When it grows too cold for rocket launches to be endurable, much less enjoyable, we rocketeers are inevitably drawn to rebuilding our fleets for the coming flying season. Unfortunately it’s a bit hard to use epoxy or spray paint when it’s freezing out, but hopefully over the next couple months I’ll have a chance to work on these projects:
From left to right:
PML 2.1″ AMRAAM (29mm motor mount) – this one lost the front of its main body tube a while back (windy, underpowered launch on a chuffing G33). I simply need to graft some phenolic tubing onto the front, and finish it to cover up the surgery.
My 2.6″ Fat Boy has a 38mm motor mount and is basically a fiberglassed version of the Estes kit. The reinforcement on the fins and parts of the nose cone is a bit spotty (fiberglassing plastic = poor choice) and I need to figure out how to pull off recovery and nose weight, so this one will require some work.
Above the Fat Boy is the body for a 1.6″ diameter Mosquito (the “Arkansas Skeeter”) with a 29mm motor mount – not the most sane of projects, and no clue when I’ll get it done and feel comfortable risking my hardware.
LOC Aura (painted black). I completely forgot that I had ever built this rocket until I went home to Arkansas for Christmas. I mailed it (along with some of these other rockets) up to DC so I could figure out a recovery system and start flying it – seems like it will be great for F, G, and H flights.
The short, dark tube with a long white tube is the genesis of a new project. The bottom section was originally to be an Estes Big Daddy – but with 4 29mm motor mounts. However, I’m not comfortable enough with my ignition skills to want to explore composite clusters on a rocket this short, and I’m not really that partial to the Big Daddy design. So, I’m going to extend this into a more traditional length 3″ diameter rocket. Maybe I’ll build in a timer bay so I can do air starts – maybe liftoff on 2 H128’s with 2 G64’s starting after a delay.
The next three tubes are for my as-yet-unnamed 3″ project. One potential name is I Lied About the Motor – just for the laughs I’d get at the flight line, and the uneasy questions I’d get at the RSO table. On the left is the remains of the crashed booster section, and on the right is the main parachute bay and nose cone – significantly shortened from a nasty zipper that’s been mercifully amputated. In the center is a 3″ coupler and a section of grey tubing I discovered while home in Arkansas for Christmas. Very luckily, this is a section of tubing that was reinforced with the same wraps of fiberglass and epoxy as the other tubes, but cut off to reduce excess length and then saved. I was quite happy to find this piece as it will make the rebuild much simpler, as this tube is already the same diameter as the other two.
Finally, on the far right is a scratch-built rocket I have yet to fly. It’s 2.6″ in diameter, built from LOC components, and has a 38mm motor mount and plywood fins. The unique aspect of this design is that it’s missing a section of the 2.6″ tubing above the fins. The 38mm motor mount has a total of four centering rings – two attached to the lower body tube and two bonded to the top, main body tube. More on this project later, but one potential name (with a paint design that would play off the rocket’s gaping hole) is Zombie Bite – Grab the Vaccine! It’s going to be a good winter building season!
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