6" Diameter Smokin Rockets X-15 Build & L3 Certification

[KenECoyote]

BFR

At this point I temporarily assembled the rocket to take a pic to register it as a BFR for LDRS 42:

Funny thing is that it wasn't glued together yet lol

Onward!
Time to mount the chines! In order to fit the chines closely to the body tube, I taped sandpaper onto an open area of the bt and just sanded it until it was flush.



Here I mixed up some West along with silica to thicken it, applied the glue to the traced outline, and used tape to keep the chine in place while the epoxy set.




I did this to the other side as well, but here is where I screwed up.

Since it was West Systems, it was taking hours to set and I left it outside unsupervised for too long. When I went to check on it in the late afternoon, the sun was very harsh and had angled down under my canopy. It had heated up the chine so much so that it actually bowed up and lifted free from the body tube on the middle top side of the rocket! ARRRGH!

The epoxy hadn't completely set yet, so I got the rocket out of the sun, let it cool and taped the bowed section back down. Still, that section was a bit thicker and raised (sorry, no pics because it was more an emergency ASAP fix at that point). This one section annoyed me and it was shaped a bit odd to where it would be hard to create a good fillet later.

Murphy's law is always in effect when you're in a rush.

 

[KenECoyote]

Motor on!

On 4/30, I finally got my Wildman Holiday sale motors! I was starting to get concerned since I was counting on using the Aerotech K1100T for this rocket's first flight, so this was a big relief.


Here I think I was adding epoxy to fill in the seam around the chines (and maybe better seal that previously lifted area) and then covered it with masking tape.


I also covered gaps and applied fillets:




Then I applied a primer coat so I can better see any areas to fix. It felt good to get that first coat on!


Ugh... lots of touching up needed!


So it's time to gather the troops together!


Trying to fix that ugly goofed section of the chine required a custom made specialty tool.

 

[KenECoyote]

Nose to the grindstone

Time to shift focus to the nose! I started trying to figure out an adjustable weight system since I wanted to fly this rocket mostly on K & L motors for first tests (and also for regular local club launches), but I needed to be able to add more weight for an M motor since that motor alone is over 10lbs!

I figured I'll need to establish a set amount of nose weight to get around 1.5 calibers of stability (the Apogee version I believe makes do with 0.98 calibers and in my experience, 1.5 is very good) and this worked out to around 3lbs.



I used some lead disk weights as well as lead puck weights (from Ebay). The disk weights are good for the base nose weight since I can easily stack different sizes onto a bolt and the weights can be assembled to fit into the narrowed tip of the nose and epoxied in. Then I can use a coupler and eyebolt on the bolt.

Base nose weight epoxied in and also anchored with long screws (forged eyebolt and coupler are also attached).:


So this amount of weight should be good for the K1100 motor according to my sim.

Early on I had noted that the inside shoulder of this nose cone was rough and uneven. This is not good if I'm planning to have the bay inserted and expect to have it reliably ejected out the same way each time. Given this, I tried to figure out ways to fill in the rough spots and this is where I could've done better.

I tried using a jug that seemed to match the size of the bay and then applied a slurry of thickened West System and inserted the jug (with wax paper) in order to make it smooth on the inside while also not pooling down giving it's a curved surface.


Results left a lot to be desired and I later filled it in with more epoxy. Still, it is better than it was before and will suffice for now.


Time to start on the bay!

After much searching earlier on, I used a Loc 5.5 bay that I had from a Ultimate Buzz kit.


I settled on using a Quasar/Quantum for primary and a Stratologger CF as backup.




Now we're moving along!

Some sketchy notes:


It's now May 5... one week before first planned test flight.

 

[OverTheTop]

I love it when people build something extraordinary and/or difficult for certs. It is not a requirement by the rules, but it is certainly how I like to fly. I won't look down on anyone going for the KISS method either. If the rules allow it then it is acceptable and I won't judge.

It is good to be able to build and fly what excites you, for your own reasons.

Excellent build .

 

[KenECoyote]

I love it when people build something extraordinary and/or difficult for certs. It is not a requirement by the rules, but it is certainly how I like to fly. I won't look down on anyone going for the KISS method either. If the rules allow it then it is acceptable and I won't judge.

It is good to be able to build and fly what excites you, for your own reasons.

Excellent build .

Thanks OTT!

I want to touch upon that a bit more. I did note a bunch of reasons earlier for why I chose this difficult project, but I'd like to add that I think it also depends a lot on personality and drive and...

