Glasspacks' LVL II Build

[Handeman]

You know you have to try the largest motor that will fit, eventually. I want to hear about the sims for the 3147L935 in the 6GXL case.

My sims for my L2 cert rocket said about 10,500 ft, but ended up only 9559 ft at M1.2. I'm still waiting for the right day to top 10K at an east coast field. That motor might be too much for a cert flight, but you have to fly your field too. I did my L2 with a K695R to just over 6400 ft. which was a good altitude and flight for our field on that day. I did see a L2 cert over 11K ft at our field and I think that was pushing it, but he had a GPS tracker that worked great and he got lucky on where it landed and it was recovered.

I think you will be surprised how solid the cardboard rockets really are. You have to use your experience with L1 at your field to determine how high and hard you want to push your L2. Go with what feels right for you, you know the field.

 

[Glasspack]

thank you Handeman, I will most definitely push it after my Cert flight. The WOOSH club in Wisconsin flies at Bong Recreation area, that is where I would most likely attempt the Cert. It has Water Traps, Tree Traps and at times, grass that I NEVER would have thought could hide a rocket SOOOO WELL !! But It is so close to my Mom, childhood home and all of my family that it just makes sense. But there last flight is September 26ish..... If that doesn't pan out, I really would like to make a trip to Montana to fly with Steve Shannon. I will run some Sims after work and show you the data...........

 

[Handeman]

thank you Handeman, I will most definitely push it after my Cert flight. The WOOSH club in Wisconsin flies at Bong Recreation area, that is where I would most likely attempt the Cert. It has Water Traps, Tree Traps and at times, grass that I NEVER would have thought could hide a rocket SOOOO WELL !! But It is so close to my Mom, childhood home and all of my family that it just makes sense. But there last flight is September 26ish..... If that doesn't pan out, I really would like to make a trip to Montana to fly with Steve Shannon. I will run some Sims after work and show you the data...........

hey, @Glasspack, I would like to fly at Bong too. I grew up in Wisconsin and took my parents and siblings to Bong for LDRS when I was visiting there once. Unfortunately I wasn't able to fly that day, but I was able to show my family what my hobby was all about. I still can't get over the water ponds.... I don't mind trees, brush and tall grass, but ponds.... I don't know...! Then again, we now have a large beaver pond at the BattlePark, so hopefully I won't have to find out what recovery in that is like.

 

[Glasspack]

Handeman, Since I only have Cesaroni Cases, that is what I simulated so far...……… Here is a CTI L990BS. looks like it would be an impressive flight no doubt, Just hit Mach One. Would never try this for my Cert...……...but...…….later ???

 

[Glasspack]

Handeman, Here is another SIM. This one is the Motor you asked about. The CTI J935IM, This one simulated at over 8700 feet and
Mach 1.1 when I used the weather and field elevation closer to Bong...

What do you think of the J380 Smokey Sam for my Cert. I am concerned about the rail exit speed though.... Seems slow to me.

 

[Glasspack]

I found the lower section of my model fell over in the garage (door was open) from winds....It hit some metal table legs and dinged up a fin edge. Now i have THAT to repair. New siding and some deck rework on the home, is taking up a lot of my time to work on my model......

Please bear with me.......

 

[Glasspack]

Well the new siding on the house is complete, but I am only halfway done, with the two deck reattachments...…….
AND my new box of Cobra FireWire initiators just arrived. Deployment testing soon.....

 

[Glasspack]

Ok ... Time to get back to this...……. I may be able to attempt my Cert in October.
I will try to work on Deployment testing this weekend !!!

 

[Nytrunner]

How much for that box of firewires?

 

[Glasspack]

How much for that box of firewires?

Nytrunner,

I spent 68 dollars for a box of 80 initiators from Cobra !! https://www.cobrafiringsystems.com/
I like them I am looking forward to testing.

Qty Product Name (Style/Model Number) Unit Price Discount Ea. Adjustment Ea. Price Ea. Total 1 MJG Firewire Initiator - 3 ft (Box of 80) (INITIATOR-3FT) - Connection_option_3ft: Wires (Standard) $49.60 $0.00 $0.00 $49.60 $49.60

Sub-total:	$49.60
Price Adjustments:	$0.00
Order and Item Level Promotions:	-$0.00
Payment Type Surcharge:	$0.00
Shipping (USPS Parcel Select Hazardous Shipping (2 to 3+ week delivery time) Zone 6):	$18.39
Sales Tax:	$0.00
Grand Total:	$67.99
Payments Received:	$67.99
Due Balance:	$0.00

 

[Glasspack]

Man I got way behind on this build. What with house projects, work, holiday vacations, getting Corona Virus and winter weather; ….. All I've gotten done since last post was some sanding. I have to get busy if I am to fly this thing !!

