Razorback - From the TV Series "The Expanse"

[lakeroadster]

Now I remember what the photo reminded me off.... Vipers launching on Battelstar Galactica

 

[BABAR]

One of my favorite theme songs

battlestar galactica theme song

 

[lakeroadster]

One of my favorite theme songs

battlestar galactica theme song

Good rocket building music... especially sci-fy odd-rocs...

Hey, I received my trouble light from China.... it's perfect.

 

[lakeroadster]

Shock Cord Anchor

Drilled the nose cone for the shock cord screw eye. The screw eye is bent in order to align it better with the BT-300 recovery bay that will house the motor / parachute spool. Note that the screw eye is close to the bore for the BT-50h... but it continues on down into the nose cone.

Also spent some time doing some preliminary sanding of the fuselage body. I clamped a steel straight edge to the openings and then sanded down to that straight edge. This made the edges of the openings straight and true.

Next step will be to glue the nose cone to the fuselage. Then the entire fuselage and nose cone can be CWF'd and sanded as a complete unit.

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[lakeroadster]

Gluing The Nose Cone

1.2 ounces of Gorilla Wood Glue... Madge: "You're soaking in it".

I've done this on a couple other rockets too. You put in quite a bit of glue and then throughout the day slowly roll the rocket and let the glue coat the sides. As the glue thickens, it clings more to the sides. You end up with a thick coating of glue that bonds all the pieces together.

 

[Tobor]

Gluing The Nose Cone

1.2 ounces of Gorilla Wood Glue... Madge: "You're soaking in it".

I've done this on a couple other rockets too. You put in quite a bit of glue and then throughout the day slowly roll the rocket and let the glue coat the sides. As the glue thickens, it clings more to the sides. You end up with a thick coating of glue that bonds all the pieces together.

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All the interior shots of your Razorback kept nudging my memory without ever revealing the details, until just now....

 

[BABAR]

All the interior shots of your Razorback kept nudging my memory without ever revealing the details, until just now....

"My bairns! My poor bairns!"

 

[lakeroadster]

I weighed the rocket this morning. As that 1.2 ounces of Gorilla Wood Glue dries, and the moisture dissipates, the rocket gets lighter.
It weighed:

26.9 ounces 05-21-2023,​

26.8 ounces 05-22-2023,​

26.6 ounces 05-23-2023,​

26.5 ounces 05-25-2023,​

26.4 ounces 05-28-2023.​

So, that's rocket science.​

Extrapolating that, eventually the rocket will be weightless... (wait, what?)​

Similarly, at one point in my life I was single, and then got married. On our 10th wedding anniversary I was 30 years old, so 1/3 of my life I'd been married. At our 40th anniversary I was 60 years old, so 2/3 of my life I'd been married.

Extrapolating that, eventually I'll have been married longer than I have been alive... (it seems like that sometimes, right?)​

As the minister told me on my wedding day:

"You'll never really know the meaning of true happiness, until you get married". ​

Sadly however, at that point.... it's too late".​

Rev. Alfred Bundy​

 

[KenECoyote]

As the minister told me on my wedding day:

"You'll never really know the meaning of true happiness, until you get married". ​

Sadly however, at that point.... it's too late".​

Rev. Alfred Bundy​

"A man isn't complete until he gets married... then he's definitely finished!"

 

[BABAR]

The opposite of Bigamy is Monotony.

Actually I am blissfully married, although when my wife does remark occasionally on things, I just tell her, “Honey, it’s hard going through life with only one X chromosome.”

 

[lakeroadster]

The opposite of Bigamy is Monotony.

Actually I am blissfully married, although when my wife does remark occasionally on things, I just tell her, “Honey, it’s hard going through life with only one X chromosome.”

That's so yesterday.

Today folks identify as a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h,i,j,k,l,m,n,o,p,q,r,s,t,u,v,w,x,y & z chromosomes and a 2+. for good measure.. and don't you dare say it ain't so...

 

[lakeroadster]

All the interior shots of your Razorback kept nudging my memory without ever revealing the details, until just now....

"My bairns! My poor bairns!"

Very astute, Doctor.

 

[lakeroadster]

I'm a bit worried that I might be building a time portal and I'll wake up some morning and Ellen Louise Ripley will suddenly be battling it out with a xenomorph in our living room....

​

 

[Daddyisabar]

I'm a bit worried that I might be building a time portal and I'll wake up some morning and Ellen Louise Ripley will suddenly be battling it out with a xenomorph in our living room....

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No fear. It's already happening in Pueblo.

The Xenomorphs took Ken and Barbie up to the mother ship to party.

 

[lakeroadster]

Trying to wrap my head around why the base drag hack doesn't seem to show accurate stability data for this rocket.

So I did some data gathering on ye ole worldwide web and found some interesting data on drag coefficient for cylinders and cones.

We know Art Applewhite's Flying Saucers fly stable. Eyeballing the design it appears to have about a 120 degree cone.

My Estes Logo Rocket has about a 15 degree cone.

Coefficient of Drag for a 120 degree cone is about 0.83
Coefficient of Drag for a 15 degree cone is about 0.25

Drastically different. I mean I knew it would be different... but ​

And when we think of base drag... think about the airflow breaking over the back of the steep cone on one of Art's Saucers... vs the Estes Logo's rocket nearly flat profile.

A Cd of 0.25 isn't a lot different than just a regular rounded nose cylinder with a length to diameter ration greater than 4.