It helps to be a bit crazy.

Haha! Well, maybe more than a "bit"; however, in a good way.

Because of past work, I'm a very goal-oriented person and I'll work like a madman to achieve a goal.

For my Hangar 11 L2 build, I think I pulled an all-nighter or two. With the Dragon Rocketry X-15 rush build, I was spray painting outside around 2:30AM. I've also finished all 5 marathons I signed up for (last two with a knee injury).

Don't get me wrong, I do know when to quit, but until then I'll go to pretty unusual lengths and planning not to. That's when my wife will confirm my earlier point with "you're crazy!"

I'm also a person of extreme opposites. Part of me is daring and adventurous, but that part fights against the side that is very logical and hates failure. I LOVE pushing both extremes.

I like to imagine that's the same way the X-15 designers, engineers and pilots were.

 

[Wrightme43]

You are awesome man. I hope to meet you in person one day. This is just a great thread.

 

[KenECoyote]

You are awesome man. I hope to meet you in person one day. This is just a great thread.

Thanks! I'm not that special compared to the other clearly amazing builders and fliers here on TRF.

We just have a passion for what we do and are lucky enough to have family, friends and people on TRF that help support it.

 

[Rocketjunkie]

The general wisdom applies when you have a desire to fly bigger motors and plan to continue. For me, this wasn't the case because my local field has a 4,500' waiver and I'm happy flying L motors and under. Plus the price of the bigger L3 motors is a bit out of reach for me after the crazy inflation and given I haven't started making my own motors yet. Last I saw, the retail price of an M1350 was $769?!?

In my case, this was more of a bucket list item, plus I enjoy a challenge every now and then. I was also fortunate enough to still have the M1350 motor I had purchased back in 2015 for $250 when I first considered trying for L3. I might try another M motor in the future, but not anytime soon.

It just made sense for me to try it this way and I was fairly confident that I could do it. If you're going to try a bucket list item, why not make it memorable? (As long as it's safe and within reason of course.)

A cert attempt is a good opportunity to prove your knowledge and skills as well as to learn how much you were lacking them!

Get your L3 then make future M motors. I have inert parts for Aerotech hardware 29-98 mm. There are plenty of formulas on the net and in the Research forum here.

Motor on!

On 4/30, I finally got my Wildman Holiday sale motors! I was starting to get concerned since I was counting on using the Aerotech K1100T for this rocket's first flight, so this was a big relief.
View attachment 652445

The K1100T will work but the K1103X is 400 more N-s for the same price

 

[KenECoyote]

Get your L3 then make future M motors. I have inert parts for Aerotech hardware 29-98 mm. There are plenty of formulas on the net and in the Research forum here.

Oh, I got my L3 already at Post #1 and I do plan to make motors (actually have been gathering supplies over the past year), but it'll probably still be a while before I start.

The K1100T will work but the K1103X is 400 more N-s for the same price

Yes, but do you need a special SS seal disk?

Apogee site:
"Requires the 54mm stainless steel Forward Seal Disk (P/n 60105). Does not work with the standard aluminum 54mm seal disk because of the extremely high temperature this motor burns at. "

 

[Art Upton]

Oh, I got my L3 already at Post #1 and I do plan to make motors (actually have been gathering supplies over the past year), but it'll probably still be a while before I start.

Yea, I remember when I made my first $795 54mm "J" motor in my mixing bowl*. But later down the road the cost goes way down.
I don't make motors anymore but it was fun learning and using them for awhile.

*Cost of all the materials and equipment included.

 

[KenECoyote]

I had a screw loose.

I had installed the rear 75mm Aeropack retainer when I first started working on the tail cone and I took it off to spray paint the rocket. Unfortunately one of the screws snapped off and left the remainder inside the tail cone. I doubt 1 missing screw out of a dozen would be an issue, but it bothered me and I didn't want to take any chances.


Initially it had me stumped, but then I recalled a fix I read about many years ago (RC planes maybe) and I used a small piece of brass tubing and cut teeth into it. Then I put it into a drill and got the small bit of screw out.



To create a plug, I used a bamboo chopstick and crushed some slots into it with the same drill, glued it in, sawed it off, and redrilled for a new screw. Worked like a charm!


Edit Add: I'd forgotten to note that at some point around here, I added dowels to the inside of the body tube to support the HED Cannon.

This time, I made the dowels a bit shorter and used wood screws in them so that I could adjust them to the correct height (at least that was my original plan).

