I was reluctant to post another 'Red Max' thread, as it seems like there are plenty of others.
The kit, as delivered, comes with some large, but thin G10 fins that feel pretty flimsy considering the size. Robert of AMW told me about the nomex honeycomb skins, and I decided to give it a go. Glad I did.
The following is a photo documentation of the process I came up with for applying the skins. I have never used this material before, and do not claim to know much about it. I did not easily find much information about this material, or in using it, especially for rocket fins, so I decided to share.
These skins add a huge amount of rigidity to the fins, moving well away from the feeling of the Red Max kit being mostly a novelty rocket.
There are a lot of photos, so I will initially just post them, and come in to further edit this thread when I have more time, detailing some of the steps.
Cheers!
This is what the honeycomb material looks like as delivered. It is 0.075" thick, including a fiberglass 'skin' that is 0.008" thick. The bonding end of the honeycomb structure has a small 'flat' at the top of each cell to maximize gluing surface.
Sanding the G10 fins. One of the cool things about pneumatic sanders, is the ability to feather the speed down to almost stopped, like maybe 50 opm's? or less? Total control.
The kit, as delivered, comes with some large, but thin G10 fins that feel pretty flimsy considering the size. Robert of AMW told me about the nomex honeycomb skins, and I decided to give it a go. Glad I did.
The following is a photo documentation of the process I came up with for applying the skins. I have never used this material before, and do not claim to know much about it. I did not easily find much information about this material, or in using it, especially for rocket fins, so I decided to share.
These skins add a huge amount of rigidity to the fins, moving well away from the feeling of the Red Max kit being mostly a novelty rocket.
There are a lot of photos, so I will initially just post them, and come in to further edit this thread when I have more time, detailing some of the steps.
Cheers!
This is what the honeycomb material looks like as delivered. It is 0.075" thick, including a fiberglass 'skin' that is 0.008" thick. The bonding end of the honeycomb structure has a small 'flat' at the top of each cell to maximize gluing surface.
Sanding the G10 fins. One of the cool things about pneumatic sanders, is the ability to feather the speed down to almost stopped, like maybe 50 opm's? or less? Total control.