PB9 (2010): ½ Scale Scud/Hussein Build

[lilminijpc]

Announcing: The Official Build thread for 1/2 Scale Scud/Hussein by the Arizona Rocketry Team (https://www.arizonarocketryteam.net) I'll be updating with pictures and captions as the build goes along for the team.

This will be a ½ scale Scud/Hussein. The rocket is 16 inches in diameter, 20 ft tall. It is intended to fly at Plaster Blaster 2010, with a coordinated flight with the ½ scale Patriots (debuted at PB8/2009). The Scud is equipped with a 98mm central motor mount and four 54mm motor mounts. ART is planning on a maximum altitude of about 6,000ft AGL.

Now for some teasers.
More pictures to come later from this past weekend's build! Enjoy!
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1) Jay doing some measuring for the nose cone rig
2) Roy & Jay cutting out the parts for the rig
3) Roy working his Master of Alchemy magic. Yup, he's duel wielding the epoxy bottles...
4 & 5) Ken & Kris work on gluing the centering rings/bulkheads/etc.

 

[Pantherjon]

That's gonna be something spectacular!:eyepop:

 

[lilminijpc]

Roy, Jay, & Guy, the cake decorators.

1) drilling centering node to position the foam
2) layering the cake
3) assembling the cutter
4) let the sculpting begin!
5) all done for now.

 

[lilminijpc]

That's gonna be something spectacular!:eyepop:

@ jon, we hope so too!

 

[lilminijpc]

More build pictures:

1) Measuring out the holes for the centering rings
2 & 3) Assembling the couplers
4) Drilling the centering rings (broke a drill bit)
5) Bulkhead off centered? Send in the little-one to peel off the epoxy and re-glue

Rest of the album: here.

 

[SMR]

Wow! Great start, guys. We are looking forward to following your build. It's gonna be AWE... (wait for it)... SOME!

 

[OverLord]

Very cool! Can't wait to see more! Very interested in how you guys will do the nose cone....

Mike

 

[cjl]

This looks awesome. I wish I could come see it launch.

 

[KenSparks]

Photos from one of our earlier photo sessions, making the centering rings. Roy and Jay decided to stress-test the fin assembly. In the completed rocket this assembly will absorb over 800 pounds of thrust.

 

[PunkRocketScience]

So Joyce... When are you going to come and shoot pics of the Proton builds? Hehe...

Looking good gang! I'm glad you decided to go for it! Can't wait to see it at PB.

 

[lilminijpc]

So Joyce... When are you going to come and shoot pics of the Proton builds? Hehe...

Looking good gang! I'm glad you decided to go for it! Can't wait to see it at PB.

lol... i thought you were the designated photo guy for your PRS builds...? or if you guys can figure out a way to get me out there for one of your build weekends... tehe...

 

[PunkRocketScience]

lol... i thought you were the designated photo guy for your PRS builds...? or if you guys can figure out a way to get me out there for one of your build weekends... tehe...

I could get a lot more work done if I didn't have to have a camera in my hands at the builds.... And San Diego is a LOT cooler right now than Phoenix is!

 

[lilminijpc]

we were rained out for one of our previous build sessions...yes, it Does RAIN in AZ!!! :y:

we elected to put off work on the nosecone till next time, and work on the fin can/booster section. After measuring, marking, and double-checking we got to work cutting the fin slots in the booster section.

1 & 2) roy suddenly had a new pond in the yard...(rain photos courtesy of Roy)
3) fin can & other scud pieces nice & dry inside
4 & 5) ken & kris measuring & marking the fin slots

 

[lilminijpc]

After bending a wood-carving cutter and wearing out 2 abrasive discs Ken managed to effect a total melt-down of his Dremel tool with less than a linear foot of cutting left. Roy came to the rescue with his utility knife and finished the fin slots.

1) checking alignment
2) ken reeking havoc on his Dremel tool
3 & 4) roy to the rescue
5) mighty dusty in there...

 

[lilminijpc]

With the fin slots finished we next began the assembly of the fins & centering rings using some flexible epoxy Ken found.