 

[KenECoyote]

Prepare to fire!

Time is running out and I ramped things up. I finished up the av bay with a Quantum and a SLCF. I also added the speaker option for the SLCF and the speaker itself was mounted on the Drogue side bay lid. Batteries were secured with 3D printed holders. I used one battery of 2014 vintage that I had used with 100% reliability and I used a newish lipo pack that I got off other recommendations. I think it's a good habit to use one known old element and another new element since the old one is proven, but may fail due to age and the new one is fresh, but is unproven.

Both systems proved 100% reliable in all my bench testing.

Here I've set up the rocket for charge testing. I used a snowblower for a backstop (ain't going nowhere!), some car ramps to keep the rocket nose off the ground and I covered the nose tip with foam and tape. The Quantum is great in that you can use your cell phone to do charge test firings.


FIRE!!!


View attachment 20240507_095044.mp41715109776730.mp4
First test of drogue seemed good and I didn't break anything!

Paint it black!

I wasn't going to paint the rocket black yet, but I figured it would be quick, so I sprayed on a coat of flat black. Funny thing is that I thought it was gloss and it went down glossy, but I was surprised when it dried flat. This ended up possibly being a good thing for later.



2nd Volley.

More charge testing to be sure!



Main fired:


Here I added (3) 1515 rail buttons. It was very tricky getting all 3 aligned using a hand drill! Each button was set into a CR and also epoxied in place.


It's now May 9... 2 days until the club's weekend launch and my first planned test launch. For the first time I'm feeling like things are on schedule... or so I thought.

 

[aerostadt]

This is really a nicely thought out project. It must have been a lot of work in a short amount of time.

 

[KenECoyote]

A Sidebar about clubs, L3CCs and TAPs.

I had heard from a friend about how someone he knew wanted to try for their L3, but seemed discouraged when the L3CC/TAP seemed "too strict".

To me, that possibly meant that either they didn't appear ready or their L3CC/TAP didn't know them well enough. This is something that could be fixed and maybe shouldn't even be an issue imho.

My L3CC seemed cool with my L3 attempt and maybe it's because I did the following things even before I asked or thought of trying for L3:

• I regularly show up at the club to help set up and usually try to stay late to take down.
• I help my L3CC with anything he needs when he gets to the club since he also has to set up his sales stuff.
• On occasion, I've treated the RSO and the LCO (my L3CC) to a free drink or lunch. Years ago @teepot sent me some cash in thanks for my help with something and he said it was a "toke"/token of appreciation. I told him it wasn't at all necessary, but appreciated and that I would use it to treat the RSO & LCO to lunch. I've continued way beyond since I appreciate the work they do for us.
• Usually the club has enough people to RSO, but recently I volunteered to help since we were short. It was cool seeing other member's rockets and I plan to do it more often in the future.
• I regularly talk to these guys because I think they're cool, full of knowledge and have a lot of funny rocket stories. I often park nearby them (means get their early!), which also helps get my rockets to the RSO and field quickly.

Of course you don't need to do these things, but the more you put into the club, the more these members appreciate it and the more they're willing to help you in return.

 

[Rocketjunkie]

Oh, I got my L3 already at Post #1 and I do plan to make motors (actually have been gathering supplies over the past year), but it'll probably still be a while before I start.

Yes, but do you need a special SS seal disk?

Apogee site:
"Requires the 54mm stainless steel Forward Seal Disk (P/n 60105). Does not work with the standard aluminum 54mm seal disk because of the extremely high temperature this motor burns at. "

I've flown 4 so far and had no issues with an aluminum seal disk. Even a clone one that was not anodized. If you have to replace the seal disk, then buy a stainless one. You can use it in all the motors that require a seal disk. All my 54/1706 cases have seen a lot of use. Favorite size for the Deuce and Motoreater. I'd even put a K1103X in my 6" Black Brant or 7.5" Goblin. I have not flown one in a high performance rocket. Usually in larger rockets to around 5000'
(Edited to add larger rocket comment.)

 

[KenECoyote]

X-15 Test Flight Day is Here!

The May 11 club launch was still on, so I packed up the rockets. It was a fabulous day (so far).


First I launched the V2 for it's second HED Cannon test and using a K456. It was glorious!


View attachment 20240511_131015_1_1_1.mp4
However, there was an issue of the main deploying at apogee despite using (4) 2-56 shear pins. My L3CC said he thought it was from using too much bp on the drogue charges (on my earlier design before the external drogue pin mounts I thought that more bp was necessary jic).

