What did you do rocket wise today?

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Good day in Seymour that looked like it would a bad day on paper. First few hours were a mud skating rink, and it was a few hours before anyone got in the air. Flight rate in the afternoon was slow but fairly steady aside from the occasional wind or rain break. Only flew once but helped with a few other flights. Weather may be worse tomorrow or may be better; forecasts in Baylor County, Texas aren't worth a lot. We'll fly if we can. If we can't, we'll at least it's been a great social occasion.
Glad to hear reality was better than the forecast.
 
Thanks! It’s been a favorite of mine for years, you’re gonna love it! I hope you have a good place to fly, it's great fun on a fast F. Even better on a G!


This one was built straight by the instructions, but has been retrofit for an Eggfinder Mini in the nose, and a new coupler is now being prepped for dual deployment with an Eggtimer Quark.


What colors are you gonna do yours in? Send us some pics!
I’m gonna paint it box colors (boring, I know)! I love the classic Aerotech look, and I got me some custom Aerotech logo stickers (not sure the copyright laws on that one haha). I sadly don’t have a great place to fly. I single-handedly got Rocketry banned at my local park, and the nearest place to fly is over 3 hours from where I’m based. Classic so-cal. I’ll be sure to post on this forum as I continue to work on it! Thanks for showing interest, friend!
 
Woke up after a nap and saw a can of Duplicolor White Sandable Primer. Smacked my forehead. Sanded down DBRM and just finished re-coating it with the Duplicolor. In about 10 minutes, going to wet-sand it with 600 grit and then let it cure overnight. Tomorrow, I'll shoot red, Tuesday, black on the NC.

Just a few more hours before I start applying Stickershock decals on Der FiberMax. Going to shoot some Tamiya red and yellow on the Nuke Pro Maxx.
 
Assembled a SOVOL 06 Plus 3d printer, primarily for exercising my few remaining brain cells, and for rocket stuff of course, what else? MUCH less elaborate than the bargain unit I bought last year. Took about 3 hours, some of which was spent looking for that 3mm screw that I dropped.( :mad::mad: ) On one screw I had to remove the bit and twiddle it with my fingers to tighten, so spacing was a bit snug in some places. Still, the instructions were follow-able, though Chinese-To-English almost always has bobbles therein... But...unlike the el-cheapo unit I bought last year, this consisted of already-assembled units rather than individual parts to be assembled. So much easier.

Now it's time for the hard part: learning to use it.
I’d be interested in hearing what you think of the solvo 6 printer after you’ve used it for a bit. I was toying with the idea of picking one up, or maybe one of the new solvol 7 printers. Primarily focused on rocket parts, but maybe some terrain tiles and other doodads here and there (phone mount for car, replacement buttons / battery covers for electronics. Custom project box enclosures etc)
 
I finished the many times repaired Big Bertha. I stopped by BMS to pick up a couple of things. A transition for the Banana rocket and a nose cone for same. Picked up an H115 too. I had ordered banana leaves for the rocket. I thought they would be hand sized. The are full size. One would cover most of the rocket. I'm going to cut leaves out of the leaves. I have 12. I have no ides what to do with the left over leaves. Maybe a loin cloth.View attachment 577862View attachment 577863
Are the roll/foldable? Make a chute/streamer out of them for the banana rocket
 
I’d be interested in hearing what you think of the solvo 6 printer after you’ve used it for a bit. I was toying with the idea of picking one up, or maybe one of the new solvol 7 printers. Primarily focused on rocket parts, but maybe some terrain tiles and other doodads here and there (phone mount for car, replacement buttons / battery covers for electronics. Custom project box enclosures etc)
The size of the SOVOL 6 Plus was great but the difficulty getting it to work...it finally ended up quitting in the middle of leveling. Sent it back.
 
Applied decals to my Bull Pup kit to the best of my ability and promptly ordered new ones to fix my errors…lol…

Sanded down the fillets on my 1.6” HAWK and gave it its first coat of primer

Cried because mail day isn’t for another few days
 

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Banged away a little more on the multi-builds. Finished installing fins and lugs on the AZT. All filits are done. Did a little bondo work on the nosecone and got the 1st primer coat on the payload section/nose cone. Finished up motor mount on the King Kraken. Sewed a loop into the shock cord and kludged together a retainer.

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Started on the Estes Doorknob and the Black Brandt II (I like to build two at once so I'll have something to do while glue is drying).

Undecided on the Doorknob paint scheme right now.. really not much of a "scale guy", but (hopefully) the Brandt will look like the picture on the package.
 
I disassembled and packed up the SOVOL 3D printer...

In the middle of self-leveling, it just quit. Unplugging, turning off and on, no use. Dead. :mad:

Considering the issues I had actually getting it to print, it's probably just as well. Tech support consisted of a few answers to common problems (which didn't do any good) and a place for comments. I didn't find any responses from SOVOL in the comment list, and didn't receive emails about the issues I had.

So despite the price and the features, I won't be buying another SOVOL. So it goes.
Well I guess that answers my questions about your experience with the sovols…
 
I've yet to try Duplicolor on a model, but I used some last Summer on the wheel covers on my car, and I think it's the best rattle can paint I've ever used.

That's a nice color of red.
I used duplicolor metal cast on a tau zero. And duplicolor mirage on my L1 king kraken. 👍🏻👍🏻
 
Wonderful to see you (here) out and about!
Yeah, I’ve been lurking for a while. (Still 20 pages back in the what did you do rocketry wise thread. - getting caught up) Haven’t been doing much rocketry related stuff lately, but starting to get back into the swing of it.
 
I like how you put the launch rod tube against the fin.
I do that on most (all) my builds these days… (well not really these days, I haven’t built anything in months, not since the Miss Riley 24 I finished a while back)
 
Glad to hear reality was better than the forecast.
Even better day today: despite constantly threatening forecasts constantly falling backward on the clock, we saw no rain, mostly mild winds, and a lot of clear patches in the sky, culminating in a totally cloudless sky by the end of the day. In terms of weather, it was the best day we've seen in Seymour in more than a year. A glorious day for rocketry, even though I only managed a single (very fun) flight.
On a positive note, the 3D printed and GF laminated fins stayed attached and fully survived. So good proof of concept. :)
Man, that's really cool. I need to teach my girlfriend to laminate fins. ;)
 
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.
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The one regret I have on my King Kraken build was not installing mount points (t-nuts) for rail buttons before installing the MMT… especially now that I’ve converted it to Dual Deploy.

I can (and should) do a retrofit, but I’m not really planning on flying it again for a while.
 
I just returned today from launching four rockets I built for 'The Spaceport Company' to do a first test launch in the Gulf of Mexico using a liftboat with the ability to lift itself out of the water on three tubes that sit on the sea bed...the water was shallow at this location.
https://thespaceportcompany.com/offshore-spaceport-advances-with-first-ever-launch-in-u-s-waters/
Photo below shows the first of four launches off the platform provided by EBI Liftboats out of Louisiana, , this launch using a 98mm Aerotech M1340W DMS motor. Photo courtesy of EBI Liftboats.

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The photo below shows the fourth and final launch again using an Aerotech 98mm M1340W DMS motor for the flight. Evolution also provided two motors for the second and third flights.

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The photo below is of one of the 6" demo rockets I built for the project. Mark McDonald, left, of 'Ambuse Fishing Charters' transported us to the EBI liftboat launch platform. On the right is TSC CEO Tom Marotta.

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Photo showing the first launch recovery (the nose cone floats) and the rest of the submerged rocket was pulled up.

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Rick
 

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