What did you do rocket wise today?

[BigMacDaddy]

I bought some more Kevlar line since I finally acknowledged that I cannot find the 400+' spool of Kevlar I already have [somewhere].

View attachment 490915

FWIW - very pleased with the Emma Kites 150# 500' Kevlar line for $21.95. In the past I bought some Kevlar line that was advertised as 100# but it is MUCH thinner than this (and in one case burned through) so I assume that the other stuff was actually over-sold (I may start to use that thinner stuff for parachute lines). The 150# stuff from Emma Kites is almost exactly the same thickness / look / feel as the 250# stuff from the 9KM company. I am all low powered stuff so...

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B088PR8XZ9?ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details&th=1

 

[Wally Ferrer]

Got my L2 today. On to L3...

Congratulations!

 

[russell_t]

Made additional progress this morning on what I've been calling the Swift Lander:

​

It's loosely based on a drawing in the book "Tom Swift and His Rocket Ship" by Victor Appleton II.
A concept build. A rough model for possibly making a larger build.
The nose cone is from Estes Mini Honest John kit # 2446. The lowest section of the shoulder, containing the shock cord attachment loop, was cut off & the new surface was sanded.
Landing legs are from plans for Estes Outlander kit # 2110. Original page size was reduced 55% for this model.
Landing legs are of papered balsa wood; remaining parts were done in Tinkercad then 3D printed.
Landing pads are 3D printed from a resized file from the vintage Mars Lander available on Thingiverse.
Adhesive vinyl was cut from a decal scan resized then imported into Cricut software. I have additional vinyl to be placed on the model, hopefully before the week gets busy.

If I do a larger, flyable build, it would have a two-part nose cone for front eject, plus gear housing covers, spring-type landing gear, etc.

​

 

[jqavins]

What can be "custom" about a centering ring?

Inside diameter, outside diameter, number of motors, etc. I've recently made custom rings to fit a 29mm motor tube into a BT-70 coupler and to fit a 29mm motor tube into a 35mm Quest body tube.

In my case it was a simple B-50 to 35 mm Quest.

I bought some more Kevlar line since I finally acknowledged that I cannot find the 400+' spool of Kevlar I already have [somewhere].

You do realize that's a sure fire way to find the other roll.

Got my L2 today. On to L3...

Congratulations.

6x13 mm cluster Gooney.
View attachment 490944

Whenever I see six in a ring like that I wonder why the designer didn't include the seventh one that fits in the middle.

 

[boatgeek]

Launched with the TARC team yesterday, and it was pretty ugly. Two of my flights, two TARC flights, and we had:
1 good flight
1 good flight, spat motor casing
1 good flight, rocket stuck in tree (later recovered)
1 lawn dart.

But on the plus side, we burned 250 N-s of motors, everyone had a pretty good time, and there's plenty of time before TARC scores are due.

 

[OverTheTop]

Whenever I see six in a ring like that I wonder why the designer didn't include the seventh one that fits in the middle.

You have been hanging around hookup wire too long.

 

[Sooner Boomer]

Today I cleaned stuff up from yesterdays launch and made a silly rocket. I made a Flying Plunger. Yesterday the wind forecast was 3 to 6 mph until the afternoon. So I spent a couple hours getting rockets ready. I got two up before the wind came up about 11am. One rocket for some unknown reason I didn't put a chute release on. Main came out at 2500'. No worries there is no wind. No wind a ground level, but there was up higher and thermals too. I thought I was going to have a short walk then it started going up instead of down. Up and down it went until I was half a mile from the flight line. Oh well I can use the exercise. The other rocket drag separated in spite of the shear pins. After that it was a tumbling mess with occasional pops and puffs of smoke from the ejection charges. It's fixable. I also ordered some motors and a couple other things from BMS. Here is a picture of The Flying Plunger. Next up will be a rocket that looks like a plunger. I already have all the parts.View attachment 491131

Paint the tip of the nosecone white, and call it "Match This!".

