She made me proud

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Missileman

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My daughter decided she wanted to do an upscale.
Here is what she came up with.
She plans on flying it on an F20W.
 
Boy, I hope she upgraded from the original's tumble recovery. At that size, the trademark Quark lawn-dart landing could punch a hole through armor plating. :D
 
You might want to use a rather large chute to keep from breaking the fins off and you might want to launch that on a day where there is no wind because if it lands with a good amount of forward momentum, that could break the fins off also.

Just a few things to keep in mind and good luck with it:)

Also, you going to get any upsized Quark decals:D
 
At that size, you might actually SEE your Quark during the flight. Certainly have a 1000 percent improved chance to find it afterward.
 
What are the fins made out of? I really hope its not balsa.... :eek: Youd need a military-surplus man-rated chute to keep those things from breaking!:( :eek:

Looks great, though! Where did you get the nose cone? What diameter tube does it have?


I would want to make something similar, but those fins are way too long and thin for me to feel safe doing it.... ;)
 
OK.
I am upscaling some decals for her.
It is BT80.
Surprisingly it is very light.
The fins are 1/8" balsa. I am going to suggest she reinforce them with 3/4 oz. fiberglass.
Rocsim has the weight at just under 7 ozs.
I will weigh it in after she gets the motor assy. squared away.
It will have to fly on a calm day so we can use a decent rate under 10ft/sec. Rocsim shows 2,000 ft on an F20.
After seeing what she did with this I might just build another with ply fins;)
 
Jim,

I can see why you'd be proud--that's a great looking rocket! I've never done one, but it seems to me that this would be a great candidate for a rear ejection. Not sure this is the correct term but I mean you'd blow the whole motor mount out the back with motor ejection to deploy the parachute. That way those big delicate fins are pointing wrong side up on recovery.

MetMan
 
Originally posted by kenobi65
Boy, I hope she upgraded from the original's tumble recovery. At that size, the trademark Quark lawn-dart landing could punch a hole through armor plating. :D

Imagine...

The answer could of been:

"Nope... she got some thick carpet role tubing that just fits inside the BT-80. With some Durham Water Putty, kitchen sugar, Salt Petter, and her EZ-Bake Oven, she is cooking up some rocket candy... A true upscale ;)"

That would make any Dad proud... or worried ;)
 
Originally posted by missileman
OK.
I am upscaling some decals for her.
It is BT80.
Surprisingly it is very light.
The fins are 1/8" balsa. I am going to suggest she reinforce them with 3/4 oz. fiberglass.
Rocsim has the weight at just under 7 ozs.
I will weigh it in after she gets the motor assy. squared away.
It will have to fly on a calm day so we can use a decent rate under 10ft/sec. Rocsim shows 2,000 ft on an F20.
After seeing what she did with this I might just build another with ply fins;)

This is a very cool upscale. Congrats on it to your daughter, she should be very proud.

Anyways - you might want to consider making this a rear-ejection rocket. Instead of having the nose cone pop off like normal, have the motor mount pop out. How you could accomplish this is by building an extra long motor mount (>7") with two centering rings glued to the motor tube. Then, inside the main body tube, have a bulkhead glued in place about to where the end of the motor tube will be. Make sure it is FIRMLY glued in place. Don't be afraid to slather the epoxy on both sides. On a 2.6" diameter rocket, it'll take about 10mL of epoxy to leave a nice glaze coat. Make sure you put a screw eye into the bulkhead for a Kevlar tether.

That's the main part of the interior of the rocket...from there, do this:

Build the 29mm MMT like normal, and most definately use epoxy for the strongest possible bond. Do some good fillets, you're gonna need them. Space the centering rings at least 5" apart, preferably 6". Put a screw eye in each of the two centering rings, preferably the big stainless steel ones you can get at the Home Depot or other hardware store. On the one that goes in the top centering ring, put it so the "eye" goes towards the bulkhead. On the one that goes in the bottom centering ring, place it so the "eye" is in between the two CR's. Leave enough of the threaded portion sticking out of the CR to make a motor rentention device...more on that later. Attach a nice and thick Kevlar tether to the screw eyes. Make it long enough that so when it is fully extended the motor mount is plenty far away from the ends of the fins.

