Project Aether Breather

[SteelyEyed]

I have designed a few rockets recently (in cyber space), but it has been over 6 years since I've had time to build or fly a rocket (other than digital simulations). This project is my real world re-entry to the hobby I have loved since 1972, my version of BAR 2.0. One of the rocketry activities I enjoy most is when I have purchased and/or fabricated the parts and components for a new project, and begin the dry fit assembly of a rocket that I designed in RockSim. Seeing something that had only existed in my head or on a screen physically begin to take shape, that moment is a bit euphoric (/yoo-for'-ik/: feeling or generating intense happiness, confidence, and/or a sense of well-being.). I'm one of those guys that prefers building rockets more flying them, but certainly enjoy flying as well. As I mentioned in a previous post, I do not do 3 or 4FNC designs, they just do not interest me. Also, I very, very rarely buy/build a kit for HPR (the Binder Designs California Kid is the only one I can recall). I prefer creating my own designs and fabricating it myself. Those rare times that I did build from a kit have been my own original designs that vendors have kitted and added to their product lines.

For this project I deviated from my aversion to kit building. Frankly I cheated. This design was just completed this afternoon, and I am anxious to get started. Rather than spending weeks deciding, ordering, gathering materials, fabricating, going to the hardware store, searching the web, etc. ... I emailed the Rocksim file to Scott Kissinger at Dragon Rocketry. We discussed the project on the phone, I asked a lot of questions, Scott gave some much needed advice, and agreed to put together a one-of-kind custom kit (tubes cut to length and slotted, laser cut fins, nose cone, coupler tube, bulkheads, and centering rings) for me. This thread will document the project...

 

[SteelyEyed]

The design is envisioned as a hypersonic scramjet experimental space plane that at some time during its flight transitions between the upper atmosphere and space. Aether is defined as "the ancient Greek personification of the clear upper air of the sky" and scramjets are air breathers... thus the name Aether Breather. I usually struggle to come up with good rocket names, this one came easily to me. I have designated this design as the XP-73 code named Aether Breather (maybe a hypothetical NASA or USSF experimental craft ... the mission will remain undefined). The XP was inspired by the DARPA experimental space plane XP-1. The 73 was inspired by Sheldon Coopers favorite number 73… and 73 is 1 higher than the SR-72.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=sheldon+cooper+favorite+number

The design is a 4 inch, 54mm MMT, 37.5 inches long, zipperless baffle design.

 

[rocketgeek101]

Sweet looking design! Looking forward to following this build!

 

[SteelyEyed]

First component (from Apogee Rocketry) arrived yesterday. We’re off to a slow start…

 

[NTP2]

First component (from Apogee Rocketry) arrived yesterday. We’re off to a slow start…

Ahh but you remembered to get a retainer, I still need to order one for my junior L1…

 

[loopy]

nice!

 

[SteelyEyed]

Been working on this one for about a week, a few hours here and there. Did not take any pics until these tonight. The MMT and zipperless baffle with U-bolt are installed, along with the motor retainer and the rail guide screw mounts.

In these pics, the canard and wing fins on top are embedded in about 1/8th inch of epoxy held in place by small balsa wood troughs that outline the fin root footprints on the MMT. This approach provides internal fillets. The lower set of fins are only dry fit for now, and just serving to hold the fin alignment guides in place.

 

[Hobie1dog]

Keep the pictures coming for us.

 

[cwbullet]

The design is envisioned as a hypersonic scramjet experimental space plane that at some time during its flight transitions between the upper atmosphere and space. Aether is defined as "the ancient Greek personification of the clear upper air of the sky" and scramjets are air breathers... thus the name Aether Breather. I usually struggle to come up with good rocket names, this one came easily to me. I have designated this design as the XP-73 code named Aether Breather (maybe a hypothetical NASA or USSF experimental craft ... the mission will remain undefined). The XP was inspired by the DARPA experimental space plane XP-1. The 73 was inspired by Sheldon Coopers favorite number 73… and 73 is 1 higher than the SR-72.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=sheldon+cooper+favorite+number

The design is a 4 inch, 54mm MMT, 37.5 inches long, zipperless baffle design.