An experienced rocketeer helping me thought maybe it was the sudden pull of the drogue chute.

Luckily for me, the air was dead calm and it drifted almost straight down. I later had another theory about the main pins giving out too soon.

Next up was the X-15 on a K1100T!

So I told Rick (my L3CC and the LCO) that if the rocket worked, I'd start a build thread, but I wouldn't mention it was for an L3 until after I tried certifying at LDRS in case I failed.

He then proceeds to announce to everyone over the speaker that he's about to launch my L3 rocket! LOL



Unfortunately, disaster struck and I had a cato!


View attachment 20240511_150940_1.mp4



When embarking on a very difficult project with lofty goals, be prepared for a disaster as well as a complete failure.

To be continued....

 

[Wrightme43]

A Sidebar about clubs, L3CCs and TAPs.

I had heard from a friend about how someone he knew wanted to try for their L3, but seemed discouraged when the L3CC/TAP seemed "too strict".

To me, that possibly meant that either they didn't appear ready or their L3CC/TAP didn't know them well enough. This is something that could be fixed and maybe shouldn't even be an issue imho.

My L3CC seemed cool with my L3 attempt and maybe it's because I did the following things even before I asked or thought of trying for L3:

• I regularly show up at the club to help set up and usually try to stay late to take down.
• I help my L3CC with anything he needs when he gets to the club since he also has to set up his sales stuff.
• On occasion, I've treated the RSO and the LCO (my L3CC) to a free drink or lunch. Years ago @teepot sent me some cash in thanks for my help with something and he said it was a "toke"/token of appreciation. I told him it wasn't at all necessary, but appreciated and that I would use it to treat the RSO & LCO to lunch. I've continued way beyond since I appreciate the work they do for us.
• Usually the club has enough people to RSO, but recently I volunteered to help since we were short. It was cool seeing other member's rockets and I plan to do it more often in the future.
• I regularly talk to these guys because I think they're cool, full of knowledge and have a lot of funny rocket stories. I often park nearby them (means get their early!), which also helps get my rockets to the RSO and field quickly.

Of course you don't need to do these things, but the more you put into the club, the more these members appreciate it and the more they're willing to help you in return.

This is wisdom.
Years ago, I heard and try to live by. "Help enough other people get what they want, and you will have what you want."

We never know what other people are actually going thru, and a little extra effort and kindness can change someone else's whole day, week, life.

 

[Aeva]

This is wisdom.
Years ago, I heard and try to live by. "Help enough other people get what they want, and you will have what you want."

We never know what other people are actually going thru, and a little extra effort and kindness can change someone else's whole day, week, life.

That last sentence is so quotable... you should make it your sig lol.

@KenECoyote, sorry about the CATO!! that's annoying... what's the plan now? Salvage the existing one (if possible)? or rebuild? or TBD (saddest of all)?

 

[KenECoyote]

This is wisdom.
Years ago, I heard and try to live by. "Help enough other people get what they want, and you will have what you want."

We never know what other people are actually going thru, and a little extra effort and kindness can change someone else's whole day, week, life.

I agree! I also like to think that there is such a thing as karma. I wish everyone would.

@KenECoyote, sorry about the CATO!! that's annoying... what's the plan now? Salvage the existing one (if possible)? or rebuild? or TBD (saddest of all)?

Plan is to keep writing the rest of the back story of how I got to the result at Post #1!

This cato happened about 3 weeks before LDRS and wrecked a lot of hardware too.

This was for me a crossroads moment.

 

[KenECoyote]

 

[Rschub]

 

[KenECoyote]

Crossroads...

So what happened was pretty horrible. Funny thing was that I was somewhat ok with it. Stuff like this is always a risk with rocketry and the odd thing was that after a month of intense "every waking moment" focus on this project, I almost saw it as an excuse for a break! Something I've learned with marathon running is that oftentimes the body, when fatigued, will try to convince the mind that you can't go on and that you have to quit. This was almost like that.

This was me with Andy, my L3 advisor, after the cato. Yup, I'm lifting the X-15 by the gaping hole!

I said to the people present "Oh well, at least now I get to relax and enjoy LDRS!"

Andy looked at what happened to the motor and felt that it was some defect and told me to contact Aerotech warranty. I did so and also filed a MESS report. Stuff like this is important in case of some issue with a lot (similar cato actually happened to another club member with his L3 rocket the following month!). Aerotech was cool and said they would replace my reload and case.

