Lakeroadster's X-Wing Alpha Build Thread

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you are using gap staging for obvious reasons (let’s just say if the tie fighter was any closer to X-Wing it might be unseemly). You will need a good quality BT-50 connecting tube, as I think there will be a good bit of stress on it (then again, it passed the string test….)

the common accepted way of beefing up a tube is to put a lengthwise coupler in it. A cheaper, perhaps not as strong but probably “strong enough” is to cut a length of BT-50 along its length, slather it with WHITE glue (you DEFINITELY Do NOT want a fast tack) roll it a bit tight and slide it inside the outer tube.

how much $ is the plastic section? It’s definitely going to get cosmetically spoiled with the first flight, not sure if it will be STRUCTURALLY spoiled or not. If however it is not TOO expensive you may consider it an expendable part, and just replace it with each flight.

not sure how much you fly. pretty much all your constructs are both technical and cosmetic masterpieces, so you can be excused if you hang them on the wall after just one flight, although ALL of them would be attention getters at any club launch (did I miss the Hammerhead flight? That’s one I wanna see, this one as well.)

for me, since I am cheap and i figure particularly at club launches, once it’s on the pad nobody is gonna be able to see if the connecting tube is clear or not, i would swap out the clear for a robust BT-50 possibly strengthened with coupler or insert as above.

suggestion if you are going to be swapping tubes frequently. I assume you will use a tape wrap to connect the tube to the Tie fighter cockpit. For both the short segment permanently attached to the Tie, and the tail end of the non-clear launch tube, put a wrap of clear cello tape on the ends that will be covered with the tape wrap. This will reduce the chance that when you remove the tape wrap you will pull paint off the underlying tubes (or worse, possibly delaminate the tubes!)

it this flies well as a two stage, I’d submit it to Apogee rockets.
 
you are using gap staging for obvious reasons (let’s just say if the tie fighter was any closer to X-Wing it might be unseemly). You will need a good quality BT-50 connecting tube, as I think there will be a good bit of stress on it (then again, it passed the string test….)

I actually used a 3/4" dowel for the swing test, but maintained the finished rocket cg

how much $ is the plastic section? It’s definitely going to get cosmetically spoiled with the first flight, not sure if it will be STRUCTURALLY spoiled or not. If however it is not TOO expensive you may consider it an expendable part, and just replace it with each flight.

$2.84 each


not sure how much you fly. pretty much all your constructs are both technical and cosmetic masterpieces, so you can be excused if you hang them on the wall after just one flight, although ALL of them would be attention getters at any club launch (did I miss the Hammerhead flight? That’s one I wanna see, this one as well.)

I had hoped to get the fleet in the air this spring. I got approval to launch at a local area where RC planes fly. But there's a Stage 1 burn ban. That seems to be a recurring theme up here.

for me, since I am cheap and i figure particularly at club launches, once it’s on the pad nobody is gonna be able to see if the connecting tube is clear or not, i would swap out the clear for a robust BT-50 possibly strengthened with coupler or insert as above.

suggestion if you are going to be swapping tubes frequently. I assume you will use a tape wrap to connect the tube to the Tie fighter cockpit. For both the short segment permanently attached to the Tie, and the tail end of the non-clear launch tube, put a wrap of clear cello tape on the ends that will be covered with the tape wrap. This will reduce the chance that when you remove the tape wrap you will pull paint off the underlying tubes (or worse, possibly delaminate the tubes!)

it this flies well as a two stage, I’d submit it to Apogee rockets.

I appreciate you taking the time to pass along your advice. I agree, that logically it makes sense to use a cardboard based BT between the booster and the sustainer. I have some BT-50H, that would work great.

It looks like I'm going to have to venture down to the front range and find a park to launch at. We've been in drought conditions in the county I live in, and surrounding counties, for the last 5 or 6 years and I'm just not comfortable launching here. And I'd rather launch each of my scratch built rockets with a minimal amount of folks around, since all the rockets are pretty much oddrocs, with a lot of nose weight added for stability.
 
I'm thinking the primer color is a good match for the movie version of the Advanced TIE X1 gray. Once I do some filler and sanding and get it smooth I'll put a final coat of primer and hit it with semi-gloss clear. After that I can add solar array black inserts. I'm thinking about printing the solar arrays on some self adhesive paper, then sticking them to the painted panels.

You folks think that'll work?

007 TIE Advanced Front Three Quarter View.jpg
 
I think printed panel art would work just fine. I'd consider puttin them on after the final color coat ("primer" is a color, right?) and before the clear.
If the flyer were to show up in a cosplay quality costume and driving a cool retro rod, Lucas himself might even show up!
Retro rod? No, no, no. One of these:
1652145322783.png
(OK, a motor cycle dressed up like one of these.)
 
I think printed panel art would work just fine. I'd consider puttin them on after the final color coat ("primer" is a color, right?) and before the clear.

Retro rod? No, no, no. One of these:
View attachment 517933
(OK, a motor cycle dressed up like one of these.)
Lucas is a huge fan of hot rods since he was a child. American Graffiti was based on it.
 
I think printed panel art would work just fine. I'd consider puttin them on after the final color coat ("primer" is a color, right?) and before the clear.
Thanks. Plan is Primer-sand-primer-clear-adhesive panels and hand painting-clear.

