What did you do rocket wise today?

It turned out I needed more than decal and a clear coat- I did not have room for the main chute as I had epoxied the nose cone bulkhead/eyebolt to the coupler on the outside of the cone. After some Dremel work and a bit of epoxy clay, space problem is sorted. NOW all Miss Riley needs is her decal and clear coat. Oh, and a launch.

Wally Ferrer said:

It turned out I needed more than decal and a clear coat- I did not have room for the main chute as I had epoxied the nose cone bulkhead/eyebolt to the coupler on the outside of the cone. After some Dremel work and a bit of epoxy clay, space problem is sorted. NOW all Miss Riley needs is her decal and clear coat. Oh, and a launch.

View attachment 410893 View attachment 410894 View attachment 410895 View attachment 410896

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Buttoning up the nose cone is one of the last things I do during the construction process.

Lately I have been leaving the back of the nosecone open as far forward as I possibly can. This usually requires a smaller bulkhead but that’s no big deal. On my stubby L2 bird (Polecat Aerospace Goblin) my entire av bay is mounted inside the nose cone. The sled is removable through the bulkhead on a plate that I screw in place. It is capable of dual deploy but I generally use motor deploy at apogee on a drogue and a Chute Release on the main.

My Madcow Lil Goblin 2.6 is set up with the nosecone bulkhead recessed about 3” back to provide room for the chute and Chute Release package. You might be able to see it in the attached photo. Works great...no failures yet.

The second image shows the unfinished Lil Goblin 2.6 w 38mm motor tube and illustrates how much room can be gained by recessing the bulkhead.

Yes, I have two Lil Goblins.

If you ever decide to buy a 38mm one, make the motor tube as short as possible. I didn’t do that on the 29mm version.

Now she needs the clear coat, and we're launch ready.

Made a Rocket stand for the bed of my truck

Greg Furtman said:

Yup, those tiny components are tough. That's why I went to solder paste & hot air reflow. A little dab of paste on each pad, place the component as good as you can, and use hot air to activate the paste. If you have the component off a little bit the surface tension of the molten paste will pull it into alignment which is pretty cool to see.

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What do you use for hot air reflow? I'm satisfied with the Hakko 888D that I have now, which replaced the Hakko 650 pencil iron I had been using. I don't know how many more Eggtimer products I'll need, but it might be worth looking into if the price is right.

@tOD I bought a unit like this. you set the temp & air flow on the power supply. The stand has some sort of sensor so when you put the air gun back in it the heater stops & the fan goes to high to cool down quickly. When you take the air unit out of the stand it heats up withing 20 seconds & starts the fan to whatever level you had set it.

https://www.amazon.com/TXINLEI-8858...keywords=hot+air+reflow&qid=1585663333&sr=8-6

Here's the soldering paste I bought.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B017RSZFQQ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

And I bought one of these to practice on.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00VWB8F8K/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Greg Furtman said:

@tOD I bought a unit like this. you set the temp & air flow on the power supply. The stand has some sort of sensor so when you put the air gun back in it the heater stops & the fan goes to high to cool down quickly. When you take the air unit out of the stand it heats up withing 20 seconds & starts the fan to whatever level you had set it.

https://www.amazon.com/TXINLEI-8858...keywords=hot+air+reflow&qid=1585663333&sr=8-6

Here's the soldering paste I bought.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B017RSZFQQ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

And I bought one of these to practice on.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00VWB8F8K/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

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That's a lot less money than I expected. I could use my Covid19 relief money

Hey, my Talos Terrier Recruit fits inside the house!

Charles_McG said:

Hey, my Talos Terrier Recruit fits inside the house!

View attachment 410941

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Yes, but is that Terrier house trained..?

Wally Ferrer said:

Yes, but is that Terrier house trained..?

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Hasn't made any messes so far.

Nor gotten into fights with the Malemute,

Now I want to know what a terrier-malamute cross breed dog would look like. Of course it depends on what kind of terrier; crossing a Jack Russel with a malamute would not end well.

jqavins said:

Now I want to know what a terrier-malamute cross breed dog would look like. Of course it depends on what kind of terrier; crossing a Jack Russel with a malamute would not end well.

