BlackHawk Carbon 29mm Min. Diam. build

The Rocketry Forum

Help Support The Rocketry Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
We flew it on an old Vulcan F50-10 Tracer - Gone! Fortunately we put the tracker in it, otherwise it would not have been found. It was on the field about 300 yards from the pad, we just never saw it after burnout.
 
What kind of altitude did you get?

No altimeter, but, we estimated that it got up to 3k..It did a cool 'back slide' at the top of it's coast phase, then the parachute came out..I was in a rush trying to prep a rocket to go up before the rain so didn't track it to the ground- I presumed they had it in sight- but they found it..

And no, I didn't get mine prepped before the skies dumped on us..
 
Anyone attending NSL this weekend..........

........ Blackhawk will be at the Wildman trailer for your inspection and feel free to fly it yourself on the motor of your choice.....

THAT BEING SAID....YOU ARE EXPECTED TO BRING IT BACK !!! LOL
 
So, Jim...

Exactly how much do you need to rough up the tube before gluing the fins on?

The past few days have been very good to me, as a Mongoose 54 and a Blackhawk both landed in my hands. (No, I'm not sharing)

So, I marked, masked, sanded, cleaned and....hmmm....barely any mark. Sand again, clean, hey! Still barely any mark. Sanded again, and this (string of expletives omitted) tubing is harder than heck to scuff up!

Realistically, is lightly dulling the surface on this stuff sufficient, or do I need to be a bit more aggressive with it? Show it who's boss, and all that?

-Kevin
 
Hey Troj...
If you look at post 4 [the fins] I used 80grit and it only took 10min. to rough up all 6 sides of the fins sufficiently. You can see the gloss on the plate fins is totally gone. I noticed when doing the tube it didn't look like I was taking anything off, as it doesn't scratch up like you would expect. However after checking the sandpaper and my hand , both were black with dust, so I knew I was. That said..... it is some tuff stuff!

The tubes are ground to tolerance with some type of rotary grinder so they already have the finish knocked off. That's why they look so dull. Even after a good hit with the 80 it doesn't show much, but it's enough. It had me wondering also, till after I glued the fins on. But after trying to rip one off I'm more than satisfied they are not going anywhere.

I have handed the rocket to several people and told them to try and bend or flex the fins as hard as they could and no one yet has been able to do any damage. I even stood on it, and it passed. That Hi temp Pro line epoxy is some awesome stuff.

I talked to Deb the other day, she mentioned her Wildman's not done yet. So go ahead and help her finish up, send me the 54mm , I'll build and test it for you. OK? [LOL]
 
Last edited:
If you look at post 4 [the fins] I used 80grit and it only took 10min. to rough up all 6 sides of the fins sufficiently. You can see the gloss on the plate fins is totally gone. I noticed when doing the tube it didn't look like I was taking anything off, as it doesn't scratch up like you would expect. However after checking the sandpaper and my hand , both were black with dust, so I knew I was. That said..... it is some tuff stuff!

Okay; that's what I was after. The fins I wasn't too worried about, as like you said, the shine goes away when they're scuffed.

The tubes were the primary question.

I talked to Deb the other day, she mentioned her Wildman's not done yet. So go ahead and help her finish up, send me the 54mm , I'll build and test it for you. OK? [LOL]

Yep, she was laughing as she told me about that conversation, when I got home.

As for sending you the 54.... No, I don't think so.... :bangpan:

-Kevin
 
Fins are on, fillets are done! (29 and 54) The epoxy is thick stuff!

Now I need to pester Tim, to find out if he can get me a coupler and av bay section of the 29mm tubing -- I need to make a proper tracker mount, as well as a home for an altimeter, so I can see how high it went!

Did some rough sims already....almost a mile on a G64. :eyepop:

A tracker is not optional....

-Kevin
 
A picture, of course....

geese5.jpg


Now this has me wanting the 75, too.... :bang:

-Kevin
 
Well after several more grueling flights, and thousands of miles of road travel, and even a lawn dart or 2........
............decided it was time to finally get a set of nice decals for the 'Hawk and give it a refurbishment.

So with the help of Don Ball on fonts and sizing, came up with the final one.

This one is yellow as per my request, but as soon as the details are finished they should be available in silver [chrome] from Wildman for all the Blackhawks out there and the ones to come.

FYI for all those on back order, they should be shipping next week. [kits]

I think it should be easy to spot now!

Troj... have you launched yours yet? If so, on what and how did it go?

I'm also working on an altimeter bay solution, hope to have it ready for testing soon. Have taken Adrians advice to heart, trying to keep the weight to a bare minimum by using the shockcord instead of allthread to hold things together.
 
