Druziv:

(Ukrainian for friends or comrades).

So I built a rocket today, a Semroc Cherokee-D. Nothing particularly interesting about it: 3 fins and a nose cone. I tripped over the kit twice while I was cleaning out the computer room and took that as a sign to build it. I was unsupervised today and so I opened the package at noon and by 4:00 it was completely assembled with the fins drying in the jig.

What intrigued me was the time usage. By far, the most time-consuming portion of the build was assembling the parachute. In fact, it wasn't even close. I took an hour to carefully cut out the chute, make sure the adhesive rings lined up and then with my increasingly bad eyes, tying tiny knots in the the lines. Even with progressive lenses, I was just guessing. The chute in this kit was one of those thick plastic, orange and white, 24 inch, Jolly Logic chutes you could buy 100 at a time a few years ago. It has lines to cut for 12", 15", 18" and 24" diameters. I went with 15". I cut the lines of the proper length from the provided spool. When I finally got it all done, I looked up and couldn't believe how long it took.

The other stuff was easy:

motor mount: 10 minutes,
sand the fins: 10 minutes,
mark and line the tube: 5 minutes,
pin hole the lines for glue rivets and pre-glue: maybe 10 minutes,
find the drill and bit to add dowel to the nose cone: 15 minutes
locate fin jig: 15 minutes
everything else was letting the glue dry.

It's been a while since I built a simple kit more-or-less straight from the package. It was fun, but I wouldn't want to do that again for a long time.

Comments?

__________________
NAR 79743
NARTrek Silver
I miss being SAM 062

Awaiting First Launch: Too numerous to count
Finishing: Zooch Saturn V; Alway/Nau BioArcas; Estes Expedition; TLP Standard
Repair/Rescue: Cherokee-D (2); Centuri Nike-Smoke; MX-774
On the Bench: 2650;
Dream Stage: 1/39.37 R-7