Steampunk Protostar #15 Mounting The Stock For Turning

Whenever I turn a nose or tail section for a model rocket, the stock usually get mounted to the lathe's face plate attachment.  Spindle turning between centers doesn't work on these parts because one end of the blank needs to be clear for shaping and finishing a tip.

The first step in mounting turning stock to the face plate is to construct a mounting plate.  This consists of a piece of wood that can be screwed to the metal face plate.  For most LPR nose cones I use a piece of 1x4 dimensional pine cut to 3-1/2" square.

Again, turning to my arsenal of hand tools, I use a backsaw and a bench hook to cut the board.

Drawing lines diagonally across the board establishes the center point.  This is done on both sides of the board.

The board is then lined up with the mounting holes on the lathe face plate.  The reference lines drawn on the mounting board should appear evenly aligned in the face plate when viewing through the mounting holes. If done properly, the board should end up well centered on the plate. 






A scratch awl is used to mark the locations of the holes on the mounting board.
(Geez, who else uses awls these days?)



Using the awl holes as guides, I drill out pilot holes for the screws.

 Vintage 'eggbeater' hand drill this time.










The board can now be screwed to the face plate, using #8 x 3/4 hex head sheet metal screws.





Next, some white glue (or yellow wood glue) is applied liberally to the end of the balsa stock.











And the stock is carefully placed into position onto the mounting board.  If the corners of the square stock line up precisely with the diagonals lines drawn on the mounting board, everything should be centered and aligned.

A weight is placed on top of the stock to keep things in place while the glue dries.  In this instance, I'm using a baby food jar full of nickels.





Next, it's off to the lathe to start turning....

Steampunk Protostar #14 - Preparing The Pod Stock

Now that the design of the pod end is established, it's time to grab a piece of balsa stock and mark it for cutting out the turning blank.

Hobby Lobby carries a good selection of balsa blocks, including a 3" x 3" x 12" one that is ideal for making many noses and other parts.

My intention with this part of the project is to make all three pod parts one at a time in series from the same piece of balsa stock. 

Since the pieces are intended to match a plastic cone that is BT-50 size, I will mark out a block that is 1-1/4" square. This gives me enough edge margin to turn the blank to a cylinder that is close to finished size.

Once the block is marked on all sides and ends, I mount it in the wood vice and begin carefully making the cuts with a dovetail saw.  The initial cuts are made at an angle at all four corners of the piece, carefully following the marked lines.

At this point, you might be asking, "Hey, BlastFromThePast, why are you cutting the stock this way?  Wouldn't a power saw work better?"  Probably faster, yes.  I do have a bandsaw upstairs in the garage on which I could very well accomplish this operation, but, being a hand tool woodworker, I simply prefer using hand saws.

Next the stock gets placed on a bench hook (another archaic 'Neanderthal' fixture) and the final through-cut is finished.  Note that the photo  shows the cut seemingly going off the line.  It was 4 a.m. when I marked out the piece, and one of the ends was accidently measured out a couple of millimeters off.  I noticed it in time and drew a new corrected cut line.

Here is the finished piece of stock, ready to be mounted on the turning face plate of the lathe.  The two pieces at the right are the leftover cutoffs to be used on a future project.

Steampunk Protostar #13 - Designing The Pod Ends

In the spirit of adhering to the KISS principle (Keep It Simple, Stupid), I have opted to make the rear pod pieces in an easy-to-turn hemispherical shape with a short glue base.

The initial step of this process is, of course, ascertaining the necessary dimensions for the parts by measuring the base of one of the plastic pods.   A digital caliper helps greatly here.

Outside diameter:

Inside diameter:










Next step is to break out the drafting board and tools in order to lay out the full-size template on a piece of manila folder stock.  This template will be used at the lathe during turning to constantly monitor progress on correct part shaping.

Once the template is drawn, I carefully cut it in half along the centerline using a straightedge and  a sharp X-Acto blade

 I carefully cut out the curvature of the part, following the line precisely.

Again, using a straightedge, the cut is extended straight back along the line defining the outside diameter.  Note that I am not cutting out a line for the inside diameter that marks the base.  Doing so would not allow the template to rest evenly on the balsa stock during turning.

