What did you do rocket wise today?

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I finished my ASP Rocketry 'Way Too High!' kit last night, all except paint. Took it to the local park today for launch. This is my first two-stage kit.

Two launches were performed. Both had successful lower and upper stage ignition. Recovery on the lower is tumble and the upper is by streamer. The first launch was recovered without incident. [Edit]: Booster was a C6-0 and sustainer a B6-4.

On the second launch, the sustainer stage drifted just far enough to get stuck 40 ft up in the trees on the very edge of the field. I would be less annoyed if my Jolly Logic AltimiterTwo was not attached to it! Now I have to figure out how to get it down from that high up - it's easily twice as high as any previous retrieval I've done before.

Video of the second launch can be seen below, complete with evil rocket-eating tree.




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It is a Beauty. Made by ASP? I have the 18mm with Tiny Tim booster. Nice work you did.

Yep! The 24mm variant. I have been mostly flying it on C motors with a 18-to-24 adaptor. I save the D motor for the club launches where we have a big enough field; on a D12-7 it's about 1000 ft.
 
Yep! The 24mm variant. I have been mostly flying it on C motors with a 18-to-24 adaptor. I save the D motor for the club launches where we have a big enough field; on a D12-7 it's about 1000 ft.
Awesome! Hope you get many good flights and recovery with it. I would save the D motor for club launches too.
 
I finished my ASP Rocketry 'Way Too High!' kit last night, all except paint. Took it to the local park today for launch. This is my first two-stage kit.

Two launches were performed. Both had successful lower and upper stage ignition. Recovery on the lower is tumble and the upper is by streamer. The first launch was recovered without incident. [Edit]: Booster was a C6-0 and sustainer a B6-4.

On the second launch, the sustainer stage drifted just far enough to get stuck 40 ft up in the trees on the very edge of the field. I would be less annoyed if my Jolly Logic AltimiterTwo was not attached to it! Now I have to figure out how to get it down from that high up - it's easily twice as high as any previous retrieval I've done before.

Video of the second launch can be seen below, complete with evil rocket-eating tree.




View attachment 426531


View attachment 426532

Maybe the wind and gravity will get it down?
 
I finished my ASP Rocketry 'Way Too High!' kit last night, all except paint. Took it to the local park today for launch. This is my first two-stage kit.

Two launches were performed. Both had successful lower and upper stage ignition. Recovery on the lower is tumble and the upper is by streamer. The first launch was recovered without incident. [Edit]: Booster was a C6-0 and sustainer a B6-4.

On the second launch, the sustainer stage drifted just far enough to get stuck 40 ft up in the trees on the very edge of the field. I would be less annoyed if my Jolly Logic AltimiterTwo was not attached to it! Now I have to figure out how to get it down from that high up - it's easily twice as high as any previous retrieval I've done before.

Video of the second launch can be seen below, complete with evil rocket-eating tree.




View attachment 426531


View attachment 426532

You could use the erockets.biz rocket recovery tool or use the preferred method.

 
Received my order from erockets today. Wasn't expecting it until 8/3, the tracking ETA.
Dayton, Ohio to Honolulu, HI in 3 days. Not bad.
Parts for the SPEV.
BNC-50 nose cone for a Mercury Atlas.
Centering rings for a canted two motor cluster BT-80 Gemini Titan.
And this:
0731201655[1].jpg

In the middle of a build right now, but I am so easily distracted.
Discipline, discipline. ;)
 
3d printed some guides for cutting/sizing/sanding the modified fins for my Mach1 Alien Interceptor 38mmXL build. I planned on getting this rocket built forever ago, but...covid, job change, move across the country, lazy, etc. Hopefully soon. The new fin material is waiting...

IMG_8380.jpg
 
Went back to Lowe’s and bought some PVC sprinkler fittings and pipe to modify my Infinitely Expandable Rocket Painting Rotisserie to accommodate rockets with internal baffles. It now works exactly how I envisioned it and tomorrow will be Primer Saturday for my Cherokee-H and possibly my Panavia clone. I will also try to work the FusionRocket L’il Thor into the lineup.

That reminds me. Today I wore my THOR t-shirt while shopping. Not the Scott Binder Thor but the 6’9” tall Hafthor Bjornsson World Strongest Man Thor. I met him a few times at the Scottish Games Nationals back when I competed a few years ago. He’s pretty doggone big and made me feel like a shrimp. Me...the athlete formerly known as The Littlest Giant...felt small. Oddly enough, Thor is the shrimp in his family. His dad, mom, and SISTER, are all over 7’ tall.

Those Icelanders...no wonder they called the American Indians “Skraelings” which means “the small people” in Icelandic. Indians being no dummies adopted Viking weapons. Now you know the origin of the tomahawk.
 
