What did you do rocket wise today?

All hail... THE SQUIRREL!!! The Acorn is complete apart from some internal tweaks. It was a fun kit to build, more on the beginner's side of the spectrum, but getting a smooth nose cone took some sanding and coating effort. I have converted to Elmer's Wood Filler. The background shows my in-progress attempt to put the Acorn into Open Rocket. Since it's so top heavy with that massive nose cone, I was wondering where the CG and CP would end up. I'm sure my model needs some work, because right now it shows both as almost exactly in the middle of the body, but CG sits forward, at least, but not by much.

Nice result! Short stubby rockets like that get some extra stability from base drag.

Way to go Dwight!! Congrats!

dwightr said:

I got my L2 yesterday. I flew a modified Apogee Zephyr on an Aerotech J270 single use to 3409' at Bayboro, NC.
Good straight flight considering the wind and an easy recovery about 1000' form the pads but only 50' from the road.View attachment 397329

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Congratulations!!!

dwightr said:

I got my L2 yesterday. I flew a modified Apogee Zephyr on an Aerotech J270 single use to 3409' at Bayboro, NC.

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Welcome to Level 2 .

Greg Furtman said:

Bigger workbench.

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Actually next one will be a LOC Precision IQSY Tomahawk, 29 mm motor mount. I unpacked the kit and am wondering if I can get a Quark and a small LiPo in the coupler to make it dual deploy. 1.432"x4".

I'd sure like to know what gets into the CR10 sometimes. I'm having yet another night of out of the blue things stop sticking to the bed for no reason and continue not to stick no matter how I adjust it. I'm going to clean the nozzle and re-level the bed tomorrow night after work.

I'm also not happy with the Photon leaving sad little lumps in the vat instead of printing orange resin no matter how I set the exposure settings.

Applied the Stickershock vinyl wrap to the payload section and shot some Rust-Oleum hammered copper paint on the nosecone. Applying the vinyl was almost as easy as Mark makes it look in his video

dwightr said:

I got my L2 yesterday.

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Congratulations.

I started to work up a 3D printable PNC and fin ring for the old Centuri plan of the Pluto Plus. Can anybody point me to an actual fin template?

I'm trying to get back to fiddling with the 3D printers as the snow comes down in Omaha. But I'm just so tired of those things erroring out....

tOD said:

Applied the Stickershock vinyl wrap to the payload section and shot some Rust-Oleum hammered copper paint onView attachment 397362 the nosecone. Applying the vinyl was almost as easy as Mark makes it look in his video

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Nice graphics!

Why am I so paranoid about a crooked fin on an intentionally crooked rocket?!

Because we all know that crooked fins are WRONG. That the crooked rocket is, in fact, very carefully designed to fly stably and the crooked fin isn't part of that careful design.

That's why you're worried; it just looks wrong. And we also have all seen rockets with slightly crooked fins fly just fine and and we know this one will be OK. So pretend it's supposed to be that way, and let it add to the overall effect.

It's all good.
(I'm really sick of hearing that sentence, and this time I just can't think of a better one.)

BDB said:

Why am I so paranoid about a crooked fin on an intentionally crooked rocket?!

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I have learned not to ever sight down the length of my rockets after they are built.

Nice upscale, what size is that?

Put in an eRockets tubing order.

One more sounding rocket on the to-do list.

Rocketcas said:

Nice graphics!

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Thanks. Mark at Stickershock gets all the credit. I hope I can get the pieces on around the fins correctly. That's going to be the challenging part.

neil_w said:

I have learned not to ever sight down the length of my rockets after they are built.

Nice upscale, what size is that?

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It's just the standard Fliskits Spitfire. BT70, I think.

I'm really enjoying the build. (At least until that last %^@$# fin.) Its a really ingenious design.

BDB said:

It's just the standard Fliskits Spitfire. BT70, I think.

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Wow, it is bigger than I realized.... I should build one one day.

Helped Sharon's dad build his first rocket:


Riley has been going to the last couple of rocket launches with us, and is showing some interest in the hobby. Sharon bought him a kit at the last launch and we built it today.

I also repaired a rocket I built in 2011 called the CC Express. On almost every launch, the booster breaks a fin, so some time back, I cloned the booster, making the fins through the wall. Still breaking fins, but not as often.

Assembled a redline H motor to be flown at the next launch.

I received my NAR membership today #108298

JCRL said:

I received my NAR membership today #108298

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Congrats!

Filling kit orders We are off to a good start.

Succumbed to my paranoia...

Loaded up a few motors getting ready for some mid power fun until the lakes freeze: 24/40 F39-9t, 24/60 F51-10t, 29-40/120 G76-10g, 38/240 G69N-p w/ras.

I plan to re attempt my mid power 2 stage in Lowtech 4, plan to get a G80t to G40w-p flight, sub sonic, gps rrc3 808 camera, using my 1010 rail pad(86"), estimated altitude: 7,200'

~John

Repaired my father in-laws hedge trimmer. What's that got you do with rocketry? It was on my workbench, where he put it, on top of my 38mm Go Devil kit. Broke a fin off when the trimmer landed . The Go Devil has been "Franked".

Yesterday, flew a 3" scratch rocket on an H210 redline and a Cherokee-E on an Estes E12. The 3" rocket landed in a tree, but luckily I was able to snag the chute with a stick and pull it down far enough to grab the payload and cut the shock cord. Booster came slithering down. [Couldn't post yesterday, bad bout of stomach problems when I got home].

Also bought a 2020 rail for the mini-railbuttons. All of my rockets will have buttons from now on.

Added some finishing touches to a scratch built 3” I’ll be using for my Level 1 attempt.

I used automotive vinyl wrap and considering how much work needs to be done for finishing on the tube itself, I think I’ll just use paint for the future and add vinyl decals.

Yesterday



Low power launch with the club.

Starting to wrap up CAD designs for the Pluto++ and the Orion Plus. Hopefully, they will be 3D printable versions of the old Centuri nose cones with Mini Mars Lander inspired rubber band loaded landing legs.

Otherwise, I'm wondering why I can reliably print white, red, and clear in my Anycubic Photon, but aqua blue and orange are more often than not fall of the plate and leave a sad little lump in the vat, even with the exposure times turned up and brims?