Also note that the template is only marked for the locations of the part's base and rear cut-off line. Once the part is correctly shaped on the lathe, these marks will be transferred to the stock as reference for those additional operations.  I'm going for a 6mm base length, as this should be adequate for gluing into the plastic pod.

The template is now cut out and ready for use.

Steampunk Protostar #12 - Like Peas In A Pod.....

Yes, Ladies and Gentlemen,

It's time to proceed on to the Protostar kit's fin pods.

The first step, of course, is to cut away the bases of the three noses used for the pods, per the kit instructions.

Behold, I do follow instructions....sometimes....

The cuts are carefully made using many passes of a sharp X-Acto blade, followed by a sanding block to clean up the edges.

As with the tail section and nose, the pods' molding seam lines are removed by scraping with the hobby knife blade.

Now, here is where I must deviate from the stock Protostar in the interest of adding a 'Steampunk' detail.

In the fictitious grand scheme of things, I envision these fin pods to be three outboard tanks to hold the water supply for the mighty steam engine that drives this 'Marvelous Machine'.

At this point, the pods would not make very effective tanks if left open ended, so they need to have a lower cap installed.

So far, I have not found any ready made items in the BlastFromThePast La-BOR-a-tory that could fulfill this task, so I'm afraid I may have to grab some balsa stock, fire up the wood lathe, and custom make the parts.

Stay tuned.....

More Rocket Stuff....

This week I popped into the local HobbyTown store.  The primary reason for the visit was to pick up a couple packs of B4-2 motors with which to fly my latest glider models.  For some reason, Hobby Lobby doesn't see fit to stock that particular flavor.

Of course, while I was there, I just had to check out what was new on the wall full of Estes kits.  I was hoping to maybe find a 60th Anniversary Alpha, but HT hasn't started stocking the newer stuff yet.

Instead, the item that caught my eye was a Nike Apache kit hanging out there right in front of everything else.

It beckoned to me.

OK, so, I am the furthest thing from being a compulsive shopper.  Whenever I step in to a store, I usually know what I'm after, find it, buy it, and move on.

Today was different.

Today was not the same.

There was that Nike Apache....

Begging to be bought....

And, there was, after all, an extra 20 note in my wallet, I reasoned.
It took a few additional times of walking and browsing about the store - pondering the present dilemma.

I finally capitulated!

An extra little bonus to the visit was the presence of a small stack of 2018 Estes catalogs. 

I got one as a freebie.

It's great to see the return of print catalogs from Estes.  Like most everyone else, I am thrilled about the new ownership of the company, and the anticipation of a lot of good stuff coming our way from Penrose.







Including this.....

I'm already saving up pocket change in the ol' coffee can....

Steampunk Protostar #11, Just Nosing Around....

The next part of the build is to prepare the model's nose.

A quick aside - I'm trying to train myself to abandon some of the model rocketry terminology that was engrained in my brain back in the 70s, and start using the more modern versions.  Things like 'nose' instead of 'nose cone'; 'motor' rather than 'engine' (though Estes still uses 'engine' in their literature); and 'starter' as opposed to 'igniter'.  Old habits die hard, and you will probably still see some of the old stuff here on the blog.  But I'm trying.

There is nothing particularly unique about prepping the Protostar nose co....er...nose.

One item that the instructions didn't address is filing down the recovery attachment eye after the mold flashing is removed.  There will be remnants of a sharp line of plastic that, if left in place, could cut into the shock cord over time and cause a failure..  A little work with a small needle file takes care of this.

A bit of scraping with an X-Acto blade takes care of the nose's molding seams.

The Protostar kit comes with three pats of clay for nose weight.

Since the hole in the nose base is fairly large, the clay pats are quite easy to install and tamp in place with a half inch dowel.

Rinse and Repeat 2 more times.








A little bit of CA is dripped into the cone to help hold the clay in place.

All done!

That's a fairly heave nose.

Next post - It's on to yet more plastic parts sub-assembly - fin pod prep.

An Astronomical Interlude

A couple of posts back, I mentioned that my grand-kids were over for a visit on Saturday, during which we built the three models in the Estes '3 Bandits' kit.

