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I've never been able to track rockets in the air by binocular very well. That said, I find that standing on top of my car on the lakebed with a pair of cheapo 20x50's from Celestron or some such is a wonderful tool for looking for the rocket after it lands.

Wow, just saw the fincan come together in the last post-very impressive! That's probably one of the nicest composite fincans I've seen. I really dig the phenolic leading edges! I hope they stay on!

I'm in. Looks really neat so far. I'm liking the phenolic leading edge! I'll have to consider doing that for my next flight. I read your threads! I hope one day to be at your level on the EX side. For now, apartment living in Redondo Beach does not suit itself well towards making rocket motors.

I was going to mention base drag. It also seems possible that at subsonic speeds, the expanding plume pushes a bow wave of air that disturbs airflow over the fins if the fins are swept back past the end of the rocket, maybe? There's also things like combustion instabilities.

99% sure that the OR assumes you have a CTI case that is exactly the right size (no spacers) and then calculates the weight and cg before, during, and after burnout accordingly.

This isn't for a specific project; I was just throwing down the link to see people's thoughts on how they'd use it. CarVac and my N was predicted to reach speeds that imply boundary layer air temperatures in the 2000C range, iirc; that doesn't mean the underlying material will get anywhere...

Fair enough. Maybe it could be used as a leading-edge insert for a regular carbon fin, then? That would solve the problem with metal leading-edge caps or inserts of drastically different thermal expansion coefficients.

Semi-affordable RCC Panels for hobbyist users! https://www.dragonplate.com/ecart/product.asp?pID=5687&cID=191 My concerns would be machineability, and the quality of a machined surface-the faces look rough and porous. Also, I'd be worried about it's brittleness. I'm imagining this as a...

This project has been pretty impressive throughout, but seeing these fincans and your methods, you've clearly moved onto a new level of craftsmanship. Awesome, man! https://d24w6bsrhbeh9d.cloudfront.net/photo/aEwp1pn_460sa.gif I agree with your reasoning for choosing JB weld over the Proline...

That's seriously cool!!!!! If you get a chance, I'd love to see anything else you have on that motor- drawings, dimensions, performance numbers, anything. PM me if you want to! That's neat!

Haha, every scrapyard in the Mojave I've seen has had at least something surprising (like jet fighter parts) in it visible from the road; I imagine you can find just about anything in a scrapyard in SoCal if you know where to look!

It says that for 2 reasons: One, so you don't lose any of the parts. Spread them out on a clean table to look at them, then put them back in the bag and tape it up again. Two, some of the motor chemistries are more sensitive to water vapor over long storage times than others. If you're going...

Sure, thanks! I'f take it to OROC, but if I could get to OROC, I'd probably fly it myself =p

Hi TRF! I've been around the forum a bunch, though I admit this my first time in the yard sale section of the forum. I have an unopened Aerotech J415W-L reload. The anti-static bag is still sealed; reload contains all parts, it has never been dropped (since I bought it at least). Liner...

MAN you have a pretty launch site. Where is that???

Well, if you're not too busy over the summer, I'd pick up a used copy of this: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1420062719/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20 That's the continuum mechanics (strength of materials) book that I used; I know three of the four professors who've worked on it (the latest version...

Yes, quite a bit, including Professional space-application and military motors, 'professional' consumer motors for the hobby (reusable and SU), and 'amateur". And I'm sure all three have been done before with CF instead of fiberglass. Like any engineering decision, there are strengths and...

I implied that it was, my bad. The one I used was somewhat high-temp; i think it was the 350F 9394.

The 9394 is what I was referencing above (the one I used once). I don't know what the Project60K team used to strip filament-wound tubing.

Yes. This. Every word of this.