CJ's "HOW TO BUILD A DARKSTAR 3 OR ANY GLASS KIT BUILD" STARTS

[blackjack2564]

ACTUAL BUILD STARTS.......PAGE 4......POST 95!


How about this, I'm going to let YOU decide how I build my 3in DarkStar.

Stock....convert to SpaceCowboy 75mm or DarkStar 75mm


Want to turn that Black Saturday 3in. DarkStar into a Big Bad 75mm minimum diam. SpaceCowboy?

OR just convert it to a 75minimum Dark Star?
OR leave it alone & just build stock?

What would you do?

Ya don't have to buy any more parts....just some high grade epoxy and a bit of 6oz. cloth.

Little known fact: push the upper fin together with lower DS fin = SpaceCowboy 75mm fin!

The fin design was optimized by computer for altitude flights and mach, so stability is no problem.

Who wants to see it done? If I get 25 votes or more, who do, I will reveal this dirty little secret of how!

We'll build it in real time & you'll see one bad little 75minimum rocket made from that 100.00 special!:dark: A black SpaceCowboy minimum or DarkStar minimum?

I even have a 75 to 54 tailcone adapter [so ya can still fly 54's in it] worked out.

Sooo........DarkStar 75 or....... SpaceCowboy 75..... or stock DarkStar...what will it be...voters choice, speak up & tell me why!

 

[patelldp]

Stock! The idea of gluing two fins together makes my OCD go crazy. If the booster is long enough, a 54-3300 will be plenty for this bird.

 

[nh4clo4]

Space Cowboy 75!

 

[jpummil]

DarkStar 75mm please :grin:

 

[blackjack2564]

Stock! The idea of gluing two fins together makes my OCD go crazy. If the booster is long enough, a 54-3300 will be plenty for this bird.

Got that one solved..... it will go on as 1 fin.

 

[blackjack2564]

Space Cowboy 75!

DarkStar 75mm please :grin:

Don't forget the "why"?

You want to do it also?
Just need instructions on how?
I'm a speed demon.
I'm an altitude junkie.
I just don't like screwing with a stock kit.
Modifying is not my cup of tea

ETC....etc.... reasons please or vote don't count.

 

[dixontj93060]

Minimum diameter DarkStar please! The other, although interesting, is just too much of a kludge.

 

[jpummil]

Don't forget the "why"?

You want to do it also?
Just need instructions on how?
I'm a speed demon.
I'm an altitude junkie.
I just don't like screwing with a stock kit.
Modifying is not my cup of tea

ETC....etc.... reasons please or vote don't count.

Oops, sorry CJ :wink:

Huge fan of the DarkStar...the new 3" will make 3 in my collection thus far...doing it as a min diameter would be really cool...and I got off the Space Cowboy kick when the vendor rights chaos reared its ugly head.

 

[mjhall]

75mm Space Cowboy

Because I always modify a kit

 

[rocket1017]

I vote also for 75 mm Space Cow Boy

Why cause modding a stock kit for more power & more altitude is what I call fun !

 

[troj]

Leave the fins alone -- part of what makes a Darkstar a Darkstar is the split fins. If you want a rocket without split fins, buy a rocket without split fins.

As for that spare little tube Tim and Jackie sent you, use it to hold pencils.

-Kevin

 

[atxcple]

75mm DARKSTAR:clap:

the why?

:dark:I dont think you can do it and keep the fins on it:tongue::wink:

 

[stealth6]

I vote - 75mm Space Cowboy.
Because this is actually closest to what I will be doing with my own 3" DarkStar. I NEVER leave the fin shape alone when I build a kit. I bash any kit I get - starting with the fin shape at the very least. In fact my 3"DS hasn't shipped yet, and I've requested from Tim/Jackie that they ship me plain finstock instead of the actual fins so I can cut/shape my own. Not sure if they will yet, but I'm hoping.

By the way, cool trick on showing how the SC fin shape is actually just an unsplit DS fin. One of those things forehead slapping moments for me ("of COURSE, why didn't I see that before?").

s6

 

[jpummil]

75mm DARKSTAR:clap:

the why?

:dark:I dont think you can do it and keep the fins on it:tongue::wink:

Did L1400 cross the brain?

 

[atxcple]

Did L1400 cross the brain?

nope that a 54mm... i was thinking 76mm L1485 loki blue

 

[jpummil]

nope that a 54mm... i was thinking 76mm L1485 loki blue

Oops! Brain crap! Pickin' up my 54/2800 case this weekend and my focus has been affected justly :grin:

 

[Green Jello]

If you change the 3" Darkstar to minimum diameter (regardless of how you do the fins), how do you deal with the slots in the tube? It seems to my very novice rocket brain, that minimum diameter rockets are already super fast and subject to crazy amounts of stress, so why start it out with extra hurdles for strength?

