With all the OOP kits of the Phoenix being outrageously priced, I decided to give a clone a go. Made a few upgrades, since more power......ply CR’s from Rocketarium, cut the fins from 1/8” ply from Hobby Lobby, and it will have a Kevlar harness and home cut lightweight rip stop parasheet. My math may have been off when cutting body tubes.....seems a little long.
Estes Phoenix clone
- Thread starter mo2872
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Well dang, my math WAS wrong.....but it’s not long, I’m actually an inch short! 22”. Ooops! Thanks for the info!
Yeah, perspective is weird with the phoenix
Back_at_it
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Nice. I've been wanting to redo mine for a long time. One tip, If you built it per the instructions with the lower centering ring the full 3 inches up inside the body tube it leave the lover part of the tube unsupported. Those large rear fins like to fold the lower body tube in when they land.
The best solution is to run the lower fin tabs TTW all the way to the motor tub. Short of doing that, Add a tube coupler to the last 3 inches of the body tube for some support. And of course, Plywood fins means more nose weight will be required.
The best solution is to run the lower fin tabs TTW all the way to the motor tub. Short of doing that, Add a tube coupler to the last 3 inches of the body tube for some support. And of course, Plywood fins means more nose weight will be required.
Raptor 2
Raptor2
Are those card board fin alignment guides home made? If so nice job.
I wish I had those kind of mad skillz! No, I bought that from Apogee.........
66mm 4-Fin Alignment Guide (BT-80 size)
Here's an inexpensive laser-cut cardboard fin alignment jig that positions and holds the fins while the glue dries. You get perfect alignment so your rocket flies straight as an arrow. Used for Four 1/8" thick fins onto a 66mm diameter (BT-80 size) tube. This allows all the fins to be added at...
www.apogeerockets.com
Probably the best $10 I've ever spent, worked really nicely. Now I just need more 4-fin, 2.6" rockets to spread that ten bucks around.......
Raptor 2
Raptor2
Did see those on the Apogee site but it would cost me another $30.00 to have it shipped to Canada and then add the exchange on top of that. Will draw the plan out on autocad, print this out on a sheet and spray glue it to some good cardboard stock and try cut my own.
I did attempted that with a fiberglass kit I have under construction, but used foam board from the Hobby Lobby. It worked "ok". Well enough to keep the fins standing in their slots while the epoxy dried. It was not pretty, and was a one-and-done attempt. Good luck to you!
Arsenal78
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I think it's the nose that's throwing it off, it's too long.
, it's the PNC-80K/71035 one from Rocketarium.... https://www.rocketarium.com/Build/Nose-Cones/NC-80kI was kind of wondering if my fins were off scale, since the tube length was off as well. Printed the fin pattern provided on another thread, so who knows! I suppose in the end, it can be a "stand way off scale"......
All dolled up. Stickershock decals are amazing. Ordered a set for this project, and a Der V3 rehab project(built this one around 1989 or so....strip and paint and new decals....). My first order with Stickershock.......definitely won’t be my last! Clear coated and ready to fly!
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Raptor 2
Raptor2
On scale. Or not. A very nice job on both.
gldknght
Well-Known Member
1/2 a second after lift-off, no body will be able to tell the difference...
AS far as i can tell, no one makes a scale nose cone for the phoenix. Most kits use an ogive NC but if you look at actual scale plans for the real thing, its not an ogive so to get the correct profile you’d have to turn your own. The LaunchPad kit instructions show how to approximate the correct profile with an ogive NC and a small conical cardboard “hat” for the tip. Turning a correct NC for my Mad Cow Phoenix has been on my to-do list for a couple of years. You had the courage to forge ahead with a nice looking rocket at the end of the day while i’m still looking at a bag of parts. Great rocket!
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No need to crank up Autocad. Payloadbay.com has a nifty tool for nearly instantly printing out one to fit your rocket:
PayloadBay.com - Rocketry Tools
PayloadBay.com provides a number of online tools for rocketry hobbyists.
www.payloadbay.com
Input body tube OD, number of fins and thickness of fins and print. Spray mount printout to suitable template material and cut it out.
Raptor 2
Raptor2
Thanks will check it out.
