6" Diameter Smokin Rockets X-15 Build & L3 Certification
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Rschub
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More story! 
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Me and my rocket:
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Let's talk about nose weight.
This X-15 rocket requires nose weight. It's pretty much a given if you have a short rocket with a lot of fin area forward. If the body tube length was doubled (or tripled), then maybe it wouldn't need it, but then it wouldn't look like an X-15.
Using Rocksim, I determined that, for a K1100T motor, I'd need about 3# in the nose (including the eyebolt and quicklink) to get the Cg 1.5 calibers ahead of the Cp, which in my experience was good.
Despite my first flight being a cato, reviewing the footage carefully, I saw that it had a stable boost off the rail and a stable coast (electronics and recovery were good too).
For my next planned flight with an L motor, my sims showed that I'd need to add about 2# more and for an M motor, about another 2#. Given I wasn't planning on flying M motors much at my local field, I came up with a system to have removable lead weight pucks (each puck is about 2lbs).
The puck above has the funny hole drilled because, while I originally planned on making the eyebolt in the nose removable, I had used strong thread lock on the eyebolt coupler and found that I simply couldn't remove the eyebolt, so I had to make a hole that would fit over it. After sliding the puck over the eyebolt, I would rotate it and then I used screws through the nose for the first puck. These would be removable if needed, but I might leave it in.
For the 2nd "M" puck, I used one 1/4" bolt across the sides. to secure it, I tried a few things including initially using threaded tee nuts and cutting the head down.
Adjusting for the curve of the nose cone (tricky task!):
When I was done, I didn't like how much they stuck out and eventually just cut off the heads of the tee nuts and I also cut a slot into the shaft of the bolt (which was now just like all-thread).
To top things off, I added a screw pin shackle to the base of the eyebolt and used wire to secure it so the pin wouldn't come loose (sorry, a bit hard to see in this pic). I also used a very large quick link.
This was an extra security measure in case the lead pucks would stress the screws and bolt during heavy acceleration. If the weights came loose, it would be a disaster, so I made sure to have back up safeties here. In the end, the anchored weights took the M motor boost fine.
A pic of showing the side bolt and bottom screws on the finished nose:
This X-15 rocket requires nose weight. It's pretty much a given if you have a short rocket with a lot of fin area forward. If the body tube length was doubled (or tripled), then maybe it wouldn't need it, but then it wouldn't look like an X-15.
Using Rocksim, I determined that, for a K1100T motor, I'd need about 3# in the nose (including the eyebolt and quicklink) to get the Cg 1.5 calibers ahead of the Cp, which in my experience was good.
Despite my first flight being a cato, reviewing the footage carefully, I saw that it had a stable boost off the rail and a stable coast (electronics and recovery were good too).
For my next planned flight with an L motor, my sims showed that I'd need to add about 2# more and for an M motor, about another 2#. Given I wasn't planning on flying M motors much at my local field, I came up with a system to have removable lead weight pucks (each puck is about 2lbs).
The puck above has the funny hole drilled because, while I originally planned on making the eyebolt in the nose removable, I had used strong thread lock on the eyebolt coupler and found that I simply couldn't remove the eyebolt, so I had to make a hole that would fit over it. After sliding the puck over the eyebolt, I would rotate it and then I used screws through the nose for the first puck. These would be removable if needed, but I might leave it in.
For the 2nd "M" puck, I used one 1/4" bolt across the sides. to secure it, I tried a few things including initially using threaded tee nuts and cutting the head down.
Adjusting for the curve of the nose cone (tricky task!):
When I was done, I didn't like how much they stuck out and eventually just cut off the heads of the tee nuts and I also cut a slot into the shaft of the bolt (which was now just like all-thread).
To top things off, I added a screw pin shackle to the base of the eyebolt and used wire to secure it so the pin wouldn't come loose (sorry, a bit hard to see in this pic). I also used a very large quick link.
This was an extra security measure in case the lead pucks would stress the screws and bolt during heavy acceleration. If the weights came loose, it would be a disaster, so I made sure to have back up safeties here. In the end, the anchored weights took the M motor boost fine.
A pic of showing the side bolt and bottom screws on the finished nose:
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"X-E Beast"
Trivia #1: When submitting my X-15 as a BFR flight for LDRS 42, I named it "X-E Beast" as a play on X-15 and "Sexy" ("Sexy Beast"
).
After the cato, I thought "Xtra Effort" may be more fitting!
Now that I finished the repairs, it was time to add some sexy to this beast!
Trivia #2: I had purchased 6" X-15 stickers from StickerShock back around 2015 since I was planning on eventually buying the kit and Stickershock had a "Buy 2 get 3rd Free" sale. I had been looking for the 6" kit ever since and only found it last year.
The stickers were dug up and some of the top masking layer was getting old and either dry or the tacky adhesive was coming off, but luckily the vinyl stickers themselves were still good.
The trickiest part was applying the large USAF on the wings, so I started there. I traced it onto paper and used that to determine placement. Initially I used some soapy water, but it was messy and wasn't necessary, so I stopped shortly after. Also I thought the residue may react with any clear coating I would apply later.
I somewhat rushed through the stickers and some weren't aligned perfectly, but I felt that it wouldn't be noticeable.
Trivia #3: For some reason, many/most of the X-15 stickers and even at least one of the Estes kits have the cockpit decal shown as a teardrop shape. The real plane had it more like rectangles, so I made my own using chrome vinyl sticker sheets.
With the stickers done, I first tested and then applied a gloss clear coat. I think the Rustoleum clear coats react badly with other gloss colors (possibly due to reactions from the different gloss elements), but it went great over the flat black. I wanted a clear coat to better seal the stickers (good thing because the rocket later got dragged upside down across a dirt field for a very long time before I got to it).
