BULLET BOBBY (CARL “Be-Do, Be-Do, Be-Do” THE MINION) by Launch Lab Rocketry build log

[JoeFilgas]

My CARL MINION build log: today I decided on the expression he will have and painted the appropriate eyelid on his eyeball. Next I used 3/8” black elastic strap to permanently affix to the goggle. Finally I made up all the paint templates and transferred the lines to the tube to make sure everything works together properly.

 

[oliveoyl]

Thank you for sharing this build. Your creativity and skills are inspiring!

 

[JoeFilgas]

Thank you for sharing this build. Your creativity and skills are inspiring!

Thanks so much! And you’re most welcome!

 

[JoeFilgas]

My CARL “BE-DO” MINION rocket build log: last thing I can do before some parts hopefully arrive tomorrow other than painting the eye’s iris is add a 3D effect front pocket. I started out with a paper example for sizing confirmation then cut one from 1/16” balsa sheet sanded even thinner. I glued it on with CA then saturated the pocket with thin CA glue to seal the wood. I did a quick sand with 320 grit and that’s all done.

 

[JoeFilgas]

I was able to get the vinyl mask for the Iris thanks to my lovely wife and got the color shot on just before the fog rolled in. It’s now drying in a temperature and humid controlled environment.

 

[BABAR]

These are great builds.

I think you found a great niche in model rocketry.

Do you belong to a club? Be cool to do a drag race with multiple minion rockets.

 

[JoeFilgas]

These are great builds.

I think you found a great niche in model rocketry.

Do you belong to a club? Be cool to do a drag race with multiple minion rockets.

Thanks so much! Unfortunately there are no model rocketry clubs anywhere near me. I’m hoping when we’re able to move away we go someplace where they exist.

 

[JoeFilgas]

Carl’s eyesight is getting better! He’ll get a black vinyl pupil tomorrow!

 

[BABAR]

Carl’s eyesight is getting better! He’ll get a black vinyl pupil tomorrow!

Yeah, right now looks like he needs a bit of Narcan.

 

[JoeFilgas]

Yeah, right now looks like he needs a bit of Narcan.

LOL!

 

[JoeFilgas]

Got my new ocular fin alignment guide the latest in modern technology! Sure hope this works!

 

[JoeFilgas]

My CARL “ BE-DO” MINION rocket build log: today I added the vinyl pupil over the iris and then precisely fitted the eye inside the goggle where I needed it to go and stay. I marked a sharpie line as a reference and then proceeded to remove the paint from both pieces down to bare plastic. This is a pretty tight fit so I opted to basically make a glue fillet at the joint of the eye and goggle frame and set aside to dry. I then added a second round of glue fillet. On the goggle cap I tack glued in the clear goggle lense and let dry for a bit. Then I mixed up a small amount of BSI 30 minute epoxy and permanently glued the assembly to the goggle frame and set aside to cure. The one-eyed goggle is now complete!

 

[BABAR]

Hogan!!!!!

 

[BABAR]

If you also have slurred speech and arm weakness, you need to call 911 and get to a hospital ASAP.

 

[JoeFilgas]

If you also have slurred speech and arm weakness, you need to call 911 and get to a hospital ASAP.

LOL I’ll start to get concerned if my other eye does this!

 

[terryg]

I had no desire to get a Bullet Bobby until I saw these Minion mods. Ah well, what harm is there in adding another rocket to the build pile!

 

[JoeFilgas]

I had no desire to get a Bullet Bobby until I saw these Minion mods. Ah well, what harm is there in adding another rocket to the build pile!

LOL glad I could help sir!

 

[JoeFilgas]

My CARL “Be-Do” MINION build log: today my donor plushie Stuart came in the mail so we immediately went into the O.R. and had to amputate OH MY! Appropriate donor arm and leg slots were then cut into Carl’s BT and the arms and legs were temporarily installed then removed. In my haste I cut the first set of leg slots on his backside oof! On then to repair that! In a rush to now primer the body tube I masked off all the appropriate areas (or at least I thought I did) and hit it with filler primer. It was then I realized I was going to mask off the “eye” area to save as a glue only area! Oh well more work for me. After that dried for a couple of hours I wet sanded the rocket BT. Then it was on to sanding off all the primer on the tube where the eye will glue on so I could properly mask. While I was doing this I accidentally busted a fin off Oof! Well I fixed that and made my mask for the goggle area. I sanded down the repaired fin area and cleaned it all with some alcohol. Finally I added some glazing putty to a few areas and set aside to dry. All fine in the end, but dang!

 

[JoeFilgas]

My CARL MINION build log: I sanded down the fill work from last night and shot another round of filler primer to the BT and set aside to dry. One more wet sanding and it will be ready for color. I also painted the motor retainer ring satin black.

 

[JoeFilgas]

CARL the MINION rocket BT was final wet sanded with 400 grit and is ready for color!

 

[JoeFilgas]

Well today I painted the BT yellow and epoxied the goggle eye to the unpainted area I had masked. I now wish I would have glued this on first like I did with KING BOB, but it is too late now. I will need to do some touch up paint work all the way around the goggle. Then even though the paint was dry to the touch I stupidly pulled the elastic goggle band into a partial position and it left impression marks into the soft paint. Oh well also too late now. Now it’s dry for a week before the blue can go on. Still waiting on the red lights so I can’t do anything else on the nose cone yet either. That’s it for now!

