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Old 04-24-2016, 09:49 AM
Mad City Flyers Mad City Flyers is offline
Intermediate Rocketeer
 
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: Madison
Posts: 70
Default X-15 Complete!!

Ok, I'm done pouting about my thread being hijacked and here's the final story.

First, yes this was pretty much the most challenging build to date from Soup to Nuts!! It took about 2+ months from initial order to get all of the correct materials from Hangar 11. Although this was a drag, Bobby B. did follow through and I received everything I paid for. The total investment for this project is running around $500 for kit, materials, ejection timer, parachute, recovery harness, and motor. Definitely testing my hobby allowance.

Second, yes, the side wraps were a real challenge and I did not get them fitted perfectly meaning I had to add some filler to get a good finish.

Third, this bird is heavy fully loaded (9+ pounds) so as intended it will be a show flyer rather than a performance flyer.

Here's the list of modifications that I introduced:
  • Replaced one of the forward centering rings to allow for motors up to 38/1080
  • Set thin internal and external epoxy fillets for strength
  • Used bondo filler to close all gaps in the side wraps
  • Added a tube coupler to create an AV bay in the nose cone
  • Added 500g of steel BBs embedded in epoxy to the nose cone

I was uncomfortable with the idea of launching such a heavy rocket with only motor ejection for the recovery so the AV bay is fit with a PerfectFlite Timer. The timer will be set just after the motor ejection delay to provide some safety. Also, don't want to see this pretty model auger in as test pilots used to say.

Check out the pick of the model balancing at its CG. The CP is right between the forward wings so pushing the CG at list 1+ caliber's forward took a decent amount of weight (1+lbs).

Plan is for first flight on a J350W at the mid May Bong launch!!

Cheers all!

Matt and Nate


Here's a few build pics:
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