Amraam 4 was almost finished, now broke

[rvanstone]

Folks,

I have a sick feeling this morning .
I was adding the clear coat to my Amraam 4 from Public missiles
when the missile top over and crack the upper stage air frame right along one of the fins.
Dam !! this rocket has been just plain bad luck to build. I have other problems to numerous to mention.
Maybe I should go to carbon!
I do not think I will be doing anymore Phenolic Airframe in the future the airframe seems to brittle.

Any way I have other rockets to launch at XPRS next week.
Check ouy my website "vanstone.us" I got some work to do but most of my info is posted.
Look under MyFleet "Double click the rocket"


Ron
MyPage

 

[Rick James]

Hey Ron,

The link wouldn't work for me... could you repost?

Thanks,
See you at XPRS,
Rick

 

[rvanstone]

Rick,
I corrected the link , should work now

Ron

 

[Rick James]

Nice looking rockets! Pity about the AMRAAM... can't it be repaired? That seems like a lot to just throw away... it was looking good...

 

[Missileman]

I can testify that PML phenolic tubes as airframes suck.
I had a scratch 4" rocket tip over on fairly soft ground and the airframe shattered.
Any future builds with this material will be glassed.
On the other hand I do very much like the QT tubing.

 

[rvanstone]

Rick,

I could order another upper section, but I notice that after I fiberglass the airframe it becomes very brittle.
I have fiber glass the other rockets and never had problems like that. Maybe I could use this for spare parts.

Maybe I should call Public Missiles and see what they suggest

Ron

 

[Ryan S.]

Phenolic is the best tube to work with, however you need to be careful with it, take extra steps to keep it upright, glassing helps too. Glassed phenolic is the only better thing than regular phenolic (other than pure composite material

 

[n3tjm]

Good info to know... I was thinking about getting an 4" Amraam... and thnking about using the Phenolic instead of Quantum Tubeing.... Looks like I'll need more glass then... if I get it...

 

[DPatell]

Paper is the best, imho. It's lite, easily glassable, and easier to cut than phenolic.

Phenolic is decent, but it is not shatter proof, even after getting glassed. The best thing out there is in terms of phenolic is Flexible Phenolic, especially when glassed.

Any phenolic, flexible or not, will shatter, but paper will not. Paper crinkles where phenolic will shatter.