Thank you all for years of advice, help and sharing............ Back at it soon !!

Paul

 

[PatD]

Man I got way behind on this build. What with house projects, work, holiday vacations, getting Corona Virus and winter weather; ….. All I've gotten done since last post was some sanding. I have to get busy if I am to fly this thing !!

Thank you all for years of advice, help and sharing............ Back at it soon !!

Paul

I was beginning to believe that Red M&M ate you.
Edit: Oh, ****, did I just refer to the Wuhan virus as the red m&m?

 

[Glasspack]

Well hello everybody .............. I realize I have not worked on this model for about a full year.




I am pretty far behind on my goal of LVL2 Cert. Time to get back to work !!

 

[Glasspack]

Hello Everyone and Merry "Christmas In July" for those of you who were a part of the fun..... Its almost July 4th !!

I spent some time studying for the LVL II Written Test........ I hope to do some work on the model these last two days !!!

Last Monday I had to say goodbye to my loved German Shepherd "Kida" (of almost 9 years) due to frickin Cancer !!
She is very missed !

 

[BrendanH69]

Brendan, This is how I did my other fins....I made a jig for my router table. If you done have a full size router table perhaps, design a jig for your Dremel Table. I built the jig with an 80 degree angle so my fins are 10 degrees each side. The bit is just a straight cut bit. PRACTICE on the same thickness scrap material first !! Plywood does not take a knife edge worth a crap ! Fiberglass may take it much better...…… I like to leave a tiny bit of flat edge you can sand round after your done.

AND ALWAYS REMEMBER SAFETY...…….. ROUTER BITS WILL DESTROY YOUR FINGERS




The edge you want to bevel rests against the table and is clamped securely to the jig. Set and lock the fence to take just about 1/16th off the edge.....Practice with SAME thickness scrap First !!

I KNOW from experience, had to remake a fin after taking to much material in the first fricken pass



These are 1/8" thick Birch Ply fins. I was very pleased with the results:

Re-reading the whole build thread now I'm finally having a go at my first boat tail! Building the boat tail assembly before joining to the body tube. Fin position marking and slotting phase is probably about 3 or 4 weeks away.

The rocket is intended to be a Tin Tin style rocket with fin pods. Using the new OR 22.02 beta to simulate and build it. Boat tail is a PML 3 inch standard one, cut for a 38mm PML MMT.

 

[Greg Furtman]

Last Monday I had to say goodbye to my loved German Shepherd "Kida" (of almost 9 years) due to frickin Cancer !!
She is very missed !

Sorry for your loss. A month ago I had to put down my Sweet Doggie Girl of 14 years.

 

[Glasspack]

Brendan,

Best of luck to ya with the Boat tail.

 

[Glasspack]

So Here we are about a year has past since I worked on my Model. I miss My Brother and My Dad & my German Shepard "Kida"
still. I am excited to plan a trip to attend LDRS41 and now I am going to attempt to get busy and complete my build.
Hopefully even paint it so I can put Sticker Shock Decals on it. (Thanks Mark)

for several reasons in life I never did test fly this in October-November as originally planned. Never finished it for one, and so never did any
deployment testing. So...... I made the decision to NOT use the Dual Deployment as I applied the "KISS" principle again. I have the Jolly Logic
Chute Release and that has worked well before. Also, I don't think it makes sense, given the timeline; to incorporate things I have little to
NO experience with.

I have been working it out in Rocksim and cleaning the garage this weekend a bit, to get my Table, Step ladder and things set aside, ready
to load the truck for LDRS.

Thank you all again for a great forum.................. Will post more tomorrow. Hopefully with Pictures

~Glasspack

Brandon if your still here ....How did that Tail Cone turn out.

 

[Hobie1dog]

So Here we are about a year has past since I worked on my Model. I miss My Brother and My Dad & my German Shepard "Kida"

Brandon if your still here ....How did that Tail Cone turn out.

3 losses in one year? Brendan was on the forum yesterday

 

[Glasspack]

Hobie1dog,

Thank you for the sentiments; I'm sorry I should have been more clear.....
Jimmy & Dad passed in 2019 a month apart.......
Kida died Last June. Oh and I just got home form my Aunts Funeral.
I ******* hate Cancer.

 

[Glasspack]

The other thing I was working on was the avionics Bay assembly. As I was messing with it and testing the switch and battery connector and making sure the RRC2+ was still working…. I noticed I was able to relatively easily unscrew the eye bolt on the end of the threaded rod. Well as the rocket tumbles and spins after deployment……what if this dam thing unscrews itself form the shock cord twisting and spinning. Well then, I have two pieces to track down….

