Wife's away - I get to play! Rocket builds

[les]

So my wife went out of town for a week leaving me alone

Bad decision....

So I decided to take some time off from work and go on a building binge...

Hopefully not a bad decision

So I started thinking - what to build??
something big?
something small?
scratch?
clone?
easy?
hard?
different manufacturers?

SURE! ALL OF THE ABOVE. And I probably have bitten off more than I can chew.

And with Marc_G's thread on the Semroc Trident I decided to go "dent" crazy. I had already purchased the parts to build a Trident before Semroc had their kit (clone), I have the parts to build excelsior's Goonydent, and I have the Super Trident by Hawks Hobbies


I am building two copies of the dead ringer/spike per the thread below (pseudo scratch). One will be donated to Kopernik Observatory for their rocket programs. Although my rings and spacing won't be the same.
https://www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?59954-Building-a-Bohica-s-Dead-Ringer&highlight=spike

I am also building an Argent for them (they supplied the kit and asked me to build it for them)

Hope to build the Madcow AGM-33 Pike (big), Fliskit Nantucket Sound, Squirrel Works Starduster, Estes Super Mosquito, mosquito (very small), Xarconian Crusier (complex), Semroc Gee'hod (small), and Moon Glo (easy). And as you can see - several manufacturers.

And I may yet try to add a true scratch....

I think I'm crazy.......

 

[Marc_G]

Looking forward to your Trident (and other) builds! Enjoy the week of peace and productivity!

 

[TopRamen]

Awesome! Keep us abreast of your Progress.

 

[Onebadhawk]

Don't forget Les,,,,,,,,,,,
Next week,,,,,,,,,,,
When she gets home,,,,,,,,,,

Bob and weave,,,,,
Bob and weave baby,,,,,,,,,,

Keep moving,,,,,,
Don't stop moving,,,,,,,,,,,

She can't hit a moving target........
She ain't dat fast..........

Teddy

 

[les]

So what have I accomplished in my first couple of days???

First are the part shots

Estes Argent, Mosquito, and ring thingy



First thing was filling the spirals using F&F and sanding. Didn't get a picture of this step, but do have a picture of the results


and this is why my wife shouldn't leave me alone...

 

[les]

Glued the Mosquito fins together and the results



Used bondo for the mold lines on the Argent and Mosquito nose cones/transition

 

[les]

Built up the Argent and Mosquito motor mounts and did a layer of F&F on the mosquito fins.

Been using the Estes tube cutting guide and launch rod to align and glue on the rings - the main tube is BT50. I used BT60, 70, 80, and 100 centering rings



How things look so far - oh - also put the regular sized mosquito together

 

[AfterBurners]

Sounds like a lot of builds. Lets hope your wife doesn't have a secret account here to sign on and watch you:y::lol:

 

[les]

Built two motor mounts for the two centering ring rockets



But today I got "dented"

Excelsior Goonydent
Clone of Estes Trident
Hawk Super Trident


The parts....

 

[les]

Meanwhile, I've run into two issues on my original builds...
On the Argent the transition into the upper body is extremely loose. It is going to take several wraps of tape to expand it to fit... Have others that have built the Argent had this issue?
On the Mega Mosquito the tabs for the fins are too short. I either have to sand away some of the fin (with the difficulty of the laminated fin) or add tape to the motor mount (which fortunately is not glued in yet).
Again - have others seen this? I plan to add the tape.

 

[les]

The Super Trident requires two tubes to be joined. They say to roll the tubes to make sure they are lined up.
This was the most dangerous part of the build...... why? Because I did it on the kitchen island! :y: Good thing my wife is over 500 miles away!



Spent a good part of the day filling spirals and sealing the nosecones.. OMG - working on three tridents with 9 cones each and 5 tubes each.....

Here are all the sanded cones and tubes




Now I need to cut 36 vent holes

 

[les]

Cut most of the vents for the different 'dents

Did discover I goofed on the Goony Dent's pods. Need to make some new tubes

Started gluing the pods for the Super Trident.



After I got two sets on I added the supports, These are triangular pieces that help provide strength.



I did have to come to a stop though. I want to soak the vent area with CA, and discovered my thin CA has hardened to a lump. Need to run out and get more

 

[les]

Meanwhile, back on the Argent and Mega mosquito...

It took 7 wraps of tape on the Argent transition to get it snug. And 3 wraps on the Mega Mosquito motor mount.

Used epoxy to glue the transition onto the tube. Also glued the two motor mounts in. Started gluing the fins on the Mega Mosquito. I have 4 different fin jigs - none can handle the Mosquito.
Finally went to my original method - Mark I eyeball

And got the one rocket painted and the other primed

 

[BABAR]

Didn't get a picture of this step, but do have a picture of the results

View attachment 165097
and this is why my wife shouldn't leave me alone...

You gonna be in twubble!

