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I bought this from
Pete's Rockets to give as a gift. They never got round to building it
so with the shortage of reloads and a surplus of Estes 'D' motors there
was only one thing to do, get it back and build it for next launch meeting
( 16-02- 2003 ). Really easy to build and when finished this looks quite
imposing as the rocket is 6 feet long. The worst part of the build is
the parachute as it can be a pain to sort out the shroud lines ( cotton
thread ). They come packed in a tangled mess and it took longer to unravel
the threads than it did to build the rocket! The fins are surface mounted
so used 5 minute epoxy to fillet them and superglue to tack them into
place beforehand. The launch lugs are a piece of plastic tube. The motor
mount accepts 24mm motors which include the Estes D12 motor, in 3 and
5 second delays. My Aerotech RMS casing also fits nicely so may be tempted
to launch the rocket with 'E' and 'F' motors later ( long delays !! ).
Very dark paint inadvisable so used some pink that was lying around and because it was started Valentine's Day, Felix called it 'Cupid's Bow'. |
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Contents of the Mean Machine kit |
Here is the motor mount and fin template |
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Shot of one of the tube couplers |
The 4 balsa wood fins tacked onto the airframe |
Rear view showing the motor mount and fin assembly |
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This shows the shock-cord being attached to the inside
of the airframe |
Final tweaks to get the fins square and at 90 deg
to each other |
Applying 5 minute epoxy to the fin roots to reinforce
them |
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Shot of the completed airframe |
View of parachute |
Admiring the handiwork |
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