MLAS update

I will have all the latess news later tonight

sorry for the delay

Rick

http://modelrocketbuilding.blogspot.com/

Here are some more tips from Chris


http://modelrocketbuilding.blogspot.com/

Enjoy

Rick

TIPS

Here are more tips for all to read, and pick up some new or old tricks

Thanks Chris
http://modelrocketbuilding.blogspot.com/2011/05/estes-saturn-v-build-part-41-parachutes.html

NASA phone call today

FYI for everyone who may check in daily, I had a nice phone call from Mr. Chris Rink today.  He is the NASA public relations contact at the Hampton, VA. Base.  He was at the MLAS launch in 2008, which is cool.

He was very interested in the MLAS project and will be keeping tabs on us.  I for one am thrilled at the amount of exposure the project is getting.  He expressed his support and said there were some people that might be of service to us.  He is going to ask around and get back to me sometime next week.

There has been other company's interested in the project, for teaching purposes, which is one of the reasons we are working so hard on the details.

As I explained to Chris, the plan is to duplicate all the events as they happened on the flight.  From the boost skirt drag separation to the re-orientation chutes and the CM separation.  Although I think the timing on the Shroud- CM separation will be shorter than the original.

As many of you know Team ARC flew the 8" model this past Saturday with success.

We are working on the boost and coast skirts this weekend and are trying to get the 2ft model ready for NSL in a few weeks??  We will keep pictures and postings coming regulary, along with as much information as possible.

I will be posting notes from this week’s round table.  Also I will be adding pictures of the construction of the shroud.   We are starting that tomorrow.

Thanks for all the visits to the blog, it is getting more traffic than I imagined.

Also please feel free to follow by clicking the follow button on the top of the home page,

GO BIG OR GO HOME

Rick "Scratch" McKee
Nar 87253 L3
SSS # 506

New building tips

 For more modeling tips visit the website below, this guy has skills.


http://modelrocketbuilding.blogspot.com/

Rick

Project update as of May 16th, 2011

  Well we are back on the web,  I guess they got all the bugs out.

to start we have completed the CM  and applied a coat of wood filler to it.

  We also started on the coast skirt construction, we have made the fin templet and cut one for mock up, to this we also cut the slots for the drag platesand inserted them for a test fit.

These drag plates are made out of the 3/8 honeycomb material we have. This material will also serve as the motor cage base. Usin this honeycomb material will help keep the skirt true ( ROUND).

The motors will be 20 degrees off center and canted towards the center, just like the real one.  We feel the HCM  will be adequate for the power we are using.

Update #2

We flew the 8inch version this Saturday, it flew very well, I will post pictures later tonight. But wew have a youtube video you can view.http://www.youyube.com/watch?v=WC2mZaaMfx&feature=youtube gdata player

As you can see in the video it flew well, the skirts came off as expected. I know the shroud was not to scale. But we are making a new one as I write this. The new one will be closer to scale, with the two different angles on the lower portion of the shroud.

Other progress has been with the smaller model  we have added more nose weight and will fly it again soon.

On the 2 ft model we plan on a k motor total impulse weight will be the factor. 

These are pictures that I have right now.  Please keep looking for more.

More later

Rick  "SCRTACH" McKee

These are a fev more pictures showing the material we have. This is Very strong and light
A 6"X 6" piece weighs less than 50 grams



This is a picture of one of the drag plates installed



The layout of the boost skirt with the hooneycomb material



                                         

This is showing the thickness of the hooneycomd 3/8 "



More pictures and updates

   These are just a few of the pictures. I have added the ones we took this past weekend to my picasa page.
to view them just click on the slideshow and select the folder you want.
Thanks for visiting.

Scrtach

Model building tips

 This link is great
http://modelrocketbuilding.blogspot.com/2011/05/dfr-tech-delta-ii-build-finished_10.html

Have fun

Rick

Emails, and contact info

Please leave your e-mail and contact information. I am putting a contact list together for any and all rocketry information.
Please goto  http://www.arizonarocketconsortium.org/  or   Arizonarocketconsortium@yahoo.com  an shoot me an e-mail

Thanks

Rick.

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)