Binder Design Devastator

[SteelyEyed]

I received my new Binder Design "Devastator" shortly after the kit was released in January. I've not had much free time to work on it, so the build has been progressing slowly. However, for the last couple of weeks I’ve been pushing hard to get it finished up and ready to fly for the first launch of the season. I was disappointed when BMR’s season opener was cancelled due to field conditions, but it gave me another week to try and get the project finished (with more wet weather this week, it’s not looking real good for this weekend either). I’m still not done, but the project is in the final stretch. In between filling spirals, sanding, priming, painting, masking and more painting I plan on using this thread to post a few photos of the build (really poor photos because they were taken with my cell phone camera – sorry, but there better than nothing...hopefully).

https://binderdesign.com/store/page2.html

Cheers,
SteelyEyed

 

[SteelyEyed]

I was not planning a build thread, so I didn't take a lot of photos, but here are a few. I wish I had taken a photo of the packaging straight out of the box. Mike at Binder Designs does a great job with his packaging. The Devastator is one of BD's premium kits, so it comes with a number of components that are not usually included in the typical HPR kit; including a SS chute swivel, rail buttons, a machined aluminum motor retainer, and a premium parachute. The kit has a couple of unique features; the most obvious is the fin design and the fin reinforcements that give it a bit more realistic, military look.

One of the reasons this kit appeals to me is it requires some modeling/building skills and offers a little more challenge to build than your standard 3 or 4FNC rocket. One of my favorite activities with this hobby is building. It was a lot of effort to get the leading and trailing edges of each of the eight fins and fin roots rounded just rights, but it was a labor of love. Here’s a before shot of the fins. They are cut from 3/16" aircraft birch plywood.

 

[SteelyEyed]

Here's a shot of the major components... Obviously, at this point I had already completed the fin can.

 

[DAllen]

Wait...you're not making some monstrous 2 stage out of this? lol

I am looking forward to seeing this bad-boy done. You do some great work. Speaking of monster 2 stagers, are we going to see you in a few weeks at Three Oaks?

-Dave

 

[Diosces]

Looks good Steely! Mike makes awesome kits. Looks like it's coming along nicely. You cell phone takes pretty good pic's

I'm building a Devastator also, I had Mike custom part it in all fiberglass for additional costs. Beeeefy rocket. I'll be posting the build thread over at Rocketry Planet in several days. Done with the booster-putting the last pair of 'fin stiffeners' on tonight. Make sure you have at least 5 or 6 clamps for that part. I had to cover the clamp jaws with wax paper so stray epoxy didn't glue 'em to the fins.

I'll be watching this one closely. BTW are you using an Ebay?

 

[SteelyEyed]

Wait...you're not making some monstrous 2 stage out of this? lol

I am looking forward to seeing this bad-boy done. You do some great work. Speaking of monster 2 stagers, are we going to see you in a few weeks at Three Oaks?

-Dave

Dave,
The upscaled, two-stage version is on the drawing board, it includes a Devastator booster section, but the sustainer is still classified...

Seriously, I wish I was returning to Three Oaks again this year. My son and I had a great time last year. Say hi to Terry Leright for me...

Cheers,
Bret

 

[SteelyEyed]

Looks good Steely! Mike makes awesome kits. Looks like it's coming along nicely. You cell phone takes pretty good pic's

I'm building a Devastator also, I had Mike custom part it in all fiberglass for additional costs. Beeeefy rocket. I'll be posting the build thread over at Rocketry Planet in several days. Done with the booster-putting the last pair of 'fin stiffeners' on tonight. Make sure you have at least 5 or 6 clamps for that part. I had to cover the clamp jaws with wax paper so stray epoxy didn't glue 'em to the fins.

I'll be watching this one closely. BTW are you using an Ebay?

Diosces,
Mike told me he did a custom FG version of the Devastator, so you're the guy. It sounds like yours will be bullet proof. Post some pics, please. And keep us posted on the flight.

Yes, my fin stiffeners are done and indeed it did take 6 or 8 clamps (I'll will post some more pics tonight). Finishing all the resulting fillet areas was a bit time consuming too, but the final product looks really cool. As you know, since you have one, pictures don't do this rocket justice. You really need to see it in person to fully appreciate the design. I added the fin stiffiners to this design to give it a more realistic (and a bit "brutish") appearance and make it more interesting to build. It does look like it belongs under the wing of a fighter jet...

