What did you do rocket wise today?

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Last night I sat down to dry fit all the parts in the LOC 7.5 V2 tailcone.
I love LOC but I gotta say the the instructions were a bit lacking to the point of misdirection. I have built many HPR and don't need instructions but it did take me a bit of puzzling with the 98mm motor mount rings and the clever fore loading LOC 54mm motor tube adapter. The motor tube rings are so massive they have built in voids to pour foam down into the bottom of the tail cone.
I may or may not tend to choose builds with robust build threads in the past. This rocket purchase was very different in that I wanted to build this massive rocket and there are no build threads I could find. It may inspire me to do a build thread with some of the more puzzling bits of the assembly.
I have a LOC 7.5 V2 kit as well and was planning on building it later this season with fiberglassed tubes and fins with dd.

I have the version with multiple motor mounts, but not the one with adjustable nose weight cartridges (well, I do, but that's a side story for another build).

I think there were some build threads around if you dig. There's also some thread on the cartridge weight system as well as the adjustable dd bay (short or long).
 
I have a LOC 7.5 V2 kit as well and was planning on building it later this season with fiberglassed tubes and fins with dd.

I have the version with multiple motor mounts, but not the one with adjustable nose weight cartridges (well, I do, but that's a side story for another build).

I think there were some build threads around if you dig. There's also some thread on the cartridge weight system as well as the adjustable dd bay (short or long).
Great! 7.5 V2 builders unite! Send me any links if you find em. I have been looking since last fall and the closest useful builds were 7.5 Doorknob builds. I did finish the Nose cone with the adjustable nose weight system. its very clever.
 
Great! 7.5 V2 builders unite! Send me any links if you find em. I have been looking since last fall and the closest useful builds were 7.5 Doorknob builds. I did finish the Nose cone with the adjustable nose weight system. its very clever.
There's a YouTuber here who had some videos of building one that he did tip to tip fg with. I'll update if I can find it again.
 
Today I worked on a slight upscale of my William the Bullet model for LOC 5.38" tube. Not much bigger in diameter than the 5" drink canister tube that I made the original for, but still winds up seeming a fair bit larger.

I also made all the parts somewhat sturdier since this LOC tube is so much heavier (3oz heavier even in the short length needed). I assume if this becomes a kit that people might fly the LOC version with bigger engines (the original was made quite sturdy to fly with 29mm but there is such a range of power with 29mm tubes).

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Shot the black on two of the fins on Big Bertha. Removed all of the blue tape and sanded a couple of small runs under the tape. Unfortunately I'll be done working on rockets for probably three weeks. Finally got an appointment to get some things fixed on the motorhome so I leave tomorrow for Kansas City, MO. Then hope to be back by June 6th to head to Eldora Speedway for a week of camping for the Eldora Dream Super Late Model race. Should be back home by the 13th then back to rocket building.
 
  • Got my cameras charged and checked out (one was giving me trouble as punishment for having taken it apart).
  • Charged altimeter and tracker batteries.
  • Completed the dual-tracker nose cone bay. Decided it could use more fiberglass reinforcement because I'm utterly incapable of not fiberglassing stuff lately.
  • Why two trackers? So I can fly one I trust while checking out new builds.
  • Housed a new Eggfinder receiver.
  • Verified both Minis are working with their receivers and changed the channel on the new one.
  • Found a Marco Polo tracker I'd forgotten I owned. Taking it with me to the launch. Maybe I'll fly it too?
  • Prepped a rocket
  • Packed and mostly loaded up the truck for the Texas Shootout!
 
Got marooned at a satellite location, so I built a downscale of the TLP Harpoon AGM-84A. With the slightest bit of weather luck, it should fly this weekend.
 
Nothing yet today. But it's still early. Yesterday I cut out the fins for the space plane. There is a lot of wing and fin. After I cut them out I weighed them. 16 ounces before finishing them. Realized I didn't have enough filler to do all of them and ordered more. I also finished the shortish rocket. It's a 4" LOC tube. One I trashed trying to fill spirals with something I hadn't used before that didn't work for me. It's 40" long and weighs 51 ounces with a chute. The fins are 1/4 plywood. 38mm mmt. I built it because I wanted to try a paint scheme I hadn't used before. Came out about 80% of good. A 10' finish. Took me a couple of hours on and off to mask it. I would do some masking, step back look at it and do some more. It took me almost an hour to get all the masking off. After it was masked I put a coat of the base color over the masking to try and get sharp lines but there was still some bleeding. I got the idea for the paint scheme from WWII ships that were camouflaged. I'm calling it Valiant. There was a British Battleship by that name. Here it is.20230525_125256[2480].jpg
 
Mounted the bulkhead in the coupler, installed the MMT, cut, filled and sanded the fins on the Anti-zipper Test (forevermore dubbed AZT). And low and behold.......a King Kraken appeared at my door! So now I'm in multi-build mode. Got the tube fins cut and filled all interior and exterior spirals. Spiral filling on the airframe as well.
052623-work.jpg052623-work2.jpg
 
For creating my 3D models, I decided to graduate from TinkerCAD to something... well, more. Nothing wrong with TinkerCAD, but it lacks more advanced tools, and I need those tools. I fired up OnShape this morning and started learning the ropes. I'm working on a scratch Big Red Max, so a fin design seemed like a good place to start and this is what I came up with:

1685158063368.png
This design was inspired by @DigBaddy's Goblin fin that I upscaled for my 3-inch Hobgoblin. There are a few issues like the split in the fin tab is too long and the bevel descends beyond the horizontal plane but I printed it out to see how it compared with the LaunchLabs.com Vanderburn BRM upgrade fin.
20230526_162203[1].jpg20230526_193127[1].jpg

If you look closely, the plywood fin is in the back... pretty pleased with the result. If you want the STL, it's attached. I also filled, sanded, filled, sanded, primed, filled, and sanded (ugg) my Hobgoblin replacement nose cone.
 

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For creating my 3D models, I decided to graduate from TinkerCAD to something... well, more. Nothing wrong with TinkerCAD, but it lacks more advanced tools, and I need those tools. I fired up OnShape this morning and started learning the ropes. I'm working on a scratch Big Red Max, so a fin design seemed like a good place to start and this is what I came up with:

View attachment 582608
This design was inspired by @DigBaddy's Goblin fin that I upscaled for my 3-inch Hobgoblin. There are a few issues like the split in the fin tab is too long and the bevel descends beyond the horizontal plane but I printed it out to see how it compared with the LaunchLabs.com Vanderburn BRM upgrade fin.
View attachment 582609View attachment 582610

If you look closely, the plywood fin is in the back... pretty pleased with the result. If you want the STL, it's attached. I also filled, sanded, filled, sanded, primed, filled, and sanded (ugg) my Hobgoblin replacement nose cone.

That may be the most aerodynamic Red Max fin ever produced 😃
 
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LDRS G80 contest rocket is ready. I am not even going to be close to winning, but this will be an exercise in personal altitude records. Hope to give it a shakedown Monday.

This is a BT60 Goblin, printed nosecone and fin can, which can be found here. 29mm motor mount (friction fit). No problem fitting a 15" nylon chute, JLCR, Eggtimer Apogee and a Marco Polo tracker.

Rosie for scale.

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