1/3 Scale Nike Tomahawk build

[Jay Dub 4009]

Making progress. Four day weekend this weekend! Going to work on Nike sled tomorrow, start print, and build proton. Hoping to get tip to tip on the tomahawk Sunday, and maybe ground test on the Nike. We’ll see what actually gets done.

 

[Tim51]

Making progress. Four day weekend this weekend! Going to work on Nike sled tomorrow, start print, and build proton. Hoping to get tip to tip on the tomahawk Sunday, and maybe ground test on the Nike. We’ll see what actually gets done.

View attachment 540749

Very nice work - the CF vac bagging on the Nike fin can looks great.

 

[Jay Dub 4009]

Today worked on CAD for Avionics bay sled. Still have alot to do on it, but wont be able to work on it until sunday.

 

[Jay Dub 4009]

Today worked more on the CAD for the avionics sled for the Nike. Mostly complete except for charge wells, will do those tomorrow. Hit the print button on this before going to bed, print time for all parts is 21 hours, so wont be done till later tomorrow night. Also ordered some bigger 1S batteries for the GPS system, and some other misc electrical odds and ends I am going to need.

 

[Jay Dub 4009]

Today I built the eggtimer proton while the sled is printing. I already see that I made the sled too thick, but with a 22 hour print I’m not sure it’s worth reprinting it. I’ll decide when It’s done I suppose. 7 hours left to go.



Proton build went smoothly. All six channels ops checked good with test lamps. I then conducted a few barometric test flights, and all acted normally, (besides the normal velocities and altitudes being wonky when using the food saver container to do them). Did two normal flights with main and drogue, and then a test with an airstart channel to simulate a separation charge and then a drogue. I contemplated making a third test light harness to do all three, but decided it wasn’t worth the time, think she’s a winner. Video is of the last test with airstart channel for simulating a separation charge, three seconds after LDA.


I have 5 quantum’s that I’ve been using and have never failed me, but man this proton is something else. @cerving your products are incredible.

 

[Jay Dub 4009]

Small set back today taking the sled off the printer. I’m not sure what I was thinking when designing it, but it’s too thick. The holes for the threaded rod are also a little too tight for my liking, took quite a bit of effort to put on and take off. GPS sled stud mount cutouts need upsizing a little. Larger 800 mah battery tray are a bit too loose. Will fix all these up and get it restarted.

 

[Jay Dub 4009]

Redesigned some stuff and reprinted. Much better. Going to get to installing inserts, and getting everything mounted and wired up, hopefully for deployment testing this weekend.

 

[Jay Dub 4009]

Lunch break today was productive. Altimeters have power at least.

 

[Jay Dub 4009]

Getting charge wells and a drill guide printed

 

[Jay Dub 4009]

Charge wells installed, and wired up the rest of the components. GPS battery is a placeholder until I get bigger mah ones Monday.

Tomorrow will get harnesses built and ground test!

 

[Jay Dub 4009]

Got switch band and booster tube jigs modeled and got them printing. I picked up an ender from a friend who was selling for cheap for my brother, and won’t be able to transfer it to him for 2 weeks, so taking advantage lol.

 

[Jay Dub 4009]

Alot of frustrating things happened later on in the rocket build day.

Jigs finished up just fine. After that, started working on harnesses. Started off with 32 feet of 1/2” Kevlar. Well, 3 hour long story short, my singer sewing machine wouldn’t sew it effectively, kept jamming. Likely too thick. Then I entertained just making knots for the three different places for each upper and lower harness. I couldn’t tie any kind of knot that would fit inside the front of the nose cone on the bolt. I then bust out my serger machine to try to give that a whirl. Broke it in 2 minutes. I’m livid at this point lol. Took a break to eat, and then got out the 3/8” Kevlar. Still good with a 200g safety factor plus 600 pounds, so figured it’s way good still. The singer sewed that material beautifully. Wish I wouldn’t have wasted 6 hours. This prevented ground testing today. F.

I then glued the switchband to the coupler with 5 min epoxy. Made a dumb error here. I didn’t put the bulkheads on the coupler when I drilled. When I used the jigs I printed and drilled up the switchband, booster, and nose cone for vent holes and shear pins, I didn’t take into account for the bulkhead thickness, and you guessed it, when I temp fit everything together, there is a gap. This is a problem. Guess I will print a spacer and glue it on. Stupid things that happen when you are tired. Oh well, at least it’s not a mistake that cannot be overcome. Got the avionics bay dialed in to the switch pin by adjusting the nuts on the threaded rod. Rocket is almost complete minus ground test and finish. Unfortunately ground testing prob won’t happen tomorrow as I have a commitment after work, so shooting for Tuesday.

HPR Launch season around here is only two weeks away, and lots to do still. Hoping to get it done.

Tough day, hopefully tomorrow is better.

 

[Jay Dub 4009]

Dawned on me this morning that I could also just cut the coupler down the depth of the bulkhead and all would be well again. Then wouldnt have to redill shear pin holes. This may be the way to go. Get it done later.

