Today, our group of Front Range rocketeers was supposed to meet at Dove Valley Park in Centennial to conduct another launch. As luck would have it, the weather conditions turned abruptly against us. A couple of days ago, local weather models showed nice warm, windless conditions. On Monday, however, we were struck with a monsoon weather pattern that brought lots of rain and sloppiness to the area. These conditions show signs of continuing into today.
So, the launch was cancelled....
Instead, I trudged down the stairs to the basement La-BOR-atory to work on rockets.
Rather than continuing on with the binge build models, I chose instead to repair the EAC Viper. This is the model that was badly damaged by a motor CATO last December.
To begin the repairs, I removed the remnants of the motor mount and gave the interior of the tube a thorough cleaning.
Next, the charred and bent forward section of the airframe body tube was cut off as cleanly as possible.
A stage coupler was glued in and a short section of body tube cut and attached to the coupler. Any remaining gaps were fixed with CWF. The Viper is now slightly longer than original, but will be completely flight-worthy.
Next, the motor mount. I decided to upgrade the model with an 18mm mount this time.
With a little brushed-on acrylic paint and a new shock cord/mount, the fleet flagship is once again fit to take to the skies!
Cheers!
