Слава Україні

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jqavins

Слава Україні
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Yesterday I went to a library in the next county over to use their laser cutter to make parts for Слава Україні (Slova Ukraini, "Glory to Ukraine"). Fins, bulkhead for the nose cone base, vented bulkheads for a baffle, centering rings, launch lug standoffs, and a few extras.
Wood Parts.jpg
The software at the library is weird and resulted in the laser going over all the lines twice, so there are smoke stains on the pieces and the edge char is extra dark. Oh well, no big deal.

@Gary Goncher has 3D printed me an onion top nose cone, and @kenstarr is making me a blue and yellow parachute. I am super grateful to both of them, and to be part of such a wonderful community.

It was late when I got home, but I wanted to make at least a token start on building, so I sanded the rim of one of the baffle plates until it fit nicely into one end of the coupler it will be glued into.
Baffle Half.jpg

The rocket will be two sections of BT-80, 15" each if I remember right. The upper section will be blue and the lower yellow. The fins yellow with the trident in black as decals on both sides, so eight fin trident decals in all. The rocket name, both in Cyrilic and Latin scripts will be vertical on the sides, also in black. The nose cone will be verdigris green with brass leaf decorations to resemble (not faithfully reproduce) the upper part of the central dome of St. Andrew's Orthodox Church in Kiev.
St Andrew Church.jpg

Here are what the fins look like against the body tube, and the nose cone in a tube.
Fin with Tube.jpgNose with Tube.jpg

I hope to get the structure finished and maybe start painting this weekend. I'll have acquire the green paint and some high build primer for the nose cone. I should have the blue if it's still OK in the can, and I don't know about the yellow.

Here we go.
 
Making nosecones like that is possible in OpenRocket, it takes a lot of transitions to get it to look right, and even more to get it exact..
 
I like the idea of using a dome for a rocket. There's a long history of domes in architecture. This opens up many possibilities for new rocket designs.
It's one of those things that have lived in the back of my mind for decades, and now there's a good reason to do it (as well as lots more 3D printers than there were in the 1970s when the idea first hit me).

Making nosecones like that is possible in OpenRocket, it takes a lot of transitions to get it to look right, and even more to get it exact..
I've done something a lot like it in RockSim too, an s-curve transition. More trouble than it's worth, I think.

I'm doing this design much more by the seat of my pants than I usually do. It's a tall rocket with a heavy nose cone, so I'm really not worried about stability. I'll swing test all the same, and sim the rod exit speed as the weight comes closer to final.
 
I've done something a lot like it in RockSim too, an s-curve transition. More trouble than it's worth, I think.
For sure, unless you're aiming for a picture-perfect render.

I think you could approximate that nose well enough (for sim purposes) with a conical nose and four transitions, e.g.:
1659710080781.png

Even that may be more detailed than required, but that's only about 2 minutes work.
 
I didn't plan to use more than the conical nose and two ogive transitions.

One does need to remember to set the correct reference diameter for stability margin expressed in calibers. RS defaults to the nose cone base, which in this case would give whopping huge numbers, because only that little top bit is recognized as the nose cone. It also offers the choice to use the maximum forward diameter, which would be wrong here too. I'll just set it to the BT diameter.
 
Making nosecones like that is possible in OpenRocket, it takes a lot of transitions to get it to look right, and even more to get it exact..
If you say so, I believe it CAN be done, I am curious however whether when you get a set of curves like there whether the sim reliably reflects the drag and CP accurately.

I usually take the MindSim easy way out and tend to make things, if anything, overstable.

This looks like it's gonna be cool, hope it flies as well as it looks!
 
Progress today:

We were out for the majority of the day doing necessary things that are not even describing in the "instead of rocketry" thread. But it didn't leave much time, and less energy for construction. There was a spurt of activity between getting home and having supper.

DESIGN
Due to the lack of consensus in this thread, I've decided to forgo the baffle and nose cone pop. Instead, I'm going to pop the whole top half of the rocket, so there's less volume to pressurize. I'll throw those baffle plates in a drawer and use them some other time. Fortunately, when I cut the parts on Thursday I did make a spare bulkhead.

CENTERING RINGS
I must have used the ID of a BT-50 instead of its OD for the ID of the centering rings, so they needed sanding. I also added small notches using a needle file. The larger notches that are in both rings are for a little tube for kevlar leader to which I will attach the shock cord. The smaller notches in the aft ring are for the piano wire engine retainer that I'll show tomorrow. I only succeeded in poking myself with the file twice, and totally failed to draw blood.
PXL_20220806_205252188.jpg

MOTOR MOUNT
I cut the tube and cleaned up the ends, then marked the tube with locations of the notches in the centering rings. This is both to align the leader notches and to keep all the notches clear of glue. Otherwise the assembly, MMT, rings, and engine block is normal. It's long enough for the 95 mm E engines.

