MAC Performance 54mm Zodiac DD (Flight One!)

[DavidMcCann]

Ever since I heard Mike say "yea I'm thinking about some smaller tube" I've been dreaming about this kit. Well, the time has come, The kit is cut and boxed, and I can't wait for it to get here to start my thread!

The stock photo from MAC-

my order summery -

Plan is to finish this thread up with a photo of it flying on a 38/1200 K627R

 

[REK]

Subscribed


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[DavidMcCann]

a little birdie sent me a tease before my kit got tucked away in it's box-

 

[DavidMcCann]

And it has now arrived This thing just feels awesome. It was packed very well. The nosecone bay is pretty amazing. The build will progress shortly, but for now, here's what she looks like in pieces.

 

[dhkaiser]

Man I like the looks of that!

 

[REK]

Man that is going to be one sweet bird.


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[Rob702Martinez]

Looks nice! Is that before i forget on your phone?

 

[DavidMcCann]

Looks nice! Is that before i forget on your phone?

You caught me

i was was able to grab the dry fit kit with one hand and walk around with it. The parts just fit perfectly. In fact, most of the kit was shipped in a dry fit fashion. I've spent 3-4 hours sanding some kits to get them to fit as well as this one does out of the box.

 

[Jozef]

Sweet, Dave! My 54 Zodiac should be delivered today. It will have to be second in the build queue as my 4 inch Villain boat tail build just started. Mikes kits are top notch in every respect.

 

[DavidMcCann]

Grabbed a few weights tonight, time to adjust the sim (all dry weights)

8oz NC assembly
5.1 Payload tube
5.4 empty Av-bay assembly
10.2 Booster Tube
3.9 Fins (3)
2.5 MMT/rings/harness
.7 cannons

35.8 oz before paint, epoxy, chute, electronics. Not bad.

Played with the sim a bit. Still too rough to share, but I will shortly. Looking like 10K will get crushed, and 12K plus is possible. Oh I'm gonna like this little guy.

 

[Barkley]

Grabbed a few weights tonight, time to adjust the sim (all dry weights)

8oz NC assembly
5.1 Payload tube
5.4 empty Av-bay assembly
10.2 Booster Tube
3.9 Fins (3)
2.5 MMT/rings/harness
.7 cannons

35.8 oz before paint, epoxy, chute, electronics. Not bad.

Played with the sim a bit. Still too rough to share, but I will shortly. Looking like 10K will get crushed, and 12K plus is possible. Oh I'm gonna like this little guy.

Where's the 'like' button again?

 

[REK]

Where's the 'like' button again?

Seriously we do need a like button


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[Bat-mite]

Nice!

 

[DavidMcCann]

Step one- MMT

I sanded the bottom of the mount until the Aeropack fit. I like a slightly loose rather than forcing it on to allow a good JBweld bond. I covered the tube with JBweld past where the CR would rest, careful not to get any inside the tube. Then I used a popsicle stick to apply JBweld to the threads of the aeropack (INSIDE not the ones for the cap ) I then scrape the threads with the stick so only the JBWeld actually inside the threads remains. This keeps it from building up and making a mess inside the tube.

Then I pressed the aero pack on and pushed it flush. There will be some that oozes out, I wiped it out so the inside is smooth. Then The CR was pressed down until flush, making a nice fillet and leaving the inside clear as to not interfere with eventual fin mounting.

I left the middle ring on the MMT loose.... but did not glue it for now.

Moving to the top, I stuck the kevlar inside the tube, and moved the CR high on the tube. I applied a bead of aeropoxy ES6209 under the ring. I then pushed it down on this bead and smoothed it out with the end of a fat popsicle stick. More Aeropoxy was applied to the top on the CR, and everything set aside to cure up.

 

[Steve Shannon]

Seriously we do need a like button


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I agree. I probably missed the announcement, but why isn't there one?

 

[AdAstraPerAspera]

Does the stock dual deploy version have room for the Loki K motors?

 

[DavidMcCann]

Does the stock dual deploy version have room for the Loki K motors?

Stock booster is 26"

I had mine cut to 32"

 

[ActingLikeAKid]

careful not to get any inside the tube.

Still have flashbacks to my first MPR launch - my Estes Ventris was lovingly built, ready to go, I bought a CTI 29mm case and it went in about 1/4" and stopped. Fortunately I had a knife and some sandpaper, but it was a horrifying moment.

I'm thinking about trying Glad Press N Seal in the build I'm working on - this is the stuff that looks like heavy saran wrap... only it doesn't stick to itself, it's sticky on one side, and it doesn't rely on static charge to make it stick. I've used it with some success to mask off areas when painting...

 

[DavidMcCann]

Glued the middle ring on to be just above the fin slots. Just used some Titebond II here, put a band of glue around the MMT, then pushed the ring up into it, so that the underside has no fillet on it, as to not block the fins.

 

[DavidMcCann]

While that sets up, I pulled out the nosecone and nose bay setup. This bay is really cool and excites me a lot. It's a fast swap tracker bay, and I really really like being able to pop a tracker on at the last second and toss it in fast. Mike's bays let me do that.

 

[DavidMcCann]

Starting to get the fins on. I installed the MMT by sanding the inside of the tube, then putting a bead of aeropoxy on the rear CR step, and the inside of the BT, just ahead of the fin slots.

The MMT was then pushed up into the BT, and the excess wiped down on the rear CR joint. I then filled the slot with aeropoxy, and buttered a fin root edge, pressed it into place and secured with a couple rubber bands.

A second fin was slipped into place to make sure everything was nice and square. probably not needed, but hey, why not.

 

[DavidMcCann]

Been a bit since I worked on this.... While injecting epoxy into my L3, I had some leftover... made sense to quickly swipe some fillets on this guy. I'll sand these out and fill and sand and fill and sand....

I didn't want anything huge and heavy, so I just pulled with my gloved finger.

 

[DavidMcCann]

Not much different looking than the dry fit, but the fins are in and filleted, and the avbay is built and vent band glued on. Just need to drill a bunch of holes in it, and glue the nose bay together.

 

[REK]

Not much different looking than the dry fit, but the fins are in and filleted, and the avbay is built and vent band glued on. Just need to drill a bunch of holes in it, and glue the nose bay together.

That is one awesome rocket


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[noffie79]

I don't know how I missed this. Been drooling over one of these for a while now. Must not give in. Too many unbuilt kits already. Looking great Dave.

 

[REK]

I don't know how I missed this. Been drooling over one of these for a while now. Must not give in. Too many unbuilt kits already. Looking great Dave.

Sell one or two unbuilt kits and get one of these, just an option .


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[noffie79]

Sell one or two unbuilt kits and get one of these, just an option .


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And it's a good option, but I want all of my unbuilt kits. Lol

 

[TRFfan]

Nice!

 

[DavidMcCann]

Well, that's gonna need a sand and re-coat. Not shocked really, but was hoping to get away with a fast one. Launch is this weekend, so I won't get to fix it before the first launch. It's dupli-color metalcast. The ground coat of the two part system went down ok (over rusto primer done last week and sanded down), but the color coat is uneven, and pitted in places. Had the same thing happen to my quick and dirty with this paint, and a re-coat really came out nice. I expect the same with this once I let it sit for a couple weeks.

 

[Bat-mite]

I only used Duplicolor one time, and it turned out like that. Probably the same blue. Not a fan.