Here is the latest project update:

Airframe - The airframe received minor body putty touch-ups and detail sanding in preparation for primer and paint. The rear centering ring was installed, followed by a 1/2-inch long section of coupler. The coupler effectively doubles the thickness of the exposed tube aft of the rear centering ring, which should help resist landing damage. The 98mm motor hardware was delivered by Impulse Aerospace and test fitted into the motor mount.

Recovery - The Recovery team is once again indebted to young Mr. Andrew Savoie. Andrew was called upon to climb into the front of the booster and attach the 3-point recovery harness to the forward bulkhead. This required fastening 3 Quik-links to 3 U-bolts and making sure everything was tight. Thanks for your help Andrew!

Avionics - Team leader Mike Doyle upgraded and slightly redesigned the baffle system and coupler rear bulkhead after last week's ejection test. The new bulkhead features a layer of carbon fiber on the 3/4-inch plywood bulkhead, backed up by two stainless steel plates. The entire assembly is bolted to the 3/8-inch all thread that runs the length of the coupler. The ejection charges were also shifted to the interior of the 4-inch diameter PVC ballast tube. Mike also drilled the holes for the static ports for both altimeters bays.

Ejection Test - New calculations yielded a value of 8 grams of black powder and this was used in the second ejection test. The test was flawless, with clean separation of the nose from the airframe and no damage to either component. We collectively decided to add 2 more ounces for "insurance", so our tentative flight ejection charge is 10 grams of BP.

Launch Pad - Impulse Aerospace provided an upgraded Quad-Pod launch pad for the pad test. The rocket was mated with a 12-foot BlackSky rail and the entire assembly was then mounted on the Quad-Pod pad and erected. After the test, it was decided that further upgrades to the pad are required to insure a safe, vertical launch. Dave Towers volunteered to fabricate an 8-foot square steel base for the Quad-Pod head, a larger, angled blast deflector and a stand-off for the top of the launch rail. Our intent is to stake the 8-foot base to the ground and attach a 3-point guy-wire system to the stand-off to stabilize the rocket on the pad.

Cradle - The rocket cradle was modified slightly to make it fit into the new Club Trailer. The legs were shortened about 8-inches and the overall length of the cradle was shortened about 12 inches. Plumber's foam padding was installed to cushion the area where the rocket will rest on the cradle and other minor repairs were accomplished.

Painting - Ron Moran pre-fabricated a Vis-Queen paint booth and delivered it to the site. The booth was erected in the second bay of the shop and made ready for use. We did not use the paint booth for applying primer but we will use if for the finish coat of paint. Most of the afternoon was spent finish-sanding and applying two coats of primer to the assembled rocket and nose cone. After the first coat we noticed some slight degradation of the foam fairings where the fiberglass had been sanded completely away. We decided to apply a light coat of latex house paint to the fairings to seal them from the acetone in the primer. After the house paint dried, we applied the second coat of primer. We finished the day by wet-sanding the entire rocket with 400-grit sandpaper, making it ready for paint next weekend.

Rocket Weight - I brought my electronic shipping scale and we weighed the rocket and nose cone. The combined weight was 98 pounds. To this we will add the weight of the parachute and harness (about 6 pounds) plus the weight of the paint, the electronics and batteries and approximately 140 brass screws. Hopefully, we will not have to add any ballast to the nose, but we have yet to perform the balance test :). We are right at the upper limit on thrust-to-weight for an M-2400.

Next weekend our main task will be painting the rocket, but we will also perform a second pad test, using the new parts supplied by Dave Towers.

See everyone Saturday morning at the shop,

Hal