To answer your question, I have the BD Ebay for it, but I don't intend to use it right away. As you will see when I post some more pics, I modified the kit to be a zipperless, baffled arrangement and utilize the nosecone volume to hold the laundry. When I convert it to DD I will have to customize the Ebay accordingly.

Bret

 

[DAllen]

Seriously, I wish I was returning to Three Oaks again this year. My son and I had a great time last year. Say hi to Terry Leright for me...

D'OH! I was getting you and Terry mixed up. Sorry! Now I remember - you were the one that flew out from Washington to see that monster M to M that Terry flew. And yes, you make some really cool stuff too!

That ring-fin rocket on the J last year was sweet. Except for the skipping across the gravel road part. Guys in our club still talk about that flight...lol. Did you ever figure out what went wrong with that?

-Dave

 

[SteelyEyed]

D'OH! I was getting you and Terry mixed up. Sorry! Now I remember - you were the one that flew out from Washington to see that monster M to M that Terry flew. And yes, you make some really cool stuff too!

That ring-fin rocket on the J last year was sweet. Except for the skipping across the gravel road part. Guys in our club still talk about that flight...lol. Did you ever figure out what went wrong with that?

-Dave

_____________________

Yes, I am the designer of the GLR Nuclear Sledgehammer, Terry was the builder (he also designed the booster section). My son and I were there because I wanted to see that M to M badboy do its thing. And it was truly a spectacular flight.

As for my other design... it WAS (still is) my favorite ever. I think it's probably the most beautiful rocket I've designed. After I got home I looked at video of the flight. It appears that the motor sputtered and did not come up to full thrust as it left the rail. As you recall, it was perfectly stable as it (horizontally) roared past the concession stand, the motorhome, and the Cub Scouts and over the road to dig that trench in the adjacent corn field. Before the flight I balanced the rocket on my hand and demonstrated the CG/CP relationship for the RSO. We both agreed it had a 1.5+ margin of stability. RockSim showed it to have >2.0 stability margin with that motor. I plan to build another one one of these days...

 

[DAllen]

Ahhh...that makes sense. With that big ol' ring on the back combined with the fins I couldn't understand how in the world it would be unstable. That was a Pro38 J330 - right? If so, I can't say I have ever seen one do that.

-Dave

 

[SteelyEyed]

It was a CTI J295. I've not seen a CTI motor do that before either.

 

[SteelyEyed]

When you just can't wait and you absolutely have to put it together and see what it's gonna looks like... here's a photo of the obligatory dry fit. Note that for this design there are the "fin stiffeners" that were mentioned above. They are not picutered yet.

 

[SteelyEyed]

I departed from the standard instructions and made a couple of modifications to this kit. One of the mods was I converted it to a zipperless, baffled configuration. This photo shows the top of the coupler tube with the bulkhead baffle and the u-bolt installed.

 

[SteelyEyed]

Here's the aft end of the coupler/baffle assembly.

 

[SteelyEyed]

Another (less significant) modification that I made to the kit is pictured below. If you look closely at the two centering rings on the fin can, you can see two small mounting blocks epoxied to the forward side of each ring. When the fin can is installed in the airframe I will use wood screws to securely attach the rail buttons to these blocks. You can also see in the photo the fairly beefy, milled fiber/aeropoxy fillets on the fins. If you look a little more closely you can see that I rounded the leading and trailing edges of the fins and the fin roots. The machined aluminum motor retainer is a standard feature on this kit.

 

[SteelyEyed]

Here's a photo of the step that Diosces was referring to. To accomplish this step one needs of number of clamps to hold things together until the epoxy sets up. The most unique feature on this kit is the "fin stiffeners" pictured below. They certainly are not needed for strength or anything, I just added them to give the design some "texture" or some character.

 

[DAllen]

2 questions:

1. I really like the fin stiffener look. It totally adds to that aggressive military look without over doing it. What material is the stiffener made of?

2. What did you use to bevel your fins?

Looking good!

-Dave

 

[SteelyEyed]

2 questions:

1. I really like the fin stiffener look. It totally adds to that aggressive military look without over doing it. What material is the stiffener made of?

2. What did you use to bevel your fins?

Looking good!

-Dave

_________________________________

Dave,
The fin stiffeners appear to be made of medium density fiberboard. The material is significantly lower cost than aircraft plywood and easy to work with. I will post some closeup shots later on so you cant see some of the detail. (CORRECTION - see below, the stiffeners are made of double tempered masonite)

To put the rounded edges on the fins I used nothing more than a variety of sandpapers, a small sanding block, and one of those sanding sponge thingys. It took me a lot of time and patience, but I am extremely please with the way they turned out.

