I heartily agree! He has mentioned those outings, and he has also written at least one article (on the Arcas, with rare photographs) for Sport Rocketry.

__________________
Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see:
http://www.lulu.com/content/paperba...an-form/8075185
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6122050
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6126511
All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com.
NAR #54895 SR

Thanks Blackshire. I shall endeavor to use my newfound knowledge for the greater good, which in this case means better-looking hangers on my model.

At this point I can only dream of scale drawings for the IRIS-T itself. Every time I try to derive dimensions and proportions from a photo, they seem to come out different from all the other photos. Up to this point length and diameter are the only dimensions I know for sure, now I'll add the hangers to the "known" list.

When we last left the actuator fairings, there were still substantial gaps around the tail cone. (picture 1). Time to deal with that.

I cut the piece of cardstock shown in picture 2. This is a result of measuring, cutting, test fitting, cutting some more, repeat until fit is satisfactory. That piece was then glued in place to the side of the fairing (sorry, forgot to take a picture here).

The front edge of the cardstock created a bit of a ridge. A nail file was run gently around the edge, from back to front, to smooth it out (picture 3). When I run my finger over it now I can't feel it at all. After a bit of CWF it should disappear.

After some Quick and Thick fillets, here are the first two finished pieces (picture 4). Two down, six more to go.

I am extremely pleased with the way this came out so far.

Attached Thumbnails

       

Started gluing the wings tonight. This is challenging.

I laid the glue into the pocket and put a small bead everywhere else the fin root would tough, especially the front and back. [picture 1]

After holding it a *LONG* time, the glue was eventually set. I filleted around the base of the skirt with TB Quick and Thick. Picture 2 shows a finished wing, all gaps filled.

Nice.

The second wing was harder. I bent the skirts out more so they wouldn't push back so hard, but it was still difficult holding the wing in place while it set. Eventually I realized I had specialized tools to help with this. [picture 3]

I'll see how it looks tomorrow.

1.75 wings finished, plenty for the night.

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'Tis looking good--and more like the final product (I hope the meticulous work doesn't make you too reluctant to fly it! :-) ). I wouldn't be surprised if the builders of the Centuri Nomad (a Standard missile scale-like model), AVI's Delta Vee Sounder (a rather Standard-ish kit), and Quest's Navaho AGM (a Standard-like two-stage model) had/have similar experiences getting their body strakes glued on just right.

__________________
Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see:
http://www.lulu.com/content/paperba...an-form/8075185
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6122050
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6126511
All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com.
NAR #54895 SR

Thanks. Thus far I have committed to the credo that "it's not a rocket until it flies", so this thing is gonna fly. Although, like a couple of my other builds, I will be very conservative about the conditions and motors, at least at the beginning.

The first time I lose or destroy something that I really put a lot of time into could change my philosophy, but I've been lucky enough so far (knock on balsa).

I agree with your credo (Stine also mentioned it in his "Handbook of Model Rocketry"). Also, regarding your earlier concerns about the alignment and friction of long launch lugs for this model, yesterday I remembered my old BT-70 size Estes Gemini-Titan II (depicting the Gemini 3 vehicle); it had a foot, if not more, of discontinuous (if I recall correctly) 1/8" launch lugs, which doubled as scale-appearance Titan II conduits. I never flew it (or even quite finished it), but I did get its launch lugs glued on, and they all slid smoothly on the launch rod when I "test-fitted" it.

__________________
Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see:
http://www.lulu.com/content/paperba...an-form/8075185
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6122050
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6126511
All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com.
NAR #54895 SR

The concern would be binding under non-ideal conditions (rod flexing in the wind, flexing under stress of launch, etc.) In any case, though, I think at this point I'm pretty committed to putting the lugs in the two rear hangers and leaving it out of the front. I think that will be fine. Haven't designed those little assemblies yet, though; still trying to decipher the drawings you sent me.

If 3/16" x 3' (or 5 mm [I *think*] x 1 m, the slightly narrower and longer international equivalent) lengths of carbon fiber or Kevlar fiber rod are available, they might be considerably stiffer than aluminum rods; so might be a stainless steel rod of that size.

__________________
Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see:
http://www.lulu.com/content/paperba...an-form/8075185
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6122050
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6126511
All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com.
NAR #54895 SR

And the answer is... just fine. Applied fillets, two wings now finished.