Mini Nuke

[Lister]

Hi, I'm Luke. I have been a rocket addict for one year now, no prospect of recovery :headbang:.

This build is a prototype thats already finished but is being updated to the newer design at the moment, has already flown a couple of times but will put it up at next weekends TRAAU launch if the weather gods come to the party. it takes 29mm and 38mm motors from G-J and fits a 38mm 6G motor but only just.

So first up i turned a mandrel out of wood that was 4.5" in diameter at the widest point, then gave the mandrel a few coats of epoxy and then sanded it smooth on the lathe again. this photo shows the mandrel before it was epoxied.


Next I made a straight section with an ID of 4.5" that i rolled on some mylar wrapped 4.5" pvc with an internal wooden cylinder glued inside to allow it to be turned on the lathe. this is what i do with alot of round components to get a great finish on the finished product.. this rocket was a prototype so its not gel coated like the others have been. I made all the parts with 5 layers of 287gsm (sorry for the metric and imperial... i'm from Australia so I'm aloud to use both ) and west systems 105 with 206 hardener. then once cured were sanded on the lathe until uniform and given another coat of epoxy with which is also sanded smooth on the lathe.


This is the Mini Nuke with most of the parts just put together to show what it will sort of look like followed by all the parts laid out for a few of the different coloured mini nukes.


the fins test fitted to the airframe, and then the fins when they were being tacked to the 6" fin band, then they were filleted and finally installed into the base of the airframe and onto the mmt, you can see an off cut of 38mm MMT that is just tacked with CA to support the fins while the fillets dry.

And here is the MMT and the rocket fully assembled to test fit the parts.


a42" Nuke Chute for made from ripstop nylon with 150lb braided kevlar shroud lines. also has a 1000lb braided kevlar shock cord and Y harness.


this is it with all assembled with a couple of coats of a high build spray putty (like a body filler but in a pressure pack, also drys very fast.), and some paint.

 

[Lister]

couldnt fit these in the first post, here it is with the decals and also with Slim Pickens on top :headbang:

 

[watermelonman]

Wow!

I thought this was going to be the LOC kit I have sitting in the corner. Instead, much cooler, and extremely well done!

 

[soopirV]

couldnt fit these in the first post, here it is with the decals and also with Slim Pickens on top :headbang:
View attachment 296320View attachment 296321

Nice job, that's a great build! Would love to see some flight videos; I can't quite tell from your photos, is it rear-eject? That would be the icing on the cake so it came in nose-down...

 

[Lister]

Thanks mate. Definitely not a LOC kit :horse: no not rear eject.. yet.
Here are some shots of the Mini Nuke in flight on a cti H120RL and a photo of its smaller brother the Micro Nuke which is a 3" airframe and 29mm MMT

 

[Daddyisabar]

couldnt fit these in the first post, here it is with the decals and also with Slim Pickens on top :headbang:
View attachment 296320View attachment 296321

Is it going to fly with Slim mounted on top?

View attachment 296353

If so then HEEEEEE-HAW!

 

[Lister]

I have been toying with the idea for a couple of months, Seeing as its under going repairs and modifications I might mount him on the side :grin:

 

[KenECoyote]

This is awesome! I might make a copy of that! :clap:

Have you considered selling it as a kit?

 

[RocketFeller]

I love the Mini Nuke! Luke does some amazing builds 100% from scratch.

On a side note, he creates his rockets in a tin shed in The Middle of Nowhere, AUS. I am pretty sure he stepped straight out of The Road Warrior...

 

[TRFfan]

Hi, I'm Luke. I have been a rocket addict for one year now, no prospect of recovery :headbang:.

This build is a prototype thats already finished but is being updated to the newer design at the moment, has already flown a couple of times but will put it up at next weekends TRAAU launch if the weather gods come to the party. it takes 29mm and 38mm motors from G-J and fits a 38mm 6G motor but only just.

So first up i turned a mandrel out of wood that was 4.5" in diameter at the widest point, then gave the mandrel a few coats of epoxy and then sanded it smooth on the lathe again. this photo shows the mandrel before it was epoxied.
View attachment 296311

Next I made a straight section with an ID of 4.5" that i rolled on some mylar wrapped 4.5" pvc with an internal wooden cylinder glued inside to allow it to be turned on the lathe. this is what i do with alot of round components to get a great finish on the finished product.. this rocket was a prototype so its not gel coated like the others have been. I made all the parts with 5 layers of 287gsm (sorry for the metric and imperial... i'm from Australia so I'm aloud to use both ) and west systems 105 with 206 hardener. then once cured were sanded on the lathe until uniform and given another coat of epoxy with which is also sanded smooth on the lathe.
View attachment 296309

