My son and I have retrofitted a dozen rockets for night launches, but they always seem like such a hack.
So this year, we did a quick-and-dirty scratch build, as a weekend project, just in time for LDRS.
What makes this rocket unique is that it is CLEAR. Made from clear tubing, clear plexiglass, and clear-translucent PLA. Like Wonder Woman's Invisible Plane. Obviously, a bad idea to fly this during the day.
It is clear, so the inside can be loaded with lights and lit-up, without creating all the drag of gluing stuff on the outside, like we usually do.
We bought a cheap tube on Amazon for architectural drawings and then designed around the dimensions. We CNC'd fins and rings from .1 plexiglass and we 3D printed the nose cone using translucent PLA. The MM tube is 29mm clear tubing that fits 3G CTI hardware perfect.
The fin can was designed so that it holds six 12" glow sticks in place. The nose has two high intensity multi-color flashing LEDs. In the body, we will have a dozen glow sticks (under their own parachutes) and a dozen blinkers on the chute and harness. In total, 34 lights/sticks inside illuminating out on take-off. Weighing in at less than 3 pounds.
It was refreshing to build a rocket and then not need to paint it.
So this year, we did a quick-and-dirty scratch build, as a weekend project, just in time for LDRS.
What makes this rocket unique is that it is CLEAR. Made from clear tubing, clear plexiglass, and clear-translucent PLA. Like Wonder Woman's Invisible Plane. Obviously, a bad idea to fly this during the day.
It is clear, so the inside can be loaded with lights and lit-up, without creating all the drag of gluing stuff on the outside, like we usually do.
We bought a cheap tube on Amazon for architectural drawings and then designed around the dimensions. We CNC'd fins and rings from .1 plexiglass and we 3D printed the nose cone using translucent PLA. The MM tube is 29mm clear tubing that fits 3G CTI hardware perfect.
The fin can was designed so that it holds six 12" glow sticks in place. The nose has two high intensity multi-color flashing LEDs. In the body, we will have a dozen glow sticks (under their own parachutes) and a dozen blinkers on the chute and harness. In total, 34 lights/sticks inside illuminating out on take-off. Weighing in at less than 3 pounds.
It was refreshing to build a rocket and then not need to paint it.