 

[rfjustin]

Alot of frustrating things happened later on in the rocket build day.

Jigs finished up just fine. After that, started working on harnesses. Started off with 32 feet of 1/2” Kevlar. Well, 3 hour long story short, my singer sewing machine wouldn’t sew it effectively, kept jamming. Likely too thick. Then I entertained just making knots for the three different places for each upper and lower harness. I couldn’t tie any kind of knot that would fit inside the front of the nose cone on the bolt. I then bust out my serger machine to try to give that a whirl. Broke it in 2 minutes. I’m livid at this point lol. Took a break to eat, and then got out the 3/8” Kevlar. Still good with a 200g safety factor plus 600 pounds, so figured it’s way good still. The singer sewed that material beautifully. Wish I wouldn’t have wasted 6 hours. This prevented ground testing today. F.

I then glued the switchband to the coupler with 5 min epoxy. Made a dumb error here. I didn’t put the bulkheads on the coupler when I drilled. When I used the jigs I printed and drilled up the switchband, booster, and nose cone for vent holes and shear pins, I didn’t take into account for the bulkhead thickness, and you guessed it, when I temp fit everything together, there is a gap. This is a problem. Guess I will print a spacer and glue it on. Stupid things that happen when you are tired. Oh well, at least it’s not a mistake that cannot be overcome. Got the avionics bay dialed in to the switch pin by adjusting the nuts on the threaded rod. Rocket is almost complete minus ground test and finish. Unfortunately ground testing prob won’t happen tomorrow as I have a commitment after work, so shooting for Tuesday.

HPR Launch season around here is only two weeks away, and lots to do still. Hoping to get it done.

Tough day, hopefully tomorrow is better.

I'm with you on the tired thing. Most screw ups I have are when I'm trying to sneak in time when the tank is nearly empty.

 

[Jay Dub 4009]

This afternoon after work I cut the coupler down, which I somehow incredibly made a perfect cut with a miter saw. The switch band made it kind of wobbly and it was concerning. I put the two jigs for the booster and switch band on the switchband on either side to help extend the flat part. Nose cone sits flush now as needed, and shear pin holes on the coupler were exact. Thank god.




I then prepped avionics bay with ematches, and checked continuity. The drogue backup charge was showing open. Opened the bay back up and disconnected it and plugged the test lamp in and it wouldn’t show continuity either. Puzzling because when I assembled, wired and tested everything the other day, it was fine. Removed and replaced the backup quantum computer, ops check good. Must have broken a lead on that quantum between then and now..will have to build a new set of leads and resolder them on.

Attached harnesses, chutes and packed it all in and threw in the 75/5120 case.

1.3 grams primary and 1.7 grams backup in the nosecone worked great. 1.7 grams and 2.0 grams in the booster tube also flawless. Surprising small amount of powder for this big of a rocket, but the volume isn’t that much I suppose.

Featherweight gps had 13 satellites quickly with good signal strength. The gps system would be great for a night launch turns out.


I’ll call this night a win. Now on to sanding and paint prep. This weekend will likely be the last nice weekend we get here and prob last chance to paint so let’s go.

View attachment IMG_3861.MOV

 

[Jay Dub 4009]

Last night I started paint prep. Sanded the nosecone, coupler, and body tube. Fins area obviously still needed cleanup from vac bag, so that was fun. Afterwards, body filler applied to the fins and fillets. Sprayed nose cone with first coat of printer.

 

[Jay Dub 4009]

Lots of sanding today. Sanded down the first coat of nose cone primer. Sprayed again. Sanded again, and then sprayed a third coat. After I lightly sand it tomorrow, it may or may not get a fourth, we’ll see.



Switch band got the same treatment, it has three coats of primer.

Booster tube—I started by sanding the bondo filler off and then sprayed the first coat. Sanded it down, and then sprayed again.

Not the funnest night, but making good progress to be able to spray color this weekend when it’s warm for the last time. I got away with primer because I’m baking between coats with the space heater, and with createx you can’t do that.




Over the last few days I finally figured out my livery, name and theme. The rocket pair will be Fire and Ice. Two reasons, and theme ties in, and that is dragons. 1) ice- Nike booster will be createx aluminum, and a beautiful electric pearl blue. Dragon tie is Viserion, the ice dragon, after the night king reanimated him. 2) fire— tomahawk sustainer will be black, red, with copper fins and switch band, white nose cone. Dragon tie is drogon, who was red and black as well. I found some really cool Ying yang dragon graphics, as well as some tribal dragon graphics to accompany. I’ll reveal those when the paint job is all said and done.

Got the holographic blue cricut vinyl in today for the graphics.

 

[Hobie1dog]

Over the last few days I finally figured out my livery, name and theme. The rocket pair will be Fire and Ice. Two reasons, and theme ties in, and that is dragons. 1) ice- Nike booster will be createx aluminum, and a beautiful electric pearl blue. Dragon tie is Viserion, the ice dragon, after the night king reanimated him. 2) fire— tomahawk sustainer will be black, red, with copper fins and switch band, white nose cone. Dragon tie is drogon, who was red and black as well. I found some really cool Ying yang dragon graphics, as well as some tribal dragon graphics to accompany. I’ll reveal those when the paint job is all said and done.

anxiously awaiting pictures after painting is done

 

[StreuB1]

Alot of frustrating things happened later on in the rocket build day.

