Photo 2695:Apollo Foam/Internal Support tube. Tube goes all the way to the upper inside of the Apollo Capsule giving the LES support.


Photo2697: LM Cone Sliding the EPS Foam bulkhead in position. Once fit looks good, a couple of pencil marks to line up and then time to glue.


Photo 2699: Fit Test Top Fuel Tank Former to the tubes.


Photo 2700: Gluing Fuel Tank Tubes


Photo 2701 PARTS!


Photo 2706:Fuel Tank Glued to Bottom Bulkhead, new fins are visible, Idaho Spud box contains Lead tire weights (6lbs)


Photo 2708: Bottom of Fin Location cut marks visible. Plan to glue foam former above these marks.


Photo 2709: Launch Rod Guide Tube visible. Rod continues into the upper rocket as needed. This rocket can handle a 4ft long rod.



Photo 2710: BT-50 Tubes used at the bottom of the Card stock Ejection Tubes. These can handle the initial force of the deployment charge. The card stock tubes should handle the pressure. My air rockets could handle 90lbs of pressure. For the heat, the card stock tubes were soaked with NO-BURN to protect them.
Ink did not bleed but the tubes became very flimsy and had to be placed on the metal tubing to keep their shape while drying. The Aleenes glue was not effected by the soaking.


Photo 2713: Gluing the bottom of the Stabilizer Fins foam support former into place.


Mike

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Photo 2717:Gluing Top of Fuel Tank Tubes to Bulkhead. Fit issues everywhere-been redesigned to fit better.


Photo 2719: Clothes Pins Launch Rod in this photo

Photo 2722: Top Fuselage Former Glued into position


Photo 2727: E-Size Engine Mounts (Estes 24mm E12-4)


Photo 2730:Sliding the Upper Fuselage Shell into position


Photo 2731: Sliding Fuselage Shell-mark with red marker to align bottom and top properly


Photo 2735: Clamping with rubber bands and T-pins to hold alignment


Once dry need to install the recovery system and Stabilizer fins.
Mike

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Saturn is complete except for recovery system.

Time to install the Stabilizer Fins and get the build stage complete.

Still need to install the recovery system.

Photo22: Fins


Photo 25: Foam bulkhead cut, just need to remove


Photo 27: Cut and ready to glue fins


Photo 9: Fins done


Photo 31: Saturn 1B total weight 17.1oz estimated was 17.5oz with parachute. This one is a little heavy due to excess glue needed.


Lesson learned: When working with foam, make sure the part fit is good. Tight and forcing to fit: the foam will cause push back and pop the fin out causing miss-alignments as well.

Need an Atlas and Titan to fill in the gap. 1/12 scale probably.... Wait'll the Bumper B7, WRESAT, EXPLORER are complete in 1/12 scale, lots of models to go yet.

Just added a photo of my AC Supply order that arrived today. Have Three rockets ready to fly! Decent day and I will find a way to get to a launch area.


Mike

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That Gigantic S1B should be flying on a "J" motor.

__________________
When in doubt, WHACK the GAS and DITCH the brake !!!

Yes, there is such a thing as NORMAL, if you have to ask what is "NORMAL" , you probably aren't !
Failure may not be an OPTION, but it is ALWAYS a POSSIBILITY.

A couple of screen shots of the weather for the next 10-days.

Saturday and Sunday look possible: Winds below 10mph and sun during non-work hours.

Including a screenshot of the Sunrise and Set times, plus they show today and yesterdays actuals compared to records.

GH : having major issues just getting some E12-4 shipped to Alaska. What you haqve to pay a hazmat for (E size and above) is prohibited to ship to Alaska by the hobby sites.

Estes has the proper hazmat license to ship this far. They don't offer any discount when trying to buy in bulk. Saved $67 buying from AC Supply vs., Estes on D12-3 size.

Bumper B8 at 1/8 scale will be7ft tall. Not sure of an estimated weight until I lay it out on the print area to see how many sheets are needed. Estimate: 3.36 oz per printed sheet is the average for these models, using 3.45oz gives the weight with recovery system.

Mike

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Rocket Garden Photos. New addition: 1/7 scale WAC Corporal Bumper B-8

New project photos: 1/12 Scale Mercury Atlas.