Bret

 

[SteelyEyed]

Here's a closeup shot of one of the aft fins and stiffeners after I had completed the fillets and primed it for painting.

 

[SteelyEyed]

Not sure what happened with this photo, there's a funky lighting/shadow thing going on, but you can see a little more detail of the fins assemblies. And you can better appreciate the effort it took to round the leading and trailing edges of the fins...

 

[Diosces]

_________________________________

Dave,
The fin stiffeners appear to be made of medium density fiberboard. The material is significantly lower cost than aircraft plywood and easy to work with. I will post some closeup shots later on so you cant see some of the detail.

To put the rounded edges on the fins I uses nothing more than a variety of sandpapers, a small sanding block, and one of those sanding sponge thingys. It took me a lot of time and patience, but I am extremely please with the way they turned out.

Bret

The fin stiffeners I have appear to be heavy duty masonite. I concur that they prolly contribute little to structural integrity however they add a very 'robust' and unique appearance to the rocket. I'd like to think they help break up any harmonics during a mach transition.

Bret
Looks awesome. Very nice airfoil edges. I left my edges square. I'll post a pic of mine later or tommorrow for comparison

 

[SteelyEyed]

The fin stiffeners I have appear to be heavy duty masonite. I concur that they prolly contribute little to structural integrity however they add a very 'robust' and unique appearance to the rocket. I'd like to think they help break up any harmonics during a mach transition.

Bret
Looks awesome. Very nice airfoil edges. I left my edges square. I'll post a pic of mine later or tommorrow for comparison

_____________________________

Diosces,
You're right, the stiffeners are made of masonite. Mine are made of the same stuff that yours are. I talked to Mike, he said they are made of double tempered masonite.

Obviously, it would be much more difficult to round the edged of your G-10 fins.

 

[SteelyEyed]

One last modification that I made to the standard kit included cutting off the back of the nosecone. Because I converted to a zipperless, baffled configuration, I use the volume within the nosecone to hold the laundry. I fabricated a small bulkhead to which I attached a SS screw eye.

And then I used JB Weld to epoxy the bulkhead into the front of the nosecone (the photo below is a dry fit of the bulkhead in the nosecone). Before I applied the JB Weld, I roughed up the inside of the nosecone in the area where the bulkhead is, in order to get it bonded well.

 

[Binder Design]

The fin stiffeners I have appear to be heavy duty masonite. I concur that they prolly contribute little to structural integrity however they add a very 'robust' and unique appearance to the rocket.

They probably won't add too much extra strength to your fiberglass version, but they do stiffen up the plywood and paper version a lot. I imagine in a crash, the fins will break above the stiffeners rather than at the BT joint. One of the prototype versions I didn't even bother with fillets since the fin stiffeners take care of that nicely.

Mike Fisher

 

[Binder Design]

Here's a closeup shot of one of the aft fins and stiffeners after I had completed the fillets and primed it for painting.

Oooo pretty! Good thing I didn't take close-up shots of the ones I built because they are not nearly as nice.

Mike

 

[SteelyEyed]

Oooo pretty! Good thing I didn't take close-up shots of the ones I built because they are not nearly as nice.

Mike

Thanks for the encouraging words Mike. I decided to go with the same paint scheme that you did. The metallic silver and metalic blue. Here's a similar closeup after the silver paint was done. I'm working on the blue today...

 

[SteelyEyed]

I took a different approach with my nosecone. I only did the tip in blue to make it a bit more military-looking (not that I've ever seen a real weapon system with metal-flake paint)...

 

[SteelyEyed]

Although, I HAVE seen a real weapon system with the the tip of the nosecone looking similar to my paint job...

 

[snaquin]

Looks great ..... nice job!

I've taken a liking to the Rustoleum Metallic paints recently myself. That blue looks great on your Devastator.

I pained a Lil Nuke a while back with the charcoal gray and really liked the effect.

.

 

[SteelyEyed]

Looks great ..... nice job!

I've taken a liking to the Rustoleum Metallic paints recently myself. That blue looks great on your Devastator.

I pained a Lil Nuke a while back with the charcoal gray and really liked the effect.

.

_______________________

Thanks for the positive feedback. Yes, Rustoleum certainly is my favorite brand of rattle-can paint. Of course, I wish my local Home Depot or Lowes carried more colors. I particularly like the new spray trigger on the "Universal" surface formula paint. It is way easier to use and doesn't leave my "trigger" finger numb on the end...