preamble:
my wife joined me at our last launch.. and had a great time. this said i picked up a LOC Athena (mostly due to the female naming) so she can have her own, and it's a 'we' thing .
kit:
arrived within a few days along with my 4" Nike Zeus (damn... i just love the way the ABM's look!) and i found that the outer box saved the 2 rockets within.
Athena was packaged complete.
quick test fit: found that the MMT tube is barely long enough (more on that later), and that when building there'll be a cutoff saw usage for the fins.
Building the MMT:
i removed the glassine which made it so i didn't have to sand the MMT tube. as instructed, i laid out the centering rings on mmt tube and found that i'll not be using the 1/8" from the end of the mmt tube as there isn't enough tube length for that .. so i made the ends at about 1/16", formed up the centering rings on the mmt tube and tacked 'em in with CA. i used JB weld 5 min epoxy to affix the CR on the MMT tube permanently.
after curing, the CR's needed to be sanded down.. and as i was test fitting, i noticed that the end of the BT was getting a little soft. So at the end of the aft BT, i squirted in thin CA in about 1" from the end to the end. that shored up the BT nicely.. and i found the test fitting was much easier.
fins: needed some loving mods for the dry-fit. they were a tad long... so i used my cut-off saw and removed just about 1/16".
after completing the fitting of the MMT within the BT, i set up the proverbial dry-fit of BT-MMT-fins. After the mods everything seems to fit pert good. before attaching, obviously i'll be sanding the fins. (speaking of fins... since this has 2 sets of fins i was thinking of how to align.. suggestions are welcome. i was thinking of popsicle sticks or just using 5 min epoxy and hold in place until dry to remove fingers..)
r-
my wife joined me at our last launch.. and had a great time. this said i picked up a LOC Athena (mostly due to the female naming) so she can have her own, and it's a 'we' thing .
kit:
arrived within a few days along with my 4" Nike Zeus (damn... i just love the way the ABM's look!) and i found that the outer box saved the 2 rockets within.
Athena was packaged complete.
quick test fit: found that the MMT tube is barely long enough (more on that later), and that when building there'll be a cutoff saw usage for the fins.
Building the MMT:
i removed the glassine which made it so i didn't have to sand the MMT tube. as instructed, i laid out the centering rings on mmt tube and found that i'll not be using the 1/8" from the end of the mmt tube as there isn't enough tube length for that .. so i made the ends at about 1/16", formed up the centering rings on the mmt tube and tacked 'em in with CA. i used JB weld 5 min epoxy to affix the CR on the MMT tube permanently.
after curing, the CR's needed to be sanded down.. and as i was test fitting, i noticed that the end of the BT was getting a little soft. So at the end of the aft BT, i squirted in thin CA in about 1" from the end to the end. that shored up the BT nicely.. and i found the test fitting was much easier.
fins: needed some loving mods for the dry-fit. they were a tad long... so i used my cut-off saw and removed just about 1/16".
after completing the fitting of the MMT within the BT, i set up the proverbial dry-fit of BT-MMT-fins. After the mods everything seems to fit pert good. before attaching, obviously i'll be sanding the fins. (speaking of fins... since this has 2 sets of fins i was thinking of how to align.. suggestions are welcome. i was thinking of popsicle sticks or just using 5 min epoxy and hold in place until dry to remove fingers..)
r-