What did you do rocket wise today?

[GalantVR41062]

I made it out to the local high school to fly a few rockets. I am using the 11lb AGM 12v battery I bought for my racecar in place of the lawnmower battery that let me down last week.



I had time to fly 2 rockets. "Moch 2" went up on a Loki G70ct with a 8sec delay (ended up being 6, I need to drill the delay less on these 38mm Loki reloads). No damage to the airframe and a fairly straight boost. JLCR released at 200' and a nice soft landing. Sim showed 1450', the micro peak altimeter did not record accurate data, reported only 31.8 meters. It might have been from placing it in the payload tube and sliding it together.



I have been working on getting a 808 camera on my rockets for a while. I bought 2 on line and have determined 1 is DOA. I soldered a pigtail on the board for the other to plug in a 500mah 1s lipo battery, and stripped it down and mounted it onto a custom Sled to slide down into a Bt60 payload with the lense facing out the side of a hole in the airframe.



I set it up in "Gallo 24" a short scratch build with a small payload and 24mm mmt. Its earned the battle scars after 17 flights to date. Went up on a AT D15T-7. Based on sims, previous altimeter data this rocket goes 600-700' on this load, and the chute is sized for a 18-20' decent rate and is flown to get an idea of the upper winds and LZ for the higher flying projects that day.

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I also received the email saying I can go fly high power rockets this Saturday pending weather. I plan to bring my 1/4 scale Viking 7 project just to show and talk with some people and see what if anything needs to be addressed before its maiden flight later this year on a 75mm AT K1000t, or small L.

~John

 

[Old School Doug]

Does either booster fit under the other booster? Your three stage dreams might not be dead!

I like the cleaner look to. Are they too clean? Maybe just some simple stripes or chevrons or something, either decals or paint. Like, say, a half inch or inch wide band of the fin color about half way up the body, or something small and simple like that.

Yep. I can definitely stack the boosters under either sustainer. I'll most likely give that a shot once I get the initial one and two stage test launches complete.
I do like the idea of breaking up the white lines of the DC Express. Perhaps 3 or 4 red horizontal stripes of graduating thickness around mid rocket, from thicker aft to narrower forward. Hmmm definitely worth considering. I'm leaning towards keeping the RTS a clean black and blue.

 

[o1d_dude]

and the solution was what exactly..?

Think how a spinning reel mounts on a fishing rod...

 

[TopRamen]

Modified bicycle hooks into rocket hooks in the bench vise and hung a rocket on the wall of my new shop above the temporary work station #1.
That's the one with the five finned tail made from a plastic desktop lazy Susan. I like it because it was one of my first builds using Openrocket and showed me a lot about fight parameters, being that it was going to be tailheavy from the start. 29mm, needed to push all that necessary nose lead. Have not flown her yet.

 

[prfesser]

Finished decals on the Interceptor E. A few left over but I'm skipping them. Clearcoat in a few days, and DONE! I'll post pix.

Best -- Terry

 

[rharshberger]

Modified bicycle hooks into rocket hooks in the bench vise and hung a rocket on the wall of my new shop above the temporary work station #1.
That's the one with the five finned tail made from a plastic desktop lazy Susan. I like it because it was one of my first builds using Openrocket and showed me a lot about fight parameters, being that it was going to be tailheavy from the start. 29mm, needed to push all that necessary nose lead. Have not flown her yet.

I remember that build!

 

[OKTurbo]

Started drawing up a new/updated design idea.

 

[XrayLizard]

Went to visit a Rocket Buddy I had not seen since I last gave up on the hobby...
and came home with some of my Rockets I gave him, and bought back two Aerotech motor casings
The Red River Merlin (silver payload one )was my L1 Cert rocket, so very glad to have it home again!

 

[Cape Byron]

Big Bruce in his undies. Happy with the primer coats.




Retrieved the airbrushes from 10 years storage and looked over the paint I had.