 

[JoeFilgas]

Well today I painted the BT yellow and epoxied the goggle eye to the unpainted area I had masked. I now wish I would have glued this on first like I did with KING BOB, but it is too late now. I will need to do some touch up paint work all the way around the goggle. Then even though the paint was dry to the touch I stupidly pulled the elastic goggle band into a partial position and it left impression marks into the soft paint. Oh well also too late now. Now it’s dry for a week before the blue can go on. Still waiting on the red lights so I can’t do anything else on the nose cone yet either. That’s it for now!

 

[JoeFilgas]

Taking a short week or so break on this project to let the paint dry enough to give it the blue and while my custom made Tri Siren lights (Powered by a 9V battery) from Dave’s RC Electronics are shipped!

 

[JoeFilgas]

BE-DO, BE-DO, BE-DO lookie what came today from Dave’s RC Electronics! Upon a quick trial fit of the board this might be a bit too big to leave in for flight plus I need to consider the weight of the entire unit without a battery. I’ll get the holes drilled into the nose cone, install the lights and see how much room I have left in the nose cone. It will certainly be a tight fit with the laundry. I may need to make it all removable for flight in which case I’ll find or create a small painted plug to fill the nose cone holes. These are the types of challenges you run into and need to solve when doing one-off custom work with customized parts. A big shoutout to Dave’s R/C Electronics for an awesome and reasonably priced custom lighting unit. I contacted him and gave him the specifications for this project and he said sure I can make that and today it arrived! BE-DO, BE-DO, BE-DO

 

[JoeFilgas]

Back at it today! I first broke out my previously made paint templates and then following the directions I previously wrote all paint lines were carefully penciled onto the rocket body. The great thing about this little rocket is just that it’s LITTLE. Thus, the time to mask, paint etc. is also small! I got the blue RustOleum Satin Wildflower 2X paint laid down and set aside to dry. Then it was time to do the lighting layout on the nose cone. The three points were marked and then drilled out with a 1/16” pilot hole. Multiple upsize drill bits were used to reach the final 1/2” in diameter holes. The light barrels are a tad larger so I used a rat tile file to enlarge the holes for a nice snug fit. I also rounded off the corners of the circuit board to better fit the space. I still don’t know if I will permanently mount everything for flight or not. Then upon looking at reference material for CARL there are silver bars from light to light on the vertical so I made those out of construction paper at 1/4” wide and cut to fit the curvature of the light barrel flange. I sprayed the back of the paper bars with Elmer’s spray adhesive and tacked them in place. I did have to sand through the primer down to bare plastic before I added the paper bars. Thin CA glue was used to adhere the bars to the nose cone, hit with kicker and then the entire nose cone was sanded with 220 grit. Then I applied the Bearly Art Precision glue dots to the paper bars and also to the top light barrel. All is set aside to dry now. Finally I de-masked the rocket body. There is touch up work to be done on this so these pictures are raw and unfinished.

 

[JoeFilgas]

This is RAD!

 

[JoeFilgas]

Today I permanently affixed the goggle strap with thin CA glue. All the color paint lines were touched up from yesterday’s unmasking and also around the goggle. The 3 light barrels and the nosecone were all primed with sandable fast dry primer. I want a rough surface on the barrels so they were then shot with the metallic silver and set aside to dry. I wet sanded the nose cone (leaving the rivet strap rough) and then painted it with the yellow and set aside to dry. In about a week I’ll paint the lower black on as well as the nose cone rivet straps metallic silver. Then I just need to install the arms and legs, the lighting system and the laundry and he’ll be done!

 

[JoeFilgas]

Overkill.


I like it!

Scarlett I presume?

 

[JoeFilgas]

My CARL “Be-Do, Be-Do, Be-do” Minion rocket build inched slightly forward tonight in preparation for tomorrow’s finish paint day. The bottom pant line was drawn with the previuosly made construction paper template. Tomorrow I’ll mask and paint the black bottom on the BT and the metallic silver on the nosecone.

 

[JoeFilgas]

My CARL “Be-Do, Be-Do, Be-Do” MINION rocket build log: finally we’re back at it today! The blue paint has cured for the last week so using the paper template I have previously made, I cut the yellow masking tape and applied it to the BT. I also made another paper template to be the round up over the very top of the fins and cut those respective masking pieces. I then masked off the nosecone in preparation for the metallic silver paint. Then the black and silver paints were applied and set aside to dry. Today I decided the light system would not remain in the rocket for flight as it, in total with the plastic barrels came in around 24 grams. The maximum amount of clay nose weight that came with the kit was 16 grams and they have you start initial flights with 8 grams. So then it was what do I use for flight plugs? I ordered 3 red plastic 10mm LED lights and began preparing these “faux” flight lights. They’ll be pressure fit and are the same size lights, but they just won’t be operational. I’m very happy with my idea for the flight plugs and won’t have to worry about burning up the $55 lighting system upon the ejection charge deploying plus I need all the room this little rocket has for its laundry. I started apply the Bearly Art precision glue rivets to the top barrel and have the other two sanded and primed. I’ll probably shoot the two without riveting dots metallic silver before the sun sets tonight. Next it was time to un-mask the two rocket components and see how I did! You never really know until you remove the tape. Well both parts came out very clean with only 1 small touch up to do.