Estes Corvette Class Build Questions

[Sandy H.]

Hey Sandy, have you ever heard of super soft veneer softener? It will let you roll burl veneer around a pencil.

I was thinking a small rocket, turning a round form that fits perfectly inside a tube set up for thru the wall fin attachment. But there are so many ways to mess up and glue the form and rocket together.


I have some left over curly maple with 3m pressure sensitive adhesive but it requires heavy rubbing pressure to bond, and it is heavy.


I will figure it out, or someone will.

I don't remember the specific brand of softener I've used, but it was crazy how flexible the veneer became. I mostly worked with raw veneer instead of paper backed, and it was amazing. I'm not that good at it, so haven't done anything to be proud of in a long time.

You might want to check out some of Lakeroadsters posts, as he does a lot of turning in his projects as well. You might get some inspiration.

I was also a pen turner. Just say *was* because its been a few years since I've done any due to work COVID etc. Ironically, I mentioned pen turning to my wife earlier today. The specific conversation was related to feather casting, as I seemed to recall there were federal rules about using feathers and you could get in trouble for making a feather pen blanks and/or selling pens made from them. I don't remember the details, but I thought was a rule of some sort. The reason she and I were discussing is that she decided she wanted chickens and so we compromised and now she has chickens. One of them has really beautiful feathers and they molt, so I have access to really beautiful chicken feathers and wondered if I should break out the casting rig again and make some chicken feather blanks. I'm way too busy until October to even think of adding another project, but I did ask her to start collecting smaller and interesting feathers when she cleans the coop, just in case.

OK, pretty sure I TRF'd this thread enough (i.e. 100% of threads that aren't actively managed go off course), so I'm glad to get back to the topic of strengthening the fins. Feel free to PM if you want to talk more or even start another thread about pen turning or similar. When I did some experiments with my veneer press and strengthening balsa using really thin fiberglass, I made press platens with marble tile and rubber floor mats. I used mylar on top for release agent and pretty much put the sandwich like this:

tile
foam pad
mylar
fiberglass
balsa
fiberglass
mylar
foam pad
tile


I put the whole sandwich in the vacuum bag (after epoxy, obviously) and pulled it down. It made a very strong laminate, but when I went to cut it (i.e. I did sheets, not cut fins) it would tear the balsa and make an ugly, but still strong fin. I would not recommend that, but there's something in the idea that isn't a complete failure. I think the marble tile and foam are good, but either thinner mylar and cut to shape fins might be pretty close. I prefer the platen method instead of just direct bagging to keep the epoxy smooth. Not sure if there are better ways, but that's what I've tried.

By the way, what kind of glue are you going to use. . . just kidding. . . another TRF running joke.

Sandy.

 

[Wrightme43]

All good with me, I have been on forums for 20 years. I know the threads get off track. Enjoy the chickens. They actually cool animals and very interesting.

 

[Bill S]

Bill I have 2 of the 12" apogee nylon chutes and 2 of the 15".

The corvette comes with a 12" plastic, but is only going up 600-650 on a c6-5. Do you think a 15" chute would help protect it, or should I just use the 12"?

I've always used a nylon 12". Mine have 4" spillholes to reduce wind drift, but its not really necessary, in my opinion. Now if your landing areas tend to be more rocky/parking lots, etc, then an 15" parachute would be worth looking at.

 

[Wrightme43]

Thank you sir.

 

[BABAR]

Papering the fins is a fairly common practice. It will (mostly) elinimate the wood grain and any seams (hopefully) where you butt-glued the different pieces together to make the final form of the fin. I added cardstock "fillets" to my citation patriot, but that's because I modded it for 24mm motors, so it flies on much punchier composites than it was originally engineered for.

Can you post some picks of this?

Is this like an L -beam of card stock? I am thinking this might work with epoxy for @Dotini ‘s plastic fins.

 

[Wrightme43]

I went with the 15" this thing is significantly heavier than every other rocket I have with a 12" chute. It is also not going near as high. 3 mins till third coat of winter grey.