Later that evening, I happened to look outside and see a bright, nearly first quarter moon hanging in the sky.
I pulled out my old 60mm refractor telescope from the closet, and set it up on the back deck so that the kids could view the moon.  Lots of  Ooohs, Aaaahs, and "Cool !"s as we took turns observing all of the craters, mountains and plains highlighted along the moon's limb using a 25mm eyepiece.

While we were out, I noticed that Venus was hanging well above the western horizon, so I trained the telescope on that object. To my surprise, the seeing (degree of atmospheric turbulence) was very good, and we could distinctively see Venus' 'half disc' phase.

A further scan of the sky along the ecliptic revealed yet another of the bright planets. 
"I'm betting that's Jupiter"  I told the kids.  The view in the telescope optics confirmed it.  More exclamations from the young 'uns as we were able to make out the north and south equatorial bands and two of the Galilean moons using a higher power eyepiece.

"Grampa, what is that one?" one  of the kids exclaimed, pointing further eastward.

I looked, and to my surprise, there was a bright reddish steady object. 
Mars.
The telescopic view didn't show too much remarkable there.  A small reddish disc.

It was then that I noticed, about halfway between the moon and Mars, another fainter steady object.
"No way!", I said,  "That's got to be Saturn!"

Sure enough, the ringed planet was easily visible and a pleasant sight at around 100x. The planet currently is at a point in its orbit where the rings are near full inclination to our view. More gleeful reactions from the kids.

I was pretty thrilled at all of this myself, mainly because I had never before observed the moon and the four brighter planets so closely aligned along the ecliptic, and observable on the same evening.

It was truly a great day with the grand kids for model rocketry and solar system visual astronomy!

Steampunk Protostar #10 - Finishing Up The Engine Mount / Tail Section

I don't have a lot of confidence in the use of cardstock centering rings for motor mounts.  Especially for withstanding the thrust load of a D or E engine.

Back in my old fleet days, I had an Estes Big Bertha that, on its 6th or 7th flight, the card stock engine mount broke loose during boost and shot straight up through the body tube.  The model crashed and crinkled up the top three inches of the tube.  I was able to cut off the damaged section and continue flying the Bertha in a bit of a shorter version.

I don't relish the idea of a similar thing happening to a model on which I will have invested a lot of time building and detailing.

Over on Hans Chris Michielssen's Model Rocket Building Blog  (I highly recommend checking this blog out if you haven't already), there is a very good solution to this very problem. 

Chris simply cuts out some braces from scrap balsa and glues them between the card stock centering rings.  These keep the rings from flexing during boost and add a lot more strength to the entire assembly.  Even though they add a little more weight to the tail end of the rocket, I think the trade-off is very good insurance.

Here is a pic showing that simple construction process:

One small task which I should have done before even assembling the motor mount is this:

I absolutely loathe the finger tabs on Estes' latter-day engine hooks.  I just think they stick out too far and detract from the looks of the models. Plus, they aren't really necessary. 

Real Model Rocketeers don't need any stinkin' finger tabs, right?

So, I simply cut them off. 

A good heavy duty plier/cutter makes short work of this task.  Actually, the hard metal is easier to remove if it first gets a good scoring cut with the cutter.  The end can then be easily removed by bending it back and forth until it just snaps right off at the score line.  The sharp edge of the remaining hook can then be cleaned up using a metal file.





A couple of other small procedures to finish up:

A line of CA gets applied to the fore end of the engine hook, just in case.

And some small chamfers are sanded around the top edges of the centering rings.  These are meant to retain a line of glue at the ring/body tube joint when the motor mount is installed later.







Lastly, it's a good idea to perform a dry assembly of the engine mount and tail assembly into the main rocket tube, just to make sure everything inserts and fits right before any glue is applied.  Once engine mounts are glued in, they are impossible to remove in order to fix things.

Perfect fit!



I am not going to install the engine mount at this point in the build, because the tail cone is destined to get some additional Steampunk detailing applied.

Also, the proposed painting operation will be better accomplished separate from the main rocket to eliminate having to perform a lot of complicated masking.

BAR Fleet #118 Bandit 3

Source:  Estes Industries

Kit #: 2435  1 of 3

Type:  Sport Model

 Stages: Single

Engine Type: 13mm
Recovery:  Streamer or parachute

 Length:  27.8cm

Diameter:  18.8mm
Weight Empty:  17.8g
Nose Cone:  Tangent Ogive
Fin Type: Combination / plastic fin can
Number of Fins: 4

Color Scheme:  White, Violet w/ orange, violet, and green trim.

