Mid-power two stage

Just build it and let it Rip.
I have always wanted to build a two stage mid-power rocket. But I've felt my building techniques were never up to par for such a rocket. What's the point if you can build a rocket that would go just as high and not having to waste a second motor to go the same height. But now that I've honed my building skills I'm going to attempt this. The rocket is going to use all Estes parts. Size of this will be the Bt-60, And will use 29mm mounts. The motors I'd like to go with is the G-76 or G-64 reloads. I'll use the perfect flight Minitimer-4, To light the sustainer at burn out of the booster motor and where it will be mounted. The booster will use the motor for deployment, some thing like a G-76-4 that I'll try and shave down to a 3-second delay. The sustainer will use the RRC2 for recovery. Where it will deploy the drogue at apogee and the main at 800'. I want to give myself some time to see it before it lands. Where I feel if I deploy the main at 300' it's not going to give me much time to spot it before it lands. But in the perfect rocketry world I'll get to watch the whole flight, Ha,Ha no such luck, So we hope for the best and try and eliminate the margins for failure.

The tubes will have two wraps of 2oz. glass, the fins will use 1/32 basswood with one layer of 5oz. glass on both sides. Then after I mount them they will be glassed tip to tip with the 2oz. glass. Now after having said all that I'm hoping and trying to keep this build under 20-ounces. But I'm shooting for 16oz. I'd like to add, This is what I live for in rocketry. I love to build and fly rockets that anybody can do. No level -1 certs no wavers anything at all. Just build it and let it rip.:jaw:

You go, buddy! Straight smoke and good chutes!

If you're going to use 2 G motors, I think that you will need L1 certification. (Over 320Ns.) That's for full Gs. Baby Gs should be OK.

No It's under the 125 grams of propellant and not over 3.3 pounds. Now if I were to fly at a Nar launch I could Add a F-motor to that.
Now I've seen where your said for the Full-g's mike. Your right on that up to the 320N-sec. Believe me I given this a lot of thought. The Two G-76's are around 236-N-sec. So I could add a F-40 to that and fly it at a Nar launch. But on my own I'd need a waver. I still can fly 3 F-40's because it's at 120 grams. Some day I'd like to do a cluster two stage.

Completely false.

Read the NAR Model Rocket Safety Code.

And read the PDF that shows the various limits in grahic form.


Links have been provided dozens of times in many many threads as well as the sticky thread in the educational sub-forum.

mikemech said:

If you're going to use 2 G motors, I think that you will need L1 certification. (Over 320Ns.) That's for full Gs. Baby Gs should be OK.

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The first thing I do when I glass a tube is sand it down. I feel this helps the epoxy penetrate the tube a little better, with out the glassine being there. I start out with 80grit go to 120 and finish with 220. I'll draw a line the full length of the tube so I can line it up as straight as possible. When I cut the glass I leave it at least 1" longer than the tube.

To hold the glass on the tube I use the 3m spray glue. Just spray a real lite coat on the fiber glass, just enough to hold the glass on the tube. when I begin I'll lay the tube on some thing that has an edge or a grove to where the tube can sit in place where you can line the glass up with the mark on the tube and not having to hold both at the same time. Once you have the glass lined up, You can pick it up, With the over hanging glass facing away from you, work your way around the tube, From the middle out to both sides as you wrap the tube. As you do this (don't allow) any wrinkles. this will give you bubbles when you apply the epoxy. After I have that done I'll cut the excess glass from the ends of the tube.

At this point I'll hang the tube up. I just bent a coat hanger in a V with the two ends bent up to hold the tube. You should watch while working with epoxy . Try and do your best to keep from touching or coming in contact with it. ( It's Some real Toxic material.) So if your just starting out learn it right from the get go, To use Gloves. Believe me your life with rockets will be that much for the better if you learn this right from the start. After the epoxy has had some time to soak in I take some peel ply and soak the excess epoxy off the tube. Then I just hang it back up and let it dry. After it's dry I just give it a lite sand (wearing gloves while I do this)
Then I take a wet paper towel and wipe it down. After that you can handle the tube with no effects from the epoxy.
The weight of the tube before I started was 25.6 grams after the glass the tube weight is 42.6 grams, Added 17grams

For this I'm going to use a Curtis turner 38mm glass nose cone. I should of took the screen name inside out boy instead of estesbasher. Because all the time I'm going, Hu I wonder if I can do this or that. All ways looking at things from the inside out. The 38mm couplers fit inside the BT-60 couplers. I cut the shoulder down on the nose cone to about 5/8",Then I drilled holes in that to act as rivets when I epoxied it all together.



Myself I think by doing it like this it just gives it a cleaner look. After I get done painting it you won't even see where the body tube ends and the nose cone starts.

On the motor tube I glued the shock cord mount to the side. The home made retainer fits inside the 38mm coupler, and that fits inside the BT-60 coupler. That part works for the center ring at the base,1/8" lite-ply for the ring at the top.

I went with some .062 G-10 fins. I wanted give it a Nike booster look.
At this point I still have to add the coupler and the launch lugs. But I think the weight is still low.

I like the way you think! I hope when you pull this off that you've got no wind and lots of recovery area. That sucker is going into low orbit!

For the past couple of years I've been toying around with ideas for a two stage, composite to black powder rocket with pyrotechnic ignition of the second stage. I've done several tests with an Aerotech E28 modified to produce a 2 second delay and igniting Estes D and E motors. I"d like to up the ante, say to an Aerotech G64 igniting an Estes F15-8 in a minimum diameter configuration.

I could post the details here, but I fear the wrath of TRF Commandos. :wink:

Keep up the good work!

With me using the 38mm coupler makes it so I can set the sustainer down into the booster even more.

I ran the conduit down the side of the motor tube. where it come out just a little above the motor closure.


I like how things have turned out so far.:wink:

Next I have to build the payload bay for the timer, that's going to sit just above the motor.
Right now on the weight it's just a little over 10oz. In this picture.:surprised: And I do have some work done on the altimeter bay up in the nose cone, But I want to see how it was going to look so I cut out some cardboard fins on the sustainer.

Thumbs up

Got some work done on the altimeter bay. The 38mm couplers have worked out good for this build. Gives some added wall thickness to these thin Estes tube. Makes it so I have a good seal on the bay. I used some gasket material to help seal it off.

Finished up the two E-bays this morning. Now I've just got a bunch of testing to do before it ever fly's. That's one thing I've learned from the high power guys. Test-tests and test some more before you ever try and fly it.
The rocket is 45" tall and the weight before paint and chutes is
I went with G-10 fins on both the booster and sustainer, I had the Dip switches already so I used them. Myself I thought
the weight would of came out more than it did.

Looks nice!

TopRamen said:

Looks nice!

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Thanks once it gets paint it will look a lot better, Even more so, with smoke trailing behind it.
Thought I'd add some pictures of the payloads. The altimeter bay in the nose fits inside a BT-55 tube. With the dip-switch on the back side. The timer bay I got it all to fit in a space 2-1/2" long X 38mm. Now I need to start on the primer and paint. If you guys would like I'll do some post on how I do my painting if you'd like? I'm no different than anybody else I hate to spend a lot of time doing it. So I make it as simple as possible. And I think I can come up with some real good paint jobs in the least amount of time.

Looking Good!