COUPLER
I screwed a screw eye into the bulkhead and glued the bulkhead to the bottom of the coupler. It's sitting on a 3D printed fin can for another project, just so it can sit level with the screw eye inside the tube.
PXL_20220806_210936686.jpg

FINS
I broke the edges on the leading, tip, and trailing edges, and sanded off all of the char on the root edges, getting ready to attach them tomorrow. Is removing all the char necessary? I don't know, but it was only a few strokes against 120 grit, and it sure can't hurt.

Off to bed now. It's only 8:30, but I'm wiped all the same.
 
MOTOR MOUNT
Yesterday, when I cut the MMT from a longer piece of BT-50, the piece left over was just a little bit longer that the piece I wanted. So, you guessed it, I put the CRs and engine block on the wrong one. Fortunately, I had placed the aft centering ring far enough forward that I could cut away what I needed to, so no tearing anything apart and starting over.
PXL_20220807_120755244.jpg

In another last minute design change, I decided to use a larger tube to pass the kevlar leader through the rings, specifically, the little tube that an AeroTech igniter came in (I don't remember which type). That meant drilling holes in the centering rings, and that the larger notches I'd filed yesterday in are not being used.

I made and glued in the piano wire engine retainer. It's bent into three sides of a rectangle, with the short side crossing over the case and a little of the clay on the back of the motor. The long sides pass through the little notches and are bent out, lying flat against the top side of the CR, then are tacked in place with a drop of thick CA at the notch.
PXL_20220807_143813050.jpg

Then I installed the competed motor mount in one piece of body tube.

COUPLER
When I glued the bulkhead to the end of the coupler, its alignment was not absolutely, dead-on perfect, so it wasn't going into the tube. I actually expected that. A little time with 120 grit took care of the fit, and left the last half inch or so of the coupler with a case of fuzzies; I expected that too. Some thin CA, a little more time with 320 grit, and it was ready to go. It's glued in.

FINS
Once the motor mount glue was dry, I put it on the fin jig and got the fins on. A lot of people like to trash the Estes fin jig, but it is the best thing that has ever happened to my builds.
PXL_20220807_190623520.jpg

That was some hours ago, and the first pair of fillets is now applied and drying.

PXL_20220807_231902715.jpg

That's all for today. I might get the next pair of fillets in tonight.
 
I might get the next pair of fillets in tonight.
Indeed I did. And the third pair this morning on the way out the door. Set four this evening on the way in, and should be ready for finishing work tomorrow. Which doesn't mean it will actually start tomorrow; weekdays are tough. And I need to get two new rattle cans (verdigris and high build primer) and probably need to buy some laser print decal paper. The decals are designed, and it's possible that I have a pack of decal paper from back when I had a working color laser printer at home, but I never used any. These I can run print at work. (And thanks @neil_w for kicking be off my butt to do my own.) In case anyone cares, the decal designs are attached.

There will likely be a lull in posting for a little while while finishing gets underway.
 

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  • Slova Ukraini Decals.pdf
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(So much for a lull.)

Sunday I glued the 3/16" launch lugs to the 1/8" thick standoffs. Getting them centered and straight was a challenge, but I managed. Or did I...

Yesterday I glued one to the upper body tube. I'd marked a vertical line using a piece of angle, an got the edge of the standoff dead straight on the line, and beautifully normal to the tube wall, tacked in place with two drops of CA. While applying the wood glue fillets, I thought "I don't think that lug looks straight." Checked the standoff edge again. "I guess I must be imagining it." A moment later, "No, I'm not. It isn't straight!" Of course, the lug isn't straight on the standoff.

"Well, I guess I'll have to live with it. I'll make sure to align the other one the same little bit off. It won't really matter."

At about 4:30 this morning I realized what a moment of dumb that was. I have two spare standoffs!

This morning before heading out to the car I cut through the fillets and broke loose the CA, peeled and sanded away the remaining glue on the tube, applied thin CA to the resulting fuzzies, and then the wife and daughter were heading to the car before I could sand the CA. I also rechecked the alignment of the other lug on its standoff and threw that one away too.

I'll have to use a guide to get fresh lugs straight on the remaining standoffs. That just needs to be a flat piece of something the right thickness (and the thickness needn't be perfect).

1660047662749.png
 
Regarding the launch lugs, it turns out I had mismeasured the plywood thickness, and it's more like 3/16 than 1/8. The difference between that and the lug OD is miniscule, so the shim thickness would be half of that, and 0.5×miniscule = (screw it). So the lugs are ever so slightly off the centers of the standoffs, and you can barely see it.