At AIRFest this weekend a stock Blackhawk was flown on the new 381Ns Pro29-6GXL I224 motor. Altimeter recorded 9990 ft! An awesome flight. This was using the stock retainer ring, not the flush tapered closure. I think it was also max. motor deployment, so set for 15 seconds. It was probably still coasting.

Jeroen
 
At AIRFest this weekend a stock Blackhawk was flown on the new 381Ns Pro29-6GXL I224 motor. Altimeter recorded 9990 ft! An awesome flight. This was using the stock retainer ring, not the flush tapered closure. I think it was also max. motor deployment, so set for 15 seconds. It was probably still coasting.

Jeroen

And just how far did they have to trek to recover it?:y:Almost 10K holy shamolie!:eyepop: And for those looking at Jim's picture of the Blackhawk with the yellow decal- it looked even better in person! Too bad when he flew it at Freedom Launch the baffle came loose and the body lawn darted!:dark: Nosecone floated off somewhere with the chute, but was found and later returned to the LCO table. :)
 
At AIRFest this weekend a stock Blackhawk was flown on the new 381Ns Pro29-6GXL I224 motor. Altimeter recorded 9990 ft! An awesome flight. This was using the stock retainer ring, not the flush tapered closure. I think it was also max. motor deployment, so set for 15 seconds. It was probably still coasting.

Jeroen

Sounds like fun. Was there a tracker in it?
 
Sounds like fun. Was there a tracker in it?
Yes. Otherwise it would not have been found, I think. Adrian: note this was without the tapered closure. There was actually tape around the airframe I noticed - holding the motor? I think 11-12 kft is certainly possible.

Another interesting flight was a minimum diameter 54 with the new 3147 Ns (!) L935 Imax Pro54-6GXL motor by Jim Cooper. It reached 2100 ft/s and 19 kft. At motor burnout the drag was -10 g's. There was a rather large diameter motor retainer at the end of the motor. I suspect that had to do with that. In an optimum rocket it would probably have coasted for several more kft. But it was a very impressive flight.

Jeroen
 
Yes. Otherwise it would not have been found, I think. Adrian: note this was without the tapered closure. There was actually tape around the airframe I noticed - holding the motor? I think 11-12 kft is certainly possible.

Another interesting flight was a minimum diameter 54 with the new 3147 Ns (!) L935 Imax Pro54-6GXL motor by Jim Cooper. It reached 2100 ft/s and 19 kft. At motor burnout the drag was -10 g's. There was a rather large diameter motor retainer at the end of the motor. I suspect that had to do with that. In an optimum rocket it would probably have coasted for several more kft. But it was a very impressive flight.

Jeroen

Yes, I think with a 15 second ejection delay that really limited the altitude also. I would expect that a fully-optimal rocket (especially one launched from a reasonably high-elevation pad) flying that motor should clear 13-14k, though that's not one I've simulated yet.
 
Mine is close to ready, and will fly with altimeter deployment. The biggest challenge is keeping things light enough for optimal mass, once you add in altimeter, tracker, motor, etc.

If you look at the end of this thread, you can see how the final finish came out, especially the fillets. A whole lotta sanding on those fillets!

-Kevin

Just remember to remove the altimeter from the bay when drilling the vent hole....
 
So, what altimeter will you be using Kevin? A Parrot?

Yep. I have one sitting on the desk, ready to go in the rocket.

I just need to decide on a battery to use for charges -- it'll be a LiPo of some sort, the smaller, the better.

-Kevin
 
Yep. I have one sitting on the desk, ready to go in the rocket.

I just need to decide on a battery to use for charges -- it'll be a LiPo of some sort, the smaller, the better.

-Kevin

Your build thread has made me consider buying one for myself. Cool little kit that looks like a lot of fun to build and fly. I have a little 6 grain 29mm EX motor that would crank this rocket pretty good. If I remember correctly it's about a 380ns I700 Blue. I don't know how it held together...
 
I have a little 6 grain 29mm EX motor that would crank this rocket pretty good. If I remember correctly it's about a 380ns I700 Blue. I don't know how it held together...

:eyepop:

Yeah, it'd scoot a bit on that motor!

-Kevin
 
Your build thread has made me consider buying one for myself. Cool little kit that looks like a lot of fun to build and fly. I have a little 6 grain 29mm EX motor that would crank this rocket pretty good. If I remember correctly it's about a 380ns I700 Blue. I don't know how it held together...

