SpaceX - Falcon 9

Hello Today i recived my SpaceX Falcon 9 and i start to build as soon was in my hands

The rocket is goodm, not bug details, but looks ok.
The materials are a good quality
The instructions are great
Apply the Body Stick is too stressful, you know the fear to leave bubbles. this part is not easy for kiddos, so if you ant it for you young kid, chose other rocket !!

Build Time 2:30 Hours without parachutes

Build step by step (a lot of pics)

1.- The package








WHAT ??? Really i was expecting that will reach the ISS ? this is a fraud !!!





2.- Motor Mount

Install motor hook


Hold the hook with the sticker




Apply some white glue (In the not visibles part I use wood glue)


Install thrust ring


Apply wood glue in the between the the dotted lines


Install the center ring


Apply a filled of glue


3.- DRAGON Spacecraft

Trim away the surrounding decal


Apply the sticker starting in the edge of the channel




4.- Body (be carefull with the stick instalation)






The decal is quite accurate


5.- Launch Lug

6.- Capsule continuation






I like this idea !!!!


Shock Cord


7.- Ejection Baffle Instalation








8.- Motor Mount Instalation

The center ring and the tail wasn't fix, i should to sand a little the ring and the tail.





The beer is filled wiht the LOX and ready to launch


Applying the epoxy glue




This step is not in the instuction i add some epoxy on the top of the motor mount


9.- Installing the tail in the body

Apply 1 to 2 cm of epoxy in the body tube

Aling the Motor hook wiht the launch lug


10.- Capsule Again

apply some epoxi to the shock cord of the capsule


11.- Parachute assamble

Don't like this, of my point of view the parachute should be ready assambled







12.- Fins Mount

First you should remove the plastic burrs with a nife.

Fins Lock :y:


Difficult and ugly way to lock the fins !!!


I hope they will don't lock the dragon to the ISS using Twist Tie this 7 Feb


RESULT



Dislikes:

1.- The fins lock, i haven't been able to let it go :rant: But i'm very happy


The bad news is i'll not able to flight it soon

Very nice rocket and great job!

Heck, I may just look into getting one myself.

That looks good, Montaro... great job with the stickers!!!

I DO have a BIG concern with the "motor hook sticker" though... that looks like about the dinkiest way of securing a motor hook I've ever seen... I'd forget about the sticker and use a couple wraps of electrical tape or good quality masking tape (blue stuff not the el-cheapo yellow masking tape) or better yet a 1/2 inch wide strip of printer paper cut off the edge of a sheet and coated with a thin layer of white glue on one side and wrapped around the motor tube 2-3 times...

Other than that, it looks pretty good.

Kind of strange that they use such a complicated system attaching the nosecone to the rocket, with the "recovery harness"... not like you've got an escape tower to protect!!! I guess they wanted to copy the fact that the real Dragon uses a similar style harness since the parachutes are stowed near the back of the capsule instead of near the front as the parachutes were stored on Apollo, Gemini, and Mercury capsules... The chute harness/risers are covered by a protective shell during flight, seen as a 'spiral cover' going up the side of the capsule in photos...

Interesting way of securing the fins... I've never seen anybody use a BREAD TIE before!!! :eyepop: So the fins are NOT easily removable for display?? (course even if they are, there's those ugly slits in the plastic thrust structure that would look ugly...)

Great job Montaro and a great build thread! Post more pics of the launch!

Later! OL JR

PS... most kits have you build the parachute yourself... VERY FEW actually build it for you... (Mostly only ones from China have the chute built)

Launch it! This might be the only way to get the Falcon-9 up to a decent launch rate.

aerostadt said:

Launch it! This might be the only way to get the Falcon-9 up to a decent launch rate.

Click to expand...

Hehehe... everybody's a comedian... :rofl:

I'd bet half the reason SpaceX is delayed is because of NASA bureaucracy...

The other half is because launching the real thing is really hard...

Later! OL JR

most excellent!

I posted a thread on YORF about how to apply sticky paper wraps. I used the SpaceX Falcon 9 model as the example.

https://forums.rocketshoppe.com/showthread.php?t=10456

Steve

I just got one of these this week and started building it last night. It's a really nice kit and the instructions are very well-done. The fins snap-lock into place and are easy to remove for display. Per the instructions the twist-tie retainer is there to keep them from popping loose on a hard landing.

Mike

Minimum_Wage said:

I just got one of these this week and started building it last night. It's a really nice kit and the instructions are very well-done. The fins snap-lock into place and are easy to remove for display. Per the instructions the twist-tie retainer is there to keep them from popping loose on a hard landing.

Mike

Click to expand...

I launched mine twice now and didn't use the twistie and had no issues on the landing. These fins are very thin, so I figured letting them pop out might save them if I have a hard landing.

Delta-IV said:

I launched mine twice now and didn't use the twistie and had no issues on the landing. These fins are very thin, so I figured letting them pop out might save them if I have a hard landing.

Click to expand...

Good to know, thanks! Which engines have you flown it on?

Minimum_Wage said:

Good to know, thanks! Which engines have you flown it on?

Click to expand...

First flight was with a B6-4 and second one was on a C6-5.

The B6-4 delay was about 1 second too long, but recovered ok, the capsule's chute didn't deploy since it stuck inside the capsule.

On the C6-5 flight the deployment was just sligthly long but both chutes deployed.

Correction, I did add a small dab of epoxy inside the fin housing on the fin junction. With plastic like that it would still break the epoxy bond on a hard landing and hopefully still not break the fin.

GDJ said:

Very nice rocket and great job!

Click to expand...

Thanks!

luke strawwalker said:

That looks good, Montaro... great job with the stickers!!!

Click to expand...

Thanks

luke strawwalker said:

I DO have a BIG concern with the "motor hook sticker" though... that looks like about the dinkiest way of securing a motor hook I've ever seen... I'd forget about the sticker and use a couple wraps of electrical tape or good quality masking tape (blue stuff not the el-cheapo yellow masking tape) or better yet a 1/2 inch wide strip of printer paper cut off the edge of a sheet and coated with a thin layer of white glue on one side and wrapped around the motor tube 2-3 times...

Click to expand...

I'm totally agree, i made a mistake leaving the sticker

luke strawwalker said:

PS... most kits have you build the parachute yourself... VERY FEW actually build it for you... (Mostly only ones from China have the chute built)

Click to expand...

IC, i just build one 3 lever rocket , the commanche and it have streams the rest was E2X and cardstock :blush:

Aksrockets said:

most excellent!

Click to expand...

thanks!

Gus said:

I posted a thread on YORF about how to apply sticky paper wraps. I used the SpaceX Falcon 9 model as the example.

https://forums.rocketshoppe.com/showthread.php?t=10456

Steve

Click to expand...

I saw it good idea, thanks for sharing !!

Minimum_Wage said:

The fins snap-lock into place and are easy to remove for display. Per the instructions the twist-tie retainer is there to keep them from popping loose on a hard landing.
Mike

Click to expand...

Yes they are easy to remove if you don't use the bread tie, but keep in mind that the engine hook is below the rocket so you'll need a display pad