What did you do rocket wise today?

[tsmith1315]

Got the booster, payloads, and switchband cut from 3" tube for my L2 cert rocket. Cut the fins and centering rings a few days ago. Once I get the booster tube slotted, it will be in "kit form" equivalent and I can start assembly. Still pondering on the electronics bay(s), and whether or not I can spring for a motor retainer.





Also watched the farm boys get up most of the cotton across the road. Then after dark, they got up about half the small field beside me. The mice, rats and snakes get displaced when the fields are worked. The cats will contain the vermin, but I wish they'd done it in the daytime so I could keep an eye out for snakes.

And that's rocket related, because when they're done, I have somewhere to give this rocket a maiden flight before committing it to a J-motor!

 

[Scrapmaster87]

Rebuilt my Tubetastic's ebay for my new XT30 ejection charge quick field connect. No more stripping ejection charge wires! I'm rolling this out to the other members of my fleet that have airframe space to handle it too.



Unfortunately I'm sitting out MDRA tomorrow. I've been needing to get repairs/rebuilds like this done and I've been fiddling with the new filament winder design challenges.

 

[KenECoyote]

finless testing...

View attachment 486005

Here's the video in case anyone is interested in the actual flight:

 

[teepot]

It was the second day of Octoberfest. A little breezy, a little too breezy at times. I flew a scratch built Nike Smoke. Good up and down. Had the chute release set at 400'. It still drifted about 600yards. When I got to it it was in good shape. I picked it up and the wind filled the chute a yanked the rocket out of may hand. That all happened in about 2 seconds. The rocket was dragged about 400 yards. A couple of guys on motorcycles stopped it for me. The trip across the lake bed did a number on the paint and body tube. I sat out the rest of the day waiting for the wind to slow. And it did, at sunset, out came the night fliers. Some cool sparky motors were burned. I put one of mine up. It had flashing lights in a clears payload bay and fairy lights down the sides. Good up, but the chute didn't make it all the way out of the tube. So inbound it looked like a meteor. Now I have an open spot on the ceiling. Tomorrow is supposed to be calm. I sure hope so.

 

[Nateairman]

I printed a mount for a 4" tube that will carry a runcam2 4k.
I may redesign the mount for a modular tube system.

 

[tOD]

I purchased a section of LOC 1.6" airframe tubing for another project and had 22" left. I got a fin set, MMT (24mm), some rings and a nosecones for a scratch build. Also an opportunity to learn a little more about Rocksim. Looks like it will be good on AT 24/40's and CTI 1 and 2 gr.

 

[BruceS]

Assembly of Fliskits Monster Mudwasp complete. Now the hard part: deciding on paint job.

 

[DigBaddy]

Sprayed the dark blue this morning and pulled the tape just now. This'll work. Got a little touch up to do, but not bad considering the challenge painting this.

 

[mjremijan]

Finished my Boosted Bertha. Probably send it up on a pair of D12s tomorrow!View attachment 486001

I really love the Bertha body style. Your finish looks spectacular. I've posted some image of the finish of my Baby Bertha build (red/yellow color scheme) and I had some trouble with paint around the fin edges. This is the first time I've ever tried a high quality finish on a rocket so overall I can't be too upset how mine turned out but any suggestions would be welcome.

 

[mjremijan]

Baby Bertha build. My latest Baby Bertha (211) build is complete! I went with a Red/Yellow color scheme instead of the Black/White. This was my very first attempt at doing a high-quality, nice smooth finish. So I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. It's far from perfect though. I especially had trouble with the fin edges (as you can see in the closeup pictures). Both around the edges of the fins and fillets I didn't get a good separation of color. Any suggestions to help with this on my next build would be great. I did go buy some brand new 3M blue painters tape (the roll I used for this rocket is one I had laying around and who knows how old it was).

 

[Banzai88]

After almost a year of not touching my L2 project, I finally got paint on it AND ground tested the AvBay.

All that remains is clear coat (Max2K), ejection charge ground test, and the L2 test!

 

[DigBaddy]

Baby Bertha build. My latest Baby Bertha (211) build is complete! I went with a Red/Yellow color scheme instead of the Black/White. This was my very first attempt at doing a high-quality, nice smooth finish. So I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. It's far from perfect though. I especially had trouble with the fin edges (as you can see in the closeup pictures). Both around the edges of the fins and fillets I didn't get a good separation of color. Any suggestions to help with this on my next build would be great. I did go buy some brand new 3M blue painters tape (the roll I used for this rocket is one I had laying around and who knows how old it was).