I then glued the switchband to the coupler with 5 min epoxy. Made a dumb error here. I didn’t put the bulkheads on the coupler when I drilled.

Tough day, hopefully tomorrow is better.

You think you are the only person on earth who has made that same mistake?? I made it on my Demon 5 AND my Demon 150!!!!

Easiest way to rectify it is to simply file a taper on the bulkhead leading edge so that it clears the curve of the N/C. If you have a rasp, its literally a 5min job and that includes sanding it all nice and smooth. I then like to take some thin CA and seal the FG bulkplate edge and then sand them smooth once it's dry.

Assemble the AVbay, file the edge diameter, test fit, pull it out and file some more, test fit, etc.

Simple fix and no stress.

As a sr design engineer, I am liking all of the preparatory design work and forethought you are putting into this. It is literally ticking all my boxes. Very nicely done and looking forward to the end result!

 

[Jay Dub 4009]

You think you are the only person on earth who has made that same mistake?? I made it on my Demon 5 AND my Demon 150!!!!

Easiest way to rectify it is to simply file a taper on the bulkhead leading edge so that it clears the curve of the N/C. If you have a rasp, its literally a 5min job and that includes sanding it all nice and smooth. I then like to take some thin CA and seal the FG bulkplate edge and then sand them smooth once it's dry.

Assemble the AVbay, file the edge diameter, test fit, pull it out and file some more, test fit, etc.

Simple fix and no stress.

As a sr design engineer, I am liking all of the preparatory design work and forethought you are putting into this. It is literally ticking all my boxes. Very nicely done and looking forward to the end result!

Thanks, I put a lot of thinking into these builds, that’s why it takes me months to build a rocket I suppose. You can see my fix a few posts later, made sure that just cutting a blade width off the top of the coupler wouldn’t change any other dimensions, and it didn’t. Made the cut and back to flush!

Thanks for the kind words.

 

[Jay Dub 4009]

Last two days have been full of more sanding, primer, and then today I got the rocket painted. Started at 10 am and just finished with decals. Think it is just toeing the line of too much, but I like it. Needs clear tomorrow. I think trying to do clear now wouldn’t be smart lol.

Estes Nike for scale.

 

[Jay Dub 4009]

Clear is on, and is baking at 99 degrees. Prob an hour or so and it will be cured.

 

[Jay Dub 4009]

All done curing, except I missed the flat part of the nose cone tip, so touched it up with a brush and back in the booth for a bit. I dunno why but this thing is extra sparkly this time. I laid the clear on a bit thicker to try to solve my ever so slight orange peel issue from last rocket, and it did wonders.

 

[Jay Dub 4009]

I quickly modeled up some 1515 rail buttons tonight, as well as some .200 spacers for the rail buttons so the rail clears the step on the nose cone. Printed and installed.



Almost there for the Nike. Things left to do prior to flight—

1) design/print/install a fwd and aft camera mount for the RunCam 4Ks. Already have a self designed single 4K cam mount, so shouldn’t be too cosmic.
2) reinstall the harness in the nose cone
3) prep the av bay for flight
4) update openrocket sim for final weights
5) build k1000T

First launch window here is 5 November, with others the next two weekends as well.

After all Nike stuff is done, I’ll get back on tomahawk “fire” ASAP! Things to do:

1) tip to tip vaccum bag the fins
2) design and print avionics bay sled/charge wells
3) build Sustainer proton
4) design and print nosecone tracker insert
5) wire up and install all avionics
6) prepare some airstart procast augmented ematches
6) ground test
7) fly!

 

[Jay Dub 4009]

Last glamor shots now that I have some natural light

 

[Hobie1dog]

 

[rfjustin]

Looks great!

 

[ac2fv]

Great Job!

 

[Jay Dub 4009]

This evening, I charged the altimeter and gps batteries. Plugged test lights to both altimeters and tested both primary and backup altimeters drogue and main channels, passed. Then armed the altimeter for flight, and did just fine. Disarmed. Checked all connections and screws, and put a touch of hot glue on all the jst connectors. Everything looks good, and closed the avionics coupler up for flight prep. Installed fresh ematches on the charge wells, and checked continuity…good to go.

Started motor prep as well. Inspected the K1000T reload kit for servicabilty. Completed the grain bonding portion as the reload calls for, and put it aside until tomorrow 11am when I can finish it up.




Feels good to be getting ready to fly rockets again, been a few months.

 

[Jay Dub 4009]

Today spent about six hours getting a dual camera shroud whipped up. It was not like the single camera mount so had to come up with some ideas to produce a viable product. Utilizing some new methods on this one, will have a layer pause to insert nuts in the base for the upper shroud to screw into the base.

Base is printing now, we’ll see how it comes out.