Another experienced rocketeer, Steve Lacker, looked over my rocket and told me that it should be fixable as long as the motor tube is still straight. I was a bit incredulous, but appreciated that opinion since I thought the rocket was toast for a L3 build, where anything not really strong will fail.

Rick at that point gave me the perfect advice:
"Give it a day for the shock to wear off and then think about how you're going to fix it."

Sometimes it's good to have friends with confidence in you when you've lost confidence in yourself.

 

[KenECoyote]

The Plan?

So I didn't even give it a day. I started reviewing the damage and trying to figure out how to fix it. I figured that if the rocket is fixable, I'd have to get it done by the next club launch on June 1-2 (weather permitting), to show Rick the repaired rocket and also fly it on an L motor for a full flight test. This gives me just under 3 weeks.

While the past month was pretty crazy, I was about to crank up the crazy up even more.

First, the real test... I grabbed my M1350 motor case and I inserted it into the damaged rocket and while a bit snug, it went in straight without issue!


Now how to fix this mess?


I dunno.

Well, I figured, just like long distance running, take one step at a time. I'll replace the missing motor tube section first. Steve had mentioned that I could even leave that section out, but I felt that it provides additional support to the rocket and it'd be better to replace it. I also decided to make the repaired areas as strong or stronger than before.

I had an extra left over section of 75mm motor tube and I cut it to the correct size. I then proceeded to use a fiberglass sleeve over it (it was some very heavy fg sock that I had bought off another rocketeer and it may have been made for medical use). I used shrink tubing on it and it came out great!


(Not pictured, but I used an angle grinder to clean and smooth out the damaged areas. You'll see it pop up a lot during my repairs.)

Next, I planned out where to put dowels - my favorite way to help strengthen an area.


I also planned to add dowels on the outer section against the body tube in that area.


Here I tended to various other smaller fixes, including the area at the front of the bottom vertical stabilizer that had broken in an odd manner and lifted up from the CR underneath (required some puzzle solving, wood screws, fiberglass and epoxy).



That vertical stabilizer also had some damage from flexing and so I had to straighten it out. I first tried concrete slabs and a bunch of clamps, but that didn't seem to do much.


Then I tried a temporary clamp of wood strips and wood screws and that did the trick very nicely!

(Note the big crack in that bottom fin!)

It's now Friday, May 17.

 

[neil_w]

Just an incredible repair job (especially since I’ve seen the final result).

 

[KenECoyote]

Tough Tube

Yup, I'm trying to fix a giant hole in my L3 cert rocket. Sobering thought!

I knew I needed to find a replacement section of 6" body tube and I had started searching right away when I wasn't repairing the rocket. Unfortunately, it was proving very difficult. 6" phenolic tubing was pretty hard to find and even when I did find it, the shipping cost was very high (meaning no express shipping) and it may not arrive to me in time.

During my search, I found a 6" fiberglass fireworks mortar tube on Ebay for ~$45 shipped and it would only take a few days to arrive (coming from a nearby state), so I ordered it.

The tube arrived on May 15! Unfortunately the fg mortar tube was simply too rough, plus dissimilar materials may create odd stresses to the glue joints with temperature changes, so I didn't think this would be useable for my repairs. Maybe I'll use it for some future rocket build...or for fireworks?


Rick said that he did have some 6" phenolic tubing in storage and that he'd be the vendor at the CATO club launch in Connecticut the following weekend, so if I wanted to, I could pick it up there. That's a 4 hour round trip for me, but I needed that part and I had wanted to visit that club - part of my original plans this year was to visit other rocket clubs around me.

That Saturday (May 18), I met Rick at CATO and got the tube. The 24" section of tube ended up being a coupler tube, but that should work fine since it's the same phenolic construction and just a skosh smaller diameter - I didn't think to try looking for a coupler earlier since I wasn't sure of how it was constructed and whether it would work for me, but seeing it in person confirmed it would.

Despite the weather forecast predicting nice weather that day, it rained a lot while I was there (pretty much non-stop ), so I left to go back home to continue fixing the rocket.

 

[KenECoyote]

Rough patches

Time to close up the patient!

First I cleaned up the whole hole area to allow the tube patch to fit in (and on) there well. Out came the trusty cordless angle grinder and I used a sanding disk as well as the grinding disk.


I carefully measured out the area so that I could cut the correct size coupler patch to insert between the CRs and I also cut a larger piece to cover the larger body tube area over it. I felt this would be plenty strong, especially given I would also apply 2 layers of fg over it.



