Upscale Trident.....sort of

[JoeG]

I have noticed that after you are in any hobby for a period of time things tend to accumulate. At least they do for me. Nose cones and fins seem to be longer lasting than body tubes and these seem to accumulate around here. Since doing rocket builds at a local church boys camp I seemed to have a lot of 1.5 inch Loc nose cones of various colors.

What to do with all these nose cones?

Here is my latest project. Nose cones are painted all white this time. Everything else is covered in Ultracote. Six 1.5 inch nosecones and three three inch nose cones can be pretty costly unless they are just laying around anyway. This is not a true upscale because all of the cones are the same. Not like the original since it had different shaped cones fore and aft but this is supposed to be fun and you can get the idea.

It does break down in two sections since it is almost eight feet long. Three screws does it. Also it is supposed to work the same way as the original qas i put all the gas ports in it so it could use engine ejection for recovery. Also left room for an altimeter. Just in case.

 

[gpoehlein]

Very nicely done!

I've been planning an upscale of the Trident myself, but not quite that large. I'm using a PNC-60 from the Der Red Max for the passenger section tail, a Stormcaster NC for the front of the passenger section and a Big Bertha nose cone for the nose of the engineering section. The side pods will use Alpha nose cones on front and PNC-50YR nose cones at the aft. Should rock on a D or higher.

 

[Pantherjon]

Very nicely done Joe!

 

[maricopasem]

Very impressive!

 

[JoeG]

Thanks folks.

Still haven't weighed it but the motor mount will take anything up to a K1100 so I think it will be fun. Hope to fly it on full H's or maybe an I.

Greg's version will be more consistent with the original. I like upscaling model rocket stuff. I've got two different sized Pathfinders and an upscale Cherokee D right now. Just got the parts for a Quest Zenith II 2 stage in four inch tubes.

I painted cars for twenty five years in a body shop and will do about anything to keep from painting a rocket.

 

[Micromeister]

Great job on the Upscale!
The Trident is Such a way KEWL model regardless of size, it's just one of the Gotta do one type models.
Really classy looking job.

 

[TheRocketNerd]

Looks great--I'm crazy about upscales too.

So, I take it that painting rockets is more of a pain in the arse than automobiles?

 

[JAllen]

Pretty good looking build you got going there! It will be fun to see it fly.

 

[BB-ROCK]

very nice...

 

[JoeG]

The Trident has been downsized due to gravity.

The recovery system worked great on the ground. I could blow the nose cone off just by blowing in the engine tube. I loaded all the recovery stuff and did a static test on the ground. It blew everything out fine.

The boost was really impressive on an Aerotech I211. It went to apogee arched over and the nose cone and about 2 feet of shock cord came out. The parachute was the last thing in so it would be the first thing out. All I can figure is that it stuffed itself down in the body tube on liftoff. My concern was deploying that large parachute from a three inch body tube. Apparently my fears were well founded.

I will rebuild and probably not try the original deployment method and put an altimeter in the nose section with maybe two smaller chutes. Ah, hindsight.

I'll post some photos (of the boost at least) when I get them.

 

[Pantherjon]

That's a bummer to hear Joe!

 

[JoeG]

That's a bummer to hear Joe!

Yes, and contrary to your signature, chute sometimes doesn't happen.

 

[JoeG]

Boost on I211

After "landing"

It will fly again.

 

[BB-ROCK]

Been there done that I know the feeling... when chute fail to deployed espically a very pretty rocket. Maybe the rocket god will be good to you next time...

 

[JoeG]

Hey, if everything worked every time it would be pretty boring.

There's that slight(?) feeling of anticipation when you press the button.

I picked up all the parts I need for the repair at the shop yesterday. Shouldn't take more than a few hours to repair.

I did learn something so it wasn't for nothing.

 

[JoeG]

Trident is all back together again except for vinyl.

 

[mike191]

Trident is all back together again except for vinyl.

JoeG,
Where are the pictures? Been a while but if you are still active, how about some details on the build? Tube sizes and lenghts, maybe a fin template? Rocket looked awsome, maybe a piston eject would solve the ejection problem?

Mike

 

[mike191]

My attempt at Trident. Slight variation since I added a center section.

 

[sodmeister]

Brother ,that is such a great looking upscale.....just wonderful !!

I`ve always wanted a big Trident and perhaps this would be a nice winter project.

Thanks for the pictures and for bringing back this thread !!

Cheers

Paul T

 

[qquake2k]

Awww shucks, that was such a gorgeous upscale!

 

[qquake2k]

View attachment 100700View attachment 100701 My attempt at Trident. Slight variation since I added a center section.

Beautiful!

 

[gdjsky01]

Outstanding!!!! Fly that puppy!
:clap::clap::clap::clap::clap::clap:

 

[mike191]

Tried to fly this last weekend but winds up to 30 cancelled that attempt. Maybe in November.

 

[RocketGeekInFL]

Any chance of having any information on the upscale build of the Trident? Plans? Gotchas? Any advice?