Rocketry is all about choices; phenolic or glass? Motor ejection vs. electronics? Aerotech vs. Cesaroni? Hybrids vs. AP? Rails vs. lugs? Lugs vs. towers? Painted or primed? Three fins or four? Conical vs. ogive???? Missile Works vs. PerfectFlite? Davey's vs. Oxral? G10 vs. Plywood? BP vs. Pyrodex? Single use vs. reloads?

Howzabout West Systems vs. AeroPoxy? 5-minute epoxy vs. 30 minute? Everyready vs. Coppertop? Drogue vs. Drougeless? Altitude vs. sport flying? N. site vs. Atlas? BALLS or Oktoberfest? Blackjack vs. White lightning? One stage or two? Clusters or not? C-Slots vs. Bates? Medusa vs. conventional nozzle? Custom avatar vs. one from the list? Dr. Rocket vs. Monster? Plugged closures vs. conventional? Should I mount a switch or just twist the wires?

Should I use 1200 grit vs. stopping at 220? Wet sand vs. dry sanding? Bondo vs. Aeropoxy light? Apogee deploy or dual deploy? Using nylon screws for shear pins vs. polystyerene? vent holes or not? Pistons or Nomex? Nomex or dog barf? ROL vs. Rocketry Planet? Screws vs. rivets?

But wait -- Convolute or filament wound? Barrowman vs. Rocksim? Rocksim 4.0 vs. upgrading? Snap rings vs. threaded? EX vs. commercial? Ground test or wing it? NAR vs. Tripoli? Beveled edges vs. rounded? One altimeter vs. two? Accelerometers vs. baro? Mylar vs. Peel-ply?

As I've said in the past -- "Dance with who brung 'ya". Do what is comfy for you. Let there be peace, rocketry brothers 😉

LOL

YAHOOOOOO

Doug, you have a PM.

Ken.

Here I was thinking it was Taboo to buy them tubes premade!
Must be my initiation into the club. 🙂

Although I do build a kit from time to time, 90% of what I do is scratchbuilt. Given the amount of work involved, it makes sense to buy what you can and only make what you have to.

Oh yeah, this thread is getting a tad long in the tooth as well. Start a new one so we can keep things a bit more concise.

Warren

Well
Finished 2 layers of glass on every thing. Boosters almoast 5 pounds!
I figure the whole thing will be about 10 lbs before Motor. Is that about
Right? THe Quantum leap sustainer was just over 6.

Peel-Ply is a dacron fabric. Remember that white nylon like fabric I showed you? It's used to create a rough surface so subsequent layers can adhere better. It's porous and allows the epoxy to soak through. When the epoxy is cured, you just "peel" it off.

Ken

Did some one say you could get dacron at Hobby Lobby??

You really need to get peel-ply from a composites vendor such as Fiberglast.com or Mr. Fiberglass. Aside from the fabric material itself, peel-ply is typically coated or impregnated with chemicals to assist with it's resistance to epoxy bonding. Plain old dacron probably won't work.

Warren

Scotte
there are also different types of peal ply, so something I have learned is do not use the cloth and the pink. I have documented some of the steps in laminating, send me a pm and I can share with you what I have learned from Doug.

Scotte
there are also different types of peal ply, so something I have learned is do not use the cloth and the pink. I have documented some of the steps in laminating, send me a pm and I can share with you what I have learned from Doug.

Ya I tried the pink and cloth on a test tube. That outcome sucked!

I used the red plastic one and it seemed to be OK, I think there is a blue one and a green one, the green one seems to be a lot more plyable. I think it really depends on your application.