 

[Long_Gone]

This and this.

 

[lakeroadster]

More progress on the ring fin for my Ahlpa.. more detail in the build thread... see signature line below...

 

[bad_idea]

Freed my fin-can repair from the tape that held it straight against an aluminum angle while the epoxy for the body tube extension set. Repair looks very solid so far. Unfortunately didn't have time to epoxy the forward ring to it and call it complete aside from finishing. Probably won't get a chance for that until Wednesday.

 

[Cape Byron]

Collected some Estes 24 mm retainers from my mailbox. Aussie list price $19.99 ($14.45 US). Estes retail price in the US of A is $7.99 US (AUD $11.06).

Okay I had some coupons so they actually cost me 5/8 of bugger all, but I can't ever contemplate using them in a kit we sell 'cause it would add ~$10 to the cost of each kit.

If I had a crystal ball I'm pretty sure I could see a 3D printer in my future.

 

[heada]

Started building the ramjets on a QCC Explorer. Lots of small balsa parts

 

[mjremijan]

Venus Probe build. It's been quite a while since I've done any rocket work. Last time I painted wood filler on the body tube spirals and fins. I finally got around to sanding, sanding, sanding. Not done yet but got a good start.

 

[Scotty Dog]

Made additional progress this morning on what I've been calling the Swift Lander:

View attachment 491167​

It's loosely based on a drawing in the book "Tom Swift and His Rocket Ship" by Victor Appleton II.
A concept build. A rough model for possibly making a larger build.
The nose cone is from Estes Mini Honest John kit # 2446. The lowest section of the shoulder, containing the shock cord attachment loop, was cut off & the new surface was sanded.
Landing legs are from plans for Estes Outlander kit # 2110. Original page size was reduced 55% for this model.
Landing legs are of papered balsa wood; remaining parts were done in Tinkercad then 3D printed.
Landing pads are 3D printed from a resized file from the vintage Mars Lander available on Thingiverse.
Adhesive vinyl was cut from a decal scan resized then imported into Cricut software. I have additional vinyl to be placed on the model, hopefully before the week gets busy.

If I do a larger, flyable build, it would have a two-part nose cone for front eject, plus gear housing covers, spring-type landing gear, etc.

View attachment 491168
​

Very nice
A beautiful bird.
Clean work.

 

[DigBaddy]

Today I cleaned stuff up from yesterdays launch and made a silly rocket. I made a Flying Plunger. Yesterday the wind forecast was 3 to 6 mph until the afternoon. So I spent a couple hours getting rockets ready. I got two up before the wind came up about 11am. One rocket for some unknown reason I didn't put a chute release on. Main came out at 2500'. No worries there is no wind. No wind a ground level, but there was up higher and thermals too. I thought I was going to have a short walk then it started going up instead of down. Up and down it went until I was half a mile from the flight line. Oh well I can use the exercise. The other rocket drag separated in spite of the shear pins. After that it was a tumbling mess with occasional pops and puffs of smoke from the ejection charges. It's fixable. I also ordered some motors and a couple other things from BMS. Here is a picture of The Flying Plunger. Next up will be a rocket that looks like a plunger. I already have all the parts.View attachment 491131

 

[Re-Bar Ricky]

I finished up sanding my papered fins for my Estes Trident II. The balsa wood from 1990-1991 that was in the package was very weak and flimsy. This was the first time I've actually papered my fins (other than a kit's instruction -this was "proactive") and I don't think they turned out too bad for my first time. I did practice on some scraps so I wouldn't waste my actual kit's fins in case something went wrong.

Now, I had to pack up everything and move out of my spare bedroom /office/workshop cause the inlaws are coming. So......probably no rocket work for me for a few days......

 

[Donnager]

Finished the paint (not that painting a rocket prior to ground testing is a good idea, cosmetically speaking) on an 8" Prometheus.

Going to do some ground testing this weekend. Maybe I can wake up a neighbor or two.

