Madcow AGM-33 Pike

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Another update:

Today I glassed the sustainer, sorry no pics. Had the same issues I did during my first attempt. Result will undoubtedly be the same. Sigh.....

I also made some progress on the MAC nosecone bay. The step on the aft CR was too large for the I.D. of nosecone's shoulder. I used my Dremel to reduce the steps dia.

NC_Bay - Aft Ring Resizing-Small.jpg
NC_Bay - Aft Ring Fitting-Small.jpg
 
Yesterday I had time to complete the NC bay, including coating bay tube, bulkplate and rings with epoxy to waterproof them.
NC Bay Complete - Small.jpg
NC Bay Complete - Closeup-Small.jpg

Edit: Used BSI 30 minute for waterproofing thinned 30% with denatured alcohol and Rocketpoxy for assembly.
 
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Last night I found the misplaced pics of the work done on the lower airframe. Turns out I had transferred them to my gaming rig. Anyhoot, here is what I did.

Before glassing the lower airframe, I needed a way to seal the fin slots from the epoxy but allow easy removal of the seals after the epoxy cured. My solution was yellow FrogTape. This painters tape is great stuff. It can be applied to a heavy cardboard airframe for many days and then removed without damaging the cardboard. Did that during the build of my LOC Goblin.

I cut strips of the yellow tape wide enough for 1/16" overlap of the slots. After each strip was laid down, I rubbed the overlaps along their lengths to ensure good adhesion. After the glassing was fully cured, I waited two days, I used my Dremel tool with a EZ Lock 1.5" Diamond Wheel to free the tape from the epoxy. I was careful not to cut into the cardboard.

After completing the cut around the full perimeter of a tape strip, I used an e-xacto knife to pry up a corner of the cut laminate and slowly peeled it away.

Before
Lower Airframe Glassed Fin Slot-Small.jpg

After
Lower Airframe Fin Slot Uncovered-Small.jpg

Edit: To ensure the airframe did not distort around the fin slots during glassing, I used tube couplers placed directly beneath each set of slots.
 
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After the glassing was fully cured, I waited two days, I used my Dremel tool with a EZ Lock 1.5" Diamond Wheel to free the tape from the epoxy. I was careful not to cut into the cardboard.

Did you have any issues with the epoxy clogging the diamond wheel?

That looks like a really solid build, and waterproof. Are you anticipating water landings?
 
Did you have any issues with the epoxy clogging the diamond wheel?
No I didn't. Note that I set the dremel's speed to the low end, around 7,000 rpm.

That looks like a really solid build, and waterproof. Are you anticipating water landings?
Yeppers, that is affirmative. I fly mostly at Bong State Recreation Area, home to TWA and Woosh. Bong has lots of water traps.

Here is a pic of my RIM-66 landing (L2 cert flight).
RIM-66 Cert Flight - Wet Landing-Small.jpg
 
Yesterday I had time to sand out the wrinkles/high spots from the fiberglassing on the lower airframe. Actually those wrinkles looked more like the low rolling waves we get on the beaches here in Chicago.

I also worked on the aft CR to allow it to fit over the GLR motor retainer.

And I finally got around to do some basic testing on my EggTimer Proton. Worked first try and I like the simple interface EggTimer developed for it.

Lower Airframe Sanded-Small.jpg
MMT Aft CR Fitted-Small.jpg
 
Looks like the airframe caught a severe case of "The Ripley" (Bondo G&SP).
Lower Airframe Bondo'd-Small.jpg
Sanding and touch ups won't happen until Sunday evening at the earliest.
 
Ach, the red plague is a bugger indeed
Roger that...
Dark Gray primer will cover the red so it doesn't bleed through your paint job.
I will be spraying primer on the whole rocket but the airframe will not get any coats of color. Instead I will be using a full wrap from stickershock, once I can order it.
Btw I still need to update the wraps graphics. I still have not settled on any lettering but I am leaning towards a slightly scaled down version of the stock lettering that Madcow/Stickershock came up with.

Anyhoot here is what I have so far.
Pike Graphics 02-Small.jpg
 
I will be spraying primer on the whole rocket but the airframe will not get any coats of color. Instead I will be using a full wrap from stickershock, once I can order it.

I've done a partial wrap, and I suggest painting one coat of paint, it makes repositioning the wrap much easier. It was Mark's suggestion, and I'm glad I did.
 
I've done a partial wrap, and I suggest painting one coat of paint, it makes repositioning the wrap much easier. It was Mark's suggestion, and I'm glad I did.
hmmm okay, sounds like a good idea. What color did you use as an undercoat?
 
It was partially white, partially black. The wrap was opaque enough that nothing shows through.
Thx for the info. Btw, love your upscale of Neil's PDII.

This morning I had a chance to sand the Bondo down using 220 grit. I used a home brew curved sanding block (made from a sheet of pallet shipping cardboard). You can see it on the work table just to the left of the airframe. It did a good job of helping to prevent flat spots on the airframe.
Lower Airframe 2nd Sanding-Small.jpg
 
Well, no work done since my last post but I did fire off an email to Mark at Stickershock for a quote on the full color wraps.
 
