Trying to identify this.

[tonyl66]

At Midwest Power I bought a partial 4" 2 stage rocket from someone, and I'm trying to find out if this was a kit or scratch built. When I asked, the seller said he thought the blue section was from a Tethys. I don't have one, but a Tethys is supposed to be one body tube with a 54mm engine. This is missing the upper section & nose, and only has a 38mm mount. The fins look like a Tethys', but as for the rest it doesn't seem to fit the description. I can confirm that two of the three body sections are quantum tubes. I can't see inside the lower section to be sure it's not phenolic. The lower yellow section is two sections totaling 3'.
I've looked around the different manufacturers web sites trying to find anything similar looking, but no luck. The previous owner seemed to just swap upper and lower sections around between rockets, as he told me he sold the upper section of this rocket along with the lower section of another.
This is my first foray into this kind of staging, and I will need to aquire shock cords, chutes and electronics, not to mention an upper body before flying it.
So does anybody recognize this as being a kit, or is this a scratch built?

Sorry the picture posts sideways.

Thanks,

Tony

 

[Forever_Metal]

Tony,

I don't recognize it... Looks like it's in decent shape, how solidly is it built? I'd sim what you got (scratch or not) while you wait to see if anything turns up (won't take long knowing the TRF family). Who knows, maybe you scratch build the top and use it for an altitude shot or a camera bird.

fm

 

[Tonimus]

My uneducated guess would be a two kit Tethys kitbash.

 

[Nytrunner]

What sort of staging provisions does it have? The PML system?

 

[tonyl66]

What sort of staging provisions does it have? The PML system?

As I'm totally new to staging anything but black powder engines, I don't know what provisioning it has. Here's a closeup photo of the lower and upper sections of the 1st stage. I don't see how the second stage separates from the first stage, unless it's the 2nd stage engine ignition that does it. But most of the larger 2 stagers I've ever seen, the second stage separates and then ignites. I don't see how that would happen with this. The part in my left hand in the photo is what the 2nd stage couples to. The part on the right is the lower part of the first stage assembly.

Tony

 

[Nytrunner]

There are way better people to give advice about staging than me (Jim Jarvis comes to mind), but I've heard of Drag seperation (loose-ish interstage couple allows booster to part from the sustainer after burnout, and some also use a timer or flight computer to ignite a blackpowder charge to seperate the stages (shear pins optional).

Those look like terminals of some sort on the righthand piece. The left piece appears to be recessed for the sustainer nozzle, is there a link or eyebolt on the backside of the lefthand piece? Maybe this used drag separation, or the sustainer blew it off when it ignited. Does the interior of the left piece feel like its coated with epoxy or something like that?

 

[K'Tesh]

While I can't Identify what it is... I can say that it is a COOL find.