Rocket building tips

  Quoted Text Here  

Testor's liquid cement is almost pure toluene. It's not much more expensive than gasoline in drum lots :-)

Tom Binford wrote:
  Quoted Text Here  
Of course, I was not suggesting that one consume it internally...nor in an internal combustion engine.
:o)
But, I have found that it works *very* well for gluing styrene "fin can" units to cardboard body tubes (a la many Quest kits). Just "slop" a hefty amount of the Testors Liquid to the gluing surface of the plastic fin unit. Let it sit for a minute. Repeat, so that it becomes "tacky". Spread some yellow carpenter's glue to the inner gluing surface of the tube... and attach the two parts. In theory, there is no reason why it should work...but it does.
:o)

snipped-for-privacy@cune.org wrote:
  Quoted Text Here  
I would "splurge" and get the yellow Elmer's Carpenter's Wood Glue.
  Quoted Text Here  
A "clean" flat surface that you sand upon, is the first step. Try to attach your sandpaper to as flat of a surface as possible, preferably glass, such as a mirror, picture frame, glass table, or even one of your windows.
And use a sanding block.
  Quoted Text Here  
Sand...sand...sand...fill...sand...fill...sand...fill...sand...paint... sand...paint...sand...paint...polish...polish...polish...
:o)
Seriously, it is just something that takes time, care, and lots of "elbow grease".
Most swear by Elmer's "Fill 'N Finish", which I believe is now under the more generic name of "Elmer's Carpenter's Wood Filler". Water soluble...and I usually mix in a bit of the aforementioned yellow carpenter's wood glue, as well. One thing to keep in mind: Try to fill both sides at the same time, else warping may occur.
If the wood is particularly tight-grained (such as good quality basswood) I also use Gunze's "Mr. Surfacer" (popular with the plastic scale model guys). It is thinned with the expensive Gunze thinner....or you can cheap it out, by using plain old Isopropyl alcohol!
  Quoted Text Here  
Yep....which is going to be whatever works best for *you*; as there is no right or wrong answer.
Someone else commented on the very fine spirals in Flis Kits. I am impressed with the very fine spirals John Rowan-Stein provides in his Thrustline-Aerospace kits. He also has a fine line of kits (including very nice clones of Estes "classics"; and he provides great service).
http://www.thrustaero.com/index.html
  Quoted Text Here  
Just examine the method that Quest uses. I prefer to make sure that the Kevlar/elastic connection does *not* extend to the *outside* of the tube (i.e. keep it shorter, so that the cord has a much smaller chance of "zippering" your tube...the elastic is far easier on the tube, than the Kevlar.
  Quoted Text Here  
The many-times-mentioned Stein book.
Plus, I really enjoy the website:
http://www.rocketreviews.com
A great "portal" (spaceport?...lol) to model rocketry; and excellent for the beginner, or BAR (Born Again Rocketeer).
  Quoted Text Here  

snip
I don't understand all the obsession with sanding. Heck 10-12 good coats of paint and you can't tell they ever had spirals. ; )
Welcome back to the hobby Daniel and welcome to the rmr sandbox. If you ignore about 95% of the posts here, you'll be just fine.
Randy http://vernarockets.com /

snipped-for-privacy@charter.net wrote:
  Quoted Text Here  
As Jerry is wont to say, "This should be in the FAQ" ;-)

Hey, thanks everyone for your help so far! I've got another question. After scouring the web I haven't come up with a good place to purchase bulk shock cord material that I can measure and cut for longer shock cords. I'm thinking of 20 feet or so in 1/4 and 1/8 inch widths. Also, what type of kevlar cords should I use and what is a good vender to purchase them from? I'd like to try the Quest style of shock cords out.
Thanks again!
Daniel Bergquist Rev. 2:10

  Quoted Text Here  
For elastic, I just buy it at Wal-Mart, $.99 for 3 yards.
  Quoted Text Here  
Pratt Hobbies sells Kevlar although I haven't seen a reason to use it. I just replace the elastic as needed in smaller rockets. I use tubular nylon in large rockets over 3 lb.
Tom
  Quoted Text Here  

This is a multi-part message in MIME format. --------------010707000903000400050001 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Tom Binford wrote:
  Quoted Text Here  
<blockquote type="cite"> <pre wrap="">I'm thinking of 20 feet or so in 1/4 and 1/8 inch widths. Also, what type of kevlar cords should I use and what is a good vender to purchase them from? I'd like to try the Quest style of shock cords out. </pre> </blockquote> <pre wrap=""><!---->Pratt Hobbies sells Kevlar although I haven't seen a reason to use it. I just replace the elastic as needed in smaller rockets. I use tubular nylon in large rockets over 3 lb.
Tom</pre> </blockquote> &nbsp; Since Great Lakes Hoobies is local I tend to buy a fair amount of toys there, that includes Kevlar. They do mail order. But as long as you're doing just model rockets I'd not bother with Kevlar unless the kit comes with it, elastic will serve you just fine. If and when you go to larger toys and maybe high power then you'll need to start considering Kevlar. At that time 20 feet would be a bare minimum length as the stuff isn't elastic and the shock as it snaps tight could cause a zipper (cuts in the body tube as the cord slices through) or possibly tearing loose the shockcord anchor. 100+ feet cords aren't uncommon.<br> <br> Chuck<br> </body> </html>
--------------010707000903000400050001--