Madcow Mini fiberglass series

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Flyfalcons

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A little while back I picked up the Madcow Mini Frenzy and Black Brant II, fiberglass versions. I finally got started on the Frenzy, and I have to say for 65 dollars, this is a very impressive kit. With Black Friday coming up, this kit will be a steal. I optioned mine out with the filament-wound nose cone and upgraded 1/4" Kevlar harnesses. I also purchased the parachute/protector combo, though after weighing the parts I'll be swapping the 18" main out for a 24". The weight of everything in the bag came out to 23.6oz. This includes the bags, but does not account for motor retainer, glue, paint, altimeter, battery, and some miscellaneous items. Not a lightweight rocket but it should turn out to be very strong. I have seen a Mini Screech fly, and it was very impressive. I'm sure the Frenzy will be just as much fun. Here are the kit contents after getting a bath.

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I think you would be better off using the Par18. WIldman on his mini's uses a Par15. It is more than enough chute unless your landing on a road surface.
 
I have it on good authority that it'll come down okay on a 10" drogue landing from 6400ft, the 18" is plenty unless you're coming down on concrete. Mine is 766g without a motor. I've got a quark in the ebay and an eggfinder in the nose, it's definitely a dense little rocket. Flies great on a G64 or G75.

It's a great kit for the money, the electronics are a bit of a tight squeeze, so be prepared for that.

cheers - mark
 
I've got a nice mini screech 1.6 that's had a couple of (thus far motor deploy) flights. The first one came in pretty hard with the default 18" flat sheet chute so I went to a 24" which was quite a bit better. After seeing this thread I played with the Fruity Chutes descent calc for a few minutes and confirmed that for an 18" flat chute with Cd ~= 0.8 and a descent weight of 1.2 lb, the sink rate is 27 fps. That's probably OK on a soft field, but not out here in the hardpan desert. Also I confirmed that a 9" drogue is pretty good, descent rate is about 48 fps for that.
 
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Our flat Par18 has a CD of 1.09 for a 1 pound rocket we show 20fps. Like you said landing in soft fields it works out well.
 
My guess on recovery weight with an empty motor case is somewhere in the 29oz range. Getting rather close to 2lbs. Flying it single motor deploy with a Chute Release may help keep the weight down on this one.
 
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Even after upgrading to the 1/4 Kevlar harnesses, the kit still included the original setup with two sets of Kevlar and Nylon cords. I decided to mount one of the original Kevlar cords to the motor tube, and made an overhand loop to attach it to the upgraded Kevlar harness. The forward centering ring already has a notch cut out for the harness to pass through; I just used some sandpaper to break the edges to prevent a stress point on the cord. The instructions show wrapping the cord around a couple times and tacking with epoxy, but I used a slip knot to ensure the cord won't go anywhere.

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I was originally going to put the rear fins on first, then add the forward fins . However, because the rear fin tab touches the forward fin, I didn't want any issues with epoxy hardening and preventing proper placement of the forward fins. So the forward and aft fins were epoxied in at the same time. A small clamp worked to keep the fins aligned with each other. The result is dead sexy. Fillets will be added later. The kit comes with 1/4" launch lugs, which I am replacing with rail buttons. I drilled the holes for the rail buttons and the vent before adding the fins. The aft rail button hole was drilled into the centering ring to give the rail button screw more fiberglass to grip onto.

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The avbay is small but should do the job. The bulkplates are one-piece stepped fiberglass. The kit comes with the required eyebolts, allthread, nuts and washers, but no actual sled. Should be easy enough to fabricate one out of plywood. The eyebolts were trimmed down to help provide more space in an already cramped avbay.

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Ryan,

I recently purchased the mini DX3 from MadCow, so I'm watching this thread closely and appreciate you taking the time to share what you're doing.

Have you given much thought to what motor(s) you plan to fly in this when it's done? I'd love to load mine up with a 29/360 case but am afraid that it might be too tight. Any thoughts?
 
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Ryan,
Have you given much thought to what motor(s) you plan to fly in this when it's done? I'd love to load mine up with a 29/360 case but am afraid that it might be too tight. Any thoughts?

I stuffed an I205 DMS into mine and it fit, but it was a tight fit. If you plan on going to 29/360, maybe shift the ring on the AV bay a bit further aft instead of placing it in the center. Also keep in mind it disappears on a motor that big, so find room for a tracker in the somewhere in the rocket - I put an eggfinder in the nose.

cheers - mark
 
I was thinking about shifting the switch ring aft and maybe trimming the coupler if possible to avoid using all of the payload bay with coupler/AV. I already have the eggfinder on order. Did you make any other modifications to fit in the 360 casing?
 
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Just about to pull the tape from the last set of fillets. I've had success with Bob Smith 30-minute epoxy, so that's what I'm using here.

So far the motors I'm planning are F-H using my 40-120 and 180 cases. I might add a 240 case to my arsenal some time as well. I have an Eggfinder I need to build, and if I don't destroy it in the process then I might think about going bigger. An I205 will send this well over a mile.

