Possible Star Ship kit in development

SteveNeill said:

24 mm. E12-6. Short fat and pretty.

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I agree, that looks great!

I'm curious, is a 6 second delay about right for a flight to 310 feet? It seems like the rocket will be moving pretty slowly. How is the lift off velocity?

I'm not sure how popular this will be but I appreciate you all that have expressed interest. If this all goes well I'll be doing a second kit of a epoxy glass fuse. I have the nose cone already from the variant I did 10 years ago. It was a kit too but a pure X-15 this size for E engines would be nice.

mbeels said:

I agree, that looks great!

I'm curious, is a 6 second delay about right for a flight to 310 feet? It seems like the rocket will be moving pretty slowly. How is the lift off velocity?

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Good question. I'll sleep on it.

Nytrunner said:

1.2 kilometers? Something in me doubts this

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It’s only an extra zero - that can’t add up to anything significant, can it?

I think an X-15-3 Delta config would be a good seller and easy to make stable. Note, in my humble opinion, in this size and wingspan it won't glide for those that are wondering, I had to make mine very light and cheat on the wingspan to make it glide

Started construction of the masters for this model today. I got quite far in 5 hour day and turned the nose cone blank and tail piece. In addition I cut some blanks for the fins and the canards. All this has to be detailed and primered. Then they get molded in silicone to produce resin cast parts. I still have to do the filets for the two fins that rotate. I've decided to do the two fin version and both the three and the two fins will be included in the eventual kit if this thing flies.

The window is just a sticker for looks. There will be scribing there to tell you where to cut out the plastic so you can install the clear plastic vacuum formed window.

And here's a picture of the lastest render from Elon of the two finned version once it goes to production.

Here's is the latest version although I'm not sure how well it will fly on tow fins. We will find out soon at the rate I'm going.

Couple more lathe shots. It was close by this point. Something about the lathe and working with your hands and 3D printer can't beat.

Two fins is going to be real sketchy.

Maybe clear plastic fins mounted at the "nubs" between the main fins?

Nytrunner said:

Two find is going to be real sketchy.

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Is "sketchy" a new synonym for "unstable"?

SteveNeill said:

In addition I cut some blanks for the fins and the canards.

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Looking great so far. Are the fin blanks going to be templates for the final fins? I noticed that the grain direction is going along the axis of the rocket, they tend to break pretty easily if flown like that.

mbeels said:

Looking great so far. Are the fin blanks going to be templates for the final fins? I noticed that the grain direction is going along the axis of the rocket, they tend to break pretty easily if flown like that.

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I knew someone would say that. However your guess is right. Those have to be sanded to shape and the landing pads added and then I mold them in silicone. The fins will plug into the filets.

SteveNeill said:

I knew someone would say that. However your guess is right. Those have to be sanded to shape and the landing pads added and then I mold them in silicone. The fins will plug into the filets.

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OK, I assumed you had some further steps in mind, you had alluded to molds in other posts, so I could tell you had a plan.

Does the real thing have landing legs that could be creatively turned into acting like fins?

"Sketchy" is Ok for the US. But in the UK the correct term is "a bit dodgy. "

A bit more done yesterday. The fins are two masters. The vertical dorsel doesn't have the hinges just the filet. The master incorporates the filet.

The other fin master has the dummy hinge. Both are in early stages and made of balsa. Remember both in fact all these balsa parts once detailed and finished will be molded and cast in Alumilite.

I have been asked why I don't 3D print these parts? I don't own a printer yet. I plan too but I do really enjoy doing things by hand because I have that ability. There's just something about it.

Must the smaller engines be fake? Would a ring of 13 mm motors work in this scale? 6×A10 would be equivalent to a D14, or 6×A3 would make a D13, so they'd help with speed off the rail* as well as look good.

* I'm concerned about the speed as this looks rather heavy.

Looks similar to a BMS 3" School rocket in terms of weight/drag. That flies on D/E blackpowder

SteveNeill said:

The other fin master has the dummy hinge.

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Do you hand carve these? the curves and lines are amazing

I agree with you there, give me a file and a drill press and I can do a lot, until I have to do a lot of the same thing, then it's a job

SteveNeill said:

I do really enjoy doing things by hand because I have that ability. There's just something about it.

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Nytrunner said:

Looks similar to a BMS 3" School rocket in terms of weight/drag. That flies on D/E blackpowder



Do you hand carve these? the curves and lines are amazing

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Yes I do. Been doing it for years professionally for the film studios. So it comes easy. Thanks for the kind words.

burkefj said:

I agree with you there, give me a file and a drill press and I can do a lot, until I have to do a lot of the same thing, then it's a job

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Yup!

Getting ready to do the waste molds. I take these wooden masters only so far. Dump a can of primer on them and they plasticize pretty well enough to pull silicone molds and then pull some castings in Alumilite.

Once the parts are made of a consistent material they are easier to retool and get close to perfect. Then I'll cast them again for actual production kit parts. I learned this from the toy industry. But these waste molds will produce parts good enough for a test model to assemble and fly.

I hope to have one ready by Oct 12-13 for my trip to Roctober at the dry lake bed in Lucerne.

Steve, you're the guy I always wanted to live next door to. All I do is slap kits together. It would be so fun to watch an actual designer/builder at work. Thanks for all the pics!

Bat-mite said:

Steve, you're the guy I always wanted to live next door to. All I do is slap kits together. It would be so fun to watch an actual designer/builder at work. Thanks for all the pics!

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You are too kind. Thank you.

I'm really enjoying this thread. It’s very interesting to see the process for creating the model for a mold.

ThirstyBarbarian said:

I'm really enjoying this thread. It’s very interesting to see the process for creating the model for a mold.

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Same here.

SteveNeill said:

Paint it. If it were an Atlas no I'd leave it metal but sue me I like the painted look.

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I’ve made a few rockets with a metallic silver look, and I’ve decided that painted is often better. The thing about very reflective finishes is that they look good under certain conditions, but in a lot of cases, they end up kind of obscuring the look of the rocket. They reflect what is around them, so in the sky, they look sky-blue, on the ground, they look grass-green. They just do not stand out as much as something with it’s own color. You even see that in Elon Musk’s presentation about the Mk-1 prototype. They have lights on it, but the light is just reflected away, and the starship looks the color of the dark night sky.

More progress as I drive myself to get a rough prototype done for the Roctober event at Lucerne next weekend. Things I've notice already is the parts in resin are a bit heavier. The fins and the nose cone have driven up the weight to 2 oz. more than the Bigdaddy of similar size. However the CG in order to make this model stabal required nose weight and the nose cone did that perfectly and the CG is in the right position.

Today I'll try to finish it off. I plan to cut out the window and replace it with a vacuum formed clear window, paint the model and decal the remaining windows. I need to fly it first before I spend too much more time on the ship detailing it or making production tooling and molds.

That is pretty slick.

I have a rough prototype. It came out about 11 oz though a bit heavy for my tastes and can be made lighter. Tail cone piece will need to be vacuum formed. That will save a lot and the fins made from plywood. The resin is a bit heavier. Nose cone is OK but could be made lighter but the model needs nose weight to be stable as it is. But it should fly on a E12-6. We will find out next weekend.

Paypal friends and family okay to place a deposit?