Gulf Racing methinks. Need to test the gear and paint before proceeding...

 

[John Kemker]

Gulf Racing methinks. Need to test the gear and paint before proceeding...

View attachment 428172

My very first rocket was an Estes WAC Corporal that I built and my dad painted in Gulf Racing blue and orange. (He worked for Gulf Oil for almost 30 years before they sold out to SoCal/Chevron.)

 

[Cape Byron]

My very first rocket was an Estes WAC Corporal that I built and my dad painted in Gulf Racing blue and orange. (He worked for Gulf Oil for almost 30 years before they sold out to SoCal/Chevron.)

Always a beautiful colour combination. Especially on a GT40.

I found a 'recipe' for more accurate Gulf colours if anyone is interested.

Tamiya:

Gulf Racing Blue.
16 parts (X2 White) + 1 part (X4 Blue)

Gulf Racing Orange.
16 parts (X6 Orange) + 1 part (X7 Red)

Out of the pot colours will be good enough for Big Bruce.

 

[Old School Doug]

Started the build for my downsized Raptor 2 stage (BT55/18mm mmt). Resupplied my BP motor case. But best of all, my JL Chute Release arrived today. Surprisingly no snafu with USPS. It took exactly the same amount of time as other past shipments from the same dealer. So tomorrow morning it's off to the launch site before the rains come to test it out and give three scratch builds their first shake down launches.

 

[XrayLizard]

Now I am helping the GF build her seconed ever Rocket ! The first one was probably 20 years ago!
An Estes Patriot.

 

[Joshua F Thomas]

I printed a water-slide decal sheet of two dozens copies of my phone number. Now all my rockets have my number somewhere on them. I'll feel better the next time I lose a rocket to a tree or just lost, that it one day may return to me.

 

[SCooke123]

I read about rockets on here - does that count?

 

[Cape Byron]

Managed a little more work on the Spacemonkey V2. Fitted the stuffer tube to the airframe and started work on the fins. High quality kit. Fun build.

View attachment 428221



Note the high-tech rocket cradle...

 

[Joshua F Thomas]

I just opened the box of parts for my first HPR kit, a LOC Goblin (4").

 

[BrendanH69]

Although humidity not ideal, did a bit of stencilling and painting on the fins and nose of my 54mm FWFG project "Fright of the Concordes". Decided to try stencilling this time as the quality of the water-slide transfer paper I last got has not yielded good results recently. Rattle can spray only as I haven't transcended into airbrush skills yet!

 

[o1d_dude]

Now I am helping the GF build her seconed ever Rocket ! The first one was probably 20 years ago!
An Estes Patriot.

Marry her.

She builds rockets.

 

[jqavins]

Note the high-tech rocket cradle...

For LPR kits I like to take the face card and make two "risers", each by folding up 90, over 180, then back out 90. Tape the risers closed. If I'm feeling really ambitious I'll cut V notches into them. But I guess that's too high tech for some.

 

[XrayLizard]

Marry her.

She builds rockets.

LOL!
She is my Ex of 37 years!

 

[jqavins]

Now I am helping the GF...

She is my Ex of 37 years!

Wait, both Ex and GF? Either remarry her or get out quick. Or ignore all advice and do what works for ya.

 

[kuririn]

Dry fitted a BT-80 Gemini capsule received yesterday from Shapeways.
Looks awesome.

 

[o1d_dude]

LOL!
She is my Ex of 37 years!

I got nothing.

 

[Vitruvius]

I printed out another Blue Gemini kit from Delta 7 Studios today. I'm working towards a 1/48th scale Titan/M.O.L. kit for flight as well as a 1/24th scale M.O.L. from Delta 7 Studios.

 

[Pariah Zero]

The past few day’s has been so much sanding. I’m working on my LOC 4” Phoenix. I ‘glassed the tube and fins, but there were some surface imperfections. I also learned a lot while applying the RocketPoxy fillets - but the first fillets weren’t that great.

