Apogee Nike Hercules Plan Build Thread

[ljwilley]

After seeing a Nike Hercules plan on the apogee website, and not finding any other substantial information on the internet, I posted a thread to see if anyone had built one. I got a lot of good info, so thanks TRF! I then decided to purchase the plan to see what would happen! The plan arrived today, and I immediately got started. I am going to build it for single-stage use, with a cluster of 4 13mm motors in the booster. I do not currently have all the supplies I need to build the booster, so I will start by building the upper section. When I opened the package, I immediately noticed, that the rocket would be a lot harder to build that previously expected. This did not phase me, as I know I will be able to build it just fine, but I did want to note that this is a challenging build! I started by cannibalizing a tube and nose from a deceased rocket, and assembling and attaching the upper stage boat tail to the upper stage airframe. I will not post pictures of the whole plan, as that is what apogee is selling to make money. (I shouldn't post it on the inter-webs) So, I am showing a picture of the cover page, the one page that doesn't show anything more than what you can see on the apogee website. More posts to come!

 

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[ljwilley]

Upper stage main fins cut! Working on the small upper stage fin pieces now...

 

[ljwilley]

The small upper stage fin parts have been cut out!

 

[ljwilley]

Glued on the main upper stage fins, and the small strips that connect the boat tail fins to the main fins. I will glue on those fins, then the canards on the nose. Then I will post a picture of it.

 

[ljwilley]

Upper stage assembly finished. I will paint it before attaching it to the booster.

 

[ljwilley]

 

[ReynoldsSlumber]

Love this mini-size build, too fun. With all four Nike booster tubes stuffed, it's gonna rip off the pad. Which motor combinations are you thinking of using?

4X 1/4A3-3T, equivalent to an A10-3
4X 1/2A3-4T, equivalent to a B13-4
2X A3-4T & 2X 1/2A3-4T, equivalent to a mid-range C7-4
4X A3-4T, equivalent to a C9-4

Don't think you'd want to use four A10-3T's. That pencils out to a C with a peak thrust of 39 Newtons, or almost 9 pounds! And then only a 3 second delay, yeowch. Those are like Sprint missile numbers.

 

[ljwilley]

Love this mini-size build, too fun. With all four Nike booster tubes stuffed, it's gonna rip off the pad. Which motor combinations are you thinking of using?

4X 1/4A3-3T, equivalent to an A10-3
4X 1/2A3-4T, equivalent to a B13-4
2X A3-4T & 2X 1/2A3-4T, equivalent to a mid-range C7-4
4X A3-4T, equivalent to a C9-4

Don't think you'd want to use four A10-3T's. That pencils out to a C with a peak thrust of 39 Newtons, or almost 9 pounds! And then only a 3 second delay, yeowch. Those are like Sprint missile numbers.

I've already thought about this quite a lot during this build. The transition between the booster and upper stage is quite weak, and probably would fail under 4 or even just 2 of the mini A motors. The rocket is quite light, so I was thinking either a cluster of 4 1/4 A or 4 1/2 A motors. I will decide when I finish the rocket and weigh it.

 

[ljwilley]

I have finished painting the upper stage and I have also acquired and cut some bt-5 tubes for the booster. I have decided to glue them all together without the spacers recommended by the instructions because the square to circle shroud seems to be too tight to fit over the tiny centering rings if you have the extra space. I have also found a piece of random plastic in my box of parts that I will use to strengthen and shape the square-to-circle shroud.

 

[ljwilley]

Just finished gluing the tubes together and and attaching the paper bulkhead for the booster. I also put together some parts for the square-to-circle shroud!

 

[ljwilley]

Finished the square-to-circle transition and the lower shroud!


For some reason the assembly looks crooked in this picture, it is not in real life.

 

[ReynoldsSlumber]

Finished the square-to-circle transition and the lower shroud!

My main hobby these days being cardstock/papercraft models, I always appreciate a model with elements of Cardstock Rocketry in it.
Hopefully it's sturdy enough to withstand four ejection charges, especially if some of them are exactly simultaneous!

 

[ljwilley]

I used a piece of plastic I found to reinforce the upper shroud for that exact reason. Crossing my fingers that the ejection charges will be staggered! Thanks for your interest in the build!

 

[ljwilley]

Just finished cutting out the fins and then gluing them on the booster!


Once this has dried, I will paint the booster. Planning to paint it with the booster fins white and the rest of the booster army green like this:

 

[ljwilley]

And I have some more good news. I ordered the TLP plan pack to make an even bigger one of these! Should be here friday!

 

[ljwilley]

Finished! I will fly it soon!



Also.... Question:

Can an Estes PSII controller light 4 motors?

 

[user 47126]

I've launched the Estes sidekick, which has two motors with it. I'm not sure about four, it's in the instructions but I've never tried it.

 

[ljwilley]

Sorry for not updating, I tried launching it with the four motors (and new batteries) and they did not light. I ended up just hooking everything up to a car battery and it went off. Unfortunately only 3 of the ignitors actually ignited the motors, but under that much thrust and because the motors were close together, the rocket still went straight up. One fin also broke because the parachute got tangled and it fell too fast.



Anyway. it looked really cool!