Slowly but surely... (PML Bulldog build)

I have been doing a little here, a little there on this build. I started it in the middle of my L3 build and do a little every week or two. I just finished the last round of SuperFil and I should be doing the first primer coat next week. Given the range of motors I want to fly, I decided to accommodate variable nose weighting utilizing the "muffin pan" lead ingots (as shown) which are about 9 oz. each. I will implement dual deploy with the electronics in the nosecone and holding closed a deployment bag with a Defy Gravity tether for the main.

View attachment Bulldog.pdf

A couple of snapshots from the build taken previously and buried in iPhoto. Internal fillets of U.S. Composites and 1/4" chopped fiber on the first one. Second is foam fill of boat tail / coupler assembly with foam trimmed to line up with rear coupler ring (which holds aft rail button). And then a shot of the fore rail button attach point in the airframe.

Last night I did final sanding of fillers and brushed on a first coat of primer. I decided to use up some extra UV Smooth Prime from Aircraft Spruce I had sitting around. I last used it on my Level 2 build three years ago and was reminded of it when I was re-finishing my J-Ablo. It provides a rock solid foundation for finishing, but it is expensive stuff (more than I'm willing to pay now given other alternatives), but with half a quart sitting around, I might as well use it.

Nice work. I like the look of the Bull Dog. I have the puppy version. What are you going to use for the markings,decals,paint,?Your work shop looks cleaner then most hamburg joints Ive been in.Someday Ill get to a launch and see them big birds fly. Scotty Dog

Scotty Dog said:

Nice work. I like the look of the Bull Dog. I have the puppy version. What are you going to use for the markings,decals,paint,?Your work shop looks cleaner then most hamburg joints Ive been in.Someday Ill get to a launch and see them big birds fly. Scotty Dog

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PML provides stock scale decals. I will use those and likely Monokote for the black, orange and silver sections along the body and fins.

Nice work..........don't get any on that garage floor

cobra1336 said:

Nice work..........don't get any on that garage floor

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Yah . I'm great with a spray can but horrible with a brush (just ask my wife).

dixontj93060 said:

PML provides stock scale decals. I will use those and likely Monokote for the black sections along the body and fins.

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OH ya,I missed the PLM part.Thought it was a scratch-scale.Anywhoo- I just picked up 2 pieces of that Mono coat stuff. I was at the hobby store looking for the kind you heat shrink.They didnt have any of the heat shrink,but had 2 pieces of the selfstick kind. One was aluminum and the other is a royal green color?.5"X36" strips.Not sure what Ill use em for but I bought them to have em. Scotty Dog

Finished the sanding of the final base primer coat. I'm really pleased at how this is turning out--very smooth and even all around, nice contours on the fillets, tight seams, etc.

Again, sanding isn't my favorite activity but I can knock it out in about a half an hour on a rocket this size using the heavy duty orbital sander from Harbor Freight and the 3D Sander from Sears.

Using Rustoleum Painter's Touch 2X White Primer for dual duty as my final primer coats and base coat combined before I start in with the Gloss White. Looks like I'll need just a few "touches" of Bondo Putty sand and then another coat--but I'm getting closer!

Big set back here... My grandson, "bless his heart," love's my rockets... So much so that he went to hug this one while it was drying on a stand (And I was just ready to start on the top coat!). Knocked it over and it hit the edge of paint can and put a nice crease in the BT.

Second picture shows a piece of 3oz covering the damaged area.

Third picture sanded well after the U.S. Composites epoxy cure.

Fourth picture a layer of SuperFil hoping to hide this damage the best I can.

Well this thread continues to live up to it's namesake. Finally got back down to "ground zero" on the repair area this evening and then subsequently started the priming process again with a brushed on layer of UV Prime.

Almost the the final coat phase (AGAIN )...

Looks nice, should finish up a beauty. I flew mine years back in Spokane unpainted on a K550 and it was loud and proud. Just a small hiccup when the chute didn't completely open up creating a few minor repairs. That's one tough bird!

Yes, I do have a K550, but I'm saving that for another rocket. I believe the first flight here will be a Loki K690 Spitfire at MWP8.

Well had to stop on the finishing part as I do need to ground test before putting on the top coat, so in the past week or two I moved over to the guts of the rocket.

Single airframe, dual deploy done sometimes via motor, but also in the case of my Loki motors, using electronics at apogee. All electronics are in the nosecone. Single piece of all thread running up the nosecone. With one axis point on the av-sled (to be shown later as I'm still working on it), I decided I didn't want heavy batteries torquing/twisting during flight, so I used the nosecone bulkhead to mount the main and pyro batteries. In addition, I have a siren/pull-plug combo and its Lipo battery mounted there too.