That being said, I'd like to see a min diameter Darkstar. Just because it would be a cool contrast to all the other ones that Wildman sold two weeks ago. And if you were sneaky, you could drag race someone with a regular 3" Darkstar without them noticing.

 

[Green Jello]

Why isn't this a poll?

 

[jpummil]

Why isn't this a poll?

I think Jim was more interested in the "why" than the "which"...

Hard to put on a poll...

 

[redsox15]

Stock

Reason: This is my first fiberglass build so I am going to stick to the stock design on this one. Also I don't have the hardware to fly a 75mm rocket. Can't wait to get started!

Matt

 

[atxcple]

Oops! Brain crap! Pickin' up my 54/2800 case this weekend and my focus has been affected justly :grin:

thats okay i will let it slide this time....even better 76mm motor would be the M2550 blue

 

[Aksrockets]

Stock

Reason: This is my first fiberglass build so I am going to stick to the stock design on this one. Also I don't have the hardware to fly a 75mm rocket. Can't wait to get started!

Matt

I'm going to bet there will be a lot of build threads for the stock version.
I vote for the 75mm DS. The fins arn't the most structurally sound but the DS looks wicked cool! It would kick A** on the M2250C*

Alex

 

[KenRico]

M650W or M840 White Longburn - FTW!

BLAZING SADDLES, Black Cowboy style ! Lili von Shtupp silhouette on the mudflaps

Looking forward to this , always learn something new in a CJ build !

Kenny

 

[JordanT]

75mm Dark Star...all the way.

(1) MD bird with "more than surface mount" fins means better shear coupling and bond area
(2) 75-54 tailcone means lots of options for regular fields vs the great wide salt flats
(3) Even though I have absolutely no need for it, I ordered a 75mm CTI case set; this would be a salve to my lack of justification.
(4) A single fin is just a 3FNC bird, split the fins and you fly in style
(5) When my WM BF order shows up, my wife is going to kill me, cut me into pieces, and dance about on my grave; I'd like to know that I could have built the awesomeist 3" black rocket before I go to meet my maker
(6) I have a couple of yards of 6oz CF twill that is begging for a project
(7) When I take this lunacy to the RSO table, I want to be able to say, "Jim told me to do it."
(8) I originally suggested it in the WM BF thread

75mm Dark Star...all the way

 

[blackjack2564]

Leave the fins alone -- part of what makes a Darkstar a Darkstar is the split fins. If you want a rocket without split fins, buy a rocket without split fins.

As for that spare little tube Tim and Jackie sent you, use it to hold pencils.

-Kevin

Ok.....so what's your vote then, stock or DS 75?

75mm DARKSTAR:clap:

the why?

:dark:I dont think you can do it and keep the fins on it:tongue::wink:

Ah..Hmmmm... YOU ought to know better. They'll stay on, no sweat.

If you change the 3" Darkstar to minimum diameter (regardless of how you do the fins), how do you deal with the slots in the tube? It seems to my very novice rocket brain, that minimum diameter rockets are already super fast and subject to crazy amounts of stress, so why start it out with extra hurdles for strength?

Use the slots, cut the fin tabs off. Wrap a 75mm motor with wax paper to keep fins flush with tube. Insert fin and tack on. Then we cover fin & tube with fiberglass cloth, tip of fin across tube to other fin tip. 3 layers, starting with a small, then medium & finally large.

See here down the page for how I've done it. https://www.rocketryforum.com/showt...DRS-project-true-diamond-airfoiled-fins/page3

I think Jim was more interested in the "why" than the "which"...

Hard to put on a poll...

Bingo!

 

[MasonH]

I vote stock.

 

[dlb]

Easier than you think, but that's the fun part, "Thinking about how"!
I already have a min. Dia. 4" Darkstar and a 3" is now in the works, CJ knows my plans.

Now for my vote , I lean toward a space cowboy, I want to see CJ merger the two fins back together,

 

[Eric1]

You just a Coca Cola Cowboy! Build the Dark Star.
Not a Cowboy without all the features! But then, You are CrAzY JiM!!

 

[stealth6]

(7) When I take this lunacy to the RSO table, I want to be able to say, "Jim told me to do it."

Best reasoning put forth so far, right here. I think I'm going to use that.

s6

 

[lmt56]

I vote you do one of each.
Why? Why not. Should make for an interesting comparsion.