Darkstar 2.6 L1 Rocket

Well my daughter is going to do a L1 attempt at AirFest 24 this year. I bought her a Wildman 2.6 Darkstar for her 18th birthday. She will fly it in a motor deployment configuration. The plan is for the main to be deployed from the booster. We plan to use 1/4" all thread and a SS Eye nut (From OneBadHawk) to hold the empty AvBay together. My question is what is the best way to hold the payload tube and nose cone on so that if she wants later to fly this rocket in a dual deploy configuration she can still do that. I was thinking of just using 2-56 nylon shear screws but I worry that it could still come apart. I have never flown a dual deploy rocket setup in motor deploy. Should we connect the top part together with a shock cord even though it won't be used? Thanks for you help.

What I would do is attach the payload tube to the av bay with a metal screw/bolt (which is what I normally do for DD rockets), then shock cord + shear pins for the payload tube to the nose cone. This makes sure that everything stays together, even if she's doing a motor eject flight, and also gets things ready for when she wants to do a DD flight.

I did my L1 on e a WM Darkstar Jr.!

I tend to always tether my upper sections together so that, just in case they do come apart, they don't become free-falling objects.
The eye-nut can become loose as the rocket twists & turns, therefore unscrewing it. You'll need to add a locking nut to it.. (Don't worry, I've done that same thing, but after a while you kinda realise the U bolt is a better / more secure method..) Prep the AV bay anyways for eventual DD: a ring / anchor point both top & bottom.

On my DS, I used the push pins on the av bay tube & upper BT section, and 3 shear pins on the NC. (There is no charge so no reason for it to get dislodged, except the stopping force when it reaches the end of the shock cord.) Again, a tether thru all this is a safety back up..

djs said:

What I would do is attach the payload tube to the av bay with a metal screw/bolt (which is what I normally do for DD rockets), then shock cord + shear pins for the payload tube to the nose cone. This makes sure that everything stays together, even if she's doing a motor eject flight, and also gets things ready for when she wants to do a DD flight.

Click to expand...

Yeah I thought about that. I have some 6-32 PEM nuts that would work great to attach the av bay to the payload tube.

dr wogz said:

I did my L1 on e a WM Darkstar Jr.!

I tend to always tether my upper sections together so that, just in case they do come apart, they don't become free-falling objects.
The eye-nut can become loose as the rocket twists & turns, therefore unscrewing it. You'll need to add a locking nut to it.. (Don't worry, I've done that same thing, but after a while you kinda realise the U bolt is a better / more secure method..) Prep the AV bay anyways for eventual DD: a ring / anchor point both top & bottom.

On my DS, I used the push pins on the av bay tube & upper BT section, and 3 shear pins on the NC. (There is no charge so no reason for it to get dislodged, except the stopping force when it reaches the end of the shock cord.) Again, a tether thru all this is a safety back up..

Click to expand...

I was thinking about using U-bolts. I have always done that. But with a 2.6" tube a u-bolt and then two more all threads for the av bay sled will get pretty tight. So that's why I was thinking a single one with a eye nut. I saw from Crazy Jim's 3" Darkstar build instructions that he used the eye nut with a lock nut. I don't know if she will ever do it dual deploy but it needs to be ready in case she does. It would be smart because and AT I211 will take it to about 4200 feet.

I was reminded of some nifty hardware while at NARAM.

Rope/cable clips! Search for them on MCmaster or at Lowes/Home depot. They come small

Nytrunner said:

I was reminded of some nifty hardware while at NARAM.

Rope/cable clips! Search for them on MCmaster or at Lowes/Home depot. They come small

Click to expand...

Yep, cable clamps aka mini u-bolts.

I did my L1/L2 on a Darkstar 2.6! It worked out pretty great, but I did dual deploy for both.

If you plan on using it for DD in the future I'd just set it up like you were going to fly DD. Use push rivets to hold the payload tube to the AV bay and then friction fit/shear pin the nose. You could add a shock cord up there if your're worried.

What motor is she flying it on?

I like your idea kidrobo of the push rivets I have used them on several of my rockets until my L3 where I used pem nuts because the high ejection charges for a 7 1/2" diameter rocket where shearing them off. It wil probably be a small H so we keep it low so we don't have to chase it a long ways. The winds at the Kloudbuster Rocket Pasture can sometimes be pretty high. We will see how it is this year. We haven't talked about motors yet. If it was her brother it would be a single use motor but she likes building Aerotech motors and has been using the 29/40-120 case for years flying G64 & G76 motors in several different mediump power rockets she has built or that I have.