Pem Tech
Notorious Member
No updates this weekend. Ran off and left the fin alignment guide at the office and I refuse to go back into Little Rock just for that.
I think he's talking about these.View attachment 118582
I hear that Llama spit/loogies make excellent fillets, but, can be very messy! Make sure you wear your latex gloves!:wink:
And funny you should say that.....
I might as well have had llama loogies during last night's fillet catastrophe.
Taped off one wing root and made up a batch of West System and proceeded to poor a fillet. It leveled out OK, and a quick (gloved) finger swipe smoothed the edges. It was left to set up. Well, the allergy meds must have kicked in and I started getting sleepy. Well crap, I say to myself, I need to get more than one fillet done tonight. So after waiting till the left over epoxy in the cup was pretty stout, I flipped the bird, taped off another wing root, mixed the epoxy and poured away. This fillet was looking pretty good as well, level, smooth and so forth.
Then it happened....
Over the top of the airframe I noticed a strange drop on the wing that I had just filleted.
No, no, no....
Yes....
The epoxy in the first fillet had not setup and was running down the wing.
Several naughty words later it seemed clear there was no way to save either fillet. So, in disgust, I scooped out both fillets, then wiped out what I could with paper towels.
*sigh*
:sigh:
Guess I will try again tonight.
If there is much extra left in a mixing cup, it will cure faster due to concentrated heat build up, caused by the chemical reaction.
They fillets are "spread" out, releasing heat from cure, taking longer to do same.
If there is much extra left in a mixing cup, it will cure faster due to concentrated heat build up, caused by the chemical reaction.
They fillets are "spread" out, releasing heat from cure, taking longer to do same.
Don't flip fillets till set enough that a fingernail/screwdriver pressed into surface experiences stiff resistance or hard rubber like texture. Then you are "golden"
...and the TRF Logo rocket is finally listed for sale!
One issue that had given me a bit of concern was mounting the Ballz to the airframe. They had to be flush with the exterior of the airframe, be sturdy enough to resist crushing or cracking on landing and finally be mounted sturdy enough to not pop loose in case of a hard landing.
Why? Why not build it designed to pop loose and glue back on with some 5 minute epoxy or CA? Keep it lite and a quick fix when it pops off.
That would disqualify my L2 flight would it not?
Discuss it with the person who's going to sign off before you fly. See if they're okay with it -- you may need to let them physically see the rocket, and show them sims.
-Kevin
Okay, that gave me an idea of scale! I'm not sure why, but I kept visualizing this thing as much smaller!
-Kevin
Too large for you, big boy?
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