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I understand entirely Tony – I’m much the same way. I also blatantly steal good ideas where I find them and after reading your posts on this thread, I find that a bunch of idea I thought I stole from…   Read more»

That link in the previous post is way very cool. It is amazing that terrain like that is so close to the playa.Indeed, the day Tony misplaced that rocket I was hopping around the desert in a cast (broken foot)…   Read more»

Warren, Like I said in that post..I’m kind of slow and need to learn things myself. I like it when people say you can’t do this or that because of something or other. Years ago I was told you could…   Read more»

Tony – What did you use to track those rockets? 30,000+ is impressive as heck.

I’d be careful about welding to most motor cases unless you have the capability to re-heat treat the case after the welding. The ideal, from what I know, would be to make a case specifically for the purpose. Machine the…   Read more»

more personal ramblings…my history of min dia rockets.. My first min dia rocket was back in about 2000. It was your basic cardboard tube with a couple of layers of glass on it. I built it long enough to take…   Read more»

Lesson #2 ..ramblingsThere’s really no secrets to flying high. I’ll start with the motor. Use the smallest diameter and fullest newtons for the class. If you have your choice go with the longest burning motor. The problem with short burn…   Read more»

For what it’s worth, my Kestrel had only minor mach rash. It reached M1.9 and ~27K. Lost about 1″ of paint on the nose tip and about 1/8 to 1/4 on the fin leading edges. I was using very pedestrian…   Read more»

Yes….I am ready for lesson #2

Good point, John. You and others have gotten Mach rash… will Tony be the first with re-entry rash? Time for some ablative paint, one that is actually meant to anyway. This thread will get a lot of people thinking, very…   Read more»

Warren. My modifications are meant for the average builder…….. Again This has all been working for me. I don’t have fins raining down on me and I feel I push my rockets pretty hard. Until I have issues I’ll keep…   Read more»

John, was that you calling him? That is one of the best instructional videos I’ve ever seen. Traditionally, the elliptical fin is the most drag “free” fin, and the clipped delta just 1 % below that, the thing I…   Read more»

Warren. My modifications are meant for the average builder. The epoxy I use is called Raka. Greg Fannin turned me on to it years ago. In 2004 Greg went 33K at mach 2.4 with this epoxy. His fins held up…   Read more»

I use the PRO-SET epoxies because in addition to different hardeners, they also offer resins of different thicknesses. I prefer their 125 Resin Low Viscosity for everything and always add fillers to thicken it up to desired consistency. By using…   Read more»

If you chemically thin pretty much any epoxy more than 10%, you significantly reduce the cross-linking in the polymer during cure and thereby reduce the strength of the epoxy. Some manufacturers will even tell you that it reduces strength more…   Read more»

What a great video!question: when do you remove the tape?you also mentioned that thinning epoxy was “controversial”. What are some of the pros and cons to that?

Thanks for posting that! I watched it a couple of times last night. Always cool to see how other people do it. I’ll probably start on my KestreL next so that was a welcome bit of motivation.

Thanks for sharing that, Tony – I always learn something when I look over your shoulder. Some questions:- is your “wet cat hairball” fillet the only fillet you apply? earlier on it looked like you had a small fillet, and…   Read more»

Nice video Tony. Now if you only vacuum-bagged, you could get 6oz fabric to lay down that tight and have a much stronger layup.Edit:- I’m curious about the epoxy too – what brand? Post-cure?

I got the fins attached and glassed. I made a video of the process I use.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Aqj3xcCWjUTony