stealth6
insert witty tagline here
Not quite ready to fly, but ready enough to take a few pics and share them with y'all - Bai Fang.
Yes, the airframe is bamboo.
Yes, those fins are lashed with jute twine*.
No, those are not carbon fibre or fibreglass fins - they're "burlap fibre"! (three layers of good old burlap set with cheapo polyester resin)
Inside is a 38mm phenolic motor mount and kevlar shock cord. Nose cone? - balsa of course! I still need to install a motor retainer and stuff a chute into it, but other than that it's ready for launch. It's quite heavy, but my sims tell me I should get about 900' out of a G76. Of course I could shove up to a J in there, but methinks it would be wise to stick with "low & slow" for this rocket. I will of course test it alone in the desert before attempting a launch near any people. Will post updates.
The name is a white guy's bastardization of "Bang Fai" which some of you might know are bamboo rockets from a REALLY crazy festival in Thailand. Very different than this (more like bottle rockets....BIG bottle rockets), and I'm sure my name means something totally different and probably stupid or obscene in Thai, but I just liked the sound of it.
s6
(*= the lashing is actually ornamental - these fins are in fact TTW and fully secured with epoxy)
Yes, the airframe is bamboo.
Yes, those fins are lashed with jute twine*.
No, those are not carbon fibre or fibreglass fins - they're "burlap fibre"! (three layers of good old burlap set with cheapo polyester resin)
Inside is a 38mm phenolic motor mount and kevlar shock cord. Nose cone? - balsa of course! I still need to install a motor retainer and stuff a chute into it, but other than that it's ready for launch. It's quite heavy, but my sims tell me I should get about 900' out of a G76. Of course I could shove up to a J in there, but methinks it would be wise to stick with "low & slow" for this rocket. I will of course test it alone in the desert before attempting a launch near any people. Will post updates.
The name is a white guy's bastardization of "Bang Fai" which some of you might know are bamboo rockets from a REALLY crazy festival in Thailand. Very different than this (more like bottle rockets....BIG bottle rockets), and I'm sure my name means something totally different and probably stupid or obscene in Thai, but I just liked the sound of it.
s6
(*= the lashing is actually ornamental - these fins are in fact TTW and fully secured with epoxy)
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