Sunward Aerospace King Tut's Pyramid

Sunward Aerospace - King Tut's Pyramid {Kit}

Contributed by Kathy Kippen

Construction Rating: starstarstarstarstar_border
Flight Rating: starstarstarstarstar_border
Overall Rating: starstarstarstarstar_border
Manufacturer: Sunward Aerospace
Style: Pyramid
Sunward Aerospace Pyramid

Brief:
An E-G powered pyramid that comes with laser cut balsa and plywood parts. It's rated as a skill level 4, but I would say it's more like a skill level 3.

Construction:
The parts came very well packaged and include:

  • BT-80 coupler
  • Launch lug
  • Thrust ring
  • 2 plywood centering rings
  • 8 laser cut balsa pyramid sides
  • 1 29mm engine tube
  • 1 parachute with attachment rings and strings
  • 1 elastic shock cord
  • 2 paper pyramid templates
  • Plasticene for nose weight
  • Upper solid bulk head
  • Lower engine support bulkhead
  • Streamer

Sunward Aerospace Pyramid Sunward Aerospace Pyramid

The instructions were not totally easy to follow. I used the pictures for better clarity. Some sanding of the bulkheads and pyramid sides was necessary to correctly fit the parts properly. I primarily used wood glue for most construction, however, I did use Gorilla Glue to mount the bulkheads to fill in the gaps between the bulkheads and pyramid walls.

Rather than forming the paper pyramid as per instructions, I glued the wall sections together then glued those onto the paper template, sandwiching the parts between plywood weighted with bricks to insure the paper adhered to the balsa without leaving wrinkles.

Sunward Aerospace Pyramid Sunward Aerospace Pyramid

I also swapped out the short elastic cord for a longer piece of 1/4” tubular nylon. Rather than using the included streamer for MMT recovery, I attached the shock cord to the motor mount to recover the rocket in one piece.

Finishing:
I gave the pyramid's paper covered sides several light coats of Krylon satin off-white. I then affixed stickers to decorate finishing up with several light coats of Krylon clear.

Construction Rating: 4 out of 5

Flight:
It's first flight was on a Road Runner F60-5. The flight was fast and straight with ejection just after it flipped over. However, the plastic parachute did not open.

Recovery:
A tumble recovery with no damage due to the plastic parachute not opening. It will be replaced by a nylon chute.

Flight Rating: 4 out of 5

Summary:
Not a beginner rocket to build but a fun easy to prep park or small field flyer.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5

Flights

comment Post a Comment