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Posted in one of my other threads:
https://www.rocketryforum.com/threads/malamute-terrier-malamute-scale-data.155496/#post-1927940

o1d_dude said:

And I’m also considering ordering an Eggfinder “whole enchilada” tracker/gps system with black aero handheld case...

It’s only money and YOLO, right?

Looking for some enabling here...

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Enable. Enable!

My enchilada arrived yesterday. Just started work on it.

If I'm going to fly bigger rockets, I want to be able to find them when they come back down. So far I've also been reluctant to fly anything that might apogee out of sight (1000'+). This is going to change that.

jqavins said:

crossing a Jack Russel with a malamute would not end well.

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Yes, a Jack mute would not make a very good guard dog.

Charles_McG said:

Hey, my Talos Terrier Recruit fits inside the house!

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Sure, it's easy when you suspend it sideways like that.

neil_w said:

Sure, it's easy when you suspend it sideways like that.

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But that bookshelf is a real hassle!

Finally set up my El Cheapo Brother laser printer from Amazon and ran a test print on plain paper.

Awesome!
Home printed decals should be much better and easier now.
No more ink dissolving or clear coating.
Woo hoo!

mbeels said:

But that bookshelf is a real hassle!

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Wood glue would work, cyanoacrylate if in a hurry, five minute epoxy would suffice if you really want it to stay put...

Put final details on Saturn V. Yes, some of the details are not correct. If you can point them out, you have a sharp eye and know your Saturn V well. Don't bother to post the discrepancies because I ain't gonna change it and you will ruin my day.
All that's left to do is paint and glue on the F1 engines, decals, and paint tower.

neil_w said:

Sure, it's easy when you suspend it sideways like that.

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You want it upright, get me the app back. This is the way Safari on my iPhone uploads it - and I'm not putting in extra effort. I'm not going to let it be my problem.
@Angie

A little primer on the mean machine.

Charles_McG said:

You want it upright, get me the app back. This is the way Safari on my iPhone uploads it - and I'm not putting in extra effort. I'm not going to let it be my problem.

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This is potentially interesting: https://xenforo.com/community/resources/native-mobile-apps-ios-and-android.7319/

kuririn said:

Finally set up my El Cheapo Brother laser printer from Amazon and ran a test print on plain paper.
View attachment 410952
Awesome!
Home printed decals should be much better and easier now.
No more ink dissolving or clear coating.
Woo hoo!

Click to expand...

I was an IT guy for 25+ years and I found Brother printers to be pretty reliable.

Examined parts kits from Boyce Aerospace to prep for assembly/paint.

Greg Furtman said:

I was an IT guy for 25+ years and I found Brother printers to be pretty reliable.

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Ditto. Inexpensive, reliable, lower cost-per-sheet-printed than a lot of others.

I started my next project, from PML. First time for the piston eject and quantum tube...

Got a first coat of color on the Omega and a final coat on the Der Red Max.

Wally Ferrer said:

I started my next project, from PML. First time for the piston eject and quantum tube...

View attachment 410976 View attachment 410977

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I really like the looks of that kit. Good luck. The pods on the fins were a little problematic for me. The more chute the better is all I'll suggest. PM me if you want the full story.

kuririn said:

Finally set up my El Cheapo Brother laser printer from Amazon and ran a test print on plain paper.
View attachment 410952
Awesome!
Home printed decals should be much better and easier now.
No more ink dissolving or clear coating.
Woo hoo!

Click to expand...

I recognize those EAC decals.

Worked on the fin can for my Cherokee-H upscale.

Sanded the glassine off the motor tube where the centering rings and fin roots will be attached. Then I sanded scorching off the lasercut fins. It was very pleasant sitting outside in the sunny backyard while doing this.

Later this evening I plan to mark the motor tube for the middle centering ring and permanently attach it as the reference point.

Been drooling over the Mach1 website and watched Ian Dalton’s video on constructing a BT20 Mini-Mamba. Now I want one. It looks like a one day build minus the paint.