Date Completed:  15 September, 2018

 A Quick Build Kit

 Saturday, September 15, 2018, my two oldest grandkids visited my home.  They indicated that they would like to build another model rocket, so it was off to Hobby Lobby to pick out some kits. 

They chose the ‘3 Bandits’ E2X kit because we could each have one to build.  This would actually be good because I could instruct them step by step as I built mine.

 The kids selected the green and orange versions as their preferences, so I got the one with the violet color scheme.  The build was extremely simple, taking around an hour, including helping the youngsters build theirs.  The only difficulty I had was in trying to peel the many decal ‘stickers’ from the backing paper without the use of an X-Acto blade.  Poor eyesight and big, clunky fingers conspired against me!

I found the model’s engine mounting system to be rather interesting in that the casing is intended to be supported solely by the internal tabs and rings of the plastic fin/engine unit.  The engine is retained by a removable plastic ring that clips onto the rear of the fin unit.

I have a bit of skepticism about how durable this arrangement will be after a couple of flights.  I envision a melted plastic fin unit from the engine heat, but I’ll just have to wait and see.

If the fin unit doesn’t survive, I can always re-purpose the body tube and nose for another future model build.

Anyway, this model provided somewhat of a refreshing change from the more advanced models I’ve been constructing over the past few months.  No cutting, sealing, sanding, masking, or painting required.  A great model kit for spending a quiet afternoon with the grand-kiddoes doing something constructive and fun. 

It’s not really a bad looking bird either….

Steampunk Protostar #9, The Plastic Tail Section

Now that the core of the engine mount is completed, the next step is to prepare and install the plastic tail cone that came with the kit. 

After carefully cutting it away from the molded assembly per the instructions, the unit requires a little bit of work before it can be installed on the motor mount.  None of these steps are addressed in the instructions, by the way, but are pretty intuitive.

First the cavity for the engine hook must be widened with a needle file so that the hook can fit and move freely when the tail section is installed.

Second, the plastic 'flange' at the tip of the tail cone most be removed so that the unit can fit cleanly over the engine tube.  I used a Dremel rotary tool equipped with a drum sanding attachment followed by a curved needle file to fine tune.

Now is the time to dry fit the tail cone to its position on the engine mount to make sure everything works.

If all is well, the tail can then be CA'd to the engine mount per the kit instructions.  The main point to watch here is to make sure the top of the tail cone lines up precisely with the aft paper centering ring.

 

The final operation for the tail cone is to remove the unsightly molding seam lines.

This can be accomplished quickly by using an X-Acto knife as a scraper. 

Holding the blade at a 45 degree angle, the blade is drawn backwards (away from the cutting edge) along the seam line.  It effectively shaves off the excess plastic. 

A little more work is done with some fine sandpaper to smooth things out nicely.

On this build I am not going to worry about any depressions along the seams, as the lines will later be completely hidden by 'Steampunk' detailing.  If I were building the Protostar as stock, I would be using some thinned CA to fill the seams and sand smooth.

Steampunk Protostar #8, The Motor Mount

The next phase of the Steampunk Protostar build is the motor mount/tail sub-assembly.

To start off, the main mount parts are put together in accordance with the kit instructions, so I won't go into a step-by-step treatment here.

I'm still not positive about whether I like the new Estes kit instruction format.  The illustration-only presentation is OK, but it tends to leave out a lot of construction details (and potential pitfalls) that accompany each step.  I sometimes try to place myself in the shoes of a novice model rocketeer who might not have a lot of building experience attempting to navigate these directions and build this model by pictures only.

 

Iffy, at best. 

 

This method might work well with LEGO sets, but for a free-flying model meant to be powered by fairly hefty rocket motors - not so much.

Anyway, off of the soapbox and on to the model...

The only thing I did different with the basic mount is to move the forward centering ring back about 3mm.  This allows for the application of a good filleted glue joint between the ring and motor tube.
The kit instructions show the ring glued flush to the very end of the tube.