The welded eye bolt on the other end is what I am going to switch it to …bolted through the bulkhead center hole, like the other bulkhead

 

[troj]

Bits unscrewing can be a problem. I watched someone (unfortunately) lose a part of a rocket, because that happened.

You can use the welded eye bolt. Or you can run a wire around on of the pieces of allthread (I'm assuming) at the base of that red cap, then through the side of the eyenut. The idea is to keep it from even being able to start turning. A zip tie would do the same, and either can easily be removed.

-Kevin

 

[Handeman]

g…. I noticed I was able to relatively easily unscrew the eye bolt on the end of the threaded rod. Well as the rocket tumbles and spins after deployment……what if this dam thing unscrews itself form the shock cord twisting and spinning. Well then, I have two pieces to track down….

That's why I went to U-bolts on all my nose cones, av-bays, and fin cans years ago.

 

[Glasspack]

Handeman, I don't really know why I did not put U bolts in this avionics bay. I even had some in the drawer........
Anyway I Just ordered a couple Stainless Steel marine grade one piece eyebolts to swap mine out.

https://www.amazon.com/Abimars-Mach...hers/dp/B07Z3L5XTH?ref_=ast_sto_dp&th=1&psc=1

 

[Handeman]

Handeman, I don't really know why I did not put U bolts in this avionics bay. I even had some in the drawer........
Anyway I Just ordered a couple Stainless Steel marine grade one piece eyebolts to swap mine out.

https://www.amazon.com/Abimars-Mach...hers/dp/B07Z3L5XTH?ref_=ast_sto_dp&th=1&psc=1

At least with the lock nuts, if they do loosen up enough to spin, they shouldn't come apart. Just don't bet the farm on it.

 

[Glasspack]

Well I got my Certification motor today. A CTI PRO54 J295CL.
I think my new eye bolts are in the other box, so after work, or this weekend I will get more done on my "Antares IV"

Need to get my big Appollo style chute attached to a swivel, make sure the Avionics bay coupler has a real good friction fit to the lower airframe and put it all together with the lower recovery harness and weigh it.

The upper shock cord I won't need to put in, as I am gonna fly motor eject only for the Cert flight with my JL Chute Release.

 

[Handeman]

Well I got my Certification motor today. A CTI PRO54 J295CL.
I think my new eye bolts are in the other box, so after work, or this weekend I will get more done on my "Antares IV"

Need to get my big Appollo style chute attached to a swivel, make sure the Avionics bay coupler has a real good friction fit to the lower airframe and put it all together with the lower recovery harness and weigh it.

The upper shock cord I won't need to put in, as I am gonna fly motor eject only for the Cert flight with my JL Chute Release.

Put the upper cord in there and attach it. You fail the cert if you lose the nose cone.

 

[Glasspack]

OK I can do that.......... The Nose Cone was going to be pinned. But i cant argue with the suggestion.
Better safe than sorry Thanks

 

[Glasspack]

Used this weekend to do some minor stuff on the "Antares IV" Build. Cut the grass, is what I should have done !!

The RRC2+ was fully tested again ....well ok, except for firing the charges. Also rechecked the simulations with the J295 CL using a 78" rail to account for the size of the model and the rail guide placement. (Once the FWD Rail Guide leaves the rail, that's pretty much it !! ) It shows about 39 MPH off the rail.
That is higher than the minimum recommended 31, not the fastest it could do, but the Simulations on Rocksim and Open Rocket say She should fly well.............

This stuff next is just basic stuff: The AFT Shock cord was installed onto a Quick Link so I can remove it for Maintenance when I need to. The Knot and tape layer was a trick I learned from reading many of "Crazy Jim" Hendricksens' posts. Pretty sure that's the same way My LVL 1 Model recovery gear was connected



I also tried to fix a couple of small blemishes from an accidental ding or two. Remember that Fin Tip that broke long ago.....
Well I mixed up some Rocket Poxy from Apogee and tried to mend that fin and the other one that hit my dam router table leg.





It is going to take a lot more shaping and finish sanding to make it look good; but, haere they are after the initial rocket Poxy treatment.




I tried to get some Filler Primer from Walmart today but the good **** in the Automotive department is no longer there, and the paint department did not have any good primer. I'll try again at a different store maybe Monday. Maybe even see if i can get White Primer this time. I do need to get the Finish coats on it Very soon or it will be too late ....and I will have to fly it naked!

 

[Glasspack]

Gonna do some more sanding very soon and tomorrow, I am picking up the primer and paint.

Oh yeah ......And I got my new Quick links and Eye Bolts in the mail