I have done a bunch of stuff at FAR, but I've never done the traditional HPR rocket thing.
Some of the next steps (glide back, aerodynamic canard controls) will be done a bit easier with that sort of propulsion. So to be able to order/fly traditional HPR stuff I though I ought to get my Tripoli certification so I can just order HPR motors. Toward that end I built a Giant Leap Liberty 4 kit to do the L1 and L2 qual flights. The Local Tripoli club flew Sat and Sun this week, so I was trying to get it ready for Sunday. On Friday it was done, it just needed paint.
Did I remember to say I hate paint? I put a nice coat of high build auto primer on sanded it all off, repeat three times, its looking pretty nice in its gray primer. Then two coats of white base followed by florescent orange about 10pm last night. Then I went to bed, alas this morning it looks like on the those crinkle paint jobs the white was not dry enough and the orange crinkled.
I took my painting embarrassment out to plaster city to do the qual flights only to discover the motor vendor was only on site Saturday. Arghhhh! Oh and did I remember to say I hate paint.
4 comments:
Heh. I actually kinda like the mindlessness of painting. It satisfies some deep-seated sensory desire when I can clear my mind and watch something change from color A to color B.
But painting under time pressure's another thing entirely -- and most of my painting's been done in the theater, where the paint dries quickly and there's not a lot of multi-coat nonsense.
Crinkle-coat shouldn't affect aerodynamics too much, should it? You can always claim that it's a deliberate experiment to determine the effects of surface roughness on stability and control... [Saying "on drag" would be too obvious, you want to make it sound like you're doing something really edgy and unusual. ;-) ]
When video doesn't work, paint.
How was SA10?
This will not work as a matter of fact, that's what I consider.
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