Estes Luna Bug

[smstachwick]

I just finished the nose and fins on this simple little bird (bug?) this morning. After marking the tube, I freehanded/eyeballed the fin alignment and I think this is a personal best.







The rocket is inserted into the tube of the other kit I picked up because I stupidly glued the nose on first (The instructions say to do that, I just should have done it last). The motor keeps the tube round, it got crushed a bit in the packaging.


I’ll likely glue the launch lug on tonight and get started on the booster stage’s (!) fins as well.

 

[PhlAsh]

I've never been happy with the way little rockets like Quark, Mosquito or Der Kinder Max tend to lawndart and get lost, so I modded my LunaBug. I started by cutting about 1/4" off the nose-cone's shoulder. Then I found a BT-5-sized motorblock, tied kevlar line to it and glued it in (with enough room for the remaining shoulder). The other end of the kevlar was tied to a small button that was epoxied into the nose. This make the motor stick out about 1/8" further, but the added mass makes up for it.


The bonus is that the motor doesn't jettison.

 

[smstachwick]

I've never been happy with the way little rockets like Quark, Mosquito or Der Kinder Max tend to lawndart and get lost, so I modded my LunaBug. I started by cutting about 1/4" off the nose-cone's shoulder. Then I found a BT-5-sized motorblock, tied kevlar line to it and glued it in (with enough room for the remaining shoulder). The other end of the kevlar was tied to a small button that was epoxied into the nose. This make the motor stick out about 1/8" further, but the added mass makes up for it.
View attachment 505550

The bonus is that the motor doesn't jettison.

That’s a cool little modification! How is the recovery on it?

 

[smstachwick]

The sustainer is ready and I’ve applied some fillets. I admit I went overkill, I’ll be sanding down later once the glue is dry.

I also trimmed and finned my booster tube. I should have finned it, then trimmed it, but at least it can stand on the forward end OK. That one has another pretty good alignment job. Maybe not as good as the sustainer but it should still work fine.

 

[BEC]

That's going to be fun.

Those footpads slow the Luna Bug down significantly on descent compared to a Mosquito so the mod for the sustainer probably isn't needed....but it will be interesting to see how that works.

 

[PhlAsh]

That’s a cool little modification! How is the recovery on it?

I've flown it once on a 1/2A. Nice soft landing, even with the empty motor casing still in it

 

[PhlAsh]

That’s a cool little modification! How is the recovery on it?

Pretty good as long as there isn't 3ft of wheat in your recovery area...

 

[smstachwick]

Pretty good as long as there isn't 3ft of wheat in your recovery area...

Oh no

 

[PhlAsh]

It's probably in someone's Special K by now...

 

[Antares JS]

I built mine to eject the nose with a little streamer, similar to PhlAsh's, and also added a micro maxx motor mount.