Garrace
Well-Known Member
Has anyone done any drag comparison between painted fiberglass and the Madcow colored kits? I have a adventurer 3 kit and wondered if the added weight of paint would be offset with possible skin drag reduction.
I've not tested any of the madcow kits this way, but I lost part of a different company's G10 or G12 rocket for a couple of years. The chute, nosecone, and payload bay came down carrying my Walston and were easily found. The aft end wasn't carrying a tracker.
When I found it the fins were fine but the body tube had lost a significant amount of the epoxy, leaving raw glass fibers exposed. Obviously some G10/G12 has epoxy that is better suited to sunshine. I plan to paint all my rockets because of that.
that's kind of amazing, that you eventually found it! What was the interval?
I don't have any hard proof of this, but epoxies do degrade in UV light (why epoxy floor coverings yellow over time) it's an organic molecule, after all.
Has anyone done any drag comparison between painted fiberglass and the Madcow colored kits? I have a adventurer 3 kit and wondered if the added weight of paint would be offset with possible skin drag reduction.