Or a Kosdon motor. They make a 29mm I motor that has a 1/2 second burn time.:eek::pop:

Sam
 
Or a Kosdon motor. They make a 29mm I motor that has a 1/2 second burn time.:eek::pop:

Sam

Next time I see Mr. Ken Allen I may have to snag one of those. I saw a bunch of them when I was going through his inventory at NYPower. I ended up getting an E40 case and 5 loads, but next time may have to be the I470.
 
I am gearing up to purchase one of these kits to build here in my apartment this winter. I may have to head back to my parent's house to pick up my triple beam balance to measure out the epoxy.

I have a few questions:
  • Is the coupler used to make an altimeter bay a standard item from Tim at Wildman?
  • Does anyone have a Rocksim file?

I plan to add either a MAWD or a Parrot altimeter to this thing to do dual deployment. Hope to get a receiver for my Big Red Bee to track it as well.

I plan to use a homebrew AP motor. Six 2" long grains, adding a smoke grain in the forward closure for this rocket. I have burned a blue propellant and a WL propellant in this motor, but may try a high aluminum for this rocket to try to squeak out as much altitude as possible.

Thanks for the help guys,

Dan Patell
 
Is the coupler used to make an altimeter bay a standard item from Tim at Wildman?

not standard in the kit, call him for the parts you need.

Does anyone have a Rocksim file?
I know I've seen one and I also need it, but don't have it.
planning on getting a small 6" piece of air frame and coupler for mine.

this thing is hard core, watched one drop from 2000 feet(lawn dart) after a bad deployment and just stick in the ground, put it out dust it off and fly again.:y:
 
Is the coupler used to make an altimeter bay a standard item from Tim at Wildman?

Nope. But if you call him and ask for it, he'll sell you one at a very reasonable price.

Bulkheads, you're on your own. Fortunately, a friend has a jig for his router that cuts perfect sized ones very nicely.

I plan to add either a MAWD or a Parrot altimeter to this thing to do dual deployment. Hope to get a receiver for my Big Red Bee to track it as well.

I don't know that a MAWD will fit... Even the Parrot is snug.

-Kevin
 
Nope. But if you call him and ask for it, he'll sell you one at a very reasonable price.

Bulkheads, you're on your own. Fortunately, a friend has a jig for his router that cuts perfect sized ones very nicely.



I don't know that a MAWD will fit... Even the Parrot is snug.

-Kevin

Glad to see he has the couplers available. Odds are I will turn the bulkheads out of some 1/8" aluminum stock. I may have to use this project as justification to purchase a Parrot, I've been interested for quite a while...
 
So far I have fitted an R-das, RRc2 mini, HiAlt45 and Mawd into the payload section. BUT I used a curved section of fiberglass body tube for a sled. Sliced off an old piece of 2in airframe section. This curve gives me the room I need.

I also opted for plain fiberglass payload so my tracker would transmit through it.

100_3126.jpg
 
So far I have fitted an R-das, RRc2 mini, HiAlt45 and Mawd into the payload section. BUT I used a curved section of fiberglass body tube for a sled. Sliced off an old piece of 2in airframe section. This curve gives me the room I need.

I also opted for plain fiberglass payload so my tracker would transmit through it.

Do you have photos of the entire mount?

I'm not following, based on your above description, and I'm very curious to see what you did.

-Kevin
 
First cut strip just wide enough for alt to mount to. [Hialt 45 in this case]
Being narrow and curved hugs both the coupler and airframe walls.

Will be trying to follow Adrians lead by using the shock cord to hold it all together rather than all thread. The setup as follows;

coupler with tracker inside butted to BP plate...antenna going under sled,along side of battery, into nosecone.

Followed by altimeter ON the sled,sled butting bp plate in coupler.

Battery [9v] will fit in airframe but NOT in coupler. butted to edge of sled with just enough room left for NC shoulder.

Whole thing pulled together by shock cord. Just haven't figured how to secure shock cord end yet. Thin all thread will work if glued to outer wall of nc, in the event I cannot work out this setup.

4th pic shows setup....blank space is for tracker.
5th pic assembled ...just enough room for NC shoulder.

100_3136.jpg

100_3133.jpg

100_3134.jpg

100_3129.jpg

100_3130.jpg
 
Okay, I see what you're doing. I did something similar with my Parrot, using a piece of brass that fits just on the lower portion of the tube.

I've got a brass tube soldered on the bottom of the brass plate, to slide along a piece of allthread.

I want to dual-deploy mine, so the battery outside the coupler won't work, with the way I have things setup.

-Kevin
 
Back
Top