Feb 3, 2011

The Redesign Process

 Yes we have Redesigned the CM of the MLAS project. This will be short and sweet.
Reason: 1 we were having a hard time working on the CM floor due to the fact that the blue foam is foam.
             2. The upper and lower parts needed to be assembled apart.
             3 Space concerns in the shop.
            
Solution. 1. We constructed the heat shield upside down, using onle one layre of blue foam as a floor.
              2. We also constructed the upper layre of the CM using the same method of one piece of foam.
                  this allowed us to place a piece of plywood on the floor and walk on it.
              3. It also made it easier lining up the ribs we used to form the skeleton of the CM.

All of these methods are a work in progress, and we are learning as we move foward with this project.
The team members spend alot of time trying to come ou with ways to make this project a successful one, while at the same time having fun.

Rick  "SCRATCH" McKee
NAR 87253 L3

   

I have new plans.

  Yes I have new plans, Many thanks to Tim Wilson on that. The plans are very detailed on the dimensions and how they were assembled. Along with many pictures that show the actual MLAS project.
His project was a larger scale than the one we started on, but all the parts are the same.

  As I mentioned before the main issue is weight. I think we have solved the problem,
We have designed the main command module around a blue foam core wrapped with a fiberglass cloth.
Along with that we are using a resin coated honeycomb.  This has dropped the weight a huge amount.
  Tim mentioned that with his project he elected to use 3 X 29mm motor mounts stacked in the traditional way.  
  The ARC team has gone round and round on this matter and we are going to attempt the same configuration as the real MLAS.  Our design will be using most of the same electronics the we use in the larger rockets.
Altimeters from perfect flight, timers, video, and a host of other things that I will get into in later post.

  I will tell you that the intent is to bring the Command Module to the fair as a display.  We plan on having led's inside the CM along with some other bells and whistles for the kids to see. I think this will be a good draw to this years fair. Last year our display brought over 30k visitors to the booth, over a three week period.

Her is a list of some of the vendors we use on a regular  basis

Hobby lobby                                                    CTI IND
Whats up  hobbies                                            Areotech
Perfect flight                                                     Sticker Shock Stickers
Apogee Components                                       Sticky Stuff  sales
Home Depot
Walmart
McMacter Carr
Granger Supply
Harbor Freight
and many others I will list soon