General ramblings...Long post..

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Silverleaf

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Howdy,

I guess this should be called : When R.S. has too much time on his hands, but here goes:

1) If you've not checked out XPrize.com in a while, a recent (December) test by one group has pushed the excitement meter way up, and really has become very interesting to watch. Oh how I'd love to be one of the people that gets to ride in the smaller rocket, and when they drop off the plane, and tilt their front end up and hit it..myohmy !

I've looked at all of the participants information, and I really think this current plane/rocket combination will be the winner.

Oh, and speaking of this combo - does anyone else see a scratch-built rocket combo coming down the pipeline ?..I do.. 8)

2) Is it just me, or has the proliferation and quality of smaller rocketry companies really taken off in the last few years ? We have our own TRF family of companies - like Jim's Fliskit company to Thrust Aero's clone kits, to Sandman working on what I feel is a certain "kit of the year" candidate in his Little Joe. Then there is Semroc, which has some really nice kits coming back after all these years.

Jim really impressed me during the fireside chat session, but more importantly, I like what I see in regards to what matters - rockets, components, future plans and steady expansion.

Thrust-Aero please do a Terrier Sandhawk clone so that R.S. can shut up about it once and for all...pretty please ? 8)

3) Scratchbuilt projects -

Drew Tomko's work on his scratchbuilt Energia-Buran has me bouncing off the walls with excitement, and folks, his work is pristine. This project -IMHO - is a winner.

The Gemini Titan has a ton of interest it seems, so hopefully this project will continue to go forward. Perhaps it could be the focal point of # 4 below.

If somehow you've not checked out the Yard Sale forum for a bit, read Sandman's current thread on a New Roachwerk's Little Joe kit..its gonna be a doozy.

(yeah, I know - I mentioned Sandman's kit 3 times - sorry, I'm excited !!)

4) I'd love to see this forum focus on a set project as a group. Meaning, lets pick a rocket, vote on it, and start finding data and resources ( if needed ) and post a step by step thread on how to create it from scratch/clone it. Call it the TRF Project, TRF Cloneworks etc., but the point is to show newbies and those that have never tried cloning a kit exactly how to do it.

Why ?, perhaps by doing so, all the companies involved with TRF can benefit from the exposure, and we can help them stay in business and use their products to achieve this goal.

5) I had mentioned about a Resources addition to this forum, and haven't heard anything about it lately. Any chance this might be added ?.. If your unsure, would it be posible to have a community vote/poll and see what everyone thinks about it ? Mind you, I'm a lowly member here, but I think this would be something the community could use.

Then again, I could be wrong. *blush*

6) ***deleted***

I had a rant..but in the spirit of this being a family forum.. I'll leave it alone.

Cheers,
 
Go on...keep ranting...I'm listening!

I never mind when my name is metioned.

sandman
 
interesting thread, i'd like to see where this goes. And a perfect example of a good "coffee house" rambling... :)
 
" I'd love to see this forum focus on a set project as a group. Meaning, lets pick a rocket, vote on it, and start finding data and resources ( if needed ) and post a step by step thread on how to create it from scratch/clone it. Call it the TRF Project, TRF Cloneworks etc., but the point is to show newbies and those that have never tried cloning a kit exactly how to do it"
Common Guys,We could do this!
 
... could be a clone or could be an original design, or could be one of the "design of the month" contest winners...

how about we do it once a month? maybe make a "newbie project" section?

hmmm!
 
well im new here but hell id be fun... if somone lays out the stock parts list *cough* cluster *cough**hack**wheeze* and all then weh can buy decals from somone that say trf or something...
 
Well, what do we need to start? a subject?

I have a million of them, but one that would interest me is an obscure scale model (several flavors actually) of the Russian FROG missile.

Whatever subject we pick, once we decide on it, we should start a new thread with a descriptive subject-specific title.

just my 2 cents :)
jim
 
I did a search for Frog missile info myself last night. There were at least 7 versions of this Soviet army artillery rocket, plus a naval version. Plenty of pics, but no line drawings or dimensions.

Does anyone have a dimensioned drawing, or at least a line drawing?
 
In the second picture
It looks very much like a scud missile
 
Originally posted by astronboy
I
Does anyone have a dimensioned drawing, or at least a line drawing?

Here's a line drawing I did YEARS ago (back in my auto-CAD days) from a scale drawing package. I no long have the scale package... bummer too. The best I could hope to do at this point is a "sport scale", but still cool...
 
Now that sounds like fun!! Count me in! I think this could be a great TRF project as it could be broken up into distinct parts that could be designed & built remotely and then brought together for the final assembly, testing, and challenge attempts. How do we get started? Should we schedule a TRF chat session for members who are interested?

Thanks,
 
The Lander Challenge is a nice project - nay, a great project, but I was hoping that interest in a Clonewerks/scratchbuilt/tutorial
would become a doable project for TRF members. With that thought in mind - I'll try to post what I think would be a way to start this project.

Jim, your idea on the Frog Rocket is really sweet. Of course, as someone who grew up with the nickname Frog, thats right up my alley. lol

I also agree that a seperate topic should be started, with a poll with say 5 or 6 rocket projects listed (not sure how many items you can list in a poll - so that will be the defining number) - and then we can vote on which rocket to focus on.

Since we're talking building a kit from scratch, I think a sticking point would be the use of Rocksim for the creation. I'm not sure how many here have Rocksim 7 - I don't, but if a file were to be created with version 5 - then anyone with a newer version could still open it. Since Rocksim isn't backwards compatible - opening rocksim version 7 files in rocksim 5 - this would be a small issue.

Once we have a rocket chosen, it would be a simple matter to choose a company to order the parts from.

That in itself was why I thought about a TRF project, because IF it caught on - say one rocket a month, or even bi-monthly - we could take turns buying from the companies that are regulars on this site. After all, we are talking TRF. 8)

As to type of rocket, I'd love to see a Scale rocket built first - simply because it would be a good way to show the uninitiated how to properly scale the design up or down - which in the long run would help them to be able to do this type of design on their own.

In closing, other candidates I've thought would make nice beginner projects:

Orion 2 - Argentina Rocket - Pgs 330-331 Rockets of the World

Corporal - USA - Pgs 87-89 Rockets of the World - top stage of the Wac-Corporal.

NACA Deacon test rocket or Deacon Rockoon Pgs 122-123 Rockets of the World

Many thanks,
 
The Lander Challenge is a wonderful choice, I'm looking at a micro sized "unit"

Silverleaf: as for your first question about Rutan's White Knight/ SpaceShipOne,
I have SpaceShipOne complete in Micro-Maxx size, Plan way posted in the scratch forum here a few months ago. She's flown 5 or 6 times now. I hadn't considered modeling the White Knight mother ship, but will take another look... maybe as some sort of launch platform.. interesting idea.
I was also under the impression Sandman and Art Applewhite were both working on larger scale models of SpaceShipOne.

Heres the micro version:D
 
I think the White Knight/Space Ship One combo would be an outstanding idea, but the difficulty I think would come in 2 places:

1: The continuous curved surfaces. Not impossible, but difficult.
2: The real problem may lie in the aerodynamic instability of the rocket. The original relies upon some serious avionics to keep the thing stable (or so I've read), and that's obviously not something we can do easily in our scale model.

Other than these 2, I'd throw in my vote for this project.

WW
 
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