Since Tuesday all I did for the rest of the week was make the lug/stand-off assemblies and put them onto the body tubes, one on each half. I fretted for about 30 seconds about getting them aligned with each other, until I realized there there is nothing else the needs a particular alignment yet, so it didn't matter. When decal time comes I'll have to line the launch lugs up to get the decals properly aligned.

I did also had a chance to look in Lowes for the verdigris green paint that I want, but struck out.

Over the weekend we had my sister- and mother-in-law over, and I had to fix a leaky bathroom sink drain, so nothing got done on the rocket Saturday. On Sunday after they left, I lightly sanded wood glue off the tubes where finger-forming wood glue fillets has left a little, sanded fin and stand-off edges, and then started painting. Rusto 2X blue for the top is looking good, though of course the tube spirals are worse than I thought before I strayed; will I ever learn? ( ♫ Where have all the spirals gone? ♪ Long time passing. ♪ )

I don't have the yellow 2X, but I do have some Rusto High Performance Enamel in yellow, so I debated with myself for a while then went ahead and sprayed it. So, some sanding and a new can of 2X yellow are in my near future; will I ever learn? (♪ When will I ehhh-ver learn? ♪♪ )

Now I'll order the yellow and green paints, and some yellow Kevlar line for a leader, since I've already stolen it from all of the Quest kits in my build pile.
 
Very nice. After retiring my Puck Futin rocket I have been debating what to call my other Ukie inspired Rocket. I recently helped a guy recover a rocket only to find out he was Russian, so I need to make more Ukie Rockets to atone for my sin. He was nice enough and thankful, but he was dumb and Drunk. Puck Futin might be strong language if any kids are around so Slava Uraina or Pootin Sucks are my top picks.
 
I recently helped a guy recover a rocket only to find out he was Russian, so I need to make more Ukie Rockets to atone for my sin.
Now, now, a Russian émigré is not to be blamed for the actions of the military - mostly of the dictator - of the country he left. There's no sin in helping a fellow rocketeer find his lost rocket, no matter what country he left to come fly with you.
 
Now, now, a Russian émigré is not to be blamed for the actions of the military - mostly of the dictator - of the country he left. There's no sin in helping a fellow rocketeer find his lost rocket, no matter what country he left to come fly with you.
Agreed, that's why I didn't give up using my Tree Rescue device when I found out his big Z on his Nissan jersey wasn't for the nissan Z cars but was for Russia. He was proud to be from Moscow, but had no problems making fun of Russians or making positive jokes about Ukraine. Just don't tell any of my older relatives, they will never speak to me again. The only Russians I don't like are the ones Invading Ukraine, nothing against the ones living in Russia who are anti-Invasion.
 
It's been a while, but there was real progress on Saturday. On the nose cone. My plan is to sand the highs of the ridges, spray to fill the lows, sand again, spray again, and probably call it good enough (but we'll see).

I started sanding with 320 because I have little to no experience with PLA parts (I tried acetone on an inside surface, so I know it's not ABS, and I assume PLA is the only other likely possibility) and unsurprisingly soon moved to 120. this is after the 320 pass.
PXL_20220910_162639581.jpg
And this is after the 120.
PXL_20220910_174048069.jpg
That vertical line which looks like mold flash but obviously can't be is a bit of a head scratcher, but I'm sure it'll sand out, so I'm not worried about it.

And here's after painting.
PXL_20220910_201733513.jpg

I'll wait a couple of days for full paint cure before sanding. This time will not be with 120.

Now, with bed time starting to get close, I'm going to do some sanding on the yellow lower section that came out so bad the last time I worked with it.
 
About ten minutes later, while sanding off yellow, I busted off the lower launch lug standoff. I kept sanding then reattached it. second fillet applied this morning on the way out the door.

The bad yellow isn't all gone. It's gone in places, very thin in most of the rest, and all the shine is off. I'm hoping that's good enough to recoat. Am I a fool?

Opinions, please. To refresh your memory, I'll be covering Rusto High Performance Enamel with Rusto 2X. The enamel was applied 36 days ago as of now, and sanded yesterday. There won't be any painting weather for two more days, so the first paint will be 39 days from application and three days from sanding (exposure of new surface). Is that sufficient time for covering the one with the other? Since it's enamel over enamel, albeit rather different enamels, I think I'm OK. I think.
Drawing1.jpg
 
Opinions, please. To refresh your memory, I'll be covering Rusto High Performance Enamel with Rusto 2X. The enamel was applied 36 days ago as of now, and sanded yesterday. There won't be any painting weather for two more days, so the first paint will be 39 days from application and three days from sanding (exposure of new surface). Is that sufficient time for covering the one with the other? Since it's enamel over enamel, albeit rather different enamels, I think I'm OK. I think.
1662985548752.png

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that 39 days is sufficient. The Rusto enamels will be compatible with each other.
 
There was an unexpected window of good painting weather last night when I got home from work, so I got some new yellow on.

