After cleaning up the remaining minor details, such as drilling port holes, the rocket was complete as far as I could take it in NYC. I do not paint my rockets until they have been tested, with the intent of saving the bulk of the finishing time on a rocket in the case that it fails it's first time out. Once it survives an actual flight, I take the time to make it pretty. Well... as pretty as my adolescent spray paint skills can make it. :)

The next step of the journey involves getting it to the launch, because as my dad assured me, trying to get a rocket past airport security is lunacy, motors in tow or not. The only other real option is to ship it to where you are going and pick it up once you get there.

As it turned out, there were some more things I was planning on doing at the fields, which I wouldn't have to if I shipped it to Jimmy, who I will be meeting in Atlanta and driving up with he and his father. Since Jimmy already picked up my rocket box from my dad, he would be able to take care the even more last minute things, like drilling holes for shear pins, attaching the rail buttons and ground testing the electronics.

Planned Flights

If you haven't noticed, we have a flight log for every rocket here on rocketclubs.com which you can find by clicking on the name of this rocket in this article's header, and then clicking on the the icon on the right which looks like fire coming out of a rocket. Or you can just click this link. If you log a flight for a future date, the flight will be marked as planned until that date, and then it will automatically switch to the main flight log.

If you click the date of a flight on the flight log page, it will take you to a launch details page. This page has all the details of the launch, including a complete list of the motors used, projected launch date and altitude. We have a number of planned features for this page, which we will announce when they are ready.

In the meantime, please check out my planned flights, and you'll see that I'm going for a lot of firsts at ST2011, first K motor, first mile high flight, first electronic recovery system and first dual deploy. Hope to see you all there!

Fiberglass adds strength to the rocket, but it also adds the need for some finishing work. Fibrglass resin leaves pits in the surface wich need to be filled in. I use a profesional glazing putty made by Bondo and available at any local auto parts store. This putty can also be used to clean up the transition between sections of fiberglass and fixing the transition between the fins and airframe. After sanding the rocket it is time for primer. I use 2 coats of a sandable filler primer and finish the preperation for paint by sanding the entire rocket with 400 grit sand paper.

Now that I have solved the problem where my motor tube was too large, I can now complete the fin can!

Completing the Fin Can

As soon as I finished sanding the crap out the motor tube centering rings so I could put the parts together, I went ahead and finished it up by epoxying it all together.

The next step was to insert the motor tube assembly into the lower air frame. I used the method I learned earlier in this process and put the inner ring of epoxy in first, then slid the motor tube in half way and put a second ring around the base. This worked like a charm. I let this section dry for a few hours, and prepared for the next step in which I would put the third centering ring up near the end that would eventually connect to the rest of the rocket.

The epoxy had fully set before I started this process, and I am very glad I let it because otherwise it would have destroyed the fin can because the extra epoxy on when inserting the last centering ring caused a VERY tight fit that ended up putting a lot of pressure on the motor tube.

I had dry fit this section and planned it out fully before I ever glued the motor tube in place, so I knew better than to try and dry fit the last centering ring after the motor tube was stuck in place. At this point once you put the last centering ring in, taking it out would be almost impossible.

The basic plan goes like this:

1. EYE BALL IT, MAN, DOUBLE CHECK, TRIPLE CHECK!
2. Mark the coupler/bulk plate assembly half way with a pencil
3. Put a bunch of epoxy around the edge of the tube
4. Slide the centering ring in just over a half inch
5. Insert the coupler/bulk plate assembly, spinning it as it goes in until it gets to the pencil mark
6. Turn the entire assembly upside down and hold it in place

Attaching the Fins

Once the motor tube, all centering rings and the bulk plate assembly have dried and are firmly in place, the next step is to attach the fins. I differ from the kit instructions when it comes to fins. The instructions call for you to leave the bottom centering ring off, tack the fins in place and drain epoxy along the fins. I prefer to tack the fins in place, drill a hole next to the fins and use a baby feeding syringe to insert epoxy into a closed cavity.

Either way you have to tack the fins in place. This is easy enough, just put a nice generous amount along the fin slit and a strip along the edge of the fin which will attach to the motor tube. Then insert the fin and use tape to hold it in place. Using this method you can put all the fins on at once and be prepared for the fillets a few hours later.

The only bit of advice I have for the fillets so far is to use tape to mark off where they should end. This makes clean up significantly easier by removing the need to sand off the excess. Just make sure to pull the tape off well before the epoxy starts to harden.