As for the engine hook retainer ring and aft centering ring, it is extra important to place them EXACTLY at the dimensions specified in the instructions.  The location of these parts will dictate the proper placement of the plastic tail cone later on.  Again, it would be helpful if the instructions had a short written blurb stressing the importance of this small detail.

The final touch to the basic mount is to apply a good glue 'fillet' to the interior engine block/motor tube joint.
Build 'em strong, sez I....

Next post will tackle the prep and installation of the tail cone and a few other extra details (that aren't in the instructions).

Steampunk ProtoStar #7, Still More Fin Prep

"The power of the Mighty D Engine compels you....The power of the Mighty D Engine compels you....The power of the....."

Oh !....Yes.....AHEM......Protostar......

The next step in fin prep/construction is to glue the two halves of each unit together.

This is done using double glue joints after which the fins are placed between sheets of waxed paper and a couple pieces of plate glass. 

A weight is placed on top to keep everything flat and in place until dry.

Once the completed fins are dry, they get another quick overall sanding.

Here are the completed fins.  They will be set aside while other Protostar assemblies will be worked on.

 

 

 

 

 

Steampunk Protostar, Part 6 - More Fin Prep

Now that I have finished posting about re-unions, Flatcats, and Canopii, I can finally get back to the Steampunk Protostar build series that was started way back in June...

Today's rocket building exercise involves a continuation of preparing the Protostar's fins.
This step consists of providing the first bit of  'Steampunk' detailing - specifically, poking a series of holes in the fins.

I have no idea what these holes are for, other than serving as fancy detailing. 

The Victorian design engineers probably know, but they're not divulging any secrets!

I'm only the project's construction grunt.  Those other guys are probably off somewhere in their 'smoking parlor' tipping back a glass of Sherry and engaging in 'merry talk' and 'sallies of wit"!

Anyway...the fins.....

The first step is to mark out the hole locations.  This is done by making a cardstock template of the upper fin section, drawing a guideline using a  French curve drafting tool, and spacing the hole locations.  (Wait a minnit...French curve?  This is supposed to be strictly an English build!)

The four hole sizes will be graduated from 5/16" diameter to 1/8" in 1/16" increments. 

Here, the 3 upper fin sections and the template are stacked, aligned and pinned into position, ready for drilling the holes.

In the interest of keeping this build true to the Victorian-era spirit, I had originally intended to use one of my antique 'egg-beater' hand drills to  make the holes in the fins.

 

But, for the sake of precision and accuracy, I opted out, and resorted to the electric drill press instead.

A plywood backing board placed under the bottom fin helps to prevent drill bit 'tear-out'.

Here is a pic of the drilled fins. Balsa wood is generally very unforgiving with the use any kind of power tools, so there is a bit of tear-out material in the holes that must be cleaned out and smoothed.  Sandpaper and fine needle files will be used here.

Just noticed another interesting vintage tool appearing  in the photo's upper left corner.  Yep, kiddies, a good old fashioned scratch awl can be effectively used in model rocket building!

Back In The Day, #14 - It''s Deja Vu All Over Again!

As I have been wrapping up the final details of the recent Canopus-2 and FlatCat rocket builds, I took some time to descend the dark, dank staircase that leads to the secret BlastFromThePast rocket la-BOR-atory, activate the hidden secret bookshelf and pull out a large secret notebook labeled  'Old Fleet Model Rocket Inventory'.
This massive loose-leaf tome was put together back in 2016 and contains data sheets, any existing photos, and flight information for every single model in my old timey fleet.
Since I had very few photos of my earliest rockets, and flight data recording was very sporadic in those days, it was quite a task to piece together the history of those first 103 model rockets. 
Much of the information was gleaned from memory, which at my age is...well, you know....

Anyway, I discovered something very interesting  - the model rockets with fleet numbers 8 and 9 were - Canopus 1 and a FlatCat boost/Glider, both built in 1974!

44 years later, I find myself building new versions of the same models in exactly the same sequence.

Fleet #8 - Canopus


I did not have any photographs of this bird, but did, at some point, sit down and make a half-scale drawing of the model which I was able to salvage (peel) from an earlier scrap book and mount in the new notebook. 

This drawing even shows the color scheme of the original rocket.  Looking back, sky-blue and black were probably not the greatest paint choices for a rocket that was expected to reach a considerable altitude.

