Wildman Wild Child & DarkStar 'mini's all glass are here!

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Your rocket should weigh in at right around 1lb. ready to fly. You will find F-motors in the F-24-7W or F-39-6B F-240 V-max will go between 800-1100ft.

Most rail buttons come with the screws....#8 I believe. A 1/8 bit is used for drilling hole and the screw will self tap.

BEWARE: rear screw usually needs cutting off/dremeling/shortening. The motor mount tube is VERY close to Airframe.

I fly mine with a streamer on windy days....no worries... fiberglass can take much harder hits.

I just tape my tracker to shock cord, never been an issue.

A pound?!? my nose cone feels like it weighs almost a pound!

Where did you locate the upper rail button? above or below the top centering ring?

I saw a similar comment about using a streamer on a jart. I may have to try that.

thanks!
 
Mine is 6in from edge of tube.

Yeah I forgot about the new cones, mine is the old molded glass version.
So your flights will be even lower, with same motors.
 
Mine is 6in from edge of tube.

Yeah I forgot about the new cones, mine is the old molded glass version.
So your flights will be even lower, with same motors.

ahhhh! that makes a lot of sense. I didn't realize he switched nose cones.

thanks again!
 
I got mine for Christmas and started it on Saturday. The primer went on last night!
 
Well it seems my internal scale is a bit out of calibration! I weighed the nose cone (~5 oz) and rocket (~14 oz) and I guess the final weight will be close to the model. I still have a little more work to do, but it should end up right around 1 lb.

I do think I'll add a payload section to it for fun. I'm not sure I need a 12" long one, though. We'll see.
 
I use Marshall [Scout 125.00] & Comm-Spec.
.
Marshall will fit 24mm tube antenna only 6in. long. Range 40 miles battery life 42 days. Water proof .....not resistant.
 
What is the black nose cone that comes with the wild child made of?

I'm having a difficult time painting it. There are a few spots where the spray paint doesn't stick and it looks like it is "bleeding" or something. There has to be some type of contamination, but I don't see anything and I can't seem to remove it.

I sanded and washed the nc (twice now) and the same problem spots persist. I did prime it first with rustoleum 2x primer, and the primer has the same issue.

any suggestions?
 
I use Marshall [Scout 125.00] & Comm-Spec.
.
Marshall will fit 24mm tube antenna only 6in. long. Range 40 miles battery life 42 days. Water proof .....not resistant.

CJ, what Comm-Spec do you use? Also, do you need a license for this?

Greg
 
I talked with Randy at Comm-Spec today (after an email exchange he suggested I call, which I appreciate) and he said the RR-400 was a receiver that included "legacy frequencies" (my words) of another tracker, which went out of business or production. Enough time has elapsed that he felt it no longer needed to be produced. So the upshot is that the PR-100 and R-300 are not analogous to the RR-400.

The R-300 has more features than the PR-100, and is tuned to work with their AT-2B transmitter. The turnkey cost to their top-of-the-line setup is about $450, with their standard solution costing $100 less.

https://www.com-spec.com/rocket/

Greg
 
I flew my wild child for the first time on a e23-5 (not very wild, I know!) this past saturday! The flight looked perfect, but she came back with a large divot in the nose cone that wasn't there before the launch. I'm not sure what it hit as the body tube and fins don't have a scratch on them, and it landed in grass. strange. :confused2:

anyways, I'm looking for a more wilder next flight so I plan on ordering a 12" length of tube, a coupler and bulkhead and building a payload section for my tracker. the only problem with this is the stability works out to well over 7. that seems really high.

will stability that high cause problems?
 
Today my daughter flew her Mini Darkstar for the first time on a AT G80T...and it did not go very well. We CA'd and epoxied some glassine lugs last night, and the first flight with an F52T went well other than a little tail wagging on the way up. With the G80, it seemed to go haywire before it even got off the rod, and then it just did some skywriting all over. Afterwards, both lugs were gone and looked like they broke off at the pad.

It had no additive nose weight as Rocksim showed this combination stable. The CG was 20" from the nosecone ready for flight sans motor and it weighed 17oz. Even after the bad flight, a re-weighing and CG check showed that the flight should have been stable, but it clearly was not. One theory is that the lugs broke off just from the thrust of the G80 motor, not allowing the fins to make the rocket stable enough for flight. But, the tail wagging on the F52 flight indicates otherwise. So, nose weight & foam it is.