Nice design. Can't wait to see more.

 

[SteelyEyed]

Nice design. Can't wait to see more.

The two remaining laser cut “stabilizer” fins and a parachute for this bird were ordered from Dragon Rocketry. An automated email tells me they are “out for delivery” today. I will be completing assembly of the booster section this weekend.

 

[SteelyEyed]

Booster section now fully assembled. Epoxy on the last fin is curing. All that remains to be done are the fillets around the stabilizer fins, and it will be ready for prep, primer, and paint.

If you look closely, the fins have been sanded to a pseudo airfoil shape and the screw mounts for the rail guides are ready to go for install after painting is done.

 

[SteelyEyed]

Booster section now fully assembled. Epoxy on the last fin is curing. All that remains to be done are the fillets around the stabilizer fins, and it will be ready for prep, primer, and paint.

If you look closely, the fins have been sanded to a pseudo airfoil shape and the screw mounts for the rail guides are ready to go for install after painting is done.

I got a little ahead of myself declaring victory on the booster section. I completely forgot about the scramjet intake on the underside. I still have some work to do… more to come.

 

[SteelyEyed]

Ok… I had to figure out how to do this. I printed out the back view from the Rocksim file, to view the intended alignment. I built a jig to build the jig. It is kind of kluge, but it worked. I attached the right side first. After the epoxy cured, I laid the two pieces on edge and did a fillet. The pics show the left side being attached…will follow up with another fillet.

 

[SteelyEyed]

When I was designing this thing with a scramjet scoop, I really gave no thought as to how it would go together. It was a bit more difficult to assemble than I might have imagined. I assembled the scoop into a completed sub assembly to make sure everything aligned and fit properly. Then I had to sand and shape all the edges as desired, before I epoxied it to the wings, canards, and airframe.

 

[SteelyEyed]

Last couple of fillets on the underside are curing. The scramjet scoop is complete. it serves as a set of fins on the lower side to balance out the aerodynamics of the stabilizers on top. Still have some strakes to attach on top of the wing and canard fins, Getting close to completion…

 

[Hobie1dog]

great looking design. What's the color scheme going to be?

 

[SteelyEyed]

great looking design. What's the color scheme going to be?

I don’t know yet, what do you think would look good?

 

[SteelyEyed]

I don’t know yet, what do you think would look good?

I’m planning to paint my Nuclear Crowbar first, so I haven’t given this one much thought.

 

[Hobie1dog]

I don’t know yet, what do you think would look good?

charcoal metallic base

 

[Aeva]

I don’t know yet, what do you think would look good?

One thing I usually do is make skins I can import for the sim to render; for example here's the EZI from my profile pic in openrocket:



Rocksim can do it too. It's a bit of a challenge to get everything aligned perfectly but it helps a lot for planning paint jobs and considering colors. To get realistic/matched colors, I just took a photo of the spray can lid with flash and then fit that into the texture image. I ought to make a guide on how to do this at some point.

If you're comfortable sharing the sim I can probably set up some basic texture templates you can experiment with.

E: I have the nuclear crowbar sim from Scott when I bought one, I'll make one for that too. I'll eventually add my own paint job so two birds one stone lol
E2: Rocksim is quirkier with textures than openrocket <.< It applied my nosecone texture to the shoulder

 

[SteelyEyed]

charcoal metallic base

That is a great recommendation… I used that approach for my original Nuclear Sledgehammer (later scaled up and kits sold by Giant Leap Rocketry).

 

[Aeva]

Odd caveat in rocksim: I had to offset the fins rotation by 33° but that shouldn't effect the design. But this is just for a mock up. I also have the original project files for the textures so I can easily swap colors without messing up the patterns. It makes planning so much more convenient. You may want to scale down the textures... rocksim is choking on them while rendering

 

[SteelyEyed]

charcoal metallic base

Hobie,
Thanks for taking the time to offer your thoughts, I sincerely appreciate it. Your reply got me thinking about paint, and also graphics to go with the scheme. Exercising creativity is one of the reasons I like this hobby, but creativity also strains my brain. Being a perfectionist, I tend to stress over design projects much more than I should.