Lipo is held in place similar to how its done on my RC cars with double sticky tape on the bottom and a plastic strap over the top with positive stops on all sides. So I didn't trash the Lipo battery I mounted a PCB pin header on the bulkhead to accept the Lipo connector then wired back and forth for make/break on the audio jack pull plug.

Pictures are shown below... A couple from the inside "side" where the second one shows the wiring harnesses in the foreground. For those that viewed my L3 build, I do like to use color coded and keyed wiring harnesses when possible to reduce chances of mistake/mishaps when doing field prep and to speed up the overall prep process. Third picture is the exposed side of the nosecone bulkhead showing the typical terminal strips, siren receptacle and, in this particular case, one additional eyebolt holding the Defy Gravity tether (which in flight secures a closure on a deployment bag until main deploy).

Final two pics are just showing the aft positioning of the apogee charge and its holder assembly.

And last night finished the altimeter sled wiring. Pretty straightforward as shown. The two four position connectors on the bottom go to the nosecone bulkhead, namely power and charges. The two dual position connectors at the top left go to two nosecone resident lock switches for power and arm. The front of the board is shown holding the G-Wiz HCX.

There is one other sled in the top of the nosecone but it's small and extremely trivial (and thus not shown) as it just has straps to hold my Big Red Bee transmitter.

dixontj93060 said:

And last night finished the altimeter sled wiring. Pretty straightforward as shown. The two four position connectors on the bottom go to the nosecone bulkhead, namely power and charges. The two dual position connectors at the top left go to two nosecone resident lock switches for power and arm. The front of the board is shown holding the G-Wiz HCX.

There is one other sled in the top of the nosecone but it's small and extremely trivial (and thus not shown) as it just has straps to hold my Big Red Bee transmitter.

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Nice looking board and wiring.

The pairs of connectors two pin and four pin, appear to be of the same gender i.e. male or female. I know you have different colored wiring to each but would it not be safer to have one connector female and the other male to limit the possibility of incorrect connections?
I remember most connections on military equipment were made to limit this.
As one of my instructors was fond of saying "In the heat of battle or dark of night you don't want to screw up". Well that's not exactly what he said but this is a family friendly forum.

You are right, it would add even another layer of safety when there are pairs of similar connections on the same assembly. Out of habit, I am just following the old telecommunications industry convention that I'm used to of having the receptacle/female on the board assembly and the plug/male on the harness.

Sailorbill said:

Nice looking board and wiring.

The pairs of connectors two pin and four pin, appear to be of the same gender i.e. male or female. I know you have different colored wiring to each but would it not be safer to have one connector female and the other male to limit the possibility of incorrect connections?
I remember most connections on military equipment were made to limit this.
As one of my instructors was fond of saying "In the heat of battle or dark of night you don't want to screw up". Well that's not exactly what he said but this is a family friendly forum.

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I like how you made the ebay layout
Thats a pretty large siren !

rockie said:

Thats a pretty large siren !

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Yeah, but loud (and cheap on eBay).

O.K. Prepping the recovery for ground testing. Deployment bag with shroud lines and part of shock cord dressed. Inside a Rocketman RC-7. Shock cord banded. Riding on top of all that is the bright red-orange pilot chute. Deployment bag held shut with Defy Gravity tether and connected to nosecone plate. Inside nosecone is full complement of batteries, siren, altimeter and tracker sleds so as to get as close to flight weight/conditions as possible.

And then a "bug's eye" view of the ground testing (with a number of "um's and ah's" in the dialog).

[YOUTUBE]fEb-KJMnUT4[/YOUTUBE]

Living up to this thread's namesake, I finally got the decals on this "baby." Took a few liberties with placement, but all-in-all it looks pretty good.

That was a GREAT ground test video! Nothing like the smell of the wispy ejection charge smoke emanating from the end of an airframe. No countdown
on ground test? I always give a quick 54321 even if no one else is around :cyclops:

Seriously, your Bulldog is going to look amazing going up on a Spitfire :jaw:

Very cool ! Good job on the build.

If i had cert or could get one i would definitly get a bulldog
I got the little brother "bullpuppy".

Decent flight in high winds at Thunderstruck this weekend. Thanks to David Reese on the pic below.

if it flew saturday off pad 25 it may be this one. My stepdad didnt get zoomed so its a little to fuzzy when i zoom in to try and see details (if it isnt yours ill clear this post)

Yeah, I think it was 25. From the picture angle, it would have been wind cocking your direction.

I didnt catch much of that flight, my lvl 1 cert rocket was next in line to fly its in the far left corner on pad 18 lol. My stepdad loved that rocket, i dragged him along with me saturday and since then he has been asking me where to get "a rocket like that white one" lol