I have absolutely no flight data on the rocket, other than it was launched five times.

The final flight was dated 15 June, 1974.  It took place at a demonstration launch hosted by a fellow Colorado Springs rocket club, the Rapirhawks, headed by Warren Layfield. 

The only notation I have on this flight is "Model was lost".

I'm reasonably sure that a couple of the Canopus' flights were in cluster configuration.

A rocket engine inventory/usage log for 1974 indicated the use of four 1/2A3-0T engines. 

At the time, there were no other rockets in the fleet that would have used such engines, so I surmise that they were employed to help boost the Canopus on at least two of its flights.






Fleet #9 - FlatCat B/G

Built in 1974 from an original MPC kit, the FlatCat did not see its first launch until 11 June, 1975.
The bird was flown as built using a B6-4 engine.  A flight log states that the flight was somewhat successful, but the engine delay was too long for any lengthy glide phase.

Later on, the model was modified into a sliding pod rocket glider.  The dual vertical stabilizers were removed and replaced by a single center v-stab in the manner of more common glider designs.

The model was flown four more times with varying degrees of success:

4 April, 1976 - B62
13 November, 1977 - B4-2
22 January, 1978  -  B4-2
6 August, 1978  There is no flight data on this one other than the notation that the model "crashed and was destroyed".

This is the only photo I have of this bird, showing it in R/G configuration:

 

CHEERS!

BAR Fleet #117 - FlatCat Boost/Glider

Scratch Built From Published Plans

Designer:  G. Harry Stine

Type:  Conventional Pop-Pod
Boost/Glider

Stages:  Single

Engine Type:  18mm
Recovery:  Streamer, Glider
Length:  47.5cm
Weight Empty:  25.0g
Nose Cone:  Short Elliptical
Color Scheme:  Yellow, Orange, Red, and Black with black and chrome silver Trim.

 Glider

Length:  40.6cm
Wingspan:  33.3cm
Weight:   17.6g

 Pop-Pod

Length:  17cm
Diameter:  18.8mm
Weight Empty:  7.4g

Date Completed:  8 September, 2018

FlatCat Boost/Glider Build, Part 15 - Finishing Up

Now that the paint on the pop pod is dry, it gets some fleet number decals applied.

It's funny to think that this project is only the 117th model rocket I've ever built for my personal fleet.  This quantity includes the 103 birds built between 1973 and 1984.  I've only constructed 14 new models since I became a BAR in May 2016. 

Not an outstanding output.  Perhaps it's because I'm going for quality rather than quantity. (Yeah, Right!).

Of course, I did build many other rockets besides the ones for my personal fleet.  Most of these were birds used by the Skywatchers/ROMAR club for public demo launches back in the day.   I also participated heavily in Estes' build-up program in the late 70s - early 80s.  This usually involved building half a dozen of the same kit side by side.  On a few occasions, I had 3 different build-up kits on the bench to fill one order.  That was 12-18 models being constructed simultaneously!

Anyway, back to the FlatCat:

The pop-pod gets a sealing coat of Gloss Sauce....

...and an application of CA inside the top of the body tube.

Next, the shock cord system is built out of a piece of manila folder stock and a length of cotton string, as specified in the magazine article.

For the shock cord mount, I use a 3-slit method on a flat piece of card stock.  I don't like using tri-fold mounts on any tube smaller than BT-50 because of the bulk.

This mount is very similar to those found in the old MPC kits, though I believe theirs had pre-punched holes.

Now, the pod gets equipped with its very own dedicated 1x16 plastic streamer.

Before permanently gluing in the nose base, it's time to perform balance trimming of the entire model for the boost phase of flight.  The nose is not yet assembled, just in case I need to insert some clay weight.

With the pod's shock cord, streamer and nose in place, I insert a new A8-3 engine into the tube.
The FlatCat will most likely be flown on B4-2 engines, but balancing the model using a lighter A will give it that extra margin of forward stability ballast.

The idea here is to ensure that the model's boost configuration CG is located ahead of the wing leading edge.

The model's CG fell approximately 3/4" ahead of that point.  No trim clay required!

The nose base can now be glued in.

And, I finally have a fully completed FlatCat -  ready for the launch pad!

Cheers!