I worked up something like this in OR a little while ago. Got the build bug this past weekend so I actually started work on it, along with a couple of others.
This idea was inspired by several things, one being the Gemini MOL project from the sixties. Another inspiration was the old Estes plan called the "Orbital Transport Laboratory", or something like that. It was a DOM plan, I think.
Anyway, I had a Semroc Gemini capsule nose cone and a bunch of tube laying around looking for a job, so off we go!
First, here are a couple of shots from OR that show more or less what it shoud look like"
So far pretty straight forward stuff; Semroc Gemini nosecone Estes BT-55 tube, typical motor mount (18mm) with several feet of Kevlar shock cord looped around the motor tube...
The ring is made from a piece of 4" LOC tubing approx. .65" long. It was supposed to be the switch band on a 4" av bay, but I didn't need it for the rocket the av bay went in to. I propped it up on a couple of batteries to get some idea of where it would go and what it was going to look like.
I wanted to add some dimension to the ring though I'm not sure what form it will take. It may be just smooth or it may end up being segmented around the periphery. Either way it started with a strip of 1/8"balsa that I formed around a 4" tube for another project.
The ring was slipped over a piece of 4"coupler tube so t would stay round during the process. Then the strip was clamped to the ring and tacked with CA.
Once everything was tacked and the ends trimmed everything was glued securely and the inside soaked with thin CA. This produced the typical noxious fumes, but when the smoke cleared the whole thing was rather bullet proof. Unfortunately, the inside was also rough as a cob. There will be much sanding...
Looks pretty good so far...
More to follow...
Thanks for looking!
Mike
This idea was inspired by several things, one being the Gemini MOL project from the sixties. Another inspiration was the old Estes plan called the "Orbital Transport Laboratory", or something like that. It was a DOM plan, I think.
Anyway, I had a Semroc Gemini capsule nose cone and a bunch of tube laying around looking for a job, so off we go!
First, here are a couple of shots from OR that show more or less what it shoud look like"
So far pretty straight forward stuff; Semroc Gemini nosecone Estes BT-55 tube, typical motor mount (18mm) with several feet of Kevlar shock cord looped around the motor tube...
The ring is made from a piece of 4" LOC tubing approx. .65" long. It was supposed to be the switch band on a 4" av bay, but I didn't need it for the rocket the av bay went in to. I propped it up on a couple of batteries to get some idea of where it would go and what it was going to look like.
I wanted to add some dimension to the ring though I'm not sure what form it will take. It may be just smooth or it may end up being segmented around the periphery. Either way it started with a strip of 1/8"balsa that I formed around a 4" tube for another project.
The ring was slipped over a piece of 4"coupler tube so t would stay round during the process. Then the strip was clamped to the ring and tacked with CA.
Once everything was tacked and the ends trimmed everything was glued securely and the inside soaked with thin CA. This produced the typical noxious fumes, but when the smoke cleared the whole thing was rather bullet proof. Unfortunately, the inside was also rough as a cob. There will be much sanding...
Looks pretty good so far...
More to follow...
Thanks for looking!
Mike
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