Mandalorian Rocket

[Funkworks]

In the 80's, I had a comic where some guy escaped from some desert animal. Here's an article about it. And here's how the mythical escape was portrayed.

 

[hermanjc]

And now for a couple pictures of the (hopefully) final design.

 

[mjennings]

THIS IS THE WAY!
that is awesome.

 

[teepot]

That is great. You do very good work.

 

[lakeroadster]

RockSim model isn't a perfect representation, but with the added fins around the ring fin (modeled as a cylinder in RockSim) I should have "good" margin for stability. The swingtest is a must I think. I will try it both with just the conical ring fin and with added external fins.
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Well done.

 

[BABAR]

And now for a couple pictures of the (hopefully) final design.
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And now for a couple pictures of the (hopefully) final design.
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okay, this probably says more about me, but here goes,

the complete rocket is really cool, but can you please paint the tube some other color or put on some crazy decal or paint scheme that sort of hides that long cylindrical thing that comes out between his legs? It just looks kind of, well, wrong.

 

[lakeroadster]

View attachment 454349
okay, this probably says more about me, but here goes,

the complete rocket is really cool, but can you please paint the tube some other color or put on some crazy decal or paint scheme that sort of hides that long cylindrical thing that comes out between his legs? It just looks kind of, well, wrong.

Some cotton balls for display purposes? (to simulate exhaust plume.....)

 

[Funkworks]

... It just looks kind of, well, wrong.

I see this as a prototype and at this stage, anything goes!

... including the idea of making it big enough to actually put two motors in the jetpack, but to start I have settled with a Mandalorian wearing a jetpack figure with the rocket tube up through the legs and body ....

Also: heads pops up so this one is not a human.

 

[lakeroadster]

RockSim model isn't a perfect representation, but with the added fins around the ring fin (modeled as a cylinder in RockSim) I should have "good" margin for stability. The swingtest is a must I think. I will try it both with just the conical ring fin and with added external fins.
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Did you try shortening the tube to the point that he is standing on the fin can, and then adding ballast at his head?

 

[hermanjc]

View attachment 454349
okay, this probably says more about me, but here goes,

the complete rocket is really cool, but can you please paint the tube some other color or put on some crazy decal or paint scheme that sort of hides that long cylindrical thing that comes out between his legs? It just looks kind of, well, wrong.

Painted the tube gray, and I do plan to add a "THIS IS THE WAY" decal.

Did you try shortening the tube to the point that he is standing on the fin can, and then adding ballast at his head?

Completed a swing test tonight with the longer tube and it was stable. Total weight with a D12 is at 200g. I would have had to add significantly more "helmet weight" if I wanted to shorten the tube.

 

[lakeroadster]

Painted the tube gray, and I do plan to add a "THIS IS THE WAY" decal.


Completed a swing test tonight with the longer tube and it was stable. Total weight with a D12 is at 200g. I would have had to add significantly more "helmet weight" if I wanted to shorten the tube.
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Kick the tires and light the fires..

 

[lakeroadster]

Painted the tube gray, and I do plan to add a "THIS IS THE WAY" decal.


Completed a swing test tonight with the longer tube and it was stable. Total weight with a D12 is at 200g. I would have had to add significantly more "helmet weight" if I wanted to shorten the tube.
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One thing to be mindful of is the drag of the conical ring makes the rocket more stable than the simulation indicates.

My mindsim thinks you could cut the distance from his feet to the ring in half and it would still be a good flyer, without adding any weight. Might be something to try after he already has a number of flights under his belt.

 

[hermanjc]

That oughta do it.
This is the way.

 

[hermanjc]

Maiden flight today. Flew slow and low on a C5-3. Good second flight too, but chute took too long to open and suffered some tube bending above the ring fin. But I'll take this as a win. He can be repaired, next flight will be on a D12.

 

[lakeroadster]

Maiden flight today. Flew slow and low on a C5-3. Good second flight too, but chute took too long to open and suffered some tube bending above the ring fin. But I'll take this as a win. He can be repaired, next flight will be on a D12.
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Congrat's are in order. Scratch builds rock! Awesome recovery crew, too!

 

[BABAR]

Very cool.

what’s the mass of the ring assembly itself?

I was wondering if the next rendition might work with a larger ring (like the diameter of the current edge of the outer fins), ditch the outside fins, use 3 or 4 internal dual purpose fins/spokes, and ditch the angle on the ring and the outer fins. I think such a construct would provide greater stability (good), possible less drag by ditching the angle on the ring (also good), but not sure of effect on mass of the fin can unit compared to current.

 

[aerostadt]

You should sell this idea to Estes.

 

[BABAR]

You should sell this idea to Estes.

