MPC Lunar Patrol, Part 8 - Glider Pylons

After a long hiatus, I’m finally back on track to realize completion of the Lunar Patrol.

The pylon/standoff pieces and dowel pins that attach the gliders to the booster pods are the next items on the list to be built.

                The original MPC kit called for the pylons to be made of a piece of balsa wood cut to the shape of the template supplied with the kit.  This piece is way too fragile and prone to breakage on each and every flight.  I experienced this issue with my old fleet Lunar Patrol, and had to engineer an alternate way to strengthen them. 

The pylons in this re-build will be made from 1/8” thick basswood with the grain running perpendicular to the nose cones for added strength.

Since I do not wish to purchase a whole sheet of 1/8” basswood to make these small parts, I’m going with laminated pieces, from a 1/16” sheet which I already have on hand.

The pylon template from the kit instructions is a bit oversized for this build because of the slight difference in tube and nose cone diameter between the original MPC tubes and the Estes BT-20 being used. 

In addition, I am reasonably sure that my custom turned nose cones are of a slightly different shape and length compared to the kit originals.  I essentially guessed at them based on kit photos and instruction sheet illustrations.  The template gets tossed aside….

Instead, the pylons will be re-designed and shaped to fit the current nose cones.

To start off, I marked out a sketch of the basic nose cone profile on the piece of stock to establish baseline dimensions.  This was done by carefully sighting down straight over the nose cone, and keeping the pen perfectly vertical.

 

Two rectangular pieces are cut out to the required nominal length and width of the pylons.

The pieces are laminate glued together with the profile-marked piece on top.   What's up with the ragged marking line?  This was a dufus mistake...I grabbed a fine tip sharpie to go over the line so I could see it better.  The ink immediately ran into all of the wood grain.  Oh, well, I have to roll with this.

Now it’s just a matter of carefully sanding the nose cone profile into the pylon piece. This is done with a sheet of 220 sandpaper wrapped around a dowel.  I must be very careful here so I don’t break the piece because of the grain direction.  Mounting the part in a vice will help greatly with this process.

 

One additional note:  I used a razor saw to cut off a lot of the excess wood inside the profile before starting the sanding operation. No sense in doing a lot of un-necessary work! 

 

Once the piece is sanded down close to final shape, I switch to finer sandpaper (440) to finish the exact profile.  Checking often with the nose cone helps here.

 Since there are likely slight differences between the two turned nose cones, the second pylon must be made and fitted in the same way.

Stay tuned for Part 9...

Solar Eclipse Day in Colorado

I am lucky enough to be working for a company that is 100% full of science geeks, so Monday's eclipse was a very special time around the building.  Here in Colorado, we hit 92% coverage, so it was still fun to watch.
One of my co-workers set up a pair of binoculars on a tripod to project good magnified images on a back board. I didn't need to look through any fancy specs directly at the event. Instead, I had more fun taking cel phone pictures of the projections at 15 to 20 minute intervals during the entire eclipse.

This is a picture of the observing set-up used.  Makeshift, but very effective...

 

Ten minutes into the event....

The rock holding the back board in place is a good representation of the rogue planet NIBIRU, which is supposed to destroy the earth soon!













This pic was taken at maximum coverage in this area, approx. 11:47 a.m. MST

A cool picture showing hundreds of mini projections in the shadow of a nearby tree. This was taken slightly after maximum coverage.

































I don't expect that many people took too many images of the moon's limb exiting the sun's.  I'm a professed nerd, so here it is...


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The really cool thing is these maginified projections show sunspots!  A large grouping appears in lower center of the sun's disc, and a smaller group appears just next to the tiny remnant of the moon's image in this photo.  Also if you enlarge this photo, you can actually see hints of the 'grainy' appearance of the sun's surface, as well as the characteristic curvature shading around the disc edges.

Yep, I may have missed out on the spectacular views of totality enjoyed by the many who traveled to be in  'The Path', but I had a very enjoyable day at work viewing 'Eclipse 2017' with all of my geek friends and co-workers!

Astronomy is nearly as fun as model rocketry!

Nice Hobby Lobby Haul

Last week I stopped by the local Hobby Lobby, clutching a 40% of coupon in hand, to purchase an Estes Mercury Redstone kit.

To my delight, I also found a couple of other kits marked at 40% clearance - a Nike Smoke and Super Neon.  I just couldn't resist.

These new additions to my build list will keep me busy well into the winter months, at the snail's pace in which I get rocket projects completed!

-Ed