Soyuz 1/25... why not ?

[neil_w]

Gorgeous work. Look forward to flight pics and/or video!

 

[PieroAcme]

Hi Neil! ... some pictures more.. before of the launch.

 

[PieroAcme]

Some time has passed from last post... almost 19 months.
And now finally time to launch !
Soyuz2 had to wait for long time. But there coudn't have been better contitions for the launch. The launch has been held in Molinella Airfield (Bologna Italy) in occasion of MIR2021, the yearly event of international launches in Italy. Perfect weather condition. Blue sky, low wind and launch spectators.
This project is my biggest model ever built. 1,9m height 4,2Kg , 20engines at 1st stage+ Boosters, 7 engines in the second stages, 540Ns total impulse.
During the lock-down I did some tests for the ignition system and the result was ok. But when you are at the day of the launch you still feel a bit nervous.
The first day at the field was spent to prepare for launch the day after. The work to be made is like to prepare 6 different rockets. Motor assembly, parachute packing and loading, 2nd stage ingnition system setup, booster and 1st stage assembly on second stage, boosters and 1st stage ingnition system setup. Then the launch pad adjustments for the proper holding the rocket. All done step by step and doing double checks.

Here some pics taken during the preparation


This is the 2nd stage ignition system. It is a tape with some BP that connects the engine ignitors.

Here the one for 1st stage and clusters

 

[PieroAcme]

Then to the launch pad

​

 

[PieroAcme]

Then : Запуск ракеты !!!

 

[PieroAcme]

 

[aerostadt]

Terrific !!

 

[PieroAcme]

2 seconds of thrust for the 1st stage.. but seems 1 hr... will the stage separate and release the boosters ?



Yesssss !!!

 

[PieroAcme]

Will the second stage light ?

Yessssss !!!!



... and now 5 seconds of delay for the final event.
Parachute ejection.



Despite the size the Soyuz seems now just a small dot in the sky.
I even lost at a certain point in time.... please open !!!

Then the typical noise of a large parachute when it deploy



I can finally breathe !

 

[PieroAcme]

Welcome back Soyuz2 !

 

[cerving]

Wow! That's awesome!

 

[neil_w]

Very, very impressive. Well done.

 

[PieroAcme]

Very, very impressive. Well done.

Thank you Neil !

 

[wrad]

I couldn’t click on the link fast enough when I saw there was activity on this thread, and I was not disappointed! Congratulations PieroAcme on an absolutely beautiful flight! Your skill makes this model look effortless, a real masterpiece. I’m very jealous that I haven’t made much more progress on my upscale yet, you have set the bar very high.

 

[Cape Byron]

Just fantastic. Beautiful model. Beautiful flight.

 

[Ez2cDave]

What rocket motors were used ?

Dave F.

 

[PieroAcme]

I couldn’t click on the link fast enough when I saw there was activity on this thread, and I was not disappointed! Congratulations PieroAcme on an absolutely beautiful flight! Your skill makes this model look effortless, a real masterpiece. I’m very jealous that I haven’t made much more progress on my upscale yet, you have set the bar very high.

Ciao Wrad !! Thanks. Nice to hear you again.

 

[Ranger Lungan]

Great PieroAcme! Awesome flight!

The best in MIR - 2021!

 

[PieroAcme]

What rocket motors were used ?

Dave F.

Hi Dave! All D9 Klima

 

[PieroAcme]

Great PieroAcme! Awesome flight!

The best in MIR - 2021!

