantastic to work with! It peels off the backing smooth and easy. If you get the decal in the wrong place, it can be peeled up if it has only touched lightly and it didn't stretch out of shape!

The stock sized Estes Interceptor is sitting on top of the 8x Upscale for these pics!

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I've got a tingly feeling going up my leg. When is the launch date?

Here are a few more for your viewing pleasure. I hope you all have enjoyed watching the process as much as the build team has enjoyed putting it together.

There will be plenty of more pics next week from the launch! We'll let you know how the launch went and post pics and video next week after the launch! Pray to the rocket gods for good weather!

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Judo said:

I've got a tingly feeling going up my leg. When is the launch date?

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Hey Judo-

As you can tell from the last post... It's planned to launch next Saturday around 4:00 at Plaster Blaster!

The build team was giddy as schoolgirls yesterday when we finally got it loaded on to the new Punk Rocket Science emblazoned cradles! It was definitely time for a well earned Newcastle!

You guys did an awesome job!!!! Well done. :congrats::congrats::congrats::congrats::congrats::congrats::congrats::congrats:

Break a leg next weekend.

Amazing! That thing is incredible!

Kelltym88- Nah, we need something more fitting for this hobby. "Break a fin"

This is more than awesome, good luck next week!

Oliver