Oh well... I'll just keep doing swing tests and forget the simulations on this rocket for now.

 

[lakeroadster]

Memorial Day 2023

Woke up this morning thinking about Veterans and Eddie Rickenbacker was in my thoughts...

Eddie Rickenbacker​

Edward Vernon Rickenbacker was an American fighter pilot in World War I and a Medal of Honor recipient. With 26 aerial victories, he was the most successful and most decorated United States flying ace of the war. He was also a race car driver, an automotive designer, and a long-time head of Eastern Air Lines.​

And then I thought, How about changing up the name and paint scheme on the "Razorback" to "Rickenbacker"...

Sometimes these puzzle pieces just fall into place all by themselves.

If you haven't read up on “Captain Eddie” , he was truly an American legend. Of course his name was made in WWI, but in World War II he flew from air base to airbase to boost troop morale and even flew a couple of sorties. He was also a special courier, delivering messages, and his B-17 was lost at sea, where he and the other crew members spent 21 days in the ocean until they were rescued.

​

 

[lakeroadster]

Did another swing test just to be sure the fuselage is still stable... I figured it would be, but the test is easy, and confirmed the stability.

I started adding some more wood glue to the gaps at the nose cone and created the modified "History of Flight" artwork from scratch for the decal

I mixed it up a bit...

The Spirit of St Louis is replaced with Rickenbackers Spad XIII​

the 747 is replaced with a B-17​

the Virgin Galactic is replaced with a Mercury capsule​

and the Razorback is replaced by Elon Musks Starship Mk1​

​

Thanks to @neil_w for turning me on to the paint.net software. It's da bomb.

​

 

[lakeroadster]

Epstein Drive Components: Recovery Bay Spider and Upper Centering Ring

I went ahead and made these out of 1/4" plywood.... simply because I have it on hand. The fly cutter and Forstener bits made these super easy to fabricate.

I was going to wait and install the spider after I finish sanded the fuselage, but the spider will add a lot of structural rigidity to the fuselage. It's not that it's flimsy by any means now, but there is some racking that occurs when sanding and this should help minimize that.

 

[lakeroadster]

Rough Plywood Glue Fillets... This is a new one on me.

The plywood I'm using was originally used as shelving in our garage. I'm guessing it is 45 years old. It's not the nice smooth cabinet grade quality, it's smooth on one side (that has latex paint on it) and rough on the other side. I rarely throw any usable materials away, there's always another project down the road.

Glue fillets on the internal 3 lobed spider: The glue doesn't flow like I'm used to on smooth pieces of basswood and body tubes. I'm finding that the best way to make a glue fillet is to squeeze out the glue, and then take a tooth pick and trowel the Gorilla Glue out into the shape you want. Works pretty good because the roughness of the plywood holds the fillet in place.

That's what I love about building these oddrocs. Weird shape, new techniques. If this were a smooth surface the glue would be running down the Razorback triangular fuselage.

The upper centering ring (C.R.) seems to be a little pissy though? I guess he's anxious to be glued into place. Patience C.R. Good things come to those who wait. Or maybe he just doesn't play well with Gorilla's?

​

 

[Daddyisabar]

The patience of a Jedi. Keeping your mind on where you are at, what you are doing.

 

[lakeroadster]

Recovery Bay

Started building the recovery bay.

I used my Chop Saw to cut the BT-300 / C-300. I was told this would work well and this is the 1st time I've tried it. Worked great and is quick and easy.

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[lakeroadster]

A couple of things...

I added a drop of glue to the pilot hole in the center of each lightening hole. The point of the Forstener bit actually pierced all the way through the fuselage. The glue will fill that so when I sand the outside of the fuselage there will no longer be a hole there.

One face of the nose cone was a bit lower than the fuselage. I wood glued a small wedge shaped piece of pine to that area.

Should be able to sand the fuselage one last time once this glue dries. Then I can start gluing in the recovery bay.

​

 

[lakeroadster]

Some Heavy Duty Sanding....

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[lakeroadster]

Boring The Launch Lug Hole

(Current weight of fuselage, as shown = 26.1 ounces)

​

 

[BABAR]

Boring The Launch Lug Hole

(Current weight of fuselage, as shown = 26.1 ounces)

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Clever idea to use the lateral board to drill the launch lug hole to prevent chipping!

 

[lakeroadster]

Recovery Bay Installation

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[BABAR]

Recovery Bay Installation

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I like your “recovery spool” concept. I have been thinking about setting up the recovery Gear on the Personalized PortaPotShot @cwbullet was kind enough to send me. it has very little space for laundry. This may be the ticket.

 

[lakeroadster]

I like your “recovery spool” concept. I have been thinking about setting up the recovery Gear on the Personalized PortaPotShot @cwbullet was kind enough to send me. it has very little space for laundry. This may be the ticket.

It's simple and easy... and ejects the laundry in the direction that makes sense. Having the rocket coast through the chutes is illogical and problematic.

 

[BABAR]

It's simple and easy... and ejects the laundry in the direction that makes sense. Having the rocket coast through the chutes is illogical and problematic.

Also works for confined spaces and doesn’t need wadding.

 

[Daddyisabar]

After reading the posts above, the rocket looks like an agitator, the discussion includes laundry room sizing, over under design, confined spaces, ejecting laundry, spools, rear loading & venting, keeping in balance on the spin cycle ... is this the Clothes Dryer Trouble Shooting thread from a few days ago?