Purchased some super expensive photo paper to do the Atlas with. 100ft roll was almost $500 including shipping.

Paper is MOAB Slickrock Silver Metallic 300gsm. Super heavy weight, almost like plastic. Ink looks good. White is not an option. Paper is a dull silver color, my printer doesn't have white ink.

Real hard to work with. Use too much glue? shows up as a stain instantly. Aleene's works but is interesting how it grips. Need to clamp longer than normal. Doing the fuselage shell was time consuming and difficult.

Photo shows shell and nosecone. Have to wear sunglasses when working with this stuff. 300gsm is a heavyweight. Shell and capsule weigh in at 18.4oz already. Looks like shiny stainless steel.

Wish I had a scale Launch system, wonder if the red would reflect?

Yes the escape tower sheet has a heat shield. Designed a 1/4 scale capsule boiler plate designed for beach abort testing. Wanted to see if the heat shield would fit this size capsule and had a spare area to print on. Printed 3-extra 1/12 towers as well. Plenty of 1/12 scale Redstones to do. The red ink looks like shiny paint on this paper!

Main engine order arrived. Waiting on some T-29 tubes and other items from Apogee.

Mike

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Those are impressive sized ‘paper’ rockets! The silver for the Atlas looks really good!

Earl

__________________
Earl L. Cagle, Jr.
NAR# 29523
TRA# 962
SAM# 73
Owner/Producer
Point 39 Productions

Rocket-Brained Since 1970

Atlas looks great, just a bit bigger than my foam structure Atlas 4B version at 1/15 scale

__________________
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www.dynasoarrocketry.com

Yeah just a heads up but you better be REAL careful with those PVC "air tanks"... PVC will shatter and fragment like a hand grenade when used with air, and go off like a bomb when they let go. Why you're not supposed to use PVC pipe to plumb air into a shop-- supposed to use PEX or black poly tubing instead, because it "fails gracefully" if anything goes wrong-- it just splits at the weak spot. PVC will actually shatter like glass into shards propelled at high speed by the expanding pressurized air inside it. Not good.

Might want to look into converting a little portable steel air tank or something which would be much safer... Looks like great fun, but if you had one of them PVC tanks turn loose on you could be a VERY bad day!

Later and good luck! OL J R

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The X-87B Cruise Basselope-- THE Ultimate Weapon in the arsenal of Homeland Security and only $52 million per round!

I still have my tanks. You are correct they are dangerous to use. Mine are wrapped in fiberglass fire blanket, but are several years old. Quit doing the air tanks many years ago. Designed other projects before finally getting back to Estes power conversions, something been meaning to do for some time.

Received several shipments of engines and parts, will keep converting as time allows. Have about 40-stomp and air tank powered rockets to convert.

Looks like fairly decent weather ahead for a few days, might be able to launch a few.

Waiting on parts for the Atlas. This weekend will install most parts to get it ready for flight. Once the fin material gets here can finish.

If I were to do the air tanks again, will purchase a compressed air / nitrogen cylinder from a welding store, rig up a system with a 1/4 turn ball valve that can handle air pressure. Line would be schedule 80 2" ID pipe. That way if wanting to use higher pressure for testing different designs, it will be available. The pipe can act as an air tank. The volume of air will be slightly more than the rocket's full length plus the volume of any downstream piping that leads to the end of the launch barrel.

Allows you to control the air pressure with a regulator, giving control over all aspects. You can close the valve on the air tank reducing risk if the there are any problems. In other words, open the valve adjust regulator to desired pressure, close the valve and launch rocket using 1/4 turn.

Designing a rocket made out of paper for the full 2000lbs of pressure would be interesting!

Only real issue is how many N-sec is that.

Who else will be testing rockets like this?

Trying to get the engine conversions done before building the air launch system.

Been thinking about a safe air system for launching. The small air tanks rust from the inside out due to the up and down pressure of filling/emptying. The compressed gas cylinders are hydro tested to verify safe to use. They come in cubic feet, so a small 80ft3 could offer several re-loads for a day and is fairly portable.

Big issue with air rockets is how to deploy a recovery system? now there are several electronic devices to take care of that. In the past tested wind up toy parts to pull a pin releasing a spring loaded capsule. This worked but found a better answer in the rocket design.

Mike