More Pictures of the build

This is just to show size.

Here are a few of the pictures that we have taken over the past week.

 We have more on the Picasa page under Construction of the MLAS folder.

OK here are some of the details from the past week.

1.       We have completed the rough cut of the CM, we still have to remove about 1/2" of material (more blue snow) Once that is completed we will add a filler and wait for it to dry.

2.       The boost, and coast skirts have been cut to size, We have a small piece left form the tube we were given by White cap , this will be used as the bottom of the shroud.       

3.      I have laid out the boost skirt motor placements and we figured out how to support the motors.  The plan is to use the 3/8” honeycomb material I had in the shop.

4.      Honeycomb material is a sandwich of 3/8 octagon with a fiberglass outer shell.  This material is used in the flooring of commercial airliners (VERY STRONG) and light.

5.      I have the stations for the shroud figured out and will begin the laying out of the pattern tomorrow.  I will do this on a piece of cardboard so I can change things as needed.

6.      We have decided to do the shroud in three pieces, this will allow us to hollow out some of the shroud and keep some solid. Also this will allow us to use the same lathe setup.

7.      We are being very careful on weights and the materials we use.  Also in regard to the strength of a material

8.      Shon and I are working on the Barrowman Equations for the rocket, this is so we can combine and check each other.

9.      We still have not decided what to use for the fin material.

10.   We plan on launching the 8”this weekend; I have added 6 oz of nose weight to the shroud.

Now its nose heavy  

There were some minor repairs that were needed, they will be completed today. Then we will repack the chutes and prep for launch Saturday afternoon.  

Some of the details are as follows

Weights

 Boost skirt as of yesterday   8.6 lbs

Coast skirt as of yesterday    3.8 lbs

CM                                        12.6 lbs

(the CM still has the lathe hardware attached)

Construction notes from the shop

  Sunday May 1, 2011. I have spent the weekend working on the 2 foot boilerplate of the Command Module (CM)

I cut the 20 pieces of blue foam, ranging from 24" to 8"

I then cut a 1" hole in the center and placed all of them on the center dowel.

While that was drying (24 hrs) I constructed a lathe on one of the work tables in the shop using MDF and a drill.

That took all day. Side note- when working with DuPont blue foam wear long sleeves (Very itchy right now)




The 8" along side the 2 ft CM

 

Product placement HA ha
this is how we work all weekend without sleep

We have about 6 weeks till NSL in Lucerne, California. So I need to get things moving. I would like to have this boilerplate ready for launch by then. We figure the this will take 4 motors equaling a K motor to lift this. This will be a team effort.  As you can see here in the pictures I cut a form of the CM and laid it out on the MDF.  This was centered on the rod.



Foam core CM layout

.

We will be back in the shop later today working on the CM. I have decided to split it in half after the shape in completed. This will allow us to make room for the electronics and any weight needed. It will also allow us to strengthen the areas that will hold the chutes

I have a file of all the construction on my Picasa site, please feel free to go and visit them. Just click on one of the slide shows to view the pictures.



 

The tape is for scale



Here you see all the foam on the floor



Another scale picture



 Here are pics to show size, yep crazy.

GO BIG or GO HOME



Thanks for visiting
Scratch







Flight of the 8inch MLAS

We started construction of our 2 ft model MLAS today. ( No school today for me)

Here are the pictures from the flight this past weekend.  I am currently editing the article on the flight and the new construction




so far so good

 

Scratch





we have liftoff



   

 


All four motors lit

  
 



still going straight



canted motor's still lit



It started up straight, but we needed a little more nose weight. Even the canted motors worked good. Yea team ARC .   After the flight we tried to prep the rocket for another flight. But because of the windy conditions we decided to hold off till sunday.  Sunday came and the same windy conditions along with it. So on to other rockets.  Shon flew his O reborn on a K550 to around 3000 ft. But because of the wind, he had to chase it over 1.5 miles northeast into the power lines and brush.  




need nose weight DUH!

  


coming south

 





Isis - the official rocket dog!



More nose cone stuff

Moes nose cone lesson
As before, I posted information on how the guys I run with make large nosecones.
You might want to visit Moes blog the link is below, and see just what I mean

Here is the link you will need

http://www.aeromoe.com/ConeJig.html.

Late night spelling

As many may see, I tried working on the blog at 4:00 am. My advise, don't do it.
Sorry for all the miss spelled words.

Some pictures from the Museum

These are jus a few of the pictures I took at the museum, i enjoied the whole day their

This is a long shot of the Apollo 11 suite on display.

This is a training suite worn by many.

I hope all of the people who love space enjoy these pictures 

 We at ARC try to do whatever we can to help keep the vision alive,   I hope all feel the same way I do and pay it forward somehow.whether it be mentoring young adults on critical thinking, or just launching rockets we all have a passion for this. 

I hope this will inspire people to support our space program and the young minds currently in school.

 

This suite was worn by V.I Grissom Xanders Great Uncle

Apollo 11  patch

Pictures

To all who are following my blog, I thank you.
I will be posting pictures of the Museum of science and industry later today.  I forgot the data cable to my phone so I have to wait till I return to Phoenix 
later

Rick "scratch" McKee
NAR # 87253L3

Starlight Jayhawk Build Part 24 White Decals

The Starlight kit includes decals, but these were printed on clear decal paper. The stars and bars decal on the wings need a white overcoat when set on the orange background paint.

Someone on TRF (I wish I could find the name to give them proper credit) suggested spraying the decal paper with colored paint.
What a simple, brilliant idea!

We already spray printed decal paper with a clear coat to seal it.
I figured you could spray the sheet white and cut out the underlying white area.

To test this, I found some scrap decal paper and sprayed it gloss white.

You can see I've already started doing the decals.

Here's the white spray test piece transferred onto the orange fin.

It's opaque and pretty thin. This might just work.

First man in space: A 50-year-old feat remembered

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV, Associated Press Vladimir Isachenkov, Associated Press – Sun Apr 10, 12:41 am ET

STAR CITY, Russia – It was the Soviet Union's own giant leap for mankind, one that would spur a humiliated America to race for the moon. It happened 50 years ago this Tuesday, when an air force pilot named Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space.
The 27-year-old cosmonaut's mission lasted just 108 minutes and was fraught with drama: a break in data transmission, glitches involving antennas, a retrorocket and the separation of modules. And there was an overarching question that science had yet to answer: What would weightlessness do to a human being?
"There were all kinds of wild fears that a man could lose his mind in zero gravity, lose his ability to make rational decisions," recalls Oleg Ivanovsky, who oversaw the construction and launch of the Vostok spacecraft that carried Gagarin.

The Soyuz TMA-21 launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Tuesday, April 5, 2011, carrying Expedition 27 Soyuz Commander Alexander Samokutyaev, NASA Flight Engineer Ron Garan and Russian Flight Engineer Andrey Borisenko to the International Space Station. The Soyuz, which has been dubbed "Gagarin", is launching one week shy of the 50th anniversary of the launch of Yuri Gagarin from the same launch pad in Baikonur on April 12, 1961 to become the first human to fly in space.