What did you do rocket wise today?

[Jay Dub 4009]

Got the BT-50 Black Brant ready for primer/paint...

Where is that kit from? I like it. Motor mount size?

 

[o1d_dude]

Where is that kit from? I like it. Motor mount size?

Not Wally but the kit came from Mach1rocketry.com .

 

[o1d_dude]

Did some more internal fillets on my MC/RW Formula 54.

It was 102-105 degrees today so early this morning I retrieved my 30 minute BSI epoxy and stored it in the air conditioned house hoping that might give me a little more pot life.

In hindsight I should have brought the rocket into the house as well.

I mix my epoxy for fillets in those small clear plastic pill cups with the graduations on the side. 1/2 tsp each of resin and hardener. Today I hit the gel stage at about 8-9 minutes however I’d already poured to the two internal fillets and and smoothed the epoxy with a long thin dowel.

I read up on the West System hardeners and learned that even with the 209 extra slow hardener pot life is still around 12 minutes or so.

Apparently epoxy doesn’t really care for temps over 80 degrees and I was at 86-88 degrees when I mixed my batch.

Fortunately having everything laid out in advance and the pouring strategy planned I’m able to get the job done.

Daytime temps should be back to normal (mid to high 80’s) by the weekend.

Sure glad we planted shade trees when we bought the house new in 1979...

 

[Wally Ferrer]

Where is that kit from? I like it. Motor mount size?

As o1d_dude said, it's from Mach 1. This has an 18mm motor mount. I added the motor retainer. They have several fiberglass LPR kits, BT-20 through BT-60, plus mid and HPR up to 4 inches. Very nice quality.

 

[Gerald]

Finished up my Space Monkey V-2 (static display) . I already have several V-2's that I fly.

 

[HVArcas]

Gave my scratch built Standard Missile a final paint coat. Just waiting on the decal pack to arrive to finish it off.

damn that looks great

 

[prfesser]

Finished painting and de-masking of my semi-scale 260 Space Booster. Now I can install the railbuttons.

Best -- Terry

 

[Nytrunner]

Finished painting and de-masking of my semi-scale 260 Space Booster. Now I can install the railbuttons.
View attachment 418535
Best -- Terry

That's real clean! Is the nozzle for show is there a long skinny motor hiding in there?

 

[timb]

Finishing up the Flis ACME Spitfire. I wanted it to resemble the Far Side panel so I used Monokote aluminum trim for the body and red on the nose. The fins should be Monokote blue to match the 'toon but I liked the look of metal panels and used laser printed label stock instead; the original art came from the Flis website. I still need to do some detail, mostly the seams need some work. The rivet lines could be better, but for a first effort with a new-to-me method of finishing it came out OK.

 

[Doug Holverson]

I've been building and repairing since Monday. I was at a little launch yesterday. I was trying out spooler pods which where pretty successful even with a couple of over stuffed A10-3Ts blowing through. I almost lost a Silver Hawk that I had since '98-9 (one of the original prototypes), but found it in the middle of the road on the way out. I'm having more of my bad luck and Pauli Effect with mini-cams today. I'm starting a thread about that.

 

[Wally Ferrer]

Finishing up the Flis ACME Spitfire. I wanted it to resemble the Far Side panel so I used Monokote aluminum trim for the body and red on the nose. The fins should be Monokote blue to match the 'toon but I liked the look of metal panels and used laser printed label stock instead; the original art came from the Flis website. I still need to do some detail, mostly the seams need some work. The rivet lines could be better, but for a first effort with a new-to-me method of finishing it came out OK.

View attachment 418536

I finally ordered one of those, that looks great!

 

[kuririn]

Resurrected a long stalled build I started months ago.
The Estes Design of the Month Kamikaze Baka.
https://www.spacemodeling.org/jimz/eirp_70.htmGot hung up on the clear canopy and the rear ejection design.
Clear dope is not an effective glue for the clear plastic seams. Too weak.
Replaced the canopy with heavy cardstock instead. With glue tabs.
And the design is for dual chute rear ejection with a pop pod.
First, don't see a thrust ring or coupler to prevent the pod from travelling all the way to the nose of the airframe during thrust.
Second, while the smaller chute is wrapped around the pod tube between the centering rings (that's fine) the main chute is ahead of the pod. How does it get ejected from the tube? Seems like the ejection charge will be pushing the main chute into instead of out of the airframe.
So I switched it to traditional single chute nose blow design. KISS.
Which makes the tail fins vulnerable to damage at landing.
I'll take the tradeoff.
Better to have the chute deploy at the nose end than not deploy at all.


Laters.

 

[Wally Ferrer]

Resurrected a long stalled build I started months ago.
The Estes Design of the Month Kamikaze Baka.
https://www.spacemodeling.org/jimz/eirp_70.htmGot hung up on the clear canopy and the rear ejection design.
Clear dope is not an effective glue for the clear plastic seams. Too weak.
Replaced the canopy with heavy cardstock instead. With glue tabs.
And the design is for dual chute rear ejection with a pop pod.
First, don't see a thrust ring or coupler to prevent the pod from travelling all the way to the nose of the airframe during thrust.
Second, while the smaller chute is wrapped around the pod tube between the centering rings (that's fine) the main chute is ahead of the pod. How does it get ejected from the tube? Seems like the ejection charge will be pushing the main chute into instead of out of the airframe.
So I switched it to traditional single chute nose blow design. KISS.
Which makes the tail fins vulnerable to damage at landing.
I'll take the tradeoff.
Better to have the chute deploy at the nose end than not deploy at all.
View attachment 418546

Laters.

Looking at the instructions, it seems the main chute does go between the centering rings, but not wrapped around the pod like the pod chute. Regardless, cool kit.