I saw the nose weight comments that Tim L left earlier in this thread. The question I have is...how much to add? Since RS shows this rocket already stable, I don't know how much to add to prevent this kind of instability again. Thoughts? What have other mini fliers added weight wise?
 
Which nose cone do you have the fiberglass one or the cast resin [heavy one]?

Weight was needed when the original one came out with a light weight fiberglass molded cone [white] & then only an oz or 2.

Last year he went with the cast resin cone [heavier] to alleviate the needed weight. Some lucky ones get the spiral wound NC's they too are also heavy enough.

I would try mounting rail buttons first, before adding anything. You obviously had issues with the lugs if they flew off.
 
Which nose cone do you have the fiberglass one or the cast resin [heavy one]?

Weight was needed when the original one came out with a light weight fiberglass molded cone [white] & then only an oz or 2.

Last year he went with the cast resin cone [heavier] to alleviate the needed weight. Some lucky ones get the spiral wound NC's they too are also heavy enough.

I would try mounting rail buttons first, before adding anything. You obviously had issues with the lugs if they flew off.

Filament wound nosecone. She was lucky there was no real damage to anything (got to love FG for times like this). Have you ever seen an otherwise stable rocket never gain enough speed off the rail/rod and sky write all over because the lugs/rail buttons came off?

Epoxied rail guides are curing as I type this...
 
Today my daughter flew her Mini Darkstar for the first time on a AT G80T...and it did not go very well. We CA'd and epoxied some glassine lugs last night, and the first flight with an F52T went well other than a little tail wagging on the way up. With the G80, it seemed to go haywire before it even got off the rod, and then it just did some skywriting all over. Afterwards, both lugs were gone and looked like they broke off at the pad.

It had no additive nose weight as Rocksim showed this combination stable. The CG was 20" from the nosecone ready for flight sans motor and it weighed 17oz. Even after the bad flight, a re-weighing and CG check showed that the flight should have been stable, but it clearly was not. One theory is that the lugs broke off just from the thrust of the G80 motor, not allowing the fins to make the rocket stable enough for flight. But, the tail wagging on the F52 flight indicates otherwise. So, nose weight & foam it is.

I saw the nose weight comments that Tim L left earlier in this thread. The question I have is...how much to add? Since RS shows this rocket already stable, I don't know how much to add to prevent this kind of instability again. Thoughts? What have other mini fliers added weight wise?

My DS mini also flew with quite a wiggle on a small H I believe. I just figured it was due to the split fins. I had the oroginal glass nose.
 
Have you ever seen an otherwise stable rocket never gain enough speed off the rail/rod and sky write all over because the lugs/rail buttons came off?

Epoxied rail guides are curing as I type this...


Yes.... when l/r was binding on the rail/rod & threw the rocket off kilter.

Something was going on to cause those lugs to rip off & not slide freely on the rod.
 
Anyone still flying their minis? Just received mine the other day as my first MPR/HPR build. Planning to use the JLCR but bought the DD option just in case.

Ended up getting a metal tipped nose cone and thinking about putting a eggfinder tracker in there. Has anyone used the fiberglass allthread from mcmaster carr? Was planning on using metal but was afraid of interference with the tracker..

Pics of the build so far. Using JBweld for the upper CR to MMT and to attach the flange nuts for the rail buttons. Also plan on using the foam method to hold it all together. Hopefully will handle anything you can shove in it. :grin:

Thanks!

Thomas

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I have an "Eagle Child" from when they were first released that I finished and haven't painted or launched yet. I ended up getting decals made with my Son's name after he claimed it. He's 2, so at least he has a stout rocket to play with. I also bought a Darkstar Mini on the Black Friday sale this year which recently arrived and needs assembled when I get a day off with no other projects to work on.
 
I have an "Eagle Child" from when they were first released that I finished and haven't painted or launched yet. I ended up getting decals made with my Son's name after he claimed it. He's 2, so at least he has a stout rocket to play with. I also bought a Darkstar Mini on the Black Friday sale this year which recently arrived and needs assembled when I get a day off with no other projects to work on.


Its amazing how fast it really does go together. Using JBweld so the longest time is just spend waiting for glue to dry.
 
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