TIP: Budget Wadding

Well, maybe it's not entirely "homemade" but it is cheap!

Recently there were forum posts about modelers trying to make their own homemade wadding. Trying to get the right mix of Boric Acid on a tissue paper roll can make a mess, hardly worth the effort.

Many prefer using Cellulose Insulation, otherwise known as "Dog Barf".

Sometimes I'll use a combination of Estes tissue wadding and dog barf.

In the mid 1970s, Centuri came out with their Stellar line of rocket kits and products. The Stellar brand wadding was nothing more than flame resistant crepe paper.

This package was bought at a party store in Orlando, Florida. It was on sale for $.79. I bought five packages.

Be sure the package says "FLAME RESISTANT" !!!

It's not like the rolled streamers you would normally see. It's a folded sheet, 20" wide X 7.5' long.

To cut it down to a workable size take it directly from the package but don't unfold it. Hold it closed right out of the package.

Open the end, find the center of the fold and slide your sharp scissors into it. Cut right down the fold line.

When you reach the end, continue to hold the tissue together in a group. Flip the entire paper bunch 180 degrees around to the other side fold.

Slide your scissors into the other folded side and cut all the way down.

Cut the long strip into 4 1/4" wide squares. 4 1/4" square is the standard size of a toilet paper square.

In the end you'll have right around 100 wadding squares of flameproof wadding for a fraction of the rocket vendor's price.

This crepe works fine protecting plastic parachutes and streamers and it's biodegradable.
It's a little stiffer than the Estes toilet paper wadding and will take just a few rockets to get used to.

I've been using it for a few months of launches now with great success. Because this crepe wadding is stiffer than the Estes tissue, I use this crepe style in 1" diameter or larger tubes. In smaller tubes I find it easier to get a good seal with the Estes stuff. But in larger tube models I save a little money.

It takes too many squares (on a model without a nomex protector or baffle) of expensive Estes wadding in a big tube!
Is it perfectly square like the $5.00 wadding? No.

But for what money I save I can easily accept it.

UP! Cup Mystery Smoke

Here's one of my favorite shots from the February Orlando R.O.C.K. section launch.

Roger Smith (rocketreviews.com, payloadbay.com and jonrockets.com) takes some incredible launch pictures.

Check out the smoke from the back of the (soon to be released) UP! Cup odd-ball rocket.

The smoke seems to be curling around from some sort of strange vacuum created by the cup wall.

We both thought the picture captured some sort of vortex phenomenon.

Well, maybe not . . .

I went to look at some gallery pictures of the launch at rocketreviews.com.

After reviewing the launch sequence shots in order I realized the strange smoke was not smoke at all. The picture at the left was a few frames before the mystery smoke shot above.

That's our section president Brian Coyle directly behind the UP! Cup. He's the RSO for the day and pressing the launch button.

In the upper picture the cup is about 5 inches above the blast deflector. Brian's white shirt is just coming into view under the cup. Brian's head is covered by the cup and the "V" collar of his shirt is perfectly centered around the engine flame.

Mystery solved! Even so, the upper shot still looks cool.

Quest Cobalt Clone Build Part 21 FINISHED!

Here's how the streamer was attached to the shock cord. The streamer is only 1" wide.

Usually the snap swivel would be flipped around when using a parachute. But on this model, there will never be enough room for a parachute. I used the swivel this way so when I eventually change out the streamer it''l be easier.

I used two plastic page reinforcements, one on each side.

Here's the finished model, minus the decals. It was built for the Soccer field launches I do about once a week.

It was launched last wee using a Chinese made Quest A6-4 engine. It went unstable after it left the rod. A little clay nose weight will correct that.

Not the fault of Quest, I was building a clone without the instructions. Who knows, I might have recessed the engine mount a quarter of an inch too far. On a model this size that could make all the difference in stability.

Once Quest posts the instructions on their website I'll know what little difference in construction caused the instability.

Bulk Pack Engines ON CLEARANCE!

Check out the prices on the Scout Stuff website HERE

24 1/2A3-4T engines for $19.88
24 A8-3 engines for $19.88
24 B6-4 engines for $19.88
24 C6-5 engines for $19.88

That's for 24 engines, 30 igniters and wadding!
Shipping is $7.50 for up to a $50.00 order.
You don't have to be a Boy Scout or affiliated with the Scouts to take advantage of these prices.

This is a clearance sale. Scout Stuff could end this sale anytime so you might want to take advantage of the savings NOW!
I'm not posting this on the forums yet, I'm just letting the regular blog readers know about this sale.

EDIT: Apparently this sale is bigger than I first thought. Alpha III 12 packs are $19.88! 12 packs of Viking kits are $19.88!!! There is even more in the Clearance section under "Crafts".

Quest Cobalt Clone Build Part 20 Engine Mount Gluing

Now that the body paint is finished, the engine mount is glued in place.

Because the body tube is so short, I'll set the mount in the tube dry and add glue afterwards.

This'll give me the chance align the engine hook centered between two fins.

I went ahead and blackened the back of the main tube interior with a Sharpie pen. After gluing the mount in place, the entire end of the model will be black.

From the front end I added the fillet after the mount was dry fitted.

I added glue drop by drop, making the fillet with a rounded dowel. Any excess glue was picked up off the centering ring with a square dowel.

Model Profile - FlisKits Cutaway Engine

This was definitely a different build.

It's a large size cutaway that could easily be used in a classroom. It sure beats the small, old Estes cutaway engine provided with the clear Phantom kit.

Jim Flis ran a contest in TRF a while back. A construction thread on the cutaway engine was in progress.

Powderburner (the thread builder) said he made a mistake in construction. The readers had to figure out what the mistake was for a prize.

Even though I didn't have the correct answer, Jim Flis sent out this kit as a prize to any and all who guessed!

The nozzle design was different than anything I'd ever seen in an engine cutaway drawing. I decided to build mine trying to replicate the drawings I'd seen in the Estes catalogs over the years.

On my revised model, the central portion of the nozzle was made up from a 3/16" launch lug. It took a little building up and filling of the laser cut sides.

Another great feature - you can remove the delay and ejection to show what a cutaway booster engine looks like.

The available printout section pieces had wordage on them - "Propellant Charge", Delay Charge" and "Ejection Charge". I left them off and made the colored section pieces from spray painted paper sections.

Quest Cobalt Clone Build Part 19 Masking

After spraying the silver on two opposing fins, the model is left to dry.

Never touch a fin to see if it is dry! If you have to check, touch some paint on a covered masked area to check it.

TIP: In the picture, notice how I pull the mask DOWN AND AWAY from the second color painted line. If I were to pull the tape up I might lift and tear the silver painted area.

The mask line running down the root edge of the fin is good, but -

Looking at the rounded leading edge of the fin, the rounded edge is a little ragged. Because I used so many pieces of tape, this was expected.

While the paint is still pliable, you can CAREFULLY push back the silver overcoat edge with your hobby knife.

I'm not cutting off the paint, but pushing it back a bit. Don't cut - just push.

Don't press hard or you could remove some of the blue.

You are simply dressing the edge a little bit. Use the flat edge of the blade and press back the squared edge rounding it off.