 

[Rex R]

two options for the Argent/Ventris transition fit problem. option 1) contact Estes (iirc Be69er) and request a new one (hand picked to fit ) option 2) glue 1 or more layers of 110# cardstock inside the tube in the problem area.
Mega Mo
tape will tend to shift about as heat from the motor casing heats up the tape adhesive. the best method is to adjust the fins to fit, usually 220 grit will do the trick(works quite well if you paper the fins 1st)
Rex

 

[matthewdlaudato]

Nice thread. My wife never goes away. I build rockets anyway.

 

[les]

You gonna be in twubble!

I have until Sat afternoon to clean up.....

 

[Kirk G]

Yeah, that's it. Just rub that sawdust and bondo into t he carpeting.
She'll never notice it! Good choice on the coloring...hides everything! :eyeroll:

 

[aerostadt]

I have until Sat afternoon to clean up.....

You're doing great! I do the same thing. When the cat's away, the mice will play.

 

[les]

I stayed with the tape and used epoxy to glue in the transition. Also glued in the Mosquito motor mount

I did use epoxy on the tab roots for the mosquito so that should help keep the tape from shifting

all 3 fins on



and added fins to the Argent

 

[les]

Next up - Xarconian Cruiser

Part shot



sanded the fin stock, cut out and dry fitted together

 

[les]

meanwhile, I've made use of the piano, dining room table, living room coffee table, and kitchen island

Still have two days.....

 

[AfterBurners]

You're a rocket building machine!!

 

[Onebadhawk]

You're a rocket building machine!!

Yea,,, that's what I was thinkin,,,,
Les your really crankin em out..........lol

Teddy

 

[les]

Got some CA and using a Q tip coated the inside of the tubes around the vents. Then 'dent assembly time



The first motor mount and then there were three



I wanted to beef up the tube/body joints, especially with the Estes shotgun ejection charges, so I used some 60# cardstock to make some tabs. I will blend them in with some F&F later

 

[les]

Back to the Xarconian Cruiser, cut out and rounded the leading edges of the fins and then glued up the fins.



And I opened the Madcow AGM-33 Pike. This is the 4" cardboard version. I will build it stock
One of my (many) deficiencies is I've never done a fiberglass wrap :sigh:

So the parts shot. Also - forgot to show what I've done to our family room in the basement



T-24 hours. The rocket builds may slow down as I've got cleaning to get done!!! Or Else :kill: :kill: :kill: :kill: :kill:

 

[les]

The first rocket is done Done DONE!!! *

Paint and all! One small spot crazed a bit but I am not going to try to fix it





* for my job we at one time subcontracted the design and build of some equipment.
I went to check on the sub - Are you done? YES. ok can I see document x? OH, WELL WE ARE DONE EXCEPT FOR THAT AND THIS OTHER THING. ok... well let me see it when you are done Done.

Later - are you done Done? YES. ok can I see this other thing? WELL, "THIS" IS STILL NOT COMPLETE. Uhm - do you know the meaning of done??? I'll be back...

Even later - are you done Done DONE? YES. are you sure? YES can I see everything? HERE IT IS. great - but for the entire project everything went like that.
In fact, we started tracking status by the number of items that were in progress, those that were done, those that were done Done, and finally which were done Done DONE

 

[les]

Finished the second center ring rocket. This one I left the rings black and used a prismatic wrap



Built the motor mount and coupler for the AGM pike and finished the papering of the Xarconian Cruiser and Trident fins



Otherwise I spent time working the fillet on the trio of Tridents

AND STARTED CLEANING! Wife will be home this afternoon. Figure I've got two hours to make things right (although I already have the living room, dining room, and kitchen cleaned - now just have to finish the basement

 

[les]

She's baaaaack

and I survived

Guess the boy cleans up good

So what did I accomplish during the week

Started
AGM-33 Pike - motor mount built and installed, tube spirals filled, cone seam line filled, coupler assembled. Need to start installing the 6 fins
Xarconian Cruiser - fins cut out, glued up and papered, tubes cut, spirals and cone seam filled

In progress - built except fins, cleaning up fillets for tube/body joints
Trident
Super Trident
Goonydent

Done
Mosquito - built

done Done (see post 27 for an explanation)
Mega Mosquito - built, primed
Argent - built, primed

done Done DONE ---- note concept based on Rich Holmes as shown in this thread https://www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?59948-Spool-Rocket-Stability&highlight=ringer
Dead Ringer - silver
Dead Ringer - gold

As a side note - the Rebel John was built, but I primed it and cleaned up some of the joints with a combination of rocket poxy and elmer F&F

Did not get as much done as I hoped (knew I bit off too much, but still not bad for 1 week)
Things will slow down now - need to go to work next week plus will be limited in what I can do and where....

 

[CRC]

Good progress I'd say, hopfully they see some air time before too long.