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By EMRR
I receive the Tour De Deuce's on 7/2/04 and was happy to try to put
them in the air on 7/4/04. We had calm evening and so my son and I rushed out to our local field which had been hayed
and set up. I decided I would just get going with one of the Deuce's (later to learn it was DW#2). I loaded it up with
two Quest C6-5's and set up. Upon ignition, which my son pushed the button for, only one motor lit and it came off the
pad about 10 feet turned at a 30 degree angle downward and flew into the ground. The ejection separated the rocket from
the nose cone and there she lay. Broke in two!
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Upon impact the DW#2 broke through at a stress point just above the fin-can. The
rocket had already been repaired "above" this break, as there is a coupler that appeared to run to within
inches of the top of the body tube. Also below this point is where the motor coupler was. A BT60 Coupler was glued in
place and the tube was pushed back to where it met the fin-can. |
The loosened fin was lifted so that CA could be put under it and then clamped to
dry in place. The tube joint was then soaked in CA to harden the paper tube. Everything was then ground with a Dremel
and 100 Grit paper to take off the high edges. It was then re-CA soaked. A very thin epoxy coats was placed over the
existing fin fillet to secure up that crack. |
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Bondo Glazing compound was added. I went ahead and fixed a couple of the fin
wounds while I was at it. |
The glazing was sanded down to a minimum simply to allow the proper filling. I
kept the sand to only the fin-can and blue area. |
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Plasti-Kote Filling Primer was then used to further level/smooth things out. You
can see how I protected the upper section. The tape was above where I sprays so that it didn't make a definite line. I
then feathered it out. |
Working around the motor tube was a bit tough, but this side really needed some
work. This took about 4 coats of primer to take out as many flaws as I could. My focus was on the tube break. I didn't
focus too much on the fins, but did clean up a couple of the dents. The primer was sanded back with 400 grit so that as
little primer was left as possible. |
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I then coated the fin-can and damaged area with Krylon White primer (it had looked
like it was originally done this way and I didn't want grey primer to change the final color). I then target sprayed
the yellow-fins. I also did a very light spray of the upper body/nose cone to "freshen it up". |
I masked off the yellow sections and sprayed the blue to finalize the repair. The
rocket looks good. |
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 GUEST's OPINION:
"" (X.X.)
Related Tips:
- Fins
Cracked Fillets: The best thing would be to get some really thin epoxy (like West Systems or System Three) and inject it into the cracks with a hypodermic or similar device; the idea here is to glue the fillet together down in the depths where it will do some good, instead of just up on the surface. - D.Q. from RMR - Fins
Cracked Fillets: I usually use my dremel with a little ball-grinder attachment and core out a trench along the length of the crack. Then I sand it down and apply another coat of epoxy, allow it to cure, then sand again and refinish. - FLO from RMR - Repairs
Repairing broken fins on the field: To quickly repair broken fins (from 1/32 to 1/8), start by laying the two parts next to each other and then carefully connecting them. Once connected, drop some liquid CA in the gaps. Not too much... Just enough to keep it together. Next, get our your trusty 5 minutes epoxy. Mix up a small batch and fill in the gab and the surrounding areas. On your rocket's next hard landing, I'll guarantee that the epoxy won't break! - I.C - Repairs
Repair of dented or crimped cardboard body tube: This method can be used on any cardboard body tube from the little thin Estes tubes to the large high power tubes. When a cardboard tube gets crimped it can become far too flexible, allowing the tube to bend. Use a straight pin to punch a series of holes along the crack where the tube bends. You may need to use a small drill bit to make bigger holes if it is a larger tube. I put the holes about 3/16" apart in the thin Estes tubes. I put them further apart on the bigger tubes. Apply thin or gap filling CA glue to the holes while holding the tube straight. The CA glue will wick into the fibers of the tube and harden, restoring the rigidity of the tube. How much and how thin the CA glue you use depends on how strong you want the repair to be. The thinner the CA glue, the more it will soak into the tube, but the more glue you use, the heavier the repair will be. Use thick CA glue to plug the holes if they are no plugged already. - C.F. (CA) - Repairs
Hairline crack in Fin: I would first squeeze some CA into the hairline crack. Since the fins are already painted, you might rough them up with some sandpaper and glue on some Japanese tissue and repaint them. Another technique is to use self-adhesive paper. Sand and repaint - G.K from RMR - Repairs
Fixing Dents: The really "best" way to handle this sort of thing is to cut the tube (use your favorite technique to get a square end cut), undent the dent, and then put in a coupler to rejoin the tube. - D.Q. from RMR
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