PemTech HMAS Bonestell

[JAL3]

The Bonestell has 4 tanks running parallel with the long axis and constructed from BT5. I took the piece of tubing I was sent and marked off 4 pieces at 4 1/8" apiece. Tape was then used to define the proper circumference along which to cut. A mandrell was inserted and the tanks were cut to length.

 

[JAL3]

Each of the tanks was to be capped at either end. From examining the photos, I had assumed that the caps were made of Tyvek or something similar but did not find any such material in the bag. I then realized that I had bee working only under my own assumption. It was quite likely that the caps were to be made from ordinary bond paper. I cut a strip into segments big enough to cover the ends and then placed them with thin CA.

 

[JAL3]

The process was then repeated for the opposite ends of the tanks.

 

[Pem Tech]

Each of the tanks was to be capped at either end. From examining the photos, I had assumed that the caps were made of Tyvek or something similar but did not find any such material in the bag. I then realized that I had bee working only under my own assumption. It was quite likely that the caps were to be made from ordinary bond paper. I cut a strip into segments big enough to cover the ends and then placed them with thin CA.

You are right, the tank "caps" are to be plain paper or cardstock. Since they are non-load bearing structures, the lighter the better, IMHO. The Destructions will cover this a bit more indepth than the pictures I sent you.


Keep up the good work...

 

[JAL3]

You are right, the tank "caps" are to be plain paper or cardstock. Since they are non-load bearing structures, the lighter the better, IMHO. The Destructions will cover this a bit more indepth than the pictures I sent you.


Keep up the good work...

You mean they're going to have something more than "use this" with an arrow pointing to some sandpaper? That takes the challenge out.

I'm glad to be making progress on this one again.

It will fly at the July launch.

 

[JAL3]

The tank caps were allowed to dry and set up over night and then a razor knife was used to trim away most of the excess material.

 

[JAL3]

Sandpaper was then used to clean up the edges around the perimeter.

 

[MarkII]

The suspense is killing me ... I have no idea what the overall design of this rocket is going to look like.

MarkII

 

[JAL3]

The suspense is killing me ... I have no idea what the overall design of this rocket is going to look like.

MarkII

Join the club...

 

[JAL3]

The long tanks were supposed to be mounted on the body tube, over the ornament hangers and tangent to the balls. There was some question in my mind as to whether the rear sheathing was to be pierced or if the tube was to leave the hanger exposed. I finally decided on the latter for 2 reasons. It made no sense to cover the end of the tube if it was going to be hidden and because I was impatient and didn't want to wait around for an answer.

The longs tanks were applied with yellow glue and it became clear that I had not gotten everything perfectly aligned. But it was good enough for me.

 

[JAL3]

The next few photographs were pretty clear as to what needed to be done. I was to cut 4 strips of balsa that were 3/8" wide by 4 5/8" long. Presumably this was to come from the fin stock. The problem was that I had butchered the fin stock in making the wings and the scraps were no longer availible.

A check of the fins showed that they were 1/8" thick which was great since I had plenty of 1/8" stock,,,except that I didn't. 1/16" was the closest I could come up with. I decided to cut double the number of strips and laminate them together in pairs. I glued the two pieces together with yellow glue and "clamped" them with scotch tape to dry. When the glue had set, I used sandpaper to even things up.

 

[JAL3]

While the beams were setting up, I turned my attention to the two arcs that were to be cut from BT60. I needed a oiece of BT60 5/8" long and this was cut from some scrap I had laying around.

 

[JAL3]

From this short section I had cut down, I needed to cut 2 pieces, each a specified length along its arc. To do this, I meanuered the length off on some bond paper, cut it out and then taped the paper to the tube. The paper was then used to mark the tube the the correct arc length and the arcs were cut out.

 

[JAL3]

Cutting out the arcs had given the beams time enough to set up so I undid the tape and sanded them even.

 

[JAL3]

Yellow glue was then used to place them so that the narrow edge was tangent to the body tube and the wide edge was tangent to the long tanks.

 

[JAL3]

As I let the beams dry, I started searching for the nose cone. I finally found it and located the eye screw as well as two steel washers provided as weights. I twised the eye screw into place and then removed it. Some 5 minute epoxy was put in the hole and smeared on the base of the cone. A washer was then set in place and some more epoxy put on it afterwhich the second washer was put in place. The eye screw was then screwed back into place to hold eveything together as the epoxy set up.

 

[Pem Tech]

The next few photographs were pretty clear as to what needed to be done. I was to cut 4 strips of balsa that were 3/8" wide by 4 5/8" long. Presumably this was to come from the fin stock. The problem was that I had butchered the fin stock in making the wings and the scraps were no longer availible.

A check of the fins showed that they were 1/8" thick which was great since I had plenty of 1/8" stock,,,except that I didn't. 1/16" was the closest I could come up with. I decided to cut double the number of strips and laminate them together in pairs. I glued the two pieces together with yellow glue and "clamped" them with scotch tape to dry. When the glue had set, I used sandpaper to even things up.

*GACK*
I made a mistake on the balsa strip measurement, the rails should be 3/16" wide not 3/8".
Sorry, and hope that doesn't complicate things too much.

 

[Pem Tech]

Yellow glue was then used to place them so that the narrow edge was tangent to the body tube and the wide edge was tangent to the long tanks.

Hey!
That doesn't look bad at all and it may simplify the LL attachment!
No more drilling through the aft bulkhead.
Good work John.

