Build Thread - Wildman 3” Darkstar...or how I learned to love the hobby again.

[patelldp]

If you’re looking for the end-all for bonding epoxy...look no further than Loctite E-20HP! Easily and quickly attainable through McMaster, this epoxy is the bees knees when it comes to simplicity and performance.

I recommend that you buy the dispensing gun and mixing tips, and if you’re cost-conscious you should stage several bonding operations to maximize on the disposable tip and the waste that remains therein. This system is impossible to beat, and perfect for our applications.

The alignment guides are printed, the epoxy is ready...we be bonding later tonight!

 

[patelldp]

The fins are in!

It appears that mobile posts jumble the order of the pictures...so I’ll just describe them in the order they put them!

First up is the fin prep. I gouge the root, fore and aft ends of the tab, and the flats of the tabs with 150 grit and then clean with acetone. From this point on I wear gloves to avoid getting oils on the prepped fins or epoxy on my hands!

Next picture is of the Loctite system ready to go. I love it...it makes glue application identical to using a hot glue gun, no mixing with a popsicle stock, just point and shoot!

I wasn’t able to capture any shots of the process, but it’s very simple...squirt a bead of epoxy on the root, root ends, and tab faces to make sure you get really good adhesion your the motor tube AND the main tube slot! This will also help you later when you do the injection of West with milled FG by preventing leakage out of the bottom slot.

Last 2 pictures are the finished product. The first shows the alignment with the printed fin jigs, you can hardly tell there are 2 aligned fins in the shot!

The second is a side shot showing the fin and jig configuration and injection holes I drilled. I’ll check on these in the morning, with just this epoxy application the rocket would probably take a mid-thrust J motor....but that’s not enough

 

[patelldp]

How about some more giveaways to try to incite some discussion? I have the 2 fin alignment jigs used on this project available for free.

They are for 3" FG rockets with 1/8" G10 fins...free to the first two people that tell me what they're building via DM!

 

[jd2cylman]

Dan,
Those are pretty neat. Just as a silly question, how much material and time would it take to make the same parts for a 6" WM tube and 3/16" fins?
I'm building a WM Ultimate Interceptor and am gonna need some sort of fin jig... I'm sure they'd be pricey too. So this is more of a "would it even be possible", rather than "will you do this" thingy...

 

[jd2cylman]

Oh, and I do have a WM 3" DarkStar to build, but mine has Yellow FG tube. It's on my list...
I guess that would make it a Yellow Star???

 

[patelldp]

Dan,
Those are pretty neat. Just as a silly question, how much material and time would it take to make the same parts for a 6" WM tube and 3/16" fins?
I'm building a WM Ultimate Interceptor and am gonna need some sort of fin jig... I'm sure they'd be pricey too. So this is more of a "would it even be possible", rather than "will you do this" thingy...

Do you own calipers big enough to get an accurate measurement on the OD of the tube and the thickness of the fins? If yes, I’ll charge Time and Materials to make a jig. PM me.

 

[patelldp]

Both sets of fin guides accounted for.

 

[jd2cylman]

I'll find one...

 

[Nytrunner]

Oh, and I do have a WM 3" DarkStar to build, but mine has Yellow FG tube. It's on my list...
I guess that would make it a Yellow Star???

BrightStar!

 

[DRAGON64]

If you’re looking for the end-all for bonding epoxy...look no further than Loctite E-20HP! Easily and quickly attainable through McMaster, this epoxy is the bees knees when it comes to simplicity and performance.

I recommend that you buy the dispensing gun and mixing tips, and if you’re cost-conscious you should stage several bonding operations to maximize on the disposable tip and the waste that remains therein. This system is impossible to beat, and perfect for our applications.

The alignment guides are printed, the epoxy is ready...we be bonding later tonight!

We used similar epoxy at work to mount two halves of an antenna shell together. The dispensing gun and mixing nozzles made easy and mostly hands free work. I have considered using the same or similar products for my own fin mounting/internal fillet work.

 

[Nytrunner]

Arrived!

I now have 1 part of my 3" PAC-3 MSE

 

[patelldp]

Arrived!

I now have 1 part of my 3" PAC-3 MSE

View attachment 419240

Love it! Thanks for sharing.

 

[Maxwelljets]

You can buy empty epoxy cartridges, off brand dispensers, and mixing nozzles on eBay for quite cheap. I filled up quite a few cartridges with Rocketpoxy (using some syringes with the holes enlarged to transfer from the buckets it comes in). Not counting my time, it came to around $3 per cartridge of Rocketpoxy IIRC. Not quite as high grade as hysol, but still quite convenient.

 

[patelldp]

You can buy empty epoxy cartridges, off brand dispensers, and mixing nozzles on eBay for quite cheap. I filled up quite a few cartridges with Rocketpoxy (using some syringes with the holes enlarged to transfer from the buckets it comes in). Not counting my time, it came to around $3 per cartridge of Rocketpoxy IIRC. Not quite as high grade as hysol, but still quite convenient.

That's a good suggestion! I'll be honest that I am at a point in my life where I can afford it and it's worth it for me to buy the best stuff for how little I use. RocketPoxy is adequate and may be more economical, but the convenience and effectiveness of Hysol is worth the $15-20 price tag for 2oz.

West Systems is definitely not cheap, but their system is some of the best stuff around when coupled with their fillers.

Everything considered, I don't ever need to be concerned with partial cures, amine blushes, or flash curing. This all just works.

 

[Idunno]

I'm just about to start my own darkstar 3 build and have to ask, why is your Y harness so big? Mabye I am underbuilding mine?