Do you see where we're going yet?

Make sure that the mount is a loose enough that it'll easily pop out upon ejection.

Oh...yeah...the motor retention. Remember that screw eye we put in so that there's enough threaded portions sticking out to cover the end of the MMT? Now take a regular nut, a large washer, and a wing nut and thread them on the the screw eye in that order. When you put the motor in, fit the washer over the lip between the outer edge of the case and the nozzle. Simple enough, huh?

When you are almost done, with the tether attached and the motor rentention finished, attach a Kevlar shock cord to the lower screw eye, tie a loop in it, and attach a nice big parachute to it. When you are ready for flight, wrap the chute, loosely, around the motor tube. VERY loosely. Then wrap three overlapping layers of Estes-style wadding around the chute. Install a motor, and go!

Oh, yeah...make sure you glue the nosecone on!

Reply with any questions.

Jason
 
Rear ejection sounds like a great idea and I have already built a rocket that uses it (NCR X-Wing Fighter)
But I would be apprehensive about rear ejection on this one.
There is an awefull lot of fin sticking out aft on this rocket to get stuff caught on.
I think just beefing up the fins a bit will be ok.
 
I agree

I think if you were using a rear ejection pod with those big fins, you would be asking for trouble. Then you'd be dealing with a tricky repair job.

My 2 cents.
 
Yeah, Dad, you make me proud too! :)
If it weren't for you, I would have never gotten into rocketry and those rockets would have never existed.
Thank you.

Love,
Your Daughter,
Beth
 
The Quark makes an awesome upscale. I built mine with the BT-80 as well and used basswood fins and 30 minute epoxy. I've launched it many times and it has excellent slow launches, surprisingly high altitude and it often sticks a perfect four point landing. The only fin breakage happened when I broke it in transport.

Missiledaughter, what engines will you use? I have only used Estes D12-3's and have never had a bad flight with it. You could get even better altitude on a D12-3 with your balsa fins. I have included a photo. I apologize for the quality but you can get the idea and see the original Quark with its big brother. Good luck!

P.S. You can see in the photo that on the upscaled Quark and Mosquitos I use a body tube to act as an upscaled launch lug. The actual launch lug is inside the fake one.
 
Actually, my dad and I were thinking of flying it on a econoject (dad will tell you if I have that right) F20-7W. On rocksim, we had it fly to 2,000 (highest was 2,051 feet). We were quite happy. I was thinking on fiberglassing the fins since they are flimsy (which I hate balsa for). I am planning on using a parachute (no rear rejections. The fins would get in the way). The orginal Quark can sit on my desk since the probabilty of finding it after it is launched is next to nothing. I can fly this monster instead.

Signed,
Beth:p
 
Well Hi there little one:)
Welcome to TRF (It was only a matter of time right;) )
 
Welcome MD.
The song, "It's a family affair" by Sly and the Family Stone just popped into my head. You might not recognize the song but, I'll bet your dad does. ;)
 
Yep. Computer Geek sister (she does not want her name here but you know who she is. She would like to be called MissileMonkey AKA M&M if she ever posted here) sends her love. It was only a matter of time. It started out how you had me read different post and all that and this post pushed me over the edge. You are the missileman and I am your Missiledaughter. Together, we are the Missilefamily.
I have the VCR set up for the Tech TV show and the other one for AI. I am leaving my class mug by the computer for you to look at. Got it today. Plan on working on my other rockets shortly.

Love ya tons,
Beth
 
Yup, I do remember that song. Thanks alot Stones, it will be going through my head the rest of the day:D
 
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