 

[JAL3]

*GACK*
I made a mistake on the balsa strip measurement, the rails should be 3/16" wide not 3/8".
Sorry, and hope that doesn't complicate things too much.

I did noticed that my stuff "looked" bigger than your stuff but it seemed to work and does not look bad to my mind.

 

[JAL3]

Hey!
That doesn't look bad at all and it may simplify the LL attachment!
No more drilling through the aft bulkhead.
Good work John.

Actually, I got the lug in place at the same time this other was done but have not yet had the opportunity to write things up.

I could not find the email you sent me on the lug so I made it up as I went along. It worked and I don't think it looks too bad. It sounds like what I did was similar to what you originally had in mind but you'll have to wait for the pics>

 

[Pem Tech]

The suspense is killing me ... I have no idea what the overall design of this rocket is going to look like.

MarkII

Let the suspense end!

Southern Thunder was the first public appearance of the LPR version of the HMAS Bonestell. Here she is, ready for flight.

There will a continuous griping about the quality of the pictures I took. It appears I had the camera on the wrong setting and none of the flight pics came out sharp.


Crummy picture but beautiful maiden lift off on a D12-3.

It was a beautiful, smooth flight with just a hint of wind-cocking.

Alas, things went bad, quickly. At ejection the shock cord pulled free and the body tumbled to the ground breaking off a wing tip.
:shock:

It will be an easy fix but it was a lovely flight up till then.

Well John, is yours done yet?

 

[JAL3]

Let the suspense end!

Southern Thunder was the first public appearance of the LPR version of the HMAS Bonestell. Here she is, ready for flight.

There will a continuous griping about the quality of the pictures I took. It appears I had the camera on the wrong setting and none of the flight pics came out sharp.


Crummy picture but beautiful maiden lift off on a D12-3.

It was a beautiful, smooth flight with just a hint of wind-cocking.

Alas, things went bad, quickly. At ejection the shock cord pulled free and the body tumbled to the ground breaking off a wing tip.
:shock:

It will be an easy fix but it was a lovely flight up till then.

Well John, is yours done yet?

That was/is a beauty.

Actually, construction on mine is finished. I'm at the sanding sealer stage now and life got busy for a few days.

That reminds me that I should go ahead and post what I ahve done so far.

 

[JAL3]

I spent a little bit of time coaxing the BT60 arcs I had cut into a bit more open of a profile. I then test fitted one of them, using the beams as anchors and pressing the ends of the arcs down until they were at the intersection of the beams and body tube. They kept wanting to pop out.

My first attempt to glue them in place used a bit of yellow glue to tack one end. I realized almost immediately that I was doing things the hard way, wiped the glue off and let it dry completely. When it had dried, I placed one end back in place and then tacked it with CA. A few moments later, it was set in place and I tacked the other side. THe process was then repeated for the arc on the other side.

After give the CA a decent amount of time to dry, I filleted/faired the joint with a modicum of white glue.

 

[JAL3]

Layne had sent me an email on how the launch lug was supposed to be attached. I lost it before I ever did much more than skim it. As I looked at the lug, it was a short piece of tubing for a 1/4" rod. It was not long enough to steady the rocket by itself. Furthermore, there was that projection at the aft bulkhead to consider. I did remember the email saying something about drilling and then I realized that I could place the lug near the forward end of one of the wing roots and then drill a 1/4" hole in line with it through the bulkhead.

I put a 1/4" bit in the chuck and drilled through adjacent to the wing. I then used a piece of 1/4" rod to line the hole up with the lug and placed the lug with some yellow glue.

 

[JAL3]

With the lug in place, construction was done and it was time to work on finishing, hoping that mine would look good, even if not in the same league as the prototype.

I prefer Eler's filler to balsa fillercoat but, in this instance, it seemed to me that the fillercoat would be easier to handle because it would be slightly more forgiving in all those hard to sand areas. With that in mind, I gave the balsa, including the CA hardened nosecone, 3 coats of sanding sealer, sanding between each coat.

 

[PemTech's Squeeze]

And my favorite thing about this build, is this is the rocket I remember examining and admiring the most when I FIRST met Layne. He had them in the back of his car, having just come back from NSL two years ago (NSL 2007) and having heard of his hobby already I asked to see them. This one and the Bucky Jones. Beautiful creative lines, wonderful smooth finishes. Yeah, I admired his rockets.

And I gotta tell you, I too like how this man builds rockets! He's got some awesome finishing skills and creativity. Not that I haven't seem some amazing finishes on rockets. That pink one from a gentleman from Louisiana at Southern Thunder nearly blinded me with it's shiny hot pink/magenta finish!

Trudy, Layne's squeeze, art department, and cheerleader

 

[Pem Tech]

Layne had sent me an email on how the launch lug was supposed to be attached. I lost it before I ever did much more than skim it. As I looked at the lug, it was a short piece of tubing for a 1/4" rod. It was not long enough to steady the rocket by itself.

Well, the email also mentioned cutting the lug in half, but other than that you did it almost exactly as described. But I think your long rail idea will take care of the "hole in the bulkhead" problem.


Great work!

 

[JAL3]

Priming of the Bonestell was done with Kilz. The rocket got several coats of the stuff and was sanded between coats.

 

[JAL3]

Getting into the tight places especially around the tanks took time and effort. The humidity around home while this was going on also meant that there was a long drying time between coats.

 

[JAL3]

After the final priming, the rocket got a thorough, final round of sanding to wear down some of the blobs that had built up.