What did you do rocket wise today?

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The Apache part of my Nike-Apache is starting to take shape. MMT and fins went on today.20181024_151144.jpg
 
I don't really know. The L1 pin just showed up a couple of weeks after I submitted the certification documents. Didn't order it. Didn't expect it. I figured we all got them.
I did order a replacement, when I thought this one had been lost in purge of old keys, badges, and other small items collected in the sargasso-miscellaneous drawer in the shared desk where we pay bills and answer correspondence. I found it -- staged with some other things that didn't need to be thrown out -- so now I have two L1 pins. Still waiting for my new membership card and -- maybe -- an L2 pin.
Lucky you. NAR never sent me an L1 pin but they did send me 2 L2 pins.
 
Started my 19yo nephew on his first LPR - a small 18mm MD to hopefully fly naked this weekend.
 
Got this far in repainting the Moonbat nosecone. Feathered the edges of the big chip in the paint, and scuffed the surface (and also knocked the bothersome corner off the balsa-to-plastic transition). Two coats of adhesion promoter, two coats of high build primer, three coats of sandable automotive primer.

Next painting day it gets another coat of adhesion promoter, then the Metalcast ground coat, then a couple coats of the Duplicolor anodized yellow, then automotive clear coat...so it will look good in the corner of the shop until Il launch it and it gets banged up again <g>
Do you plan to remove the underlying base material and just fly the paint thickness? (I guess the adhesion promoter would make that difficult.);)

The movers delivered all our stuff yesterday, and I assessed the damage to my in-progress L2 build. Mostly minor dings I can fill an sand. They broke off a decoration that I would be more upset about if I hadn't already decided to remove it.
 
Do you plan to remove the underlying base material and just fly the paint thickness? (I guess the adhesion promoter would make that difficult.);)

Actually, I was thinking of giving it a couple coats of polyurea bedliner before I spray on the color coat.

The movers delivered all our stuff yesterday, and I assessed the damage to my in-progress L2 build. Mostly minor dings I can fill an sand.

My suggestion would be to give it at least two coats of high build primer, followed by a couple coats of sandable automotive primer, followed by a ground coat, then the color coat, then a couple coats of automotive lacquer... look at my post here to see how I do it. You might also look at this product.
 
Heading into the October 6th CMASS launch in Amesbury I had three projects I wanted to finish and fly. One was the modified Executioner (left) which replaces one I lost in Berwick. Another was that white rocket in the middle that I built from parts I had hanging around. The final project was a replacement of the upper body tube of the scratch build Leviathan (right). All three flew great with good chute deployment.

I have a repair of a scratch build that was damaged in Berwick on October 20th that just needs a few more light coats of paint.

Between innings of game 2 of the World Series I read the Jolly Logic Chute Release documentation and practiced folding a chute and securing it with the Chute Release.

Sometimes I just go through my rocket stuff to see what I have and try to remember where it is when I need it.

There are two more CMASS launches in Amesbury before the season ends. November 3rd and 17th. Get your projects going.
 
That is interesting , never seen a lunch lug attached like that! Nice
Notice the glue holding the lug. It looks like the strap and rivets are for show. Also notice the rivet band joining two tube sections (or appearing to) with an exterior bit of larger tube. It looks like this is a steam punk theme.

(If you use filler to blend that external large tube into one side but not the other, it will look like a swaged pipe with a second pipe riveted into it.)
 
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Notice the glue holding the lug. It looks like the strap and rivets are for show. Also notice the rivet band joining two tube sections (or appearing to) with an exterior bit of larger tube. It looks like this is a steam punk theme.

Yes. It started out as an Estes Executioner, built by the book. The only mod was a 1/8" kevlar tube on the motor mount. The fins were filled with lightweight spackle and have a fairly good finish.

It was all sanded down and ready for a primer coat. But when was trying to decide on a paint job I was looking around for ideas and realized I didn't want another shiny boring 3FNC.

I'm not into the steampunk thing myself. Well, maybe I am now. HA. Maybe I'll start a build thread on 'arting' this. I took a few pics along the way.

This is a nice big rocket with lots of space to play with - 2.6" tube, 38" tall, 24mm - and a little extra drag shouldn't affect an E12 all that much.
 
Finished quite a few rockets today. W00T!!!
 

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The two rockets on the right I've had sitting and waiting for a good time to finish them, better late than never. Last Friday I finished the 24mm, on the left. I wanted to fly it Saturday at a launch but I didn't want too loose it. There was a haze, I've learned you only fly them with clear blue sky's. I also had a 29mm I was going to fly. But as I was walking out to the car with it I stumbled. In order to keep from a complete face plant I had to get rid of the rocket. I had my first man powered lawn dart. (OK you can laugh)

Those are beautiful. Glad you still have a face ;)
 
Do you plan to remove the underlying base material and just fly the paint thickness? (I guess the adhesion promoter would make that difficult.);)
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Got the ground coat and the color coat on. The rain is supposed to come this afternoon. Won't get to clear coat any time soon.

The big chips are well covered, but lots of little defects -- hidden in the matte primer -- were highlighted by the metallic ground coat. Not a concern, just a surprise.
 
Over the past couple days I've built booster cores for my L2 cert rocket. All three have 38mm mounts so I can fly my experimental motors. They don't separate because that's complicated and I just want a sturdy tank of rocket, which was my philosophy going into the certification. All three are about 3 or 3.125" tubes, with the center being a little wider. The whole stack unloaded weighs 9.26 lbs.

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I am finishing up one Polecat kit... can’t remember the name. And getting started on a 7,5” Polecat V2 and a 5.5” Polecat Black Brant.
 
3D20372C-BB95-4A47-B4FD-C06059B8E951.jpeg Put together another FARG for my 24mm MD rocket. These things are essentially one time use on an Aerotech D15T or bigger because you won’t find it again.
 
Finally did something Rocketry - just organized my mess. Been a very busy year and only one launch attended.
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I was sitting in my shop, while looking at some scraps. I thought of this. two nose cones 5" BT.-60 body tube. And the 29mm. tube for the inside.IMG_3445.JPG IMG_3447.JPG Now I've got to get my metal lathe running so I can turn the 24mm, retainer. For the motor mount.
 
This was a productive weekend for me. Especially Sunday because the Patriots were not playing. In addition to house chores and yard work I snuck in some rocket activity before game 5 of the World Series. I setup engine retention so that one of my rockets can use a 29 to 24 mm adapter. I did a little painting on a rocket that crashed last weekend in Amesbury. I started setting up my Torrent's recovery system which includes a Chute Release.Torrent CR.JPG Torrent Recovery.JPG
 
I finally got my Durafly Me-163 to work on lighting a C6-0 plugged in flight. Kinda Anti-climatic. It worked, but mostly just an effect. No appreciable increase in speed, and I lit it from a glide - might try a D13 next time. I was alone at the time, so no photographic proof
 
Was up till the wee hours of the morning putting together the Dr Zooch Falcon Heavy (original unimproved version). Came out OK, despite a perfect storm of parts errors: one missing tube, mismatched booster nose cones, wrong size centering rings, a 4.9 " tube that actually measures to 4 5/8 (4.625) in. long, and landing leg templates that are way oversized. Found out about the templates after tediously cutting out 12 landing legs from brown board, and trying to dry fit them onto the body tubes. Replaced the missing/wrong parts with parts from my stash. Resanded the nose cones to more closely match each other. This must have been an anomaly, I have built several Dr Zooch kits with no parts problems at all. Still have to resize and recut the landing legs.

BTW has anyone flown this? The trailing flame fins look like they're gonna be toasted by the motor exhaust. Cheers.

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