tlp Seawolf from the ashes

[Stymye]

After an unfortunate flight , my Seawolf was repaired and finaly sports a more scale paintjob.

The Damage


The Rebuild



The Data


Finished


Ready to try again

 

[Stones]

Beauty Andy!

 

[blackjack2564]

Very nice. Kit or scratch?

 

[Stymye]

thanks,

It's a kit from tlp , but it's basically some balsa wood ,tubes , a cone and some cardstock. TLP kits are about as close to scratch building as a kit can get.
I guess thats why I like them so much

 

[Kaycee]

Andy-
VERY NICE

You've got more talent in one of your little fingers than I do in both of my hands.

I can't wait to see this one fly...

See 'ya in the spring!

 

[Stymye]

thanks Kevin.. however I have seen Kevin and Kyle's work at the field , you guys build every bit as nice rockets and often on a much larger scale !

I've got some catching up to do in that realm..

 

[Bohica]

Very nice Andy.

 

[judo]

Can any Navy AO's or FC's chime in on why the Brit sailors are wearing all the flash protection? I've load Poseidons, Trident II's, Mk-48, Harpoons, and Tomahawks in just standard dungarees.

And great work, as usual Andy.
Can you print decals or just vinyl?

 

[Stymye]

Judo I mainly cut vinyl at this point , I'm working on printing decals in the very near future and shortly after offering annother reliable rocketry based decal/vinyl source (plus more .
tho people can contact me as I can do limited vinyl printing at this point.

A new website is curently under construction (and will be announced on TRF soon as it's running) still several weeks away.

Now I have worked on requests (pm/email) for one off projects and have done several, mainly because they always seem to have some sort of challenge involved, and that really helps make me become better at making them. I'm not quite set up for multipule jobs- yet

 

[Stymye]

shot of the business end,I replaced the aluminum tape lining with thin shimstock, picked up that tip from stones, the aluminum didn't hold up to the heat well.
I also painted the pods flourescent orange, and did the rear centering ring while I had the paint out. I ran it thru rocksim and added some noseweight accordingly.

couple more pics, all it lacks is a clearcoat

 

[Bohica]

Can any Navy AO's or FC's chime in on why the Brit sailors are wearing all the flash protection? I've load Poseidons, Trident II's, Mk-48, Harpoons, and Tomahawks in just standard dungarees.

And great work, as usual Andy.
Can you print decals or just vinyl?

No clue Judo. I am a retired AOCS (1997) and we never wore that stuff to load. I was a Tomcat guy. We loaded AIM9's, AIM7's, AIM54's, and chaff/flare in Dungs and flight deck jerseys. We didn't even wear flash hoods when building chaff/flare buckets. I was in VF-143 (twice), VF-101 (twice), VF-43, and VF-33. I also did 1 hitch as the Command Investigations LPO on the Eisenhower.

Back on topic: I can vouch personally for Andy's mad skills with vinyl. He's a master.

 

[kelltym88]

shot of the business end,I replaced the aluminum tape lining with thin shimstock, picked up that tip from stones, the aluminum didn't hold up to the heat well.
I also painted the pods flourescent orange, and did the rear centering ring while I had the paint out. I ran it thru rocksim and added some noseweight accordingly.

couple more pics, all it lacks is a clearcoat

I'd like to know more about the shimstock. I rebiult my tlp Nike-Ajax. Great job on the Seawolf.

 

[judo]

Ditto on the shim stock for me as well. I've got an ALARM in queue.

 

[CAS2047]

Wow that is a thing of Beauty Andy! Excellent Job!!!

 

[sandog]

Can any Navy AO's or FC's chime in on why the Brit sailors are wearing all the flash protection? I've load Poseidons, Trident II's, Mk-48, Harpoons, and Tomahawks in just standard dungarees.

That pic was probably taken during a general quarters drill.

 

[InFlight]

Nice looking bird Andy, the detail is amazing.

 

[Stymye]

The place I work has all kinds of shimstock, I used .005 metal shimstock(precision brand). it's a little too heavy and stiff, I think .003 would be more ideal.

I precut the shimstock to fit(scissors), applied a thin layer of epoxy inside the aft tube, than just prerolled the shim a little smaller and dropped it in, it's stiff enough that it will sorta spring into shape. than I linned the perimeter of the tube with those little plastic spring clamps untill the epoxy cured.

 

[BWP]

I had a thread on here several weeks ago on how to deal with heat damage to the rear of my TLP Nike Ajax. The shimstock advice in this thread seems to be the best approach. I'm gonna try it out. Thanks.

 

[kelltym88]

This may be a dumb question, but where does one pick up said shimstock?

 

[Stuck Fingers]

This may be a dumb question, but where does one pick up said shimstock?

www.mcmaster.com

 

[tbzep]

www.mcmaster.com

LOL! If in doubt, check McMaster Carr. I wouldn't be surprised if you could get a mail order bride from them.

 

[foose4string]

Andy, I finally got around to doing a little more work on mine. I'm trying to stay as close to stock as possible, with some minor mods such as the said shimstock, kevlar leader, thin mil nylon chute. Just wondering how much nose weight you decided on after the rebuild? And, have you flown it again?

 

[Stymye]

I added 1.5 oz noseweight and it flew arrow strait, however you could probably get by with less , mine has alot of filler , shimstock,and a heavier nylon chute to deal with.

no wind and a 1/4" - 4' rod is also a good idea for the first flight just to be safe.

 

[foose4string]

I added 1.5 oz noseweight and it flew arrow strait, however you could probably get by with less , mine has alot of filler , shimstock,and a heavier nylon chute to deal with.

no wind and a 1/4" - 4' rod is also a good idea for the first flight just to be safe.

I'll have some filler weight, but it shouldn't be too bad. Fins have been papered, so just the tube spirals and the lower fin pads(and area around it), and misc. balsa, will need it.

The shimstock I used was from Lowes; a very thin piece of aluminum flashing from the roofing dept. It was a piece of right angle aluminum 4 X 4 X 8 for 42 cents. I cut it to size and epoxied to the inside of the coupler. After doing so, I realized the aluminum from a soda or beer can would probably do just as well. It's a little thinner, more flexible, and would add less weight. I haven't glued the heat shield coupler in yet, and am a little tempted to try the aluminum can, but I know the shimstock will hold up well.

I had already decided on the 1/4" lug a while back, it makes sense.

I'll go with 1 and 1/2 ounce also. Better to be safe then sorry.

Thanks for the reply.

 

[foose4string]

I just made up a sim file for it. With the original 1 oz. noseweight, it was just slightly in the marginally stable category according to Rocksim, and according to your first experience. So, the 1.5 oz sounds about right, maybe a bit less like you said.
E18 looks to be a good choice for this. E11 might work, but it probably needs just a little more kick than that. What motor(s) have you flown it on?

View attachment TLP Seawolf.rkt

 

[Stymye]

aerotech E18 and E30, the E30 really punched it

 

[foose4string]

I decided against using the flashing/shimstock. It pealed away from the coupler much easier than I expected. It would have worked, but it was just a tad too stiff for my liking and was noticeably heavier than the aluminum can. The aluminum from the Dr. Pepper can weighed almost nothing after it was cut to size, and formed to the coupler much nicer. You'll notice I shifted the motor mount back that 1/4 inch so it was flush with the coupler. I fooled around with the position in Rocksim and it didn't seem to affect it too badly and will be countered with the extra noseweight anyway.

 

[Stymye]

looking good , it took quite a while to build mine . these tlp rockets are a good test of patience for me.