This is the Mini Nuke with most of the parts just put together to show what it will sort of look like followed by all the parts laid out for a few of the different coloured mini nukes.
View attachment 296308View attachment 296302

the fins test fitted to the airframe, and then the fins when they were being tacked to the 6" fin band, then they were filleted and finally installed into the base of the airframe and onto the mmt, you can see an off cut of 38mm MMT that is just tacked with CA to support the fins while the fillets dry.
View attachment 296306View attachment 296305
And here is the MMT and the rocket fully assembled to test fit the parts.
View attachment 296310View attachment 296307

a42" Nuke Chute for made from ripstop nylon with 150lb braided kevlar shroud lines. also has a 1000lb braided kevlar shock cord and Y harness.
View attachment 296303

this is it with all assembled with a couple of coats of a high build spray putty (like a body filler but in a pressure pack, also drys very fast.), and some paint.
View attachment 296304

Beautiful! :drool:

 

[TRFfan]

Thanks mate. Definitely not a LOC kit :horse: no not rear eject.. yet.
Here are some shots of the Mini Nuke in flight on a cti H120RL and a photo of its smaller brother the Micro Nuke which is a 3" airframe and 29mm MMT
View attachment 296331View attachment 296329View attachment 296330

Wow that looks nice....i really like the picture of it flying. (as a side note, the motor its flying kinda looks like a white thunder of white rather than a RL)

 

[Lister]

Ken, I have already sold some of the mini and micro nuke rockets and am in doing another run of them at the moment so if you want one send me a PM :cyclops:

Thanks Dan/RocketFeller (love the screen name), we are all a little backwards down under.. I actually have a mate called Mad Max, im quite sane compared to him though :surprised:

TRFfan I was thinking the same when going through the flight pics, but it was a H120RL.. like the K650PI that was alpha male pink

 

[TRFfan]

Ken, I have already sold some of the mini and micro nuke rockets and am in doing another run of them at the moment so if you want one send me a PM :cyclops:

Thanks Dan/RocketFeller (love the screen name), we are all a little backwards down under.. I actually have a mate called Mad Max, im quite sane compared to him though :surprised:

TRFfan I was thinking the same when going through the flight pics, but it was a H120RL.. like the K650PI that was alpha male pink

Yeah, now that i look a bit closer they seem to be a little bit reddish around the sides.

 

[Lister]

I will be putting the Mini Nuke up on an I motor on the weekend and the Micro Nuke will be going up on a H255WT so hopefully someone will get some good photos and video of the flights.

here is a photo of the Micro Nuke with the CTI 29mm 4G H255WT in a 4G case and a 29mm 6G case next to it for comparison, the 6G case will just fit so I should be able to get some decent altitude out of this little guy.


And this is the inside the of the Micro Nuke, the MMT sits just under the nose cone, there is some 3" coupler epoxied into the 3" airframe for head end eject and the nose cone has a bolt in the centre with some 1000lb braided kevlar tied to the bolt and the washer and wing nut tightened to clamp the kevlar in place. This way the motor is able to go right to the tip while the chute and shock cord fit in the cavity around the MMT.

 

[Lister]

Had a two day TRAAU Launch the weekend just gone, managed to get a couple of flights in with the micro nuke. The first flight was a CTI H255WT (29mm 4G motor) that sent it screaming off the pad, always surprised at how much balls these little buggers have on bigger motors.

The second flight was with a CTI H53MY, this was much slower but still went very well. Going to add 1oz of nose weight to increase stability a little for these Micro Nukes. The H53MY is a 29mm 5G long burning motor in a 6G case with spacer, it only just fit in the rocket and the end of the case was about an inch below the dome of the nose cone. So the future models will be 2" longer to allow for 29mm 6GXL motors so it can be used with baby I motors.

I might try it on a H410VM once I make an av bay for it (have to use altimeter/timer for deployment for VM motors at the moment.

 

[Lister]

I am thinking of adding 4 x 24mm pods to the inside of the fin band to take 4 Aerotech 24/40 motors but I havent had much experience with aerotech reloads or clustering but I want to do the same on the Mega Nuke (10" diamter airframe) so could anyone suggest what motors would best suit 4 pods on something small like this? Would a combo like 2x F12 and 2x F35 along or just 4 x one type of motorwith a central 29/360 I204 in the existing MMT which is about the largest motor I can fit in this.

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated :caffeine: :wave:

 

[KenECoyote]

Wow! Great flights and pics! :clap:

Sorry, can't help you with the clustering question.

 

[RocketFeller]

I am thinking of adding 4 x 24mm pods to the inside of the fin band to take 4 Aerotech 24/40 motors but I havent had much experience with aerotech reloads or clustering but I want to do the same on the Mega Nuke (10" diamter airframe) so could anyone suggest what motors would best suit 4 pods on something small like this? Would a combo like 2x F12 and 2x F35 along or just 4 x one type of motorwith a central 29/360 I204 in the existing MMT which is about the largest motor I can fit in this.

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated :caffeine: :wave:

I've never done a high-power cluster, but I know from a friend's experience that ignition timing is really important. Mixing different propellant formulas can be an issue if one lights quicker than the other. It is probably best to use the same propellant in all motors and it should be a propellant that lights quickly, slow-to-ignite formulas might result in only some of the motors lighting before liftoff.

