Here's the latest update:

Refurbishing work - A small but dedicated crew assembled last Saturday to begin repairs to the Phoenix and get it ready for display.  The first order of business was to remove any un-necessary items from the rocket.  Sharon Ellis assisted by crawling up into the airframe to remove the recovery harnesses and quik-links.  Before permanently attaching the nose cone, we decided to add one more rail-guide attachment point as far forward as possible, since the missile will basically be nose heavy as it hangs on the F-14.  We also removed as much weight as possible from the nose cone/avionics section including the rear bulkhead, the electronics bays, several inches of the 3/8-inch all-thread and most of the exposed PVC tube.

Zipper repair  - To begin repairing the zipper, we cut away a rectangular area of the tube containing the zipper.   We then cut an equal section of tube from the Phoenix decoy rocket and sanded it to fit the opening in the airframe.  The nose cone was epoxied into the airframe and then the zipper patch was epoxied into place.  This was followed by filling the entire area with EverCoat.  After the filler was completely dry, we sanded, primered, filled, sanded and primered again (sound familiar?).  The repair is now ready for paint.

Decal repair  - Surprisingly few decals were damaged by the trip to Texas.  We did an overall inspection and found a few that will need to be removed and replaced.  Randy also applied a couple of test decals to the Phoenix decoy so we can spray some clearcoat over them and see what happens.

Press Event - The TASM press event is now scheduled for 10:00 AM  on Tuesday, August 20.  Most folks indicated they could be available on that date, so we're going with Tuesday and hoping for a good media turnout.  I have already furnished Brian Littmann's video to the curator and I have recently been in contact with Extreme Rocketry magazine regarding their video of the Phoenix flight.  Brent McNeely has graciously consented to provide a copy of their video for distribution in the TASM press release as well.

Construction Meeting - We will be meeting at the shop in Claremore at 8:30 tomorrow (Saturday) morning to finish up the repair work.  With any luck, this will be the LAST construction meeting before presenting the Phoenix to TASM and your last chance to eat with the group at El Charro's.  Hope to see everyone there.

Hal