1) finishing off the fin slots by removing the tape
2) ken test fitting the slots
3) roy working his alchemy magic
4 & 5) kris & ken applying the epoxy & gluing the fins

 

[lilminijpc]

Assembly of the fins & centering rings.

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That's all folks! Until next time!
Rest of the Build Set from this session: here.

 

[lilminijpc]

1) jay & kris adding stabiling cross beam for nosecone rig
2) jay securing rest of the rig
3) roy (outfitted with his hardhat & mask) mr. drill rig, jay mr. sander, kris mr. stabilizer
4) let it snow let it snow!
5) centering dowel came loose

 

[lilminijpc]

1 & 2) roy & jay re-securing dowel with expandable foam
3) jay hand sanding off rough parts
4) jay inspecting the masterpiece
5) snow!

 

[lilminijpc]

1 & 2) gluing nosecone to shoulder
3) voila! it's straight! i think...?
4) patching up some rough spots
5) contemplating on what to do with the nosecone (should come before #1 actually... )

 

[lilminijpc]

Until next time!
Rest of build pictures.

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1) dry fitting fin can with body tube
2) a little bit off, so had to cut the fin slots longer
3) perfect fit!
4) bottoms up!
5) time to call it day!

 

[redsox15]

Where did you guys get the much foam? Nose cone looks great!


Matt

 

[lilminijpc]

Where did you guys get the much foam? Nose cone looks great!


Matt

@ Matt, I think it was a combination of left over foam from previous projects and through Roy.

 

[lilminijpc]

hi everyone, playing catch up on pictures and updates.

for this build session, we cut the fiberglass and glassed the nose cone.

 

[lilminijpc]

After the nosecone, we began working on assembling the fins and centering rings with the booster section body tube. We found that we had glued the lower centering ring rotated by 90 degrees, but we corrected that by boring a couple of new holes for the all-thread rods.

 

[lilminijpc]

It didn’t take long to get the section together, but we then discovered we had routed the all-thread rods through the wrong holes in the e-bay’s lower bulkhead.

 

[lilminijpc]

Jay made the e-bay upper bulkhead stiffeners / electronics brackets.
We took the booster apart, re-aligned the all-thread rods, and re-assembled the booster.

 

[lilminijpc]

We bored holes to pour the expanding foam through, and inserted the motor tubes. That’s when we figured out we must have squeezed the fins a little too tightly when epoxying them to the centering rings, and shrank the space for the central motor mount.

So, we dis-assembled the booster section (again, but we were getting faster at taking it apart) and worked over the fin tabs with a couple of Dremel tools.

 

[lilminijpc]

Trimming done, we re-inserted the motor mount tubes and checked the fit, then re-assembled the booster section, again.
Finally, with Ken perched on a ladder we poured expanding foam into the lower section of the booster.

That's for that build session!
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Rest of the photos!

 

[KenSparks]

The Scud flew at Plaster Blaster 9 on Saturday, and had a picture-perfect flight! First photos are at: https://nahcpj.zenfolio.com/pb9/scud_patriots, more to be posted as Joyce gets time.
We launched the Scud from the far-east corner of the launch field, somewhat down in a wash. The 1/2 scale Patriot PAC-1 battery was waiting mid-field, and we rippled off the 4 Patriots after the Scud was in the air. As planned, the rockets were widely separated in the air (3000 ft. vertical, 1000 ft horizontal). The Scud separated into 4 segments, more or less in time with the Patriots deploying their parachutes. The result was a sky full of laundry and rocket parts. All motors (5 in the Scud!) lit, all parachutes deployed, all rockets were recovered with no damage other than a couple of inches of the Scud's nose.

After recovering the Scud and Patriots, we installed the conversion kit in the Patriot launcher to carry the PAC-3 Patriots, which are half the diameter of the PAC-1, so that 16 of them fit into the same launcher. For a "victory lap" we launched the PAC-3 patriots in a ripple launch that seemed to go on forever. We had a one marginal connector, and only got 15 of the 16 PAC-3 rockets off, but recovered all of them with only one broken fin.

Successful launch of 20 out of 21, and safe recovery of all - not a bad day's effort.

 

[Pantherjon]

Awesome!:clap: