Modified Estes vapor scratch build!

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Jtgreig

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This is my first mid power scratch build. It will primarily fly on E and small F motors. My first attempt at printing waterslides. Any advice on that would be welcome lol.
 

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I just bought one of these. The design is begging for mods! The two main ones I'm going to make begin with a 14" engine mount/stuffer tube. It ends a couple of inches below the coupler. Next is the coupler; perfect place to put a 3D baffle. I'll make one using 1/8" ply. I'm also adding a length of kevlar shock cord. Haven't decided yet where to attach it. I may build the baffle with a central "spine" and attach it there. The other major mod is the use of TTW 1/8" ply fins, I've made them about 10" larger.

I plan on flying with RMS and composite SU motors. I wanted to build the rocket a little more robustly to handle the extra performance. Intrestingly, the larger fins reduce (simmed) altitudes by about 10%. That's fine, I'm not going for orbit, here (one reason I stuck with the 24mm motor mount). With higher powered motors, I'll probably use a tracker. For stuff that simms less than 1000 feet, probably won't need it. The extra weight of the tracker is going to reduce altitude (again, not a bad thing). I may also use a nylon chute with a JLCR, esp. with higher flights. The body tube is plenty big enough.
 
I just bought one of these. The design is begging for mods! The two main ones I'm going to make begin with a 14" engine mount/stuffer tube. It ends a couple of inches below the coupler. Next is the coupler; perfect place to put a 3D baffle. I'll make one using 1/8" ply. I'm also adding a length of kevlar shock cord. Haven't decided yet where to attach it. I may build the baffle with a central "spine" and attach it there. The other major mod is the use of TTW 1/8" ply fins, I've made them about 10" larger.

I plan on flying with RMS and composite SU motors. I wanted to build the rocket a little more robustly to handle the extra performance. Intrestingly, the larger fins reduce (simmed) altitudes by about 10%. That's fine, I'm not going for orbit, here (one reason I stuck with the 24mm motor mount). With higher powered motors, I'll probably use a tracker. For stuff that simms less than 1000 feet, probably won't need it. The extra weight of the tracker is going to reduce altitude (again, not a bad thing). I may also use a nylon chute with a JLCR, esp. with higher flights. The body tube is plenty big enough.
Not trying to talk you out of modding a Vapor but starting with a Star Orbiter could be worth the small increase in price - $15 vs $18 ( AC Supply discounted price) - just getting the 29mm threaded retainer versus the 24mm retainer and the pre-slotted booster tube makes that $3 increase fairly nominal.
 
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