HuHu Mr Ranger !! ... Too good , too good

 

[Switch]

Hi After and Ez2! Thanks for supporting

Here a bit of discussion for another "new" at least for me solution to manage staging
Here a sketch of the staging and boosters detachment system.View attachment 403577
The holding points of the boosters are the nose cone tip and the step on the fins. Everything kept in position by the stop at the base of the 1st stage.
As wrote before the system works with the principle of Estes staging. But here the mass are different. On a light rocket you can count on interference and friction. Here the boosters weight with engines is in the range of 1Kg. Pure friction holding is difficult to manage and I want avoid mechanical systems. It must be very very simple so... Russian stile!
To do that, I decided to use a magnetic shear pin concept. Nowadays it is quite easy to find small magnets with a strong force on the internet shops. These look like a button and the diameter size is around 5mm.
The nice characteristic is that the force to detach is easy to measure and is absolutely constant.
So I left a minimum interference and I placed 3 couples of them in the interface upper stage and booster.
To be honest the result is very promising. It keep the booster in position and to detach you need 1,2 Kg precisely.
When 1st stage ends the thrust phase a D9-0 light the upper stage. The room between the two stages will get pressurized and will detach the 1st stage and so the boosters are released.
In this case magnetic share pins is a technique quite new for me, so if someone used already magnetic shear pins... please let me know the results.
Here below in green the position of the magnetic pins.

View attachment 403578​

To your question about "magnetic shear pins", I didn't know the idea had a name but I thought I'd share a few examples I've used. On my Falcon Heavy and Delta IV projects I use this for booster attachment and separation & on my Crew Dragon I use for landing leg and Dragon Capsule attachment/release. On my 2nd Falcon Heavy I use the same idea you had to hold the core 1st stage in place except the magnets are at right angles to your design.

And Wow! what a beautiful model and what an awesome flight! I'm inspired by your decision to double down on the scale. Sometimes bigger is better!

 

[PieroAcme]

Here the video of the flight Soyuz2 Video

 

[aerostadt]

What a beautiful flight! That is a lot of time, patience, effort, and skill.

 

[mbeels]

Wow, truly fantastic. A great technical achievement, and it looks awesome as well!

 

[Raketenolli]

Very very impressive (as usual ;-)! Unfortunately I'll get much fewer chances to see your beautiful creations in Manching or at RJD (or to come to MIR!) now that I live in the US.

Thanks for sharing with us!

Oliver

 

[PieroAcme]

Hi! Ciao Oliver! Thanks !
It is a pitty to see that you are now in US.. but at same time I think that you'll have a lot of "rocketry opportunities " there.
I whis you All the best !

 

[BigMacDaddy]

Here the cones that will cover the boosters.View attachment 401460
When you do a shroud for a scale model normally this is quite easy. Size is quite small and a normal paper 160g/m2 is quite easy to bend and glue. Here the story is a bit different.
To have a good stiffness the paper needs to be thicker. Bend this size of cone ... is not a joke.
Paper need to be pre formed with hot iron to allow the bending, then formed with steam and finally glueing. Initial trial with old technique (just hot iron to bend) was a disaster. Steam froming was necessary to add.

I wish I had read this before I tried to do the Tau Zero cone... I may try again -- What type of hot iron did you use and how did you steam them? Also did you need to iron/steam to exact shape or did you just need to get a reasonable curve and then glue to correct cone dimensions?

 

[PieroAcme]

Hi Daddy!!
I explain you my technique.
I prepare a sort of mold made with 3 or 4 cones done with light paper.
Same shape like the final one.

These cones are easy to make since the normal paper bends easily.



Then i put the cones one inside the others.


So the "mold" is done.

The final cone (thick paper) is pre-bended with the steam iron. Here below the tools used. (Not high tech... but they work. )



So the final cone is pre-bended and then inserted in the mold.



Then with the steam blowed in the cone inside, the paper gets the final shape.



Then, the cone is glued having as reference the printed lines. Since the cone is bended to the final shape, it keeps the position without particular effort.

 

[OC-Patrick]

Outstanding!

 

[Blast it Tom!]

I just happened on this and I must say that is a masterful piece of rocketry! Not only is the scale appearance top-notch, but it has been well designed dynamically and, good glory, you got TWENTY motors to ignite at once successfully! Unbelievable! And then what was it - 7 motors on the second stage!
So from concept to engineering and design to craftsmanship to execution this is a top-notch effort the entire way. Congratulations!