 

[Lister]

Thanks, the first flight on the H255WT was a fast one.. Hope to borrow an altimeter two to see what speeds im getting.. and what speed it gets to with an I204 and with another H255WT.

Would be very cool having a central Blue motor with some sparky or alternating red and blue motors in the pods on the 10" Mega Nuke.. would also be cool to have to outboard motors canted 1°-2° to give it some spin.

 

[Lister]

I've never done a high-power cluster, but I know from a friend's experience that ignition timing is really important. Mixing different propellant formulas can be an issue if one lights quicker than the other. It is probably best to use the same propellant in all motors and it should be a propellant that lights quickly, slow-to-ignite formulas might result in only some of the motors lighting before liftoff.

Might be an idea to do some testing of motor ignition times.. I could use all CTI motors which ignite very reliably. What propellant type would you suggest using for the outboard motors in conjunction with the I204?

 

[RocketFeller]

If all of them will start on the pad maybe H87, which also uses Imax propellant. If you are going to airstart you could probably use a different propellant (as long as the outboards are all the same) from the main motor, since they won't need to ignite in the same time-frame.

I have a friend (Salvage-1 on the forum, the crazy British dude in person) who launched a cluster with slow-to-start outboards (I believe they were BlackJack) and 2/4 lit. On the same side...

 

[wighty44]

Luke. With a 1/4" launch rod and H motors do you see any rod whip?

 

[Lister]

Maybe I would be better to stick to cti to get a more reliable ignition of all the motors. The igniters I use are low current so all 5 can be run off one channel. I really want to see how much speed I can get out of it so I'll run some sims and see what works best.
What rocket was that cluster in?
Thanks Dan.

Wighity44, despite my initial concerns about this very issue I dont see any rod whip with it or its big brother the mini nuke which takes upto 38mm 6GXL motors. Could always add another rod or two to a custom pad if its a concern but I havent seen any rod whip on any of the launches so I cant see the need for extra or bigger rods. One thing I do have is a 1/4" music wire rod which is far stiffer than regular steel rod, but the two H launches on the weekend were done on a lightweight 1/4" rod with no problem

 

[RocketFeller]

I believe it was a King Kraken. It doesn't come as a cluster in stock configuration.

 

[vance2loud]

If you are adding outboard motors to this, you want to angle them inwards towards the centre of gravity.
I'd try with F12 motors first, have you got a 24/40 case? You might want to experiment with different reloads and igniters to see how the hobbyline motors go.
CTI are known to start better but if you are using your igniters I think the hobbyline will be fine and cost a lot less.
If you need more 24/40 cases, I can bring a few with me to the next launch.

 

[Lister]

Thanks Vance, is the angle on the pods to distribute the thrust more evenly to the fin band and avoid it cartwheeling? Spoil all my fun :horse:
I dont have any 24/40 cases yet. Figure I'll work out if im using hobbyline or CTI for these before I order them, I might take you up on that. Im not sure the igniters I have would fit in an aerotech nozzle, I might have to have a look at the different nozzles for the different motors and use that as a deciding factor in motor selection.. Will be alot easier on the Mega Nuke :flyingpig:

 

[vance2loud]

I'm not sure now exactly how/where they should be angled, but it reduces the chance of a cartwheel if they don't all ignite. I will try to measure a few 24/40 nozzles tonight to give you an idea of sizes.

 

[Lister]

If I can use my Cheap-O igniters on all the motors from the one channel it should make get them all going at the same time. If you can try one of the J-Tek E-matches in the 24/40 nozzle that would tell me if my igniters will fit. Do the nozzle throat sizes vary much on different 24/40 F motors?

I was also looking at the Aerotech E22 single use motors for the pods.. will cost a bit more but saves me buying 4 x 24/40 cases. But my igniters dont fit in the E22 nozzles so probably not the ideal option.

 

[vance2loud]

I found this on rocket dungeon
D9 - 2.2mm - 0.086"
E11 - 2.2mm - 0.086"
E18 - 2.6mm - 0.104"
E28 - 3.6mm - 0.141"
F12 - 2.2mm - 0.086"
F39 - 3.2mm - 0.125"

Here's an apogee video with a bit of info on angling cluster motor mounts https://www.apogeerockets.com/Advanced_Construction_Videos/Rocketry_Video_22

and here's the one about folding streamers that I mentioned to you https://www.apogeerockets.com/Advanced_Construction_Videos/Rocketry_Video_35

I wouldn't think your igniters would be larger than a copperhead but when I get the chance I will test a few.

 

[Lister]

Thanks mate, should be a pretty cool flight along with the mini nuke upgraded to the current design it should make for a couple of impressive flights along with my L2 Athena flight and MD24 & MD38 flights.. maybe a MD38 drag with Nat from a couple of 38mm RAG Towers :w:

I'll put the callipers on one of the igniters and see what width it is, might not fit the F12 @ 2.2mm