Back To Biz-ness...

Hi, All,
I haven't posted here is some time on account of being out traveling and away from the computer. 

Today, things have returned to normal - however that can be defined - so I can get back to rocket building and blogging.

One quick note:  Last week (August 14th) marked an anniversary of sorts in my model rocketry journey.  It was on that date fifty years ago that I first witnessed a model rocket in flight.

In fact, I saw many model rockets in flight that very same day, as I was a visiting spectator at NARAM-11 in Colorado Springs!

Little did I know at the time the Model Rocket Bug would bite me hard enough that I would still be involved in the hobby half a century later...

Well....enough jabber...time to get back to the shop and get crackin' on that Protostar. I would like to get that project wrapped up by the end of September, so I can get started on the next of many in the queue.

Maybe even get some flyin' done....

Cheers!

Steampunk Protostar, Part 31 - Smoke Stack Mounting Plate.

As with the launch lugs, the smoke stack will be attached to its own plate to mount on the rocket body. 

Construction is very similar to that of the lug mounts - a piece of laminated balsa wood is precision sanded into a curved shape to conform to the body tube:

A section of riveted panel is marked out to make the cuts to accommodate the mount assembly.

The mount itself also gets marks for locating glue-spot rivet detail.

Here is the rivet panel with cut-out section removed and replaced by the smoke stack mount.

After the application of some rivets made from Aylene's Tacky glue spots, the mounting plate gets brush painted with some flat aluminum enamel. I am not necessarily going with precision spray paint jobs on this model because I want to achieve more of a hand-made look.

Darn it...I just noticed that some of the balsa grain didn't get adequately filled.  Too late to fix that, so I must move on.

 

Finally, here is the unit all glued up.

Next stop - an air scoop.  Stay tuned.