Had some time today to get some sanding done. Lower airframe is now ready for primer. Also attacked the AV-Bay with the palm sander using 100 grit sandpaper to make quick work of the waves in the resin. Then used the curved sanding block with 220 to smooths things out. Now the AV-Bay is ready for the Nytrunner red plague of death treatment. :p
 
Hi y'all,
Sorry to say this build has slowed to a snail's pace. RL keeps getting in the way.

The only progress I've made in assembly... (Sorry no pics)
  • Cutting the thread of a 1/4-20 eyebolt to an acceptable length.
  • Cleaned eyebolt, 2 nuts & 2 washers with Isopropyl alcohol and then sanded top and bottom faces of the nuts and washers.
  • Applied JB Weld to the above sanded faces and bolted the 1/4-20 eyebolt to the forward CR. Then I buttered the finished hardware assembly with more JB Weld. Now I am sure that eyebolt will never detach from the CR.
  • After JBW had cured I epoxied the forward CR into the airframe.
I have also updated the layout to this build. I came up with a better solution to setting up this kit for Hybrid Dual Deploy (Single Deploy of drogue & main w/JLCR) while still allowing for a conversion to traditional Dual Deploy at anytime.
Pike-03.jpg
The plan is to use Nylon 6/6 1/4-20 nuts & allthread rods to hold the 6" coupler's position and still allow for easy access to the EggTimer Proton.
I have attached my .Ork file for any one interested.
 

Attachments

  • AGM 33 Pike.ork
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Well, it has been awhile since my last post. I had put this build hold as I was waiting for the wallet to fatten up. I wanted to purchase and apply the Stickershock full wrap a little further on in the build. But the wallet is losing weight atm and I got tired of waiting. Not sure now how I will decorate this bird. Time will tell.

Anyhoot, work resumed two weekends ago and is progressing slowly.

Switch Band-Small.jpg
I used the "Sock" to glass the switch band. I did not wrap the band with Mylar after applying the Aeropoxy (6209 instead of 2032). I knew it would just make a big mess of things. A few days later I used the "Red Stuff" to fill all the voids and smooth things out. It can still use one more thin coat at some point in the future.
MMT and Fwd CRs-Small.jpg
Last weekend I took measurements and did the math so I knew where to epoxy the 2nd CR to the 38mm MMT (Had to allow for recessing the motor retainer into the airframe). Used Rocketpoxy for this step as it cures a lot faster then Aeropoxy. After the epoxy achieved a good set, I installed the combo into the airframe.
I was a tad nervous I would fubar this somewhere along the way, but it lined up perfectly in the end. Now only three CRs left to install.

Today I started working on cutting the plywood pieces for the ebay tray.

Till next time...
 
It's nice when things line up like they're supposed to. I'll be interested in seeing how your AV bay turns out, it's an interesting concept for layout.
 
It's nice when things line up like they're supposed to. I'll be interested in seeing how your AV bay turns out, it's an interesting concept for layout.
Yeppers, it is. I call it an "Offset-X Sled"
Offset-X Sled Dryfit-Small.jpg
Offset-X Sled 01-Small.jpg
Offset-X Sled 02-Small.jpg
The offset allows the 1/4-20 All Thread a clear path through the AV-Bay. I made it from 0.2" plywood that was reclaimed awhile back from an old custom open frame computer case I designed about 8 years ago.

I haven't epoxied any of it together yet but I'll get to it soon.
 
A little more progress...
Offset-X Sled + Proton + Turnigy_01-Small.jpg
Offset-X Sled + Proton + Turnigy_02-Small.jpg
The 3D printed pieces are components borrowed from the 2 SMT products I own. The carrier (for EggTimer Proton) comes from my Miss Riley AV-Bay kit and the LiPo battery holder is from my 54mm End Mount Tracker Sled. The carrier I will be swapping between rockets as needed but I will need to order a couple of LiPo holders from Steve for this rocket. One will be a dupe of the holder in the pic above and the other will need to be a customized version of the others, sized for a Turnigy 460mAh 2S 25C pack.
 
Yesterday I was walking by my work table when I noticed that the Ripley broke containment and attacked the payload tube! Oh the stench of it all.... :eek:
I was able to neutralize the offending outbreak but the damage is done. Later today I will begin the process of cleaning up the aftermath with some 220 grit.
Pike Payload Patching-Small.jpg

I also began work on the Pike's NC.
Pike NC Mod_01-Small.jpg
The collar was added to match the airframe's increased diameter from the glassing work. The black line marks the beginning of ogive curve. I will sand the collar and flair it as much is possible. Then I will add bondo and sand again to complete the mod.
 
What holds your av-bay together? One threaded rod down the middle?
Correct. As supplied by Madcow, the AV bay uses 2 bulkplates, one of which is epoxied in place. My X-Sled is attached to the other bulkplate. The all-thread rod, eye-nuts & jam-nuts will hold it all together.
 
Don't forget to add a physical switch to the Proton.
 
Hmmm, Anyone else have one of those moments when you realize that at some point in the past, you had changed your plan but then forgot about it?

Thx Buckeye for jogging my memory!! I'll lay out the hole pattern for the 2 all-thread rods today.

Don't forget to add a physical switch to the Proton.

Yeppers.
 
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