 

[russell_t]

Very nice
A beautiful bird.
Clean work.

Thanks @Scotty Dog !

 

[OverTheTop]

Had a meeting with my university rocket team to sort out some Altium PCB layout troubles.

 

[Cape Byron]

Had some vinyl freebies cut to include with orders.

 

[DigBaddy]

Rounded the edges of 29mm Big Daddy fins. 1/64 ply over the provided balsa - used TBII and pressed for a week. No warp (yet). Extended the fin tab to fill the gap in the stock kit and these came in at 56g. A bit lighter (~17g) than 1/8" ply would have been but they are 1/32 thicker. These seem really strong though, so I'm liking this approach so far. I have little doubt that 3/32" balsa with the ply over would be plenty strong and then they'd come in a bit lighter than these and stock thickness. Shame we can't get the nose cone and BT without the whole kit...

 

[Scotty Dog]

Rounded the edges of 29mm Big Daddy fins. 1/64 ply over the provided balsa - used TBII and pressed for a week. No warp (yet). Extended the fin tab to fill the gap in the stock kit and these came in at 56g. A bit lighter (~17g) than 1/8" ply would have been but they are 1/32 thicker. These seem really strong though, so I'm liking this approach so far. I have little doubt that 3/32" balsa with the ply over would be plenty strong and then they'd come in a bit lighter than these and stock thickness. Shame we can't get the nose cone and BT without the whole kit...

View attachment 491382

Is it goes be a BD or other name?

 

[DigBaddy]

Is it goes be a BD or other name?

Still a BD. Using as much of the kit as I can

 

[jqavins]

Big Momma? Uncle Bigs? Grand Daddy?

 

[DigBaddy]

ok, will have to come up with something

 

[bad_idea]

Freed my fin-can repair from the tape that held it straight against an aluminum angle while the epoxy for the body tube extension set. Repair looks very solid so far. Unfortunately didn't have time to epoxy the forward ring to it and call it complete aside from finishing. Probably won't get a chance for that until Wednesday.

'Twas yesterday, not today, but I got the centering ring epoxied last night and also epoxied external rail guides (one Apogee guide sliced into two) onto the 35mm Quest tube of another project.

Shame we can't get the nose cone and BT without the whole kit...

I'd be happy with just getting the nose cone. I've wondered how close it is to that of a 3" V2.

 

[Scotty Dog]

Big Momma? Uncle Bigs? Grand Daddy?

I have pieces parts including the about as close PNC to make a 4" BD.
I also some frezken place, been looking forever, have Bid Daddy Roth 4" tall R.F. vinyl stickers ( same as picture) and , I guess, bumper sticker that read Ed Big Daddy Roth.
It looks like a banner stretched out.
Can't say I've have ever seen a
" Big Daddy Roth" Big Daddy rocket.
Whos your Daddy ...

 

[jqavins]

I have a progressive naming dream for Big Bertha up- and down-scales. Now I need a series for scaled Big Daddy clones, all scaled according to MMT. Starting with:

• Baby Brother (MicroMaxx)
• Little Brother (13 mm)
• Big Brother (18 mm)
• Big Daddy (24 mm)
• Grand Daddy (29 mm)
• Who's Your Daddy? (38 mm or bigger)

More names are needed for additional sizes.

 

[John Kemker]

I have a progressive naming dream for Big Bertha up- and down-scales. Now I need a series for scaled Big Daddy clones, all scaled according to MMT. Starting with:

• Baby Brother (MicroMaxx)
• Little Brother (13 mm)
• Big Brother (18 mm)
• Big Daddy (24 mm)
• Grand Daddy (29 mm)
• Who's Your Daddy? (38 mm or bigger)

More names are needed for additional sizes.

• Great-Grand Daddy (54 mm)
• Paw-Paw (75 mm)
• Ancestor (98 mm)

 

[DigBaddy]

Just put the fins on the MDRM. Wife walks in. "Holy **** that's huge!"

I'm used to hearing that