Wonder how much Disney would charge for marketing rights?

 

[hermanjc]

Very cool.

what’s the mass of the ring assembly itself?

I was wondering if the next rendition might work with a larger ring (like the diameter of the current edge of the outer fins), ditch the outside fins, use 3 or 4 internal dual purpose fins/spokes, and ditch the angle on the ring and the outer fins. I think such a construct would provide greater stability (good), possible less drag by ditching the angle on the ring (also good), but not sure of effect on mass of the fin can unit compared to current.

Given that I had to cut out a section of body tube just above the existing conical ring, I took you up on your suggestion @BABAR. I have increased the outside diameter to 9 inches, which required me to print the ring in 5 parts (my printer has a max build footprint of 5.5in x 5.5in) Rocksim model shows some margin for stability, and I will swing test with the ring temporarily in place to confirm stability. Mass of the new ring is 60g, while the old one was about 40g, so it did go up some.

 

[BABAR]

Given that I had to cut out a section of body tube just above the existing conical ring, I took you up on your suggestion @BABAR. I have increased the outside diameter to 9 inches, which required me to print the ring in 5 parts (my printer has a max build footprint of 5.5in x 5.5in) Rocksim model shows some margin for stability, and I will swing test with the ring temporarily in place to confirm stability. Mass of the new ring is 60g, while the old one was about 40g, so it did go up some.
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First, still looks great.

second, comparing this to previous version sim, your mass is as you say up 20 grams, but your length is down 6 inches. Looks great either way, just wondering why the change?

Stability dropped below 1 caliber.

At 200 grams currently, you have plenty of room before you max out the lift capacity of your D12.

it may fly fine the way it is now, a stable swing test would certainly encouraging.

potential issues with the shorter tube:

recovery gear space will be at a premium, even tighter than before.
If stability really IS marginal, I suspect you can easily get back to what you had before by restoring 2 or 3 inches of tube length, I don’t think you will need to go back to the full 20” previously. This will both increase your stability and but you a little more room for wadding and chute. It won’t cost much in extra mass, 5-10 grams maybe?


does losing the canted ring for a straight ring cost you or gain you in the stability market? I am guessing the canted ring adds more drag and provides more stability than straight, but i am guessing.

your design gives me an idea for a dual TYPE of recovery for a rocket, eject the ring fin and motor mount tube with a windowed ring for horizontal spin, but keep it connected as one piece with a snap swivel (to allow to spin) with the body of the rocket (in this case the actual BODY of the Mandalorian!) which comes down under a chute. Biggest problem I see is unlikely the snap swivel can keep up with the spin on the ring (it’s gonna whirl like the proverbial Dervish!) and will likely tangle up the cord

 

[hermanjc]

After printing and painting the logo on the bigger straight ring, I really wasn't happy with how big it was. So I decided to do a final swing test before glueing it on, and sure enough, the old conical ring (which I was able to salvage) provided plenty of stability. Looking forward to flying again, this time on a D motor.

 

[Daddyisabar]

Model Mando holding baby Grogu and/or a dark sabre out in front of him. Just enough to hide another motor. Slightly cant the jetpack motors. 3 canted motors hidden but looking OK? Then ditch the fin can. Maybe an exhaust smoke or flame ribbon, or telescoping rings, off the bottom of the boots. The Dark Side would be strong with such an oddroc.

 

[DAllen]

This thread is full of win

 

[hermanjc]

Mando flew yesterday on a D12-3. You can see significant weather cocking into the stiff wind. Low altitude chute ejection but recovered with no damage.

 

[lakeroadster]

Weathercocking.... meh. He knew where he wanted to go... and he made it happen.

Awesome rocket, awesome flight.

 

[John_lennon]

Wow really cool. I don't know how old you are but I've been a star wars fan since I was a kid. I watched them as they were released. So yeah I'm that old. The bounty hunter was such an elusive bad ass. I've also watched both seasons of the mandalorian. So happy they did a bounty hunter spin off. It is the way. You did a really good job designing and printing out the parts. The paint job is wicked you did a great job. Congrats. I've never seen a 3D printer run except from videos. They seem to be an amazing piece of technology, doing even more amazing things as time goes on with their capabilities. I learned to hand draw plans in highschool & went to trade school for CAD. I've done a bunch of different work with it. I wish I stuck with it. Now everything is primarily done in 3D which I've played around with some but had to get out of the industry due to some family related health issues. It's a field I'd love to get back into. When I was working some 20yrs ago you had to be proficient in 1 drawing software now they want you to be well versed in a whole slew of software. I can't believe how far things have come in a relatively little bit of time. Keep up the amazing work.