gary7
Well-Known Member
After approximately six months of planning and building, I finally completed my latest project, a 183% upscale of the Semroc Hydra One. I'll call it the Hydra One XL if Carl doesn't mind. I was going to do a build thread of this project but lost some of the early pictures so decided against it.
The Semroc version of the Hydra One uses a single motor for flight, not up to seven as in the Hydra VII. I have built this to fly on a single motor as well. Rocksim tells me it will do ok on an assortment of H and I motors.
All parts except the tubes I made. The four nose cones I turned from bass wood. Those of you familiar with the Semroc versions (Hydra One and Hydra VII) know that three smaller cones are split in half to top the lower pods. I did that as well. I also cut the fins from 3/16 ply.
The upper body tube is 3.1, the six pods and central MMT are all 38 mm MMT, the big ringtail is 7.5 inches. All the tubes are by Loc. It has an Aeropack motor retainer.
Total height is 54 inches. Wing span about 15 inches. I used Testors waterslide decals for the flags and "UNITED STATES". I still have to give it a couple of coats or so of clear coat to really seal it.
The picture may not come to you very clearly and that is a good thing. I am not good at finish work and in fact loath it. It shows if you get close enough to it. But I was too anxious to get it done rather than sand it all down, again, then spend perhaps weeks more to make it look nicer. The military paint scheme is helped out by the rough finish any way. Now that's a good excuse right?
I have included the Rocksim file for the project.
This thing really consumed me for some time. It has been a real challenge and now, I am glad it is done. I only have to wait for the motors to arrive and then a Saturday off when the Champaign NAR group is flying.
I also fabricated the launch pad on top of the light stand. The basic, functional part is an aluminum flag pole holder that will allow the rod to lean over for loading the rocket. I am using 1/2 in Loc LL's and will launch with a 7/16 in stainless rod, 8 feet long. The design and construction of this particular scale prohibited rail button use with out the use of stand offs, something I didn't want to do.
Comments and thoughts are appreciated.
View attachment Semroc-Hydra One XL.zip
The Semroc version of the Hydra One uses a single motor for flight, not up to seven as in the Hydra VII. I have built this to fly on a single motor as well. Rocksim tells me it will do ok on an assortment of H and I motors.
All parts except the tubes I made. The four nose cones I turned from bass wood. Those of you familiar with the Semroc versions (Hydra One and Hydra VII) know that three smaller cones are split in half to top the lower pods. I did that as well. I also cut the fins from 3/16 ply.
The upper body tube is 3.1, the six pods and central MMT are all 38 mm MMT, the big ringtail is 7.5 inches. All the tubes are by Loc. It has an Aeropack motor retainer.
Total height is 54 inches. Wing span about 15 inches. I used Testors waterslide decals for the flags and "UNITED STATES". I still have to give it a couple of coats or so of clear coat to really seal it.
The picture may not come to you very clearly and that is a good thing. I am not good at finish work and in fact loath it. It shows if you get close enough to it. But I was too anxious to get it done rather than sand it all down, again, then spend perhaps weeks more to make it look nicer. The military paint scheme is helped out by the rough finish any way. Now that's a good excuse right?
I have included the Rocksim file for the project.
This thing really consumed me for some time. It has been a real challenge and now, I am glad it is done. I only have to wait for the motors to arrive and then a Saturday off when the Champaign NAR group is flying.
I also fabricated the launch pad on top of the light stand. The basic, functional part is an aluminum flag pole holder that will allow the rod to lean over for loading the rocket. I am using 1/2 in Loc LL's and will launch with a 7/16 in stainless rod, 8 feet long. The design and construction of this particular scale prohibited rail button use with out the use of stand offs, something I didn't want to do.
Comments and thoughts are appreciated.
View attachment Semroc-Hydra One XL.zip
