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Monday, January 31, 2011

A New Rocket Begun

Tonight I started work on a new rocket. It actually has been in process for a little while, but up to now it has been planning and parts acquisition. This is going to be a scratch built, 54mm, minimum diameter rocket using the practice tube I did before building Flying Colors and additional materials. I've purchased another LOC Precision 54mm airframe tube that I will fiberglass in the spring, once temperatures have warmed up. I have an Acme 54mm fin can that was picked up for me at the 2010 XPRS launch. I also just received a Performance Rocketry 54mm Von Karman nose cone that I ordered on a pre-Christmas sale. When I went to test fit this nose cone in the airframe tube I discovered that not all 54mm's are equal and the nose cone would not go into the tube. A quick check with my micrometer showed that the nose cone was 0.6mm too big, so tonight I took it out to my shop and carefully sanded down the nose cone until it fit into the airframe tube. Already this is starting to look like a cool rocket, but it has a long way to go.