Nice!

I forgot what I was doing here... maybe measuring off where the CR is for future reference for where the rail button goes. However, this shows you some of the repaired areas (ex. to the cracked bottom fin) as well as some of the other holes still to be repaired.


The larger piece is then "glued and screwed" into place. Now that feels good!





Still, there's still some smaller holes and tears to take care of...


(I traced this hole onto a paper template.)

Patch, glue, screw, unscrew...



Still moah!


Then I started filling, sanding, and filleting the area.


At this point, due to time, I decided to focus less on making the bottom half look good. With rush projects you'll often need to make concessions on the less critical items if you don't have time to do everything the way you normally would or would like to.

It's now May 20... less than 2 weeks until the next club launch.

 

[KenECoyote]

Coyote Tip

With a rush project like this, one thing that I found very helpful was having Amazon Prime. It allowed me to quickly find tools and supplies (at least the non-rocket specific ones) and have them shipped to me in 1-2 days as I was working on my rocket. This was a lifesaver at times since I didn't need to run out to some store to try to get one item and then repeat it each time I had a new need. Instead, I'd often work on the rocket during the day (around my full time WIH job) and then in the evening, I'd think about which tools or supplies that I may need, would be helpful, or would speed things up and I would order them.

I do try to support my local hardware store whenever I can, but Amazon's incredible selection and fast shipping was a lifesaver.

 

[KenECoyote]

Picking Up The Pieces

For us rocketeers flying on lands that others own, especially farm land, it's vitally important to pick up all debris and post-cato rocket pieces. There's also a plus side to this, in that, if you are repairing your rocket like I am, those pieces may be very important in making it an easier repair!

Here I started putting the pieces of the chines back in place. This is the top, so notice that I'm also doing some small touch ups as well. Also I forgot to include the part where I applied 2 layers of fiberglass over the repaired section, but you see it here.

Notice that weird white line on the right? That's some odd seam that actually remained and it's a give away to where the damage occurred since I never bothered filling it (I thought the paint would smooth it out).

Tape was to hold the chine in place for gluing and I used a dowel to fill in large gap areas to help support a cover piece to be glued in later.


Dowel used to support the chine and aid in better gluing. Also I salvaged a piece of torn off fiberglass to fill in an area on the wing where it was ripped off.


Glued!


Now to fix that gap on the tail fin...


Cosmetic reconstruction surgery stat!

(Ugh )

Getting there...


Viola!


It's May 23rd... 9 days until the next club launch and 14 days until LDRS.

 

[KenECoyote]

Working on Fixing Things With My X

The main issues are now fixed, so time to deal with the smaller ones (which can still be big headaches).

I used a nice new tool I got from Amazon and this allowed me to sand the entire glue edge of the chine very quickly, evenly and flat. Prior to this, it bothered me that there was a bulge in the middle of the chine from when I left it in the sun and it expanded and lifted up, but that goof got literally blown away, so I got to redo it! This tool worked like a charm.


The rear of one of the chines got it good, so time to fix this area. I made a cardboard template, cut out a replacement patch, glued in some backing and then glued in the patch.





Notice that there's a large hole that was there originally? That's the vent system hole! I had drilled vent holes in the body tube sections along where they would be under the chine and so it all vents out the back through the chines and you don't see any extra holes (except after the cato lol). Also given the main vent is in the back, I figured that the aerodynamics of the rocket in flight would help to pull out the air (venturi effect), thus requiring smaller vent holes. I thought this was a cool idea.

The side of the damaged chine got shredded, so this took a bit of work to fix. I first epoxied in a backer and used clips to keep it in place while it set. I then used epoxy filler, possibly a dowel, and several rounds of filling and sanding. Came out good 'nuff!




Now it was just a matter of final touches, filling, sanding, and another coat of paint.



While I've managed to fix the damage (on good timing no less!), there's still a bunch of other things I need to do to get this rocket ready for the next flight and LDRS.

It's now Monday, May 27th... 5 days until the weekend Club launch for the L3CC review of the fixes and another planned test flight before LDRS.

 

[neil_w]

I used a nice new tool I got from Amazon and this allowed me to sand the entire glue edge of the chine very quickly, evenly and flat. Prior to this, it bothered me that there was a bulge in the middle of the chine from when I left it in the sun and it expanded and lifted up, but that goof got literally blown away, so I got to redo it! This tool worked like a charm.
View attachment 653005

I can't tell what I'm looking at there. What tool is that exactly?