 

[kuririn]

Looking at the instructions, it seems the main chute does go between the centering rings, but not wrapped around the pod like the pod chute. Regardless, cool kit.

You're right! Now I'd be concerned about the pod sliding out with two notches for the main chute shroud lines. Seems like that would jam if it doesn't slide out straight.
Too much nail biting.

 

[prfesser]

That's real clean! Is the nozzle for show is there a long skinny motor hiding in there?

Thank you! The nozzle is two cardstock transitions around a 38mm motor mount tube. Those two transitions, the nose cone, and the central transition all were homemade, along with a number of bulkheads and centering rings. The three transitions were made from five layers of cardstock soaked in epoxy. There's a centering ring at the aft end of the nozzle, and the space between is filled with expanding foam.

My L3 project was the same thing except the tubes were 7.5" and 6".

The 260 Space Booster was an Estes Design of the Month winner:
https://www.spacemodeling.org/jimz/eirp_36.htm
Best -- Terry

 

[timb]

I've been building and repairing since Monday. I was at a little launch yesterday. I was trying out spooler pods which where pretty successful even with a couple of over stuffed A10-3Ts blowing through. I almost lost a Silver Hawk that I had since '98-9 (one of the original prototypes), but found it in the middle of the road on the way out. I'm having more of my bad luck and Pauli Effect with mini-cams today. I'm starting a thread about that.

Glad you found it Doug; wish you were still selling kits. I particularly liked the Silver Hawk.

 

[Cape Byron]

Glad you found it Doug; wish you were still selling kits. I particularly liked the Silver Hawk.

There are a lot of us who wish Doug was still selling kits.

 

[Nytrunner]

My L3 project was the same thing except the tubes were 7.5" and 6

Nice! What did you form the conical sections with for that one?

 

[Wally Ferrer]

Resumed work on a long stalled Saturn 1B and un-masked the Bomarc...

 

[Ronz Rocketz]

Better launching success than last time. With the engine adapters, the rockets seem to go perpendicular to the wind, then with the wind on parachute. What's the science of that?

 

[OverTheTop]

Received my renewed Queensland License to Use Explosives. Good for five years. Easier to pay and keep it for the odd times it gets used rather than to let it lapse.

 

[OverTheTop]

Should work! I use dollar tree party streamer when using wadding. Fire retardant treated and biodegradable.

Yep. Party streamers from reputable companies make for great wadding. That's all I use.

 

[Ronz Rocketz]

Yep. Party streamers from reputable companies make for great wadding. That's all I use.

I bought some from Amazon but it was horribly combustible so returned it. Gonna visit the Party Store next...

 

[125cc]

Hoping for my first ever launch this weekend. Wx forecast looks fantastic in Scotland and we've also had some Covid restrictions lifted today allowing outdoor activities. If Dragon launches tomorrow in Florida it would be the perfect celebration...

 

[lakeroadster]

String tested the Hammerhead Shark rocket.... more here

 

[neil_w]

Better launching success than last time. With the engine adapters, the rockets seem to go perpendicular to the wind, then with the wind on parachute. What's the science of that?

It's called weather cocking, named after rooster-themed weathervanes.

My heart almost stopped when I saw you were going to launch a Hi-flier on a C6... then I saw it was a Hi-flier XL and I resumed breathing.

You should get some C6-0s for the Vortico for maximum entertainment. They'll still land right nearby...

 

[Terry Habegger]

Resurrected a long stalled build I started months ago.
The Estes Design of the Month Kamikaze Baka.
https://www.spacemodeling.org/jimz/eirp_70.htmGot hung up on the clear canopy and the rear ejection design.
Clear dope is not an effective glue for the clear plastic seams. Too weak.
Replaced the canopy with heavy cardstock instead. With glue tabs.
And the design is for dual chute rear ejection with a pop pod.
First, don't see a thrust ring or coupler to prevent the pod from travelling all the way to the nose of the airframe during thrust.
Second, while the smaller chute is wrapped around the pod tube between the centering rings (that's fine) the main chute is ahead of the pod. How does it get ejected from the tube? Seems like the ejection charge will be pushing the main chute into instead of out of the airframe.
So I switched it to traditional single chute nose blow design. KISS.
Which makes the tail fins vulnerable to damage at landing.
I'll take the tradeoff.
Better to have the chute deploy at the nose end than not deploy at all.
View attachment 418546

Laters.

Model airplane guys use a glue called " Formula 560 Canopy Glue " ( Pacer pt -56 ) might want to check it out.

 

[Old School Doug]

Finished off 2 more of my scratch builds. Invariably, when I get parts I've ordered I end up with 3 or 4 builds going on at the same time . Now with better weather here and stay at home orders being relaxed it's time to get some of these birds in the air.

 

[NateB]

I went outside to paint this morning, but it was raining. Instead I ended up ordering a few things.

I have a Mach 1 Trivecta 318 coming and an Estes Sterling Silver coming. I haven't build a cluster or staged rockets before, so I figured I might as well start small.

I also added a few bits to make a Mach 1 BT55 Electron into a near MD 29MM build and an Estes Crossfire ISX just because.

 

[Wally Ferrer]

I went outside to paint this morning, but it was raining. Instead I ended up ordering a few things.

I have a Mach 1 Trivecta 318 coming and an Estes Sterling Silver coming. I haven't build a cluster or staged rockets before, so I figured I might as well start small.

I also added a few bits to make a Mach 1 BT55 Electron into a near MD 29MM build and an Estes Crossfire ISX just because.

The Trivecta 318 was a 'rocket of the day' yesterday so I went ahead and ordered one at 20% off... I already have the Trivecta 329 waiting to be built...