I'm not sure how well, over time, the adhesive paper would adhere to the porous flat nature inherent with primer. I know it will adhere better to a semi-gloss clear. :dontknow:
 
Scoured the internet looking for cockpit photos, a front view looking in, of Vader's TIE fighter. Only one I found was one that was a bit askew, so I photohacked it. I think this should work pretty well. Planning to put it on first, then add the cockpit window frame.

TIE Cockpit Vader 003.jpgCockpit Decal.jpgCockpit Decal With Glass Frame.jpg
 
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I actually used a 3/4" dowel for the swing test, but maintained the finished rocket cg



$2.84 each




I had hoped to get the fleet in the air this spring. I got approval to launch at a local area where RC planes fly. But there's a Stage 1 burn ban. That seems to be a recurring theme up here.



I appreciate you taking the time to pass along your advice. I agree, that logically it makes sense to use a cardboard based BT between the booster and the sustainer. I have some BT-50H, that would work great.

It looks like I'm going to have to venture down to the front range and find a park to launch at. We've been in drought conditions in the county I live in, and surrounding counties, for the last 5 or 6 years and I'm just not comfortable launching here. And I'd rather launch each of my scratch built rockets with a minimal amount of folks around, since all the rockets are pretty much oddrocs, with a lot of nose weight added for stability.
I will keep an eye out for the old dudes launching at Dove Valley Park. Usually a weekday.

SCORE in Pueblo is going to have a cluster day which would be a great place to launch your oddrocs. You will have to walk out to the away pads but all the equipment and rocketry talent is first rate there.

Your creations are certified swing tested, much better than some of the mindsimed abominations I have flown there.
 
Printed the cockpit decal and cut it into pieces so it would have better chance of conforming to the wiffle ball contour.

I forgot a step though... I neglected to spray the decal with clear. When I put the 1st piece into the water... all the ink desolved away. Amazing at just how quick it was all gone.

No worries. Printed off a new decal, then took them out to the barn and sprayed clear on them.

001.JPG 002.JPG 003.JPG
 
Installed the cockpit decals and hand painted the O.D. and I.D. on the canopy rings. MEH, it'll do. I thought about using decals for the rings, but I thought paint would do a better job of sealing the decal edges.

I used electrical tape for the muntins. I still need to glue an endplate to the coupler, primer it, then add the decal. The coupler with Vader will just be used for display purposes.

001.JPG 002.JPG

003.JPG 006.JPG

009.JPG 010.JPG
012.JPG
 
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I will bet this will make the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs.

Of course, this makes no sense as a parsec is a unit of distance not time, but it sounds cool.
 
I will bet this will make the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs.

Of course, this makes no sense as a parsec is a unit of distance not time, but it sounds cool.
I think he's using Nitro, so probably 10.5-11 parsecs unless it blows the tire off.

Sandy.
 
There is an attempt to clear that up in Episode 7. If I remember right, the Kessel run is a longer route unless you take a dangerous short cut that brings it down to 12 parsecs. But then why would the original sentence be cast in a way that makes it about time? Nice try.
 
If I went from Florida to Mars through less than 12 miles of hyperspace, that would be more impressive than going through 20 miles of hyperspace. I think that's what they mean. Anyway, they talk about it here:

https://screenrant.com/star-wars-han-solo-parsec-mistake-lucas-1977/
Also, no unit of time we know of would have made any sense either because they're all defined (day, hour, minute, second) in terms of an Earth day (divided by even numbers). Might as well go with something practically no one knows about.
 
If I went from Florida to Mars through less than 12 miles of hyperspace, that would be more impressive than going through 20 miles of hyperspace. I think that's what they mean. Anyway, they talk about it here:

https://screenrant.com/star-wars-han-solo-parsec-mistake-lucas-1977/
Also, no unit of time we know of would have made any sense either because they're all defined (day, hour, minute, second) in terms of an Earth day (divided by even numbers). Might as well go with something practically no one knows about.
They went into it in pointless detail in the utterly pointless Han Solo movie. It should have just stayed a great throwaway line.
 
They went into it in pointless detail in the utterly pointless Han Solo movie. It should have just stayed a great throwaway line.
I think we are likely over-parsing the movie script (pun intended). It’s a movie line, it doesn’t have to make sense. Sort of like how rarely space movies explain gravity inside space vehicles.

My favorite medical equivalent is “hump-backed midget whale syndrome “, which doesn’t exist but hopefully gets the point across that we are approaching medical obscurity.
 
Launch Report

My wife and I launched the X-Wing Alpha today. It's been about 40 years since I last launched a rocket. Hard to believe, wow how time flies.

The most awesome part of this launch (I also launched my Red Columbine and Hammerhead Shark rockets) was my wife had a great time too. She actually pushed the launch button on the Pratt controller. She said 3 or 4 times: This is a lot of fun!

This rocket was my 1st build as a BAR, and was started back in 2018.

I gained a lot of respect for you folks that post up flight videos and photos. We were so focused on not losing the rocket since it was its maiden flight, that I wasn't able to get any apogee or recovery photo's.

So... my apologies for the poor-quality photos and video.

Launch Report For X-Wing Alpha Single Stage .jpg


X-Wing Alpha Launch 001.jpg000.JPGX-Wing Alpha Launch 002.jpgX-Wing Alpha Launch 003.jpgX-Wing Alpha Launch 004.jpg002.JPG003.JPG

 
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