wolfstar

Well, this L3 project started with very little funds, I needed to do this thing on a shoe string budget. So with a little Help from my friends discover ways to do just that "cheap, but with quality". Starting with the Fins, try to figure out how to build BIG fins cheaply, With suggestions these fins are constructed using 1/4 Luan board from HomeDepot ( very nice finish on one side) , cutting out (6) fins on the bandsaw, then epoxy (2) together with fiberglass matting in between (good side out, of coarse), even with these huge fins, their strong as hell. Having steel plates to hold them flat and tight while curing, helps alot, I used (2) plates on the garage floor with (20) gallons of paint for weight on top.

Next I use PML tubing for the motor tube(98mm) and cut the centering ring with a bandsaw and a drill press, out of 3/4 plywood (cheap). Now where can I find good strong airframe? Again Friends solved my quest, Yazoo Mills 6" tubing worked perfect with my 6" fiberglass PML nosecone, at fractions of the cost of any other airframe on the market(4- 6"x60" tubes under $50 dollars). These tubes are 1/4" thick sidewalls, and when soaked with a good epoxy( West Systems), are strong enough to stand or jump on ( 6'4" @ 230lb, not bad), but will never hit Mach, not even on a N4800!!!! ( IT'S A DRAG MONSTER)

Next I slotted the airframe , so the fin and motor section would slide in nicely. Once I marked the tubing fin areas, they cut very nicely with a standard Saber saw , surprised me, these tubes are easy to work with. The rest was cake, just gluing the motor mount in and lots of fillet.

Once the lower assembly was cured, I hurried up to cover the exposed wood with a sealer ( desert dryness warps unprotect wood fast ). Adding a coupler for a zipper-less design was a small challenge , it had to be strong. the low end was going to weigh about 18 LB. at Apogee. So it's (2)PML coupler inside of each other, 3/4" plywood bulkhead screwed and epoxied in place and then the inside side walls matted with fiberglass and then filled with 2 part foam. Not to forget the 2" U bolt again from HomeDepot.

Now comes the upper section, and the heart of it is the Payload bay. Mine uses (2) altimeters for redundant recovery, Altimeter I'll use is (2) PerfectFlite's miniAlt/WD logging dual event. Again using dual coupler and a 2" airframe piece on the outside. 1/4" all-thread rod was used to hold it altogether, including the mounting board for the electronics. the best SW. for the arming, I found , was 120/220V. select sw. from MissleWorks, Their flat and a wiz to mount. For the lower (drogue Chute) a 18" section is used and a 36" section for the upper( main chute), caped off with a 6" fiberglass Nosecone filled with 2 part foam and a few more 2" U-bolts. Chutes being use are (1) Sky Angle Cert 3 drogue ( I love this chute) and a Rocketman R14 (borrowed, thanks to Kendall Reed) and all held together with Rocket Rage "Cobra 3D" Shock cord ( Highly Recommended )

You know how you just can't wait, to see about want it will really look like, kinda a little bigger than I imagined.

"OK" time for the Painting, again cheap is the word of the day. (7) cans of white Primer (krylon) @ $2.50 each (10) cans of Fire Engine Red (Krylon) again $2.50 each and (1) can of gloss black. Did I mention allot of sanding ( My arm didn't work for a week after all the sanding ).

So I figure the total cost to build this Puppy( notice Paw prints ) was around $280.00 Dollar, not including chutes and electronics or labor. AND I have more tubing left, enough for (1) more rocket. The last thing added was a 1/4" X 6" thrust plate and a 98mm to 76mm adapter/Motor retainer.

Me and my finished L3 project "Gravity Kills" at Nellis Air Show. Wish I could have stayed longer, we really enjoy working with the base personal and showing what Rocketry is all about. Thousands of people visited the Tripoli Vegas booth.

Now for the end results

Launched at Tripoli-Vegas "Turkey Shoot 2003" @ Jean Dry Lake , NV. in a L3 drag race.

Well it's ready on the pad, Vince ( Flying ) Serkus and I in a Photo moment, Thanks Nadine!

Well, Scott and I both used M1315, and as you may have guessed "yes" I borrowed the DR rocket 76/6400 motor case too, Big thanks to Steve Hedland!

OK, I wasn't the first off the Pad, took 3 to 4 seconds for Pressure to build up. I don't know what kind of igniter Scott use, but it was the fastest I've ever seen a "M" motor fire up.

Yes, I'm still on the pad, Scott rocket showed that a problem had happen, his ejection charge popped about 3 to 4 feet off the pad and the booster pasted the upper payload section( seen in the smoke trail ).

Click here for a 11 meg video of the Race

But low and behold and catching most off guard, GravyKills came to life and roared off the pad in a perfectly straight flight, soaring to about 6700 feet. You can see Scott's rocket booster spiraling down with a burned chute slowing it down and saving it for a future launch. Seeing your Rocket coming back under full chute on a L3 flight and recovering it with no damage is PRICELESS!

A big thanks to Jerry McKinlay ( Tripoli Vegas, NASSA ) and Nadine Kinney (Photos by Nadine, COSROCS) for the launch photo's, and Bill Wilson for the video footage.

I was pronounced a Level 3, Paper work signed and given a L3 pin by the Club Perfect "Gordon McDaniel" right off his own hat. Also very big Thanks to John Sbare, Kendall Reed, Vince Serkus , Steve Hedland, Jerry McKinlay, Scott Ulrey( BSD Rocketry ), Lee Ellibee, Dave Pacheco and of course Mr. McDaniel for their help and knowledge base in my quest. This Tripoli Vegas group is about the best group of people I've ever met, Thanks all for making a dream come true !!!!!!!