Semroc MMX Orbital Transport, KMX-01, Build Part 6, Wing Construction

The wings and other wood parts are thin! The lower wing had the tab break off before it was glued up.
Glue on the fairings on a flat surface.

The side wings got a fillet, applying the glue with a toothpick. Use a toothpick, the inside angle is too small for a standard glue bottle nozzle.






More filling is needed on the tab and slot joints.







The small upright fins are set in place to show positioning, no glue yet. Be sure the setting is correct, the taller side of the small fin goes to the back.

Semroc MMX Orbital Transport, KMX-01, Build Part 5, Engine Housings

The housings needed some fine fitting.
I used my small diamond file. The better fit is shown on the right.

The sides are glued on.
The inside corners are small so I used a Q-tip to even up the fillets.









Here's the assembled engine housings with the shorter center piece and lugs (engines) glued in.

As usual with laser cut slot and tab construction, these require filling. I used some CWF applied with a small brush.

NARCON 202 Manufacturer's Forum

On TRF, Winston posted a link to the 2020 NARCON Maunfacturer's Forum. The video was produced by Apogee. CLICK HERE

At 0:01 - AEROTECH - Available in the Fall, Q-Jets will also be made using White Lightning propellant .
At 7:16 - APOGEE - New Sanding Tee, New Version 10 of RockSim,
At 13:10 - ESTES - Skylab Saturn V (Avail, Thanksgiving)  Both Skylab and Apollo 11 capsule and tower included. New digital Astrocam, video with sound. Available Labor Day. New, "next generation"  Solar Starter (Igniter) The clear dip goes away, replaced with an new "energetic" gray tip. Available second half of this year.
C5-3 Engines available in May. C5-0 boosters on the way.
At 31:11 - IMPULSE LAUNCH SYSTEMS - launch Controllers
At 35:02 - NORTH COAST ROCKETRY - New parachutes, Ailfoil Assistance Tool, New Vectra kit, Argo D4 kit (3D printed parts), F-117 Stealth pop-pod boost glider,
At 46:11 - GALACTIC MANUFACTURING - Small run parts production for vendors, Custom laser cutting, 3D printed parts.
At 50:21 - SEMROC / EROCKETS - Kit news, Upgrade coupler/bulkheads, New Micro Jayhawk.

Semroc MMX Orbital Transport, KMX-01, Build Part 4, Engine Mount

GOTCHA: Here's what I meant about the engine block being too long -
The end of the Kevlar shock cord is knotted. This knot sits under the bottom of the engine block. Typically the engine block is pushed in so it ends up even with the top of the motor mount tube. This long engine block would place the engine too far out the rear of the model.
I cut the engine block down to the shorter correct size. With a MicroMaxx engine in place it should extend out the back for easier removal after flight.

Shown above - The engine mount tube has already been marked for the centering ring placement.

Wipe down the centering rings before gluing them onto the motor mount tube.





Here's the complete motor mount.
The centering rings have got small glue fillets.






One of the cutaways on the build jig has a engine mount depth gauge. Use this when sliding and gluing the engine mount into the main air frame tube.

Estes Honest John to EAC Firecat?

After looking closer at the Estes E.A.C. Firecat kit, I thought at first the fins might be from the old K-27 Honest John kit.
The instructions have you cut up the HoJo die-cut balsa to make the unusual Firecat fins. The raceway and pod standoff pieces were cut by hand from the leftover balsa.
The nose cone was not from the earlier Honest John kit, the Firecat part number was BNC-50BD. It was all balsa, not a combination of a card stock shroud and upper balsa nose cone from the original K-27 HoJo. 

This was probably the one-piece balsa cone from the "Cold Power" Honest John rocket. The parts choices make me think this might have been a S.P.E.V. 
The Cold Power Honest John kit made one appearance in the 1973 Estes catalog and was discontinued. The EAC Firecat was introduced in 1974.

The decals are (of course) from the Estes Bandit.
The Firecat was the second Estes Aerospace Club "members only" kit. The first kit was the Viper, included in the EAC membership package. 

The beautiful build shown above is from Bill Cookes blog:  http://billsrockets.blogspot.com
Here's the Firecat instructions: http://www.spacemodeling.org/jimz/estes/est0821.pdf

Semroc MMX Orbital Transport, KMX-01, Build Part 3, Parts Prep

I didn't want to use the burnt launch lug "engines" on my build. in addition to the burnt edges, the lengths were inconsistent.
I have plenty of small launch lug pieces saved from previous builds. Four lengths were cut and the edges sanded smooth.

The laser cut parts are 1/32" thick basswood.

There isn't much grain in basswood but there is enough that it can be filled and sanded smooth.
I don't normally spray a sheet with the parts still attached, but these were small to treat individually.

The front and back of the sheet got hit with a good spray of Duplicolor Filler/Primer.


EDIT: When the build was finished I almost wish I had done a second shot of filler/primer and smooth sanding. There was still some grain showing. Still, it was much better than no grain filling at all.


Here's how one half of the glider wing looked after the filler/primer was sanded down.

All 36 pieces were held in a small zip bag until needed. I'd recommend keeping them all together - some are small and would be easy to lose.

LAUNCH! L.A.S.E.R., Groveland, FL, March 15, 2020, Part 2

Why a two-part launch report?
I launched ELEVEN rockets today, more than any other launch day over the past 50 years! Normally I can sneak in five flight at a club launch.

My old FRANKEN GOBLIN flew with a Quest C12-6 Q-Jet.
The Franken Goblin is BT-60 based, made from parts pulled from retired rockets.
I've launched it a BP C6-5s before but today it got a composite upgrade. Check out the black smoke! Fast and high to 700' with a colorful kite tail streamer recovery.


Here's the boost of the Quest STRIKER AGM under an Estes B6-4. Estimated altitude at 325'.

This model was painted like the Enertek design that inspired the Quest kit.
On the right - Split second after ejection. The shock cord is at full length and the parachute is still rolled.

Another Quest design, the TOMAHAWK SLCM on an Estes B6-4. The intake scoop at the bottom always leads to some coning (wiggling) during boost.
Estimated altitude would be around 350', no damage on recovery.







Another launch of the Semroc SNAKE JUMPER with a Quest B4-4 Q-Jet motor. These are quieter than black powder engines and have black smoke.
Altitude was estimated at 325'. No damage.





My Odd'l Rockets HIGH ROLLER was launched twice, first with an Estes B6-4 to 300'. This model is constructed mostly from toilet paper rolls.

Second launch was with a Estes C6-5 borrowed from Lonnie B.
I would guess the C engine altitude at 575'. I'm tempted to write up and provide patterns in a Sport Rocketry article. I had to check stability with all engines. Straight up with the C6-5.

My Estes CURVILINEAR also had two launches, one with a A8-3. I thought I had loaded a B6-4, it seemed too low for a B.
Second launch was with the Estes B6-4. This build was converted for 18mm launches. This B got it to an estimate of 500'.

EDIT: In a comment, Bill noticed the black mark on top of the nose. That's a dragonfly that landed on the nose cone right at launch. In the next frame of the "burst" sequence, the dragonfly flew off!

As I mentioned before - This was a good day for me.
Eleven successful launches including a E9-4 in the upscale Teros, two new Q-jets and a stable C6-5 launch in the High Roller. 
The club is small but mighty! Nice folks and a easy drive to a big field. I joined the L.A.S.E.R. club and look forward to upcoming launches.