Jon Preston's Page

2013-10-07

Tip
I have been experimenting with various films. Monocoat which is used mostly in the RC aircraft world for skin of wings and such adheres to cardboard and plastic really well and add sheer strength too. Monocoat comes in a whole bunch of colors and runs about 15 bucks a roll. One roll is enough ... [More]

2013-01-21

Madcow Rocketry 4" Fiberglass Super DX3

Rocksim Design
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2012-01-30

Quest-A bullet with fins

Build
Found this Estes in a bargin basket at my local hobby store. I thought it would keep me busy while I kept watch over the shenanagins associated with my son's 9th birthday. I have built a lot so the idea of my first new build document might seem sort of a lame, but it really was a fun hour. [More]

Quest-A bullet with fins - Giving the fins a little resiliency

Build Entry
So I'm an optimist. I painted a thin film on the fins with 5 min epoxy to give them a little strength. [More]

Quest-A bullet with fins - Fins to body tube

Build Entry
I marked out the lines for fin placement and set the fins in place without much hassle using CA. I then took a piece of 600 sandpaper and finished the leading, trailing and tips of the fins. I got them pretty thin like razor blades and took a paint brush dipped into CA and coated them till they ... [More]

Quest-A bullet with fins - Body tube and Nosecone

Build Entry
When I looked at the tiny body tube and nosecone I realized Estes had created an A rocket motor with fins and a nosecone. OK Mr. Estes I get it. I paused at that point thinking I'm never going to find this once I launch it. Without any kind of motor retention it is obvious the ejection charge ... [More]

Quest-A bullet with fins - Cutting out the Fins

Build Entry
This may seem sort of off color but bear with me. I took the twin pieces of balsa and ran each one through a knife sharpener just before the colored edge of the balsa was invisible. I then stacked the two together and put the fin template on top and cut the fins with a very sharp pair of ... [More]