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On the good side, assuming the balls are sealed, if you get a water landing it will float.
Well, that is exactly how I made my design. I used a combination of nose cones, transitions and body tubes.*Usually*, most radially symmetric airframes that would be turnable on a lathe can be constructed out of a combination of body tubes, paper shrouds, and nose cones. Paper tubes (talking LPR here) are usually the core because they are very strong, light, and can contain ejection charges. Almost anything can be wrapped around the core tube to build up a different shape.
Other examples than Lake's Tintin rocket:
- @mbeels 's BOOM XB-1, which uses balsa planking
- @Ted Cochran 's Steamship Barbicane, which uses... well, just go look.
- Also go search for any build by @hornet driver.
Again, if you see anything specific that you have a question about, just ask.
LOL. OK, it's got a cool factor, but seriously the first thing I did upon seeing this is laugh.
Still need the expanded front section in my opinion. Four might work, if they’re spaced in pairs instead of evenly. Think an x-wing.
Yes. The more you do in the aft section the more plane the front looks. The expanded section is a good start up there.Hmm, expanded front section with all that other crap as well? I'll have to see how to work that in.
Cores should be in or along the core of the ship.
Mission accomplished!LOL. OK, it's got a cool factor, but seriously the first thing I did upon seeing this is laugh.
To quote myself:Also, the balls out on the fins, in my opinion, detract from the idea of them as plasma cores. Cores should be in or along the core of the ship.
Yeah, right now it's just "goofing around with plasma balls"
Also, the balls out on the fins, in my opinion, detract from the idea of them as plasma cores. Cores should be in or along the core of the ship.
I've one design (well, copied from some artwork I saw) based on nose cones:Well, that is exactly how I made my design. I used a combination of nose cones, transitions and body tubes.
In an actual build, I would be greatly limited by what is available in the real world, though with more research and improved building skill, who knows.
OK, whatever you call them, they're power generating modules that use plasma, and they're positioned far from the central part of the ship, on fins with very limited space for conduits that will bring plasma or cold gas out and and plasma, electricity, or whatever back in. The only reasons I can think of to go to that much trouble are 1) cooling (radiative to space which) is usually the last thing you's want for running the plasma core-of-a-power-system (because plasma needs to be hot to be plasma) or 2) reduction of the necessary radiation shielding on the hull (inverse square), which could be accomplished more easily by just keeping all the people up at the forward end of the skip. So plasma thingies on the fins just don't make sense, no matter what you call them.Ok, they're not plasma cores. They're Takomak anti-matter plasma containment energy wells with a central ion chamber core.
3. It made think of an office chair. But I still like it.Looking at it from the rear makes me think of a dried lotus pod:
Correct! I think it fills in the front a bit better.I'm definitely partial to that reddish-orange color. I had to go back and remind myself of where this left off, and what your tweak was. Looks like you carried the triangle shape over from the nose cone onto the body tube. (post #859)
1. I've searched and never found a good reason for puting a launch lug at the CG, at the CP, or any other particular spot. The two inch lug down in the fin can is probably all you need.BTW I continue to struggle with launch lug location for this one, since there's not good mounting point anywhere near CG.
One thought I had was to put a standard 2" job in one of the main fin roots, and put a wire loop in between the two front transitions. That would stabilize it just long enough to get moving, but that front lug would be off the rod pretty quickly and then the rear lug would take over. Does that sound workable? I do *not* want any sort of visible lug uglying up the central core of the rocket.
What readily-available household wire would work as a lug? Would a large paper clip be suitably durable? I tend to think it would, even though it would likely get bent-up if it took a landing impact, although that's not a location where it typically would.
How about placing the lug directly in the dorsal fin/body tube joint, running the length of the fin? Not in the angle, but with the lug dead center between the fin and the tube. Probably could hide it with standard fillets, if not, small 1/16 balsa long wood panels on each side to hide the lug. Especially with the wood, this would be stronger than the normal fin joint, and just about completely hide the lug from site, while making it easily accessible. Yeah, it’s a bit remote from CG and CP, but given the long size unlikely to bind and since it is so far in the tail it stays on the rod longer, so helps stability a bit (makes EFFECTIVE rod length longer than a more standard placed lug,)BTW I continue to struggle with launch lug location for this one, since there's not good mounting point anywhere near CG.
One thought I had was to put a standard 2" job in one of the main fin roots, and put a wire loop in between the two front transitions. That would stabilize it just long enough to get moving, but that front lug would be off the rod pretty quickly and then the rear lug would take over. Does that sound workable? I do *not* want any sort of visible lug uglying up the central core of the rocket.
What readily-available household wire would work as a lug? Would a large paper clip be suitably durable? I tend to think it would, even though it would likely get bent-up if it took a landing impact, although that's not a location where it typically would.
We've had many discussions about this and I haven't seen a conclusive answer, only various people's intuition.1. I've searched and never found a good reason for puting a launch lug at the CG, at the CP, or any other particular spot. The two inch lug down in the fin can is probably all you need.
Anything you see substantial arguments about in rocketry doesn't really matter -- if it mattered nobody would be taking the wrong side (when was the last time you saw someone arguing CP should be ahead of CG?). The farther your lugs are behind CP and CG the more torque you've got on the lug, but unless you've got a pretty extreme rocket it won't make any difference.
If you want to mount the wire loop, here's what I did on Office Supplies; it worked quite well.
One practical matter where it makes a difference is individual versus club launches. The reason is related to the time spent on the pad waiting for “your turn” at club launches. My first experience with this was NSL 2019. It was (IMO) extremely well run, it was also the first “big” event I attended. Given location it logically catered to high power launches, but they did their best to humor us low power people with three banks of low power pads. There were still times when things got busy that 30 minute or more the rocket would spend on the pad. And the winds got bad, most the time acceptable but still high, at times launches were appropriately held or cancelled until winds died down.Anything you see substantial arguments about in rocketry doesn't really matter -- if it mattered nobody would be taking the wrong side (when was the last time you saw someone arguing CP should be ahead of CG?). The farther your lugs are behind CP and CG the more torque you've got on the lug, but unless you've got a pretty extreme rocket it won't make any difference.
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