Just got a package from Wildman

[Jim Z]

Lookin' great Steve! I am jealous of just how much real estate you end up with on a sled in a rocket that size. I'm working on a 38mm av bay now and its tight as heck! LOL! Keep up the great work!

[smarra01]

Fins are tacked on, I'll be injecting the fillets Wildman style.
Probably will not get to the fillets until after Christmas, my wife wants the table back.

I guess, I'll need a new scale, since the booster is already over 20 lbs which is the max weight of my scale.
Up to now I have always been able to weigh the individual pieces of the rocket.

[smarra01]

Top centering ring now is covered with epoxy.

Build is progressing sloooow and steady.

[onebadhawk]

That's pretty funny Steve...
You better get a bigger package of epoxy,,
and a bigger syringe while your at it too...

Teddy

[smarra01]

Internal fillets are now injected.

I would move on to the external fillets, but Chris is out with friends and if I mix up a batch his rocket needs fillets done also.
We'll kill 2 birds with one stone tomorrow.

I have started working on the removable nose cone.
I don't think the strength of the PML nose cone compares to a filament wound one, so I have beefed up its construction.

I have 2 centering rings glued on a 98mm phenolic tube.
To that I'll attached the bulkhead with 5 1/4-20 screws.

I'll inject the nose cone with epoxy to hold the centering rings firmly in place.
Just need to get to Home Cheapo to get a toilet bowl wax ring to coat the screws with before injecting the epoxy.
I just like that wax better then Vaseline or candle wax for coating the screws for some reason.

Here are some pics.

[smarra01]

Nose cone is completed, boy is there a lot of room in there.

8-32 screws for ebay are now epoxied in place, I'll make prettier once the epoxy starts to harden.

[smarra01]

Ebay and nose cone put together.

The flush mounting of the 8-32 screws and the Schurter switches came out pretty good.

[RocketHunter]

Very nice! Just read through the thread, this thing is going to be a beast!

[smarra01]

Thanks Coleman, it has been slow going up to this week, but the end is in sight.

Now the first set fillets are on.
That took almost 6 pumps of West system epoxy with colloidal silica for just 1 fin, usually one of my builds only takes 6 pumps of epoxy, not just 1 fillet.
Bigger fillets are definitely a lot harder to get perfect, looks like I'll be doing some filling on these fillets. We'll see after after they are sanded down.

Since I took the rest off the week off, I'm hoping to have it finished by the end of the weekend and ready for paint.

[smarra01]

All the fillets are now done, even had left over to have Chris finish the fillets on his rocket.

Time to start thinking about what colors to paint it.