One way to get a good color split in your build would be to spray on the yellow without any masking. Let cure, tape off the yellow, then spray a bit of yellow to seal the tape edge before hosing on the red. Then, paint the red on and pull tape sooner rather than later to get a good edge.

 

[mjremijan]

One way to get a good color split in your build would be to spray on the yellow without any masking. Let cure, tape off the yellow, then spray a bit of yellow to seal the tape edge before hosing on the red. Then, paint the red on and pull tape sooner rather than later to get a good edge.

Ok that makes sense. I will try that. Also I left the tape on for days....I didn't think to remove it quickly.

 

[BigMacDaddy]

I printed a hairy rocket...

I guess the ring tail did need supports...

 

[kuririn]

I printed a hairy rocket...
View attachment 486109
I guess the ring tail did need supports...

I think you're on to something.

 

[Scotty Dog]

Decal on the xtf-18

 

[Five]

Went to October fest(Las Vegas) this weekend and bought a Tri Star 4in 38mm kit from AMW Pro-X. When I got home and unpacked it, I discovered one of the fins was warp. Also one of the center rings was broke in two spots, fortunately I was able to use a little bit of Gorilla super glue to piece it back together. And tried to charge me $99 for a $90 I65 motor but said he would give it to me for $90 so I would think he is doing me a favor.
No thanks.

 

[kuririn]

Decal on the xtf-18

What paint color is that on the nose cone?
Looks like color shifting paint.

 

[arconhi]

MDRA 273 at Sod Farm in Centreville Md. This is John Stern's "AntaresJS"'s Phoenix rocket that flew on an Aerotech J415W motor. Went over 2800 feet. Winds were about 5 to 10 mph with some gusts. The 8 foot parachute did not open up and the rocket landed with just a small chip on the air frame . It was an impressive launch. Wish I could have caught more . It was hard to find. Looking forward to more events coming up.
View attachment Phoenix rfyt.mp4

 

[kuririn]

Rest of the parts came in a couple of days ago so started dry fitting and gluing my upscale Centuri Defender. Still need to adjust and cut a couple of tube lengths.

 

[jqavins]

I was surprised that the epoxy paint didn't cure in the can overnight, but the instructions said it would last for up to 48 hours before curing. The paint on the N/C was completely dry this morning.

Interesting. I speculate that it has to do with oxygen exposure. Sort of a "three part epoxy".

Good up, but the chute didn't make it all the way out of the tube. So inbound it looked like a meteor.

"Like a meteor" doesn't sound repairable. Are parts salvageable? The blinkenlights at least?

View attachment 486094

The paint job on the fin can is... quite something.

Decal on the xtf-18

Nice. What's the bird dropping?

 

[Banzai88]

The paint job on the fin can is... quite something.

Yeah.....lots and lots of measuring and masking. All in all the prep was a little over 2 hours on figuring out how to do it, and actual measuring/marking/masking/painting was a little over 5 hours. Alternating colors across the two fin sections was.....challenging. Oddly enough, splitting the fin leading edge was one of the easier tasks!

 

[mjremijan]

Baby Bertha build. Baby Bertha 211 build is complete

 

[jqavins]

Baby Bertha 211...

Have you actually built two hundred and eleven Baby Berthas? Or does that mean something else?

 

[Donnager]

I printed a hairy rocket...
View attachment 486109
I guess the ring tail did need supports...

I've got to be honest. If I took this picture, there'd be a hammer in the middle of it.

 

[mjremijan]

Have you actually built two hundred and eleven Baby Berthas? Or does that mean something else?

21 = 2021 the year
1 = 1st Baby Bertha this year
I plan to have a whole fleet of them and may build more than 1 a year.

 

[heada]

21 = 2021 the year
1 = 1st Baby Bertha this year
I plan to have a whole fleet of them and may build more than 1 a year.

More than 1 per year but not more than 9 per year? You need to think bigger!

 

[Cape Byron]

Received a nice box of parts via UPS, so kitting up Yalgas and Brumbys today and prolly Longreachs tomorrow.

 

[Joharvey1]

attempted to build an OR file from scratch for my Prometheus 5. Trying to get the calibers value below 2... let the trial and error begin. Stock steel tipped nosecone making things complicated. I wasn't intending to fly this rocket on an M1350...lol. Even then, the stability is still not below 2 calibers...

 

[H. Craig Miller]

Much thanks to the folks of Tripoli Las Vegas for a great Oktoberfest 2021 event this past weekend...

​

Those grid fins flew as straight as could be.