My rocket designs are typically inspired by realistic or futuristic weapons systems (US military, NASA, NATO, and/or adversary nations). Sometimes I find Hollywood or video game inspiration. I typically struggle much more with graphics design than I do with the paint scheme.

Sorry for the preamble, but here’s my early thoughts. When I envisioned and described this design as inspired by a “space plane,” my initial thought was a space shuttle-like paint scheme. That would be mostly white, with black (on the underside) and some gray areas, maybe some silver… and challenging to pull off in a manner I would be happy with. The approach you recommended will be much easier to execute. All that said, I still haven’t decided what I’m going to do, because my next build is definitely going to be all dark metallic charcoal or black in color.

https://www.rocketryforum.com/threads/ussf-reaper-space-defense-drone.184461/

I don’t think I want two similar designs, with the same looking color scheme.

 

[SteelyEyed]

One thing I usually do is make skins I can import for the sim to render; for example here's the EZI from my profile pic in openrocket:

View attachment 638366View attachment 638368

Rocksim can do it too. It's a bit of a challenge to get everything aligned perfectly but it helps a lot for planning paint jobs and considering colors. To get realistic/matched colors, I just took a photo of the spray can lid with flash and then fit that into the texture image. I ought to make a guide on how to do this at some point.

If you're comfortable sharing the sim I can probably set up some basic texture templates you can experiment with.

E: I have the nuclear crowbar sim from Scott when I bought one, I'll make one for that too. I'll eventually add my own paint job so two birds one stone lol
E2: Rocksim is quirkier with textures than openrocket <.< It applied my nosecone texture to the shoulder

I have used Rocksim for many years and am very comfortable with it for designing rockets. I’ve played with OR, but never long enough to make the switch. However, it appears to me that OR is much more powerful when it comes to graphics and color skins. I will send you the Rocksim10 file for the Aether Breather when I get to my computer (no files on my iPhone).

Bret

 

[Aeva]

I have used Rocksim for many years and am very comfortable with it for designing rockets. I’ve played with OR, but never long enough to make the switch. However, it appears to me that OR is much more powerful when it comes to graphics and color skins. I will send you the Rocksim10 file for the Aether Breather when I get to my computer (no files on my iPhone).

Bret

My brief experience with Rocksim 10 confirms that. Openrocket is more comfortable to use when designing, and the preview is better. I’m more comfortable with OR, but also there are some features rocksim has that it doesn’t.

I want to dig into OR’s code more… first I meed to fix my flight computer to use 900Mhz, figure out the imu on my “omega” project, rebuild another flight computer that I soldered poorly and it came apart… it’s on my “want to-do” list lol

 

[SteelyEyed]

Ok, all fillets completed. Ready for primer and paint. While considering paint schemes I took a look at another nose cone option…

This nose cone has an “attitude” that I like.

 

[cwbullet]

Gotta love that design. What do you plan to fly it on?

 

[SteelyEyed]

Gotta love that design. What do you plan to fly it on?

I am quite pleased with this design. I drew up the nose cone design months ago for another project that I have not yet started. I really loved the look on the Aether Breather. Rschub created the 3D file and Scott printed it. I'm gonna order another one.

Not much available out there in terms of motors. But for the first flight, I found a CTI J295 from Chris. Next local launch is in May. I've scheduled travel to LDRS, but I had not planned to travel with a rocket... I might rethink that.

 

[Rschub]

Sometimes it's tough to tell how something will look in real life, that nosecone looks really good if I do say so myself.

 

[SteelyEyed]

It is an awesome look, even more so when you’re holding the rocket in your hands and appreciating it from all angles. You do great work my friend. Thanks!