Crippled Mean Machine = Hyper Bat Upscale???

[Swillie]

Well my sons Mean Machine bit the dust last weekend, came down ballistic into a narly tree and the top section has a few bends in it. I promised him we would fix it up into something cooler than before, and today I showed him a picture of the upcoming Estes Hyper Bat and he lit up like a xmas tree. The nose cone looks about right, but what do you all think about the multi staging?? For a true upscale it should be a 2 stage kit, but my son probably could care less, and it would fly plenty high on a single E9 or even a D12 with it being half the height of what it was. I just can't decide which way to go. I would need a streamer I think to keep the thing in our local field if I go with the multi stage. I assume the booster would separate between the larger and smaller fins.

[Swillie]

I am going to make this a 2 stage rocket. I have cut the fins off, leaving slots for TTW construction. I have traced the fin patterns onto a sheet of 1/8" basswood. I went with 4 fins as there were four on the Mean Machine, although I don't know for certain if the Hyper Bat is a 3 or 4 fin design (looks like 4 but until I get the real kit....??).

The booster is going to use the existing 'E' engine mount. I have some 24mm 'E' mounts I could use for the sustainer, and use an adapter if I want to use standard engines there. I have some concern as I will need to use C11-0 or D12-0 booster engines, and with the adapter fore of the engine there will be a bit of a gap to the sustainer, but it is contained and I think it should work I hope. Cutting out these fins is gonna be a pain.

[Swillie]

The fins took awhile to cut and sand the curves, I am glad it is done. I have added a coupler onto the booster, moved the launch lug up to the sustainer and sanded the slots for better adhesion of the fins. I installed an 'E' engine mount into the sustainer, cut slots for the fins and sanded. The fins are going on next. I am going to install the booster fins first, than use paint stirrers and tape as a jig to align the upper fins perfectly with the lower.

I still need to come up with an engine nozzle for the booster. One problem is the existing "E" mount tube is flush with the body tube and it may be difficult to install/remove a motor with the nozzle there so I may leave that out.

[stefanj]

Lovely job on those fins. Nice precise curves and tabs.

[Swillie]

Thanks stefanj... the fins are not perfect by any means but pretty good for lack of the proper tools. I usually round the leading edge on fins but decided to leave these straight as I didn't want to mess up the shape of them, so they edges are flat but smooth. I brought the pieces to work with me and glued the fins on. I taped tongue depressors on either side of each fin set to hold them in line while they dry. I also added an engine nozzle to the booster that I made from a section of a plastic pepper shaker. We'll see if it melts come launch day.

I took an xray of it to see how the engine mounts line up . You can see I bent the upper engine hook straight so it sits right on the lower engine mount as close as possible. Since the booster will be a C11 or D12 in an 'E' mount the hot particles will have to pass thru the adapter but the sustainer is right there so I would think this should be fine, right??? I read somewhere about 'gap staging' and adding vent holes just before the sustainer. Does anybody with more experience with staging think this would be necessary with the engines being this little gap apart ? Couldn't I put 4 holes in both rings of the lower engine mount to vent the cool air between the lower fins and out the aft end of the rocket ??

[stefanj]

Those Dremel X-Ray sets are sure handy!

If you can fit them in, I would still put in air holes. Just a couple would be fine.

[Swillie]

Almost finished.... Everything is primed and painted. I realized the nozzle on the booster would not have worked unless I extended the launch lugs out from the main body a bit. I opted to make a smaller cardboard nozzle which won't be in the way of the launch rod.

Still undecided on how to finish this one. I could cut out a stencil for the 'Hyper Bat' lettering and spray it on, or just buy some white rub on lettering which would not be the same font but would be easier. Another idea I am thinking about is to take some styling cues from the 1966 Batmobile like hand painting the edge of all the fins bright red , silver on the nozzle and maybe try to paint the red bat logo on the main body, like the one on the doors of the batmobile. I am not that talented with paint, I wish I could airbrush the fins like real batwings, man this thing would look sick.

[stefanj]

Estes should produce that one. Assuming flight tests go well!

[Swillie]

Well I decided to do white lettering and call it done. Just used thin stickers and a couple coats of clear over the whole thing. The lettering is not the correct font at all, but we had it around and my son likes it so mission accomplished. Certainly kicks the a$$ out of the broken up rocket that it was. I will post a pic or video maybe once we fly this thing, likely Halloween weekend.

[Marc_G]

Awesome job!