Tomorrow, I need to buy a 1-5/8" spade drill bit so I can drill out the middle part.
Consider a forstner bit instead. They're more expensive, but they give much cleaner and more precisely sized holes. Not that a spade bit won't do. A forstner is worth it, in my opinion.
 
Pics? Please?
Pictures to follow but much less complicated than you would think.

Always get a shade tree rocketeer to do a project. Edumacated engineers always make things way too complicated.

Here’s a hint...

Notice how each support is free-standing? The rotisserie “spit” simply lays in the cross fitting top.

Now imagine a tee fitting in each support leg with a short length of tubing friction fit in place.

Voila!
 

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I bought a hole saw. Now I can make a 38-mm motor mount ring. ⚠😀
 
Consider a forstner bit instead. They're more expensive, but they give much cleaner and more precisely sized holes. Not that a spade bit won't do. A forstner is worth it, in my opinion.

1st of all: I didn’t read your post in time.

2nd: I was told Forstner bits were for having a flat bottom, but I want to go through.

3rd: A recommendation on a Forstner packaging I read in-store said they should only be used with a drill press, which I neither have nor want.

4th: I went for a hole saw instead of a spade, sanded the interior and am happy with the result.

But mostly, I didn’t see your post in time.

Also, someone will be letting me use his drill press and Forstner bit set shortly so at least I’ll have the experience to make good choices in future.
 
I put the finishing touches on a fleet of Shrox Vipox rockets from Apogee free plans. One for my niece, one for my grandson and one for the builder of course.
20200801_184357.jpg
Thanks to the fine folks at Apogee Components.
 
1st of all: I didn’t read your post in time.

2nd: I was told Forstner bits were for having a flat bottom, but I want to go through.

3rd: A recommendation on a Forstner packaging I read in-store said they should only be used with a drill press, which I neither have nor want.

4th: I went for a hole saw instead of a spade, sanded the interior and am happy with the result.

But mostly, I didn’t see your post in time.

Also, someone will be letting me use his drill press and Forstner bit set shortly so at least I’ll have the experience to make good choices in future.
I have 3 different sets of forstner bits as well as spade bits, hole saws, split point twist bits and brad point twist bits. For drilling a mmt hole in a cr, either the hole saws or the forstner bits would be my go-to. You don't have to use a still press but you'll get better result with one. Also, they're good for flat bottom holes and smooth side holes. They're one if the few that can do over-lapping holes.

For off sizes, fly cutter in a drill press is the only easy way.
 
In February on a frozen lake in NW Wisconsin, the Rocket Boys had their annual launch & imbibing. I had a shock cord break on my scratch built Arapaho E and the nosecone & chute drifted a long ways & ended up in the upper branches of a White Pine. I've tried several time to get it down but no luck. The friend who owns the property offered to cut it down for me but I just can't kill a tree to get a nosecone & chute. That pine helps provide me with O2.

I have an old Redwood patio set that a friend gave me. It belonged to a friends grandparents. My guess they were made in the early 1960s. Three chairs, one small side table. One of the chairs was in bad shape. I've restored one & plan on one more.

The worst chair I took apart today to used the old Redwood to make nosecones. So I took apart some of the chair, cleaned up one piece, and used it to turn a new cone on my wood lathe. It turned out very nice an has 2 coats of sandable primer on it. Tomorrow I plan on trying to airbrush it to match te rest of the rocket.

PS. The next time I turn a nosecone I promise to take pics & post them here.
 
I have been working in my 1/4 scale Viking 7 for a while now. And it's to the point I need to think how I was going to transport, move, store and assemble/prep the rocket.

I needed a way to hold the rocket horizontal, and be able to separate the rocket as I prep for flight. I needed a way to get the rocket out to the pad, and pending recovery back to my car at the launch site. I had thought about holding the rocket vertical as I do the RSO and pad assignment, its only 52-54lbs with a large K or small L motor in it.

20200727_094859.jpg

I am going to carpet the 1x3 boards at the top of the V, the wheels come off and I can secure the frame inside my parents yard trailer for transport to the launch site, then I can either strap the rocket to the frame or transport it broken down in the car. I will also setup pegs on the sides for smaller rockets to display at the launch.

A few finish up things will be a 3 foot long handle of some kind out the front to lift and guide the frame as needed, then paint.

I also noticed 1 fin was a little warped as I was sanding and getting ready to lay down a layer of fiberglass on the fins.

20200801_211037.jpg
 

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I put the finishing touches on a fleet of Shrox Vipox rockets from Apogee free plans. One for my niece, one for my grandson and one for the builder of course.
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Thanks to the fine folks at Apogee Components.

Those must be based off of the old Battlestar Galactica Vipers? I haven't seen those in a very long time.

EMPBattlestarGalacticaViperMkI_Open.jpg
 
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