John A. Wilke

One Jayhawk, please.Thanks!That is a dandy! See it here… http://www.madcowrocketry.com/servlet/the-11/Jay-Hawk-AQM-dsh-37A-Rocket/Detail (pretty girl holding rocket not included 😀 )I have two Jayhawks, so if anyone else wants one, I can cover a 2nd request… Cool rocket!Thanks! JW

Bruce, I’ll be glad to look at it. Some comments on AeroPoxy Lite… first, it saves you a LOT of iterations on the fill / sand / prime process. I have used this stuff several times, and it typically takes…   Read more»

Sean, what page was the rocket on? I didn’t see it – but I didn’t sort through all 142 pages of photos 🙂 Congrats!

WHAT A PRETTY ROCKET! Ed, is that the Madcow BB2? I’m not normally a big scale modeling geek, but the MC Black Brant II is the real deal. My hunch is that is what we are looking at in your…   Read more»

Hi everyone,How about….. Beef up your most forward centering rings (group of 3 for great surface contact), set two 1/4-40 eye-bolts, one on each side of the motor tube. Dead center, should leave room for the 7/16th nut. Then you…   Read more»

The epoxy can (and does) also change the physical properties of the Kevlar. I’ll bet if you soaked the flat Kevlar in epoxy and took it out later you could actually break it in two – it becomes very brittle.Kevlar…   Read more»

I’ll stand by my statement – don’t glue in webbing as your shock cord anchor – regardless of the material. In a 4″ bird with a 54mm motor mount you can easily use a forged eyebolt and washer or a…   Read more»

For a rocket like the Nike, you have more options – in the case above, the centering ring centers a 54mm motor in a 4″ tube, so there is nearly 2″ of ring to tie into. I’d probably put an…   Read more»

Epoxying Kevlar is NOT a good idea. It gets brittle, and it *will* break eventually.I always tie into the motor’s forward closure, and I go out of my way to design my rockets to allow for that.If that is not…   Read more»

you got 2nd place with a 29K blast???? that ain’t fair!Tony – what won that event? What was the diameter and altitude?Greetings from Southwestern Australia – 200 Km or so south of Perth. It is a long, long, long, long,…   Read more»

I’m the first to admit stealing / borrowing from those who came before me…. I have indeed borrowed a thing or two from Tony!

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. 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»

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»

Greywolves. I friction fit all of my motors in min dia rockets. Here is a link to a 5″ P that was friction fitted.Bingo. You have relatively few options for motor retention in a min dia rocket. Tape is a…   Read more»

I’ve friction fit L’s (and K’s) probably 20 times. The longer motor lends itself well to friction fitting – more area for the tape to fit to.FWIW, I’ve friction fit 75mm M’s several times as well. That is pretty much…   Read more»

Question John, the tail cone that comes with the Kestrel, does it have motor retetion built in? locking snap ring?ThanksThe CTI 54mm loads have an aft closure, which is a ring that is screwed onto the motor casing to keep…   Read more»

Only Tony could take a motor that is this long and STILL cut 5″ out of the rocket. His motor is 7.5″ longer than the Pro54 6G-XL that came with the kit… and he is cutting 5″ out of the…   Read more»

Tony, I can’t wait to see it… Knowing you, I’m guessing you’ll get a LOT of length out of the kit. You gonna do the chute in the nosecone again 😯 That is something I’ve never quite had the nerve…   Read more»

Well, all I can say is that this is disgraceful, selling rockets that are practically destruction proof (even from me) for these “deals.” Ah, but I have an ulterior motive — talking Scott into flying that on an L? He…   Read more»