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STRMan
04-14-2008, 08:24 AM
I began getting tired of having my rockets laying around all over the place. I wanted to make a stand that would hold a lot of them and not look bad in the process.

I went to the Home Depot. I bought a piece of 1" x 6" x 4' red oak and three pieces of 1/2" diameter red oak wood dowels that were 3 ' long each. I then beveled the edges of the plank with a chamfer bit on my router.

Next, I used my plunge router with a 1/2 straight bit to make holes into the plank that went most of but not all the way through. I made sure I had previously spaced out the positions of the holes so my rockets would have enough room to live side by side on the rack.

I then began cutting the wood dowels to length. I made the dowels in the center and back row the tallest, and the front row and edges the shorter.

I put a little masking tape on the end of the dowels to insure a tight fit and twisted them into the holes.

I then took a 1/2" bit and cleaned out some old engine casings I had lying around. I installed them into the rockets backwards, with the nozzle facing up, and they fit nearly perfectly over the 1/2" wood dowels to hold the rockets firmly upright. For some of the RTF models, I actually had to drill out some of the nozzle to get the engine to go into the rocket backwards and still get the retaining ring to twist on. For D and E rockets, I plan on just gluing a spent 18 mm casing inside of a spent 24 mm casing to make a display mount. For 13 mm rockets, the wood dowel should fit nicely right into the engine mount without a casing at all.

Now, my wife doesn't think my rocket building area looks like a mess all the time.

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k65/STRMan/DSC00640.jpg

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k65/STRMan/DSC00644.jpg

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k65/STRMan/DSC00639.jpg

BTW, the unpainted rocket below is my Super Stiletto, a 33% upscale version of the Stiletto you see behind it. It will fly on a D12-3 to an E9-8. Excelsior Rocketry even made me an upscale set of decals for it.

So, 33% bigger with 150% more total impulse. I better find a very big field on a very calm day to fly this baby at full power.

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k65/STRMan/DSC00643-1.jpg

PaulK
04-14-2008, 09:05 AM
BTW, the unpainted rocket below is my Super Stiletto, a 33% upscale version of the Stiletto you see behind it. It will fly on a D12-3 to an E9-8. Excelsior Rocketry even made me an upscale set of decals for it.

So, 33% bigger with 150% more total impulse. I better find a very big field on a very calm day to fly this baby at full power....[/IMG]Cool. You can probably still find some C11-0 motors for the first flight.

STRMan
04-14-2008, 09:13 AM
Cool. You can probably still find some C11-0 motors for the first flight.

I already have a half dozen. I'm thinking a C11-0/C11-7 combo should be about right. I might also make an adapter or two so I can fly it on a B6-0/A8-5 combo for a smaller field.