Build Thread: Fliskits Tiddlywink

[Antares JS]

After taking a break from building rockets to paint some wargaming starter sets, it's time to get back to reducing the build pile with something a little bit on the challenging side.

Thanks @JAL3 for selling this to me some time ago.

I just opened it up and checked the instructions and parts for tonight. I will probably start later this week.

 

[JAL3]

Copters were my favorite recovery method. I didn't do a great job with them but, compared to the gliders, I was a master!

I hope you enjoy it.

 

[BABAR]

Copters were my favorite recovery method. I didn't do a great job with them but, compared to the gliders, I was a master!

I hope you enjoy it.

Meanwhile, you ever going to post a diagram of the famed Rube Goldberg Lander?

 

[JAL3]

Everything having to do with the RGL was lost in 2015. I'm sorry that I never got to finish that one. I don't even have any drawings and the only photos are the ones here on TRF.

It was supposed to be a tail lander but Elon Musk beat me to it.

The four weird pods that extended up and to the sides were to house 4 chutes over a wide base. The ejection charge was also supposed to push forward a coupler and release the fins. The fins were spring loaded to rotate through about 120 degrees about their base and form a very wide footprint for landing, hopefully keeping it from falling over.

Everything was over complicated and I put Shrox style ping pong balls wherever I thought I could get away with it. It was supposed to have a late 50s or early 60s SciFi look.

Getting transferred away from home to the coast was the final nail in the coffin. That meant I left it at home with my wife in San Antonio. There is nothing that SHE WHO MUST BE OBEYED loves more than throwing out my stuff.

When I moved back home a year and a half ago, her biggest comment was to the effect of our house was never so clean and tidy as it was for the 6 years I was away.

At least the dog remembered what I smell like!

 

[Antares JS]

Took longer than I wanted... but construction has begun with the installation of a centering ring in the motor mount tube, cutting the dowel to 8" long, and gluing another centering ring to it. The dowel will later be inserted into the aft end of the motor mount tube to form a piston that will deploy the blades. There will also be holes cut into the motor mount tube as a pressure vent, but that will wait until the glue dries.

 

[Antares JS]

Like other Fliskits, the blades and fins are cut from a blank piece of balsa by tracing a cutout pattern.

 

[Antares JS]

Added a dihedral to each blade by cutting them apart and gluing them back together at an angle.

 

[Antares JS]

Added fins and hinge lugs to the blades.

 

[Antares JS]

Gave each blade/fin a coat of sanding sealer, and some color with permanent markers.

 

[Antares JS]

Also assembled the motor mount/dowel piston, and attached the nose and tiny plastic hinges to the forward end, and colored the nose with another marker.

If anyone knows where these hinges are originally from, I'm curious to know.

 

[waltr]

I have used those hinges on RC airplanes. Maybe they are made by Dubro.

Found these:
https://www.motionrc.com/products/r...MIyKqX3emV_AIVA7_ICh1E4AasEAQYASABEgLMN_D_BwEand these:
https://www.dubro.com/collections/hinges/products/micro-e-z-hinge

 

[Antares JS]

I have used those hinges on RC airplanes. Maybe they are made by Dubro.

Found these:
https://www.motionrc.com/products/r...MIyKqX3emV_AIVA7_ICh1E4AasEAQYASABEgLMN_D_BwEand these:
https://www.dubro.com/collections/hinges/products/micro-e-z-hinge

Nice! Thank you.

 

[tjkopena]

Those hinges are a really neat little part that I haven't seen before. Gonna have to find something to build with them. Thanks @Antares JS for the thread, and @waltr for knowing what they are!

 

[Antares JS]

To reinforce the hinges, the instructions call for wrapping a string around them and saturating the area with glue.

 

[Antares JS]

Installed launch lug to the motor mount/piston tube.

 

[Antares JS]

Installed hooks to the blades.

 

[Antares JS]

Installed blades to the rocket and fitted everything together in the folded position.

I believe all that is left is tying the rubber bands and restricting strings to the blades.

 

[Antares JS]

Attached hooks for the rubber bands to the nose.

 

[Antares JS]

"Actuator rubbers" installed, as the instructions call them. There is a loop on the forward end that goes over the hooks on the nose, and then each one passes through a hole in each blade and a knot tied on the other end.

 

[waltr]

Ok, now I can see how this all goes together and what is looks like in launch & recovery modes.
Pretty neat rocket.
Thanks for the detailed build.

 

[Antares JS]

Restricting string installed. I got the string through the blades by stiffening the ends of the strings with CA and pushing them through preexisting holes.

 

[Antares JS]

Some trimming and glue on the rubber for final securing.

 

[Antares JS]

At this point, it's finished. Look for it at the MDRA Higgs Farm in January or February.

 

[waltr]

Planning to be there in February. Can't make the January launch.
Will look for it.

 

[Antares JS]

Flew it today at the Higgs Farm. Wobbled a little on descent but worked great.