What did you do rocket wise today?

Gerald said:

Made so that the finished rocket is only a third of the originals size.

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I only ask because, in the picture, the small one doesn't look at all that much smaller.

Flyfalcons said:

Got color on the Madcow Big Fizz.View attachment 391231

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Dang! That's not an Alpha, it's an Oh-Mega!

More painting on the Fliskits Morning Star. Some touch up needed for a little yellow bleed, but mostly satisfied.

Prepped a pair of rockets for the weekend.

Charles_McG said:

Prepped a pair of rockets for the weekend.

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Nice looking rockets, is the one on the left scratch built? What motors are you going to launch in the Tomahawk?

mbeels said:

Nice looking rockets, is the one on the left scratch built? What motors are you going to launch in the Tomahawk?

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The upscale NASA Pegasus is a kitbash with parts from a Mega Der Red Max and a Leviathan. The fins are built up the same way as the MDR - my boys' high school has a laser cutter that will handle 12x24" 3mm ply.

The Ute Tomahawk is a kitbash from a Big Daddy, a Ventris, and an Argent. The interstage is paper/foam.
I think this flight will be a G115 white thunder to a G33 mellow. About 3800'. The Tomahawk has an eggfinder mini in the nose, and an eggtimer Proton in the middle. I've flown it G115 to F10 - but that 8 second burn is too long.

I can't believe I just said that.

kevindcornwell said:

A sorta standard 4FNC 4" body with 75mm mmt which is scheduled for balls.

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Looks really nice!

What's going in it that makes it a Balls project?

Still doing the AutoCAD archive dive. Around 2000, Fishman wanted launch controllers to go with wanting launch pads. This would have been the fancier one. I have no idea what the case would have looked like. I was toying with aping translucent teal era Apple, aping Bauhaus, or aping Googie.

Nytrunner said:

Looks really nice!

What's going in it that makes it a Balls project?

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Today's test:

I know it doesn't look dangerous, but... It is a modular rocket with a body tube that splits in half and fins that slide out. My first (quite successful) effort at a modular rocket used aluminum rails mounted in the fin slots. It was fiddly to assemble and didn't seem as 'elegant' of a solution as I'd hoped. This Ariel rocket uses a 75mm mmt that is split into four 'tongues' (split top to bottom) such that the motor casing itself provides a significant amount of the fin structural integrity. Since the mmt is attached only to the fins, the forces trying to tear the fins off are... transferred? Or so it may appear at first glance. The G10 fins (no external fillets, they are only slipped into the body slits - no epoxy there either) are well anchored into the fuselage by a tongue that slips into a centering ring, and by the aluminum flanged retaining ring at the aft end which screws into another CR. The motor thrust forces are transferred to the fuselage via the retainer, into the CR, and along the fuselage by several long G10 strakes that terminate into another CR. All joints are epoxied (JB Weld) into the aft half of the fuselage. The fuselage is bolted together (first pic with the internal clamping bits) via a clamping system that uses 3/4" plywood CR's that are epoxy-riveted to each half of the body. It is overall a testbed for a number of modular and lightweight techniques for HPR. Sims on an L850 to 13,000 agl at over 900mph. Eventually, I'll launch on an M-impulse which sims to 24,000agl at over Mach2. Not to make a build-thread (that'll come later), but here's a few pics. First is the fuselage clamp, second is the body tube being slid over the fin sleds (held in shape by the motor casing), third is the fin sleds themselves (the epoxy rivets are not extant in that shot), fourth is the internal structure of the 'fin cage'. Fins slide into the slots and the retainer flange bolts on which then provides the rigidity and the stability required to hold it all together.

This is a Balls project simply due to the unproven engineering solutions to the modular design criteria that directly impact structural integrity which translates to a risk level too high for conventional HPR launch sites.

Fuselage eh? I wasnt aware you were building an airplane (sorry, I'll put away my grammar cop hat)


I like the design! It's all positively fastened using mechanical joints. Those should be even easier to calculate and. erify than surface bidning with adhesives The fact that you'd be turned away from flying at a "normal" launch is unfortunate

I cut out and attached custom fins for two of my kitbashed Vikings

Nytrunner said:

Fuselage eh?

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Well, I admit it may seem odd, but a quick search will show that there doesn't seem to be a single consistently preferred word for the body. Among others, you'll find Fuselage, Tube, Body Tube, Airframe, Frame, Structural System, and Body to name just a few. A number of credible sources use the words interchangeably and inconsistently. Including NASA. So, I like to say Fuselage… Just for fun ;-)

Flew C-Star propellant for the first time (CTI K740). Beautiful.

Tarasdad said:

I glued the new couplers into the switch band for my Super Flash then drilled the hole for accessing the power switch. I also started making a standard coupler to use when I don't want to do dual deploy. Other than that...not much.

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Took a look at my cold power rockets today

BeerorKid said:

I would guess many folks do a little rocketry work every few days. Maybe your work is not new thread worthy, but you might want to at least share with others.
If you feel like it, this can be a thread for that. On the arcade message board I visit they have a thread like that and it is nice.