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I was thinking about shifting the switch ring aft and maybe trimming the coupler if possible to avoid using all of the payload bay with coupler/AV. I already have the eggfinder on order. Did you make any other modifications to fit in the 360 casing?

My I205 was a DMS, I haven't tried a 360 casing in it, but openrocket shows the 360 as being almost 3cm longer than the DMS I205. I didn't make any mods to fit the I205, but it was a tight squeeze to get the stock drogue, chute protector & kevlar stuffed in there. If you want to fit the 360, I'd definitely push the switch ring as far back as possible.

Here's a pic of mine with the I205 :

frenzy-i200.jpg

cheers - mark
 
Wow, that looks like your Frenzy was really hauling ass on that motor!
 
Picked up one of these 1.6" FG Mini Frenzy DD's on todays Black Friday sale.

I'm thinking drag race? I didn't get any performance FG minis today but I couldn't resist the cardboard Mini Pike. The prices on the FG minis are incredible.
 
I thought about getting one of the 1.6" FG Minis, but my cardboard mini DX3 with the Chute Release does the job just fine for me right now. That's a a really small av bay for my fat fingers to build and prep. But, you never know, I may change my mind sooner or later. Lol
 
I'm thinking drag race? I didn't get any performance FG minis today but I couldn't resist the cardboard Mini Pike. The prices on the FG minis are incredible.

Drag race is doable, 29/40-120 G's? I will be building this one and a tracker for sure, someday I will stuff in I200W or a H268, and without a tracker its gone. I did look at the other perf minis and almost bought a DX3 or Tomach, but instead picked up a Cowabunga.
 
G64 it is, then. Unless Aerotech's hinted-at red load becomes available. I had to leave on a trip this morning but I am toying with ideas on how to make the nose cone bulkplate removable to fit a tracker, while leaving enough room to actually get the tracker in there.
 
G64 it is, then. Unless Aerotech's hinted-at red load becomes available. I had to leave on a trip this morning but I am toying with ideas on how to make the nose cone bulkplate removable to fit a tracker, while leaving enough room to actually get the tracker in there.

Please keep us informed about your nose cone tracker plans. I expect my kit on Monday and plan the same kind of nose cone tracker mount. It'd be nice to compare notes (or in reality steal the ideas of a more experienced rocketeer).
 
Please keep us informed about your nose cone tracker plans. I expect my kit on Monday and plan the same kind of nose cone tracker mount. It'd be nice to compare notes (or in reality steal the ideas of a more experienced rocketeer).

Actually it should be an easy conversion, I definitely will document how I do it in a build thread.

As for the motor selections, G64W it is unless we get a new red load (hint, hint ATGM/AT) also I am not opposed to a green. Given my clubs rules on drag races it would need to be time to altitude vs a side by side drag race (part of our enhanced safety measures, no side by side drag races of motors with more than 10ns max thrust), I have a JL3 that could be used to track the time to altitude as the DD alt will be a Eggtimer Quark.
 
I got the FWFG. The NC length is accurate in the file but I just guessed at the shoulder length and thickness of the tubes. I didn't weigh all the individual parts like I did with the BBIII but the Frenzy sim file came out very close to the weight of all the parts in the bag. I'll make an adjustment to the file once I get my completed weight and center of gravity on my build. The fins were traced and plotted, so they are very accurate.
 
I got the FWFG. The NC length is accurate in the file but I just guessed at the shoulder length and thickness of the tubes. I didn't weigh all the individual parts like I did with the BBIII but the Frenzy sim file came out very close to the weight of all the parts in the bag. I'll make an adjustment to the file once I get my completed weight and center of gravity on my build. The fins were traced and plotted, so they are very accurate.

Did it use a separate coupler for the NC shoulder?
 
Excellent, that will be an easy conversion for my Eggfinder bay for the day when I put that I200W in it. :headbang:

I lost the nose cone from my 1.6" frenzy at MWP a couple of weeks ago and picked up a new one in the Madcow sale to replace it. I had it setup with a eggfinder mounted on the nosecone bulkhead which was bolted to the coupler with a custom machined ring that was attached to the coupler. Unfortunately the custom ring separated from the coupler and the nosecone and coupler were lost on descent. I don't think the epoxy on the ring had a good enough hold to the coupler. It survived a half dozen flights but I was always leery of that setup.

My new plan is to cut maybe 1.5" from the body tube and maybe 1/2" off the coupler. I'll use that small section of coupler to epoxy the 1.5" of body tube to the nosecone. Next, I'll epoxy the nosecone bulkhead to the remaining coupler and mount the eggfinder to it.

For flying, I'll use removable rivets to hold the eggfinder/coupler to the nosecone and shear pins as usual to attach the nose to the main body tube.

That's my plan anyways, I'll see how it works out when I get the parts in hand.

Last thing, in order to fit the eggfinder antenna in the nose I had to drill out the tip of the nose cone with a long drill bit.

And yeah, the eggfinder was 100% needed for when I flew it on an H115 and I200, I never saw it come down either time.

cheers - mark
 
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