"Light passes, light passes. Light passes. Missed a spot. Light passes. Looks pretty thin over there. Light passes." So, I've got some drips to take care of.
 
I lost this at last Saturdays club launch. I got 5 great flights with an E-12-6 so it's okay. I have another rocket almost dome with the Ukie colors. Wishing our people in Ukraine the best. If they defeat Russia it may be the end of Putin's attempt at a USSR 2.0, the whole world would benefit from that.
 

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  • IMG_3707.jpg
    IMG_3707.jpg
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If they defeat Russia it may be the end of Putin's attempt at a USSR 2.0, the whole world would benefit from that.
Even if they don't lose, it may already be the end of Putin. At least a couple of pro "Russian glory" outlets, who have been vocal Putin supporters in the past, have recently turned against him over the losses (and embarrassment) already suffered. 👍
 
Even if they don't lose, it may already be the end of Putin. At least a couple of pro "Russian glory" outlets, who have been vocal Putin supporters in the past, have recently turned against him over the losses (and embarrassment) already suffered. 👍
If I was pro USSR or Pro Russia Id be very mad as well. Almost as mad as a pro Ukrainian.
 
Depressingly little progress lately - nothing in the last two weeks - until just now. I printed the decals.

СЛАВА УКРАЇНІ goes down one side between two of the fins, and SLOVA UKRAINI 180° away. Both sides have the color change right on the space between the words.

A trident goes on each face of each fin.
 

Attachments

  • Слава Україні Decals.pdf
    337 KB · Views: 0
Depressingly little progress lately - nothing in the last two weeks - until just now. I printed the decals.
Well I spent months (not full time) looking for a way to either print or order white decals with text of a certain font. First my printer did a lousy job, then I thought I had found someone, but when they started, they realized they had quoted me too low, and couldn't do the job. The rocket has now been unfinished for years. I don't think I can have the job done for less than $100.
 
Holy cow! What font? What size decals? It really doesn't sound too hard unless one of those is really way out there.

Anyway, in my case it was just a matter of getting off my virtual ass to order the decal paper (while sitting on my literal ass) then remember to bring it to work to print. The design's been done for months.

It looks like I'll get a little painting weather on Saturday, along with ample hours of daylight, so I plan to get second (hopefully final) coats on all three colors (lower body, upper body, and nose dome). That means sanding in the evenings starting tonight. Then I go away on business from Sunday through Friday, but if the painting goes well it will be ready for brass leaf and decals when I get back. I go away again from the 15th through 28th, and I hope I'll get a window of painting weather to apply clear after that.

The last two club launches of the year are October 7-8 and November 5-6. So I might fly with bare colors in October, and should be all done for November.
 
Holy cow! What font? What size decals? It really doesn't sound too hard unless one of those is really way out there.

Anyway, in my case it was just a matter of getting off my virtual ass to order the decal paper (while sitting on my literal ass) then remember to bring it to work to print. The design's been done for months.

It looks like I'll get a little painting weather on Saturday, along with ample hours of daylight, so I plan to get second (hopefully final) coats on all three colors (lower body, upper body, and nose dome). That means sanding in the evenings starting tonight. Then I go away on business from Sunday through Friday, but if the painting goes well it will be ready for brass leaf and decals when I get back. I go away again from the 15th through 28th, and I hope I'll get a window of painting weather to apply clear after that.

The last two club launches of the year are October 7-8 and November 5-6. So I might fly with bare colors in October, and should be all done for November.
I think I finally found the font on a stencil but I don't remember the name (it's somewhere deep inside my computer's files). There were 6 different labels, but the white and transparent parts were problematic. My budget equipment and eBay waterslide decal sheets didn't do a good job (printing on them made "lines"). I should probably look for someone else with the right machine, but I moved on to other things. I think the rocket would be unique, so I don't want to give it away just yet.

Good job on the nose cone BTW.👍
 
I think I finally found the font on a stencil but I don't remember the name (it's somewhere deep inside my computer's files). There were 6 different labels, but the white and transparent parts were problematic. My budget equipment and eBay waterslide decal sheets didn't do a good job (printing on them made "lines"). I should probably look for someone else with the right machine, but I moved on to other things. I think the rocket would be unique, so I don't want to give it away just yet.
Look for a PM to discuss a little more.
---
Oops, it appears you do not allow other users to start conversations with you. PM me please.

Good job on the nose cone BTW.👍
Thanks, but it's not good enough yet. The layer lines are still very visible. I will sand it rather aggressively before respraying, hoping the Rusto 2X, which is not made to be filler primer, does well enough. (If you meant the design and print of it, I can take no credit. That's all Gary Goncher.)
 
I can't these days, 2 other rockets and other stuff going on. This little project of mine is packed in a box somewhere and on the back burner. No hurry.
 
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