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Took a look at my old cold power rockets today. I use to (years ago) launch them (manually of course) on propane. Might look into converting into air brush propellant over the winter and give it a try in the spring. I also checked the current prices on Estes engines (haven't bought any for 20 years) and i don't think i will be launching many rockets. I have a pretty good supply that i stored air tight in a controlled environment and might pull from that for a few flights next spring. I more than likely won't buy any new engines at the current prices, it takes the fun out of it for me.

The spray painting never stops... it made for a rocket flower garden of sorts on the deck... I think the blue one is almost finished, at least. The much bigger one will receive a few different colors, ones different from the Estes color scheme. We'll see how it goes. It might end up looking like a Majestic color-wise.

In other news, I purchased some E engines for the first time. For someone who has only handled up to Ds, the sheer weight of those things took me a little by surprise when I grabbed them off the shelf. Of course engines get even bigger than mere Es, so I have many more shocks ahead of me. It's nice to have something to look forward to.

I also discovered that Elmer's Wood Filler works far better on fins than anything else I've tried up to this point. I followed a formula on one of Apogee's finishing videos and it made for some very smooth fins.

I found another batch of old AutoCAD files from the Holverson Designs days to start sorting and organizing through. Although they often seem to defy sorting and organizing.

ewomack said:

In other news, I purchased some E engines for the first time. For someone who has only handled up to Ds, the sheer weight of those things took me a little by surprise when I grabbed them off the shelf. Of course engines get even bigger than mere Es, so I have many more shocks ahead of me. It's nice to have something to look forward to.

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If you're putting those E's in the magician, consider a streamer or smaller chute. It can drift surprisingly FaR from a 1/4 mile up. The magician is a beautifully sleek and efficient flier.

Nytrunner said:

If you're putting those E's in the magician, consider a streamer or smaller chute. It can drift surprisingly FaR from a 1/4 mile up. The magician is a beautifully sleek and efficient flier.

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Thanks for the warning! I was going to try a D12-5 first, but throwing an E in that thing feels pretty tempting. But not for first flight.

Assembled fin can for my sounding rocket Formula 75 XL.

Today I started to build a launch controller based on Fdog's unit. https://www.rocketryforum.com/threads/next-launch-controller.34774/

I'm starting with the hand controller is it is the simplest. I drilled all the holes for the various switches, LEDs, buzzer, & RJ45 connector. I also cut down a Sparkfun prototyping board to fit the case. Tomorrow, after splitting firewood I'll start assempling & soldering.

Started packing the Toy hauler for LDRS.
11 rockets;
a Blackhawk 54 MD
two 3" Darkstars
CJ's 3" two stage
two 4" Punishers
a 4" DX-3
a carbon fiber Mongoose 75
a 6" Darkstar Ultimate
"Tweety bird" our 7.5" scratch built 5x54mm cluster
Sharon's L3 rocket, an 8" Gizmo XL

Pretty much filled up the bunk-beds in the back. Still have some more packing to do, but we will start again in the morning, when the temperature is less than 100*. No slack today, when it got up to 104*, we came in and built a "Not Your Wimpy Red" 76/6000 motor for my 4" Punisher. This is in case the M1955 Dark Matter that Charlie S. promised me doesn't show up.

JCRL said:

I cut out and attached custom fins for two of my kitbashed Vikings
View attachment 391311 View attachment 391312 View attachment 391313

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You might want to paper those fins



https://billsrockets.blogspot.com/2015/06/a-potentially-dangerous-boo-boo.html

Flew my Pegasus. The altimeter didn’t fire the outboards. I had forgotten the workaround to a bug.

Did it recover safely?

A little tube damage on the upper portion, which both stripped its drogue and didn’t fire the main. Easily repaired.

Renewed Tripoli membership. Hope they got my email and send it to correct address. I’ve moved twice in the past month. Haven’t touched rockets in awhile. Arkansas doesn’t even have any prefectures so it looks like a six hour plus drive is needed. Anyways I still love it.

Need to get a wireless router. Need to get laptop and a decent scale. Downgraded into a one bedroom apartment with a cheap ass concrete floor so I could build rockets in peace.

Andrew_ASC said:

Renewed Tripoli membership. Hope they got my email and send it to correct address. I’ve moved twice in the past month. Haven’t touched rockets in awhile. Arkansas doesn’t even have any prefectures so it looks like a six hour plus drive is needed. Anyways I still love it.

Need to get a wireless router. Need to get laptop and a decent scale. Downgraded into a one bedroom apartment with a cheap ass concrete floor so I could build rockets in peace.

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Did you renew online?

Steve Shannon said:

Did you renew online?

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I renewed online with latest address and also emailed Tripoli HQ. I think I’ll be okay.

Ground test, ground test, ground test....

mbeels said:

Ground test, ground test, ground test....

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Ooooohhh. Nice King Kraken, Marten.

Bought a 13mm ASP V-2 and a IQSY.