Public Enemy 4" Vengenace V2 build thread

[Gillard]

I purchased this kit form this forum, and after a few days it arrived safe and sound from the states.

The kit is fairly basic and consists of:

4" plastic nose cone
4" plastic boattail (made from the above nose cone
a section of Airframe, cardboard.
4 precut ply fins
2 centering rings
length of nylon shock strap
38 mm motor mount
chute
brass lugs
weld ring.

I plan to swap lugs for buttons.
There is no attachment for the cord to the nose cone, so i have purchased an eyebolt - actually i've bought a few of differing sizes off ebay, i will see which one looks the best.

Looking forward to having a high power V2 in my collection.

 

[Gillard]

Thinking ahead to the retension of the motor, i had a look through what i all ready had and went with a 38mm screw down cap - dont know who makes it, but its black and should do the job.
I drilled two holes in the rear motor mount ring, and then epoxied two blind nuts in.

 

[Gillard]

The shock cord is then epoxied to the motor mount, whilst the epoxy on the ring was drying.

 

[Gillard]

Fins that come with the kit are ply, and have the leading ends bevelled.
I added two coats of sanding sealer to the fins (sanding between coats).

 

[Gillard]

The forward ring is epoxied into place at the same time as the other three steps. Only thing to watch out for, is that there is a notch for the shock strap to go through, and this must not be inline with the fin slots

 

[Gillard]

The rear motor mount ring is then epoxyied 1/8th of an inch from the rear of the motor mount tube.

 

[pdooley]

looking good.
what paint scheme are you going with?

 

[Gillard]

Not sure yet, my other V2s are camo, but i am tempted to go with black and white.

 

[als57]

While I love the PE kits ; one thing I change is the nylon strap on the motor mount. It does eventually burn thru. Happend to my Honest John. Fin can fell in from about 2000'. Only cracked one fin joint.

Now days when I assemble one ; I use Tubular kevlar instead. No issues so far with that.


Al

 

[MaxQ]

While I love the PE kits ; one thing I change is the nylon strap on the motor mount. It does eventually burn thru. Happend to my Honest John. Fin can fell in from about 2000'. Only cracked one fin joint.

Now days when I assemble one ; I use Tubular kevlar instead. No issues so far with that.


Al

Yeah...burn through on nylon.

I took out a windshield that way once.....
I'd definitely replace or get a nomex sheath to slide over it at the very least.

 

[Gillard]

Yeah...burn through on nylon.

I took out a windshield that way once.....
I'd definitely replace or get a nomex sheath to slide over it at the very least.

i've got a nomex sheath and am planning to use that.

 

[Gillard]

With the motor mount installed, but not glued into the forward ring, the fins can then be epoxied into place. I used rulers and cloths pegs to keep alignment. Only the root edge has epoxy added, as after the fins are attached to the motor tube, the whole assembly is then removed so that fillets can be added to the fin/motor tube join.

 

[Gillard]

The epoxy fillets have now been added.

 

[pdooley]

It just occurred to me, you're in Britain and building/flying a V2.
Think any old timers would object to that?
Sadly, probably not many people left that even know the significance of this rocket.

 

[Gillard]

i don't think too many people would be upset - after all, we won

 

[adrian]

If you want a V-2 in a colour scheme hardly anybody else has used, look up "Backfire". Britain got hold of a few captured V-2's after the war and did some experiments with them. A copy of at least some of the documentation even found its way back to Peenemünde, where it is now on display in the museum there!

 

[Gillard]

got a picture from the net, looks very similiar to the one in the science museum in london, i grabed a few shots of that one wnen i was down there a few weeks ago.

 

[Gillard]

Next i've put the fin unit back into the boat tail and filleted the fins. There are some big gaps at the front and rear of the fins that i will probably fill with modeller's clay and sand back smooth.
Whilst i had the exopy out i have glued the Bt to the fin unit.

 

[MaxQ]

got a picture from the net, looks very similiar to the one in the science museum in london, i grabed a few shots of that one wnen i was down there a few weeks ago.

Looks a lot like the White Sands rounds...(of course I'm only looking at it in B&W):
and except for maybe the nose art.....
https://www.v2rocket.com/start/chapters/backfire.html

 

[Gillard]

Used modellers clay to fill in the holes and to fill in the gaps at the rear of the boattail. also filled the small seam where the BT meets the boattail.
the whole unit weighs alot, so i'm now looking at adding mass to the nose cone -alot of mass.

 

[Gillard]

The side shoulder of the nosecone was crudely hacked out.
Into this 6oz of Lead ball bearing in a slurry of epovy has been added.
Sunk into the epoxy mixture is a M8 bolt with a studding connector. This is to accept a threaded bar so that the shockcord has comething to attach to and so that extra mass can be added on the form of 1/2oz washers, so that i can change motor sizes between 29mm and 38mm etc
A previous EMRR review puts the nose mass needed at 25oz. Without the treaded bar i have added 9oz and at the moment that seems to have liffted the CG to the correct level. however i still need to add the mass of the paint, parachute firewall etc, so this system has plenty of options left open.

 

[Gillard]

Three holes were drill into the body tube, two for the launch lugs - i have decided to miss out the launch lugs and one vent hole.

 

[Gillard]

The construction part is nearly over.
A Kevlar sock has been added to protect the cord and two swatches of aramid cloth to protect the parachute.
Still waiting for an eyebolt to come through the post (post office on strike so it could be a while), and i've got the rail buttons to add - but that will happen after i've painted the rocket.
Apart from that she's ready to be painted.

 

[Gillard]

6 light coats of white primer with rub downs inbetween.
One or two areas of the fins need more work but the preparation stage is starting to look good for the painting stage.

 

[Gillard]

Eye bolt came in the post today, so that has now been added to the nose cone, which is might heavy now. i reckon that i will not need the treaded bar or the extra washer weights - will check before first flight!

 

[redsox15]

Instead of modelers clay (which may add to the weight depending on how much you used) maybe something like bondo or something in that area. Either way the rocket looks great!

Matt

 

[Gillard]

Instead of modelers clay (which may add to the weight depending on how much you used) maybe something like bondo or something in that area. Either way the rocket looks great!

Matt

thanks, i only use a small amount and its really easy to sand and work with.

 

[pdooley]

yep, looks good.
i would have never got around to building it, at least its getting done now.

waiting to see the top coat now...

 

[Gillard]

Decided to go with the yellow and black paint scheme, of which there are two.
Will post design later.
Anyway, base coated the rocket today.
Had to use brush on paint - enamel.
This was for two reasons:
Firstly, the three shops where i get my spray paint from did not have the yellow in stock.
Secondly, i can wait to get a hundred horrified air brushing fans telling me how brushing is terrible:neener:

will be sanding down smooth and applying a second coat in two days time.

 

[r1dermon]

that epoxy putty works awesome for filling gaps...also adds a ton of strength...

looks good though, nice job.