A preview of our new rocket

[The Sky Dart]

We've just completed all main part of our new to-be-flying rocket. Here is the first preview:

AETHER MkIII preliminary.jpg (260.9 KiB) Viewed 189 times

The blue-grey section is the payload bay. It's just primed at the moment, but it will be eventually painted in orange. The yellow stick to the left is a 1 meter ruler placed alongside of the rocket as a reference.
The current plan is to go for the first fly test in a couple of weeks.

[Jelo]

Nice looks pretty stable, just the nose cone would be better a bit rounded like so:
() instead of /, if you get me and my mini diagram be sure to put a video up

[The Sky Dart]

Nice looks pretty stable, just the nose cone would be better a bit rounded like so:
() instead of /, if you get me and my mini diagram be sure to put a video up

You are right. The nose cone is not of the ideal shape. It should be a parabola, or something close to it. The simple cone was selected this time to make manufacturing simple. It's made of cardboard and the process doesn't require any sophisticated tools. There is a plan to improve the shape in future.

[Tim Chen]

Nice looks pretty stable, just the nose cone would be better a bit rounded like so:
() instead of /, if you get me and my mini diagram be sure to put a video up

You are right. The nose cone is not of the ideal shape. It should be a parabola, or something close to it. The simple cone was selected this time to make manufacturing simple. It's made of cardboard and the process doesn't require any sophisticated tools. There is a plan to improve the shape in future.

You've done a great job on that nosecone. I would have never guessed it was made of cardboard.

[Jelo]

i tough it was moltded plasic at first, good job! i recompend making a mold out of wood and injecting expanding foam inside, light and easy to replace

[andicirk]

i tough it was moltded plasic at first, good job! i recompend making a mold out of wood and injecting expanding foam inside, light and easy to replace

not forgeting to line the mold with latex or plastic or the foam will stick to the wood/ mould

[Jelo]

baby powder or athlete chalk does the trick too

[U.S. Water Rockets1]

Nice looks pretty stable, just the nose cone would be better a bit rounded like so:
() instead of /, if you get me and my mini diagram be sure to put a video up

You are right. The nose cone is not of the ideal shape. It should be a parabola, or something close to it. The simple cone was selected this time to make manufacturing simple. It's made of cardboard and the process doesn't require any sophisticated tools. There is a plan to improve the shape in future.

That is an impressive nosecone, considering what you made it out of. It looks like you made it on a lathe!

[rockets-in-brighton]

Nice looks pretty stable, just the nose cone would be better a bit rounded like so:
() instead of /, if you get me and my mini diagram be sure to put a video up

You are right. The nose cone is not of the ideal shape. It should be a parabola, or something close to it. The simple cone was selected this time to make manufacturing simple. It's made of cardboard and the process doesn't require any sophisticated tools. There is a plan to improve the shape in future.

That is an impressive nosecone, considering what you made it out of. It looks like you made it on a lathe!

http://www.jamesyawn.net/modelrocket/no ... index.html
http://www.jamesyawn.net/bigcone/index.html

I like these nosecones. As the guy says, unless you have a rocket flying in the transsonic region there's no real performance penalty using a cone.

[The Sky Dart]

http://www.jamesyawn.net/modelrocket/no ... index.html
http://www.jamesyawn.net/bigcone/index.html
I like these nosecones. As the guy says, unless you have a rocket flying in the transsonic region there's no real performance penalty using a cone.

In fact I was inspired to make the nose cone from paper by the two links you mentioned. I used a slightly different technique though, but it's very similar to described there. As well I used just PVA glue. It works very well.
Another advantage of the design is that the cone is hollow and can be used to house a payload. I'm planning to mount an altimeter inside when I manage to buy or make one.

On the negative side it's heavier than a balsa cone of the same size.

[The Sky Dart]

Nice looks pretty stable, just the nose cone would be better a bit rounded like so:
() instead of /, if you get me and my mini diagram be sure to put a video up

You are right. The nose cone is not of the ideal shape. It should be a parabola, or something close to it. The simple cone was selected this time to make manufacturing simple. It's made of cardboard and the process doesn't require any sophisticated tools. There is a plan to improve the shape in future.

That is an impressive nosecone, considering what you made it out of. It looks like you made it on a lathe!

It has a glossy finish and thus it's difficult to take a good picture of it without distorting colour and texture by reflection.

[rockets-in-brighton]

http://www.jamesyawn.net/modelrocket/no ... index.html
http://www.jamesyawn.net/bigcone/index.html
I like these nosecones. As the guy says, unless you have a rocket flying in the transsonic region there's no real performance penalty using a cone.

In fact I was inspired to make the nose cone from paper by the two links you mentioned.

I know, I lifted them from your webpages - I thought the guys here might be interested. I'm amazed that you just used PVA to seal it before painting, that is such a glossy finish. Very inspiring... I don't have a pyro rocket background so a lot of this stuff is still new to me. I still tend to think of quick-build relatively disposable rockets (because I only recently got the hang of bringing them back alive).

On the negative side it's heavier than a balsa cone of the same size.

Really?! Is that because of the PVC tube you had to add to get it to mate with the pressure vessel? Could that be paper/card or even balsa?

[The Sky Dart]

http://www.jamesyawn.net/modelrocket/no ... index.html
http://www.jamesyawn.net/bigcone/index.html
I like these nosecones. As the guy says, unless you have a rocket flying in the transsonic region there's no real performance penalty using a cone.

In fact I was inspired to make the nose cone from paper by the two links you mentioned.

I know, I lifted them from your webpages - I thought the guys here might be interested. I'm amazed that you just used PVA to seal it before painting, that is such a glossy finish. Very inspiring... I don't have a pyro rocket background so a lot of this stuff is still new to me. I still tend to think of quick-build relatively disposable rockets (because I only recently got the hang of bringing them back alive).

On the negative side it's heavier than a balsa cone of the same size.

Really?! Is that because of the PVC tube you had to add to get it to mate with the pressure vessel? Could that be paper/card or even balsa?

The PVC pipe (it's actually a PP pipe) plays it's role of course. I suppose it can be replaced by a cardboard tube, but I don't have a pipe of the right diameter to use it as a mandrel.

With access to the right tolling cutting a balsa cone would be an easier solution. The technique we used, though the result is satisfactory, is relatively time consuming.

[Jelo]

As the guy says, unless you have a rocket flying in the transsonic region there's no real performance penalty using a cone.

i don't realy agree with what you just said. from what you said, a flat nose cone would be as efficient as a parabola shape...which isnt true :|

[The Sky Dart]

As the guy says, unless you have a rocket flying in the transsonic region there's no real performance penalty using a cone.

i don't realy agree with what you just said. from what you said, a flat nose cone would be as efficient as a parabola shape...which isnt true :|

Very well. Let's see evidence to the contrary.