So, I’ve been using body filler & lots of sanding. I’ve been using Evercoat Rage Optex, and quite like it. I’ve also used some 3M Acryl putty for spot cleanup.

The rocket fins are finally smooth, and most of the filler has been sanded off. (Again, still learning, used too much at first).

After one night of sanding, I decided to look up and see if anyone made a mini random orbital sander. I was in luck: Harbor Freight had a little guy for $25. It works great, though 4 CFM of air means I generally sand one minute, and wait five (refill the compressor tank, let it “cool” so I don’t exceed the compressor’s duty cycle)

 

[Joshua F Thomas]

Club launch today. Wind started out moderate and got strong by noon, resulting in everyone aiming windward by at least 10 degrees. Lots of ballistic-looking trajectories that floated right back toward us.

Local scout group was there all with egg lofters. Unfortunately the person who did the purchasing bought all C6-0 motors. The very unhappy scout master eventually bought C6-5s from our local vendor and the kids got to launching, mostly with success.

A fellow with a LOC Goblin 4” (oddly I had just bought one) tried for his Level 1. After deployment the Goblin drifted out of sight over trees and I do not think it was recovered.

My own flights were mixed. I refused to fly my 3-stage Microsonde in the gusty winds. Others:

Tube Rocket on a B6-4: good flight and recovery; using MJG igniter for first time

WAC Corporal on a D16-6 Q-Jet: good flight and recovery; first composite motor ever flown

Scratch built BT-80 on 3x C6-5: Two motors only ignited. Ballistic arc with chute deployment 50 ft up. Hard landing snapped a fin.

Trident T172-18:
1) 3x B6-4, only two ignited. Low flight and deploy, no damage.
2) 3x C6-5, all ignited. Good flight and recovery.

The two failed clusters were because I’m an idiot and forgot how to properly wire igniters in parallel. I remembered by the third!

If you read this far, you got to the bonus section. The wife came along, and by the end she had bought a Big Bertha kit! I hope she will enjoy sanding

 

[Mugs914]

Got the first primer on the LOC Nike Zeus/Spartan... Well, not all of it, just the nose cone and the canard part (the "missile control unit").

I'm a bit surprised that, so far, anyway, there doesn't look like there will be all that much remedial work to do. There are a couple of places that will need a bit of filling, and overall detail sanding, but so far, so good!

Nice to finally be sprayin' some paint on this one...

 

[Funkworks]

They're one if the few that can do over-lapping holes.

Never even thought over-lapping holes would be a thing but yeah, I get it and I like it. Hmm ... "excuse to make overlapping holes" - I'm adding that to the to-do list.

What I did today? I used Rocketpoxy to build a LOC 38mm-to-29mm motor mount for the Smurf rocket. Because none of "us" are L1-certified yet and chances are the 38mm-rocket will be ready to launch before I get the L1, because I'll need my study-time budget for work-related certifications for much of the near future.

Anyway, that Rocketpoxy is some sticky. I still use bare skin to spread epoxy fillets because "knock-on-wood" I have yet to see an allergic reaction, but the stuff is so sticky I need wash my hands at the sink every 2 minutes just so I don't spread it everywhere.

Also snatched a killer item on eBay but I'll wait to receive it and take pictures before saying what it is. To be continued -

 

[heada]

Never even thought over-lapping holes would be a thing but yeah, I get it and I like it. Hmm ... "excuse to make overlapping holes" - I'm adding that to the to-do list.

When making mortise and tenon joinery, drilling out the majority of the mortise pocket with a drill bit is much easier than chopping it all out with a chisel. Best kind of holes for that, assuming you don't have a power mortiser that drills square holes (yes, that's a thing), over-lap and so the need for over-lapping holes.

Today I painted a 2.6" LOC Patriot, a 1.6" Estes Star Orbiter and my DerRedMax that I built about 12 years ago and have flown dozens of times but never took past primer. Now just gotta find the decals for it.