I was talking with people about fiberglassing at the meeting too 🙂 Ed directed me to a video series that looks awesome and there is a video in particular that may be of interest to you:

Tip to Tip Fiberglassing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtYYsX3VEmc

Video Series
http://www.youtube.com/user/tfish38/videos

This isn't exactly what you're looking for but until someone else responds I hope that this is helpful.

If you guys have any questions on the videos...feel free to ask..

Tony...tfish38

The video was pretty clear. I picked up some 2oz cloth and 30 minute epoxy. I have an old fin can I'm going to do some practice on. I'm still wondering what vacuum bagging does for you. Seems like you get two things: less weight of excess epoxy and a smoother finish (less sanding). Those are two, very nice advantages. But is it worth the hassle of acquiring a vacuum rig and all the associated consumables? Seems like a pretty costly investment.

I've taught tip to tip to many folks in the club as well as vacuum bagging. I'm usually pretty available although I do work Saturdays. There are a couple articles here in the forums I've done on the process as well as pictures. By the way, Joe Hinton is the best T-to-T and vacuum bagging buddy you could have.

W

I've taught tip to tip to many folks in the club as well as vacuum bagging. I'm usually pretty available although I do work Saturdays. There are a couple articles here in the forums I've done on the process as well as pictures. By the way, Joe Hinton is the best T-to-T and vacuum bagging buddy you could have.

W

Actually, Ken Reilly gave me a call, and we plan to get together this weekend and he's going to show me the ropes. Thanks for the offer. I may hit you up anyway if I have more questions.

The video was pretty clear. I picked up some 2oz cloth and 30 minute epoxy. I have an old fin can I'm going to do some practice on. I'm still wondering what vacuum bagging does for you. Seems like you get two things: less weight of excess epoxy and a smoother finish (less sanding). Those are two, very nice advantages. But is it worth the hassle of acquiring a vacuum rig and all the associated consumables? Seems like a pretty costly investment.

When I bought my rig, I had spare cash and didn't think about the money. The vacuum pump was bought refurbished from Blue Spruce Aviation as I recall and all the fittings and such from Fiberglast.com. The real investment was in fabrics and resin and other materials. By the time I was done, I had $1000 in the rig, but I also have enough carbon, Kevlar, S-glass and v-bagging materials to build a whole bunch of rockets or at least one decent whitewater dory - the main reason I bought all that stuff in the first place. Now if only I could afford the marine plywood and Plascore for the boat.

When doing this type of tip-to-top glassing, do you need to use special epoxy (high temperature) to keep it from delaminating at high speed? You said this rocket was simulated to go Mach 2.5. What epoxy did you use?

If you're going to do Mach 2.3, I would coat the leading edges of the fins with Cotronics high temp epoxy after doing the layup with regular epoxy like Aeropoxy or West Systems. I personally use aluminum tipped nose cones, but if you're using a straight glass cone, coat the tip of the cone too. Don't even think about using a plastic cone, it WILL melt.

W

On the tips for carbon clothed tip to tip I've used Pro-Line from Wildman. I coated the leading edge for about 4 mm. Otherwise I've used Aeropoxy (Giant Leap) laminating resin successfully. I've hit Mach 2 with it without issues. Most delamination events I've seen are on rockets that failed catastrophically under speed. I have always wondered which came first the delamination or the structural failure.

I am not sure of the heat generated on the leading edge. Most club hobby rockets don't seem to stay above mach 2 for any length of time. Ask John Wilke or James Russel, I am sure they may have some insight