Centuri Flying Saucer #5325, Part 5, Shrouds

The C and L braces are cut out.
Note the pencil mark along the top. That's to fit the short end of the antenna top bend.

Cut the interior curves first, then the straight lines connecting them with a straightedge and sharp blade.

Before cutting out the shroud pieces,
The backings are peeled off and stuck to 110 lb. card stock. The  pieces that are curved into a circle are two layer and don't have a thick cereal box board center.

Cut the centers out first, then the outside curve. This picture shows the Minor Shroud that ends up on the bottom of the model.

The main shroud is also peeled and stuck to 110 lb. card stock, again two-layer.
Use white glue on the tab! It will dry clear. Wood glues dry yellow. You'll want your saucer to have a clean, white surfaces.





Finally the two piece "Core Tube Halves" are glued into a circle with the print to the inside. The picture shows the core flipped. In the end, those light green dots should end up down towards the bottom of the model.

John Coker Scratch Build Video

John Coker put together a great scratch building video.
To go to his website and newest video: CLICK HERE
"In this video, I show the process of designing a sport-scale model of a Standard Aerobee and making the parts needed to build it."

Shown above is the Scale Spreadsheet Page. Plug in the original prototype dimensions and the body size you want to use in your build. The spreadsheet gives you the scale ratio information for your model.

John certainly knows how to build.
In some YouTube rocketry videos, you find mistakes and questionable methods.
John's videos are well produced with correct information.

Launch! Schoolyard Soccer Field, August, 16, 2020

It's been a month since my last "Lone Wolf" launch at the soccer field.
My Summer plan is to always get out early before the temperature and humidity gets too high.

Two MicroMaxx launches kicked things off.
There's a reason why I don't launch the old Quest MMX FLYING SAUCER. It probably got 25 feet up. Whoo-hoo! - wasted engine.

The ASP MMX JAYHAWK was so much better. I would guess 75' with a bit of wiggle during the short coast before ejection.

I wanted to launch the NewWay MMX C-Thru, but the CA glued launch lug popped off! Super Glues have their place in Rocketry, but not to attach fins or launch lugs.

Here's the newly finished 3/4 size Centuri FLYING SAUCER.
A C6-0 produced a labored boost to about 125'. The saucer flipped over and "floated" down, just like the catalog page showed. Antennas going up, landing legs going down.
There was a lot of wet grass. Even with the clear coat sealing, it was wiped down immediately.

The Quest FLV was prepped with a German Quest B6-4.
It veered a bit to the Northeast during boost. Peak altitude was probably 325'.
The model was already outside the field when the ejection fired. Under the 14" Quest chute it landed 15' up in a palm tree bordering the street. I'll leave it for now and try to retrieve it after I return home to get my extendable pruner pole.

I rarely launch the Estes REFLECTOR. This one was kit-bashed to look more like the old Centuri Lil' Hustler.
The Estes A8-3 peaked at about 250'. Full chute and textbook recovery.









My best flight of the day -
The Odd'l Gooney G-16.
This is not a kit, just a silly take on the F-16.

Perfect B6-4 boost to 300' and full 12" chute at ejection. No damage at recovery. This is how they should work! But, it would be boring if everything were perfect.

And finally, launch number seven for the day -
The Dr. Zooch STICK with a Chinese made Quest A6-4.
The 6" diameter parachute seems too small but it does slow it down more than a streamer could.

I went home, dropped off the equipment and grabbed my extendable pruner. I walked back to the FLV rocket stuck in the palm tree.
An early commuter drove up, stopped an said: "You've found quite a treasure!" He saw the rocket hung up in the tree. I explained it was from a earlier launch, I returned to get it down.
The commuter said he launched many rockets as a teen. We talked for a few minutes about his favorite - Big Berthas. He thanked me for the rocket memories.

Smoothing Out a Wet Rocket! TIP

Yesterdays launch left my Quest FLV 15' up in a palm tree.
I couldn't cut through the shock cord with my extendable pole pruner, so it was pulled down. The shock cord finally separated and the model fell down in two pieces.

There was no real damage, but the palm fronds were wet! The printed tube wraps were damp and wrinkled.

By the time I walked back home the wraps were about half dry. There were still wrinkles!
I grabbed my favorite smooth burnisher, a Sharpie pen.
This was rolled over the paper wrap wrinkles, molding them back to the surface.

The trick is to not roll over the wrinkles when the paper was too wet. You could create friction and tear the wrap. With the paper about half dry it was strong enough to be reformed down onto the tube surface.

Centuri Flying Saucer #5325, Part 4, Wire Antennas

The instructions had a print of the original kit antennas. Since this is a 3/4 size downscale, I drew a 3/4" box and reduced the 1" span box to the 3/4" length.
Below the print are the three finished, bent antennas.

You'll need some music wire. I found some at Hobby Lobby - K&S wire, #602201, #5497, .039" diameter.

I tried bending the outside round circle shape around a dowel, but wasn't successful.
I had better luck with needle nose pliers. Don't try to bend in one movement. Make many small bends around the circle shape. Check against the print as you go.







Keep the circle bend flat. It's very easy to have it end up going out to one side.







The bent wire matched the template print.
I set it on the 75% size "C" shape brace. The upper bend needed to be a bit sharper.
Notice the end of the wire, it is shorter than the notch allowance. I made the notch a bit lower to fit the end of the wire.

The antenna wire and reinforcement piece template is posted in Frank's build at YORF - CLICK HERE, Page 6, Post 51

Clear Tape Over Leading Edges? TIP

Something I hadn't thought about before -
A protective cover over the leading edges of fins. Here, TRF posts are talking about the fins on the Estes Ascender splitting down the leading edge glue seam during a strong boost.

Thirsty Barbarian posted:
"You could wrap a strip of electrical tape over the leading edge if you go for more aggressive motors.

5X7 added:
"I think clear packing tape would be effective and won’t ruin the great graphics. I have made home decals with good packing tape overlain that are still good now after 25 years."

Neil W answered:
"Even plain old cellophane tape (i.e. Scotch tape) does the trick just fine. Dunno if it lasts 25 years though. "

Thirsty Barbarian then finished:
"Clear tape sounds like a good option. The point is to seal that glued joint from the air stream, so I'm sure a lot of different products would be good for that."

My thought:
This might be good for a LPR model with soft balsa.
The balsa on my Centurion Project (Centurion with interchangeable engine mounts) had soft balsa fins. I'm still kicking myself for not cutting new ones from stiffer stock. A shock cord "snap back" could do some damage to the leading edges. The clear tape (or packing tape) reinforcement might just be the answer.

To read about the Centurion Project and interchangeable engine mounts (single 18mm, two 18mm and single 24mm mounts in one rocket) CLICK HERE

Centuri Flying Saucer #5325, Part 3, The Large Ring

The large ring and C and L center braces (and large ring) got a cereal box cardboard lamination.
You could probably use a thin coat of white glue, but a shot of Supper 77 spray adhesive is much easier. Some self adhesive paper went on the bottom covering the brown cereal box stock.





Cut our the rounded ends first using a new blade in your knife.

After the circles are cut, cut the lines with a strait edge.

The small arcs on the inside edge are hard to cut with a knife.

TIP: Use a rotary punch on the tight inside circles.

After the circles are punched,

Cut off the sides with your knife.






On the left is the rough cut slots.

Smooth them out by sanding with 400 grit sandpaper wrapped around a dowel.