With the Upscale Pegasus and Matra completed I found the bench to be empty and needing a project. I've been wanting to build a couple of small rockets to burn up a rather large number of A8-3 motor that have accumulated over the years but I've been dragging my feet on small rocket builds. The recent thread by MK9162013 on his removable baffle idea was the kick in the pants I needed to build something as I was intrigued by this concept and wanted to try it myself.
This lead me to build the a Hi-Flier to play around with. This is a very simple kit so it should go together in a couple of days. I started off by laying out the kit parts. Note that the plastic ring and motor clip are missing from this build. The motor clip won't work with the removable baffle idea and looks terrible anyways
Here we have the parts we will use. Clay for nose weight. Stock nose cone, Stock fins without the notch removed, BT20 body tube, Kevlar for the shock cord and the parts for the removable baffle.
I decided to start with the removable baffle. This consists of a BT20 coupler sourced from BMS, a BT5/20 centering ring that has been reduced down to fit inside the coupler and three baffle plates made from lite ply. The length of the coupler is 2.75". Note the position of the plates are marked on the outside of the tube. The first plate will sit one inch up from end. The remaining two plates are spaced equally inside the tube. The additional scrap pieces on two of the plates are simply handles that help with positioning the plates inside the tube.
With the internals of the baffle completed I soaked both the inside and outside of the baffle in thin CA. This should give it some much needed fire protection. The coating on the outside will makes the unit slide in and out of the tube easier once sanded. To the top plate I added small screw eye and a length of Kevlar as a shock cord. The end of the shock cord has a clip to allow for easily removal from the nose cone. The idea here is that I can unclip the streamer from the shock cord, unclip the shock cord from the nose cone and pull the entire assembly out the rear of the rocket.
Here is a look up the business end of the baffle. This end will sit toward the motor.
I'll begin the rocket build tomorrow.
This lead me to build the a Hi-Flier to play around with. This is a very simple kit so it should go together in a couple of days. I started off by laying out the kit parts. Note that the plastic ring and motor clip are missing from this build. The motor clip won't work with the removable baffle idea and looks terrible anyways
Here we have the parts we will use. Clay for nose weight. Stock nose cone, Stock fins without the notch removed, BT20 body tube, Kevlar for the shock cord and the parts for the removable baffle.
I decided to start with the removable baffle. This consists of a BT20 coupler sourced from BMS, a BT5/20 centering ring that has been reduced down to fit inside the coupler and three baffle plates made from lite ply. The length of the coupler is 2.75". Note the position of the plates are marked on the outside of the tube. The first plate will sit one inch up from end. The remaining two plates are spaced equally inside the tube. The additional scrap pieces on two of the plates are simply handles that help with positioning the plates inside the tube.
With the internals of the baffle completed I soaked both the inside and outside of the baffle in thin CA. This should give it some much needed fire protection. The coating on the outside will makes the unit slide in and out of the tube easier once sanded. To the top plate I added small screw eye and a length of Kevlar as a shock cord. The end of the shock cord has a clip to allow for easily removal from the nose cone. The idea here is that I can unclip the streamer from the shock cord, unclip the shock cord from the nose cone and pull the entire assembly out the rear of the rocket.
Here is a look up the business end of the baffle. This end will sit toward the motor.
I'll begin the rocket build tomorrow.
thanks for the pictures. SEM high-build primer is great, just expensive
