Pros and Cons of this Glass Technic???

[Flash]

First this is going to be my first glassing job. I was think of a good way for a beginner to do this and have a good job aferwards. I will be using RDS 7.5" tubing which has no glassly finish. The rocket will be a L3 rocket 13.5' tail. Upscale of BSD Thor.

1: Coat Air Frame tubes with Epoxy as recommended by RDS
2: Glass Air Frames using Aerosleeve which is 9+ oz.
3: Glass over that with 2oz Fiberglass veil covering
4: Cut slots for fins
5: Coat 1/4 plywood fins with epoxy but not the tab bottoms
6: Cover fins with 2oz Fiberglass cloth but not tabs
7: Mount fins
8: Do internal fillets with epoxy kevlar mix
9: Do outside fillets first layer with epoxy kevlar mix
10: Final layer of outside fillets with just epoxy.

What is the pros and cons of this construction idea?
If you would recommend this for a beginner then why?


Thank you!!!

 

[Flash]

Here is the Rocksim file of this L3 project if this will help.

 

[valkrider15]

I just finished a 5.5" version of the Ultimate Endeavor and here is what I did. And here is a link to the build thread:

Separation Anxiety Build Thread

I used cardboard tubes from Centering Rings.com with the glasine layer peeled off.

I cut the fin slots before glassing. Used fiberglass sleeve from Solar Composites (like Aerosleeves) and is 9oz as well.

Put the sleeve over the dry tube then used a foam roller to wet out the glass.

About 45 mins after finishing the Sleeve I put on a veil layer of 4oz. It is a bit tricky to do when the sleeve is still wet, but makes for a very strong chemical bond between the sleeve and veil layers.

I cut the "split fins" from 1/4" baltic ply. The fins were actually a single piece with the "Split" just notched out of the fin. This allowed perfect alignment of the "Top" and "Lower" fins since they were really a single fin.

The fins were glassed with the 4oz prior to mounting. The fin slots I cut went to the end of hte body tube so that I could build the fin can outside of the airframe and then slide it in. This allowed the fins to be glassed to the motormount. After mounting the fin can I applied exterior fillets with milled fiber and then did a tip 2 tip glass layer of 4oz. It is a bit overkill, but it came in handy as on the maiden flight the main chute tangled and the rocket hit booster end first at probably 50 fps. No damage at all!

This was the 3rd rocket that I have built and glassed using this same technique and I can say that it is actually quite simple if you take your time and plan ahead a built.

 

[brianc]

Don't forget to read (re-read) Carl's excellent photo tutorial.

https://www.rocketryforum.com/ctulanko/album/index.php?display=tres/Tres 132.jpg

!Caution! Don't click the link unless you have time to spare! The last time I stumbled
across it, I wasted several hours....