Viola!
At this point, I decided to try to do the second test flight on Sunday.
Trivia #1: When submitting my X-15 as a BFR flight for LDRS 42, I named it "X-E Beast" as a play on X-15 and "Sexy" ("Sexy Beast"
).After the cato, I thought "Xtra Effort" may be more fitting!
Now that I finished the repairs, it was time to add some sexy to this beast!
Trivia #2: I had purchased 6" X-15 stickers from StickerShock back around 2015 since I was planning on eventually buying the kit and Stickershock had a "Buy 2 get 3rd Free" sale. I had been looking for the 6" kit ever since and only found it last year.
The stickers were dug up and some of the top masking layer was getting old and either dry or the tacky adhesive was coming off, but luckily the vinyl stickers themselves were still good.
The trickiest part was applying the large USAF on the wings, so I started there. I traced it onto paper and used that to determine placement. Initially I used some soapy water, but it was messy and wasn't necessary, so I stopped shortly after. Also I thought the residue may react with any clear coating I would apply later.
I somewhat rushed through the stickers and some weren't aligned perfectly, but I felt that it wouldn't be noticeable.
Trivia #3: For some reason, many/most of the X-15 stickers and even at least one of the Estes kits have the cockpit decal shown as a teardrop shape. The real plane had it more like rectangles, so I made my own using chrome vinyl sticker sheets.
With the stickers done, I first tested and then applied a gloss clear coat. I think the Rustoleum clear coats react badly with other gloss colors (possibly due to reactions from the different gloss elements), but it went great over the flat black. I wanted a clear coat to better seal the stickers (good thing because the rocket later got dragged upside down across a dirt field for a very long time before I got to it).
Viola!
At this point, I decided to try to do the second test flight on Sunday.
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Launch Is Scrubbed! (but that's ok)
So I bring my nice shiny, sexy "beast of a rocket" to the June 2, Sunday launch for Rick to review and to have a second flight test on an L motor.
Rick seemed amazed at my repair and loved the rocket!
I told him that I was going to do another test flight and he told me not to bother. He said that the first flight, despite the cato, actually "checked all the boxes" (stable boost and coast, electronics worked, and recovered fine under chute).
I thought that made a lot of sense given there's always something that can go wrong with a flight (into the river or tree, drift away, etc.) and then there wouldn't be any more chances given LDRS was a few days away. If he was happy, I was happy!
There was one concern I had above the rest and I wanted to check this with him:
Me: "Rick, if the main deploys at apogee, is it a failure?"
Rick: "Nope!"
Golden.
If there are any gray areas on judging or concerns you have, talk with your L3CC/TAP first.
So I bring my nice shiny, sexy "beast of a rocket" to the June 2, Sunday launch for Rick to review and to have a second flight test on an L motor.
Rick seemed amazed at my repair and loved the rocket!
I told him that I was going to do another test flight and he told me not to bother. He said that the first flight, despite the cato, actually "checked all the boxes" (stable boost and coast, electronics worked, and recovered fine under chute).
I thought that made a lot of sense given there's always something that can go wrong with a flight (into the river or tree, drift away, etc.) and then there wouldn't be any more chances given LDRS was a few days away. If he was happy, I was happy!
There was one concern I had above the rest and I wanted to check this with him:
Me: "Rick, if the main deploys at apogee, is it a failure?"
Rick: "Nope!"
Golden.
If there are any gray areas on judging or concerns you have, talk with your L3CC/TAP first.
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Some Additional Notes:
- Issue of the V2 HED Cannon main chute deployed at apogee:
- I thought this one over and felt that the dowels I had inside the body tube were a bit short/left a gap and so the rear bay lid was not resting on it. This allowed the main shear pins to flex and stress under boost. To fix this, I used epoxy putty to fill in any gaps and did the same for the X-15.
- I also took further caution with not too much primary bp charge on the drogue side (Rick's thought).
- To address Brian's thought that the nose was going too fast and the drogue chute yanked out the bay, I doubled the drogue line length, placed the drogue chute closer to the forward end and reefed the drogue chute.
- Why I didn't launch Saturday:
- Originally I was planning to attend LDRS by myself and stay at Country Charm campgrounds, which simplified things. As LDRS got closer, my family decided to come along, which I thought was awesome, however, it was no longer simple since I had to gather camping gear for 4 people.
- After my cato, I told my wife that I'd be very busy and asked her to do all the packing for the camping. As LDRS drew near, my wife's work exploded and suddenly she had no time to help, so I ended up spending most of Saturday gathering, cleaning, and packing everything for the trip myself... it was insane!
- End of April, I saw a TRF thread noting that Additive Aerospace was now selling RunCam 6 and shrouds for it. I had never had video on my rockets before, so I picked one up along with shrouds for the V2 (7.5") and the X-15 (6").
- It didn't keep recording on with my first try on the X-15 cato (my fault), but worked at LDRS when it counted!
- For the X-15, I placed it under the nose since I've always felt that the canopy bulge at top can make the rocket veer and I felt that the camera on the underside would balance that out well!
- It didn't keep recording on with my first try on the X-15 cato (my fault), but worked at LDRS when it counted!
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Wow, thats some horrific printing.
I print my caps vertically so you get a nice smooth surface.
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It seemed fine to me based on other 3D printed items I've purchased. Back when I used to 3D print things, I made them at the highest resolution, however I understand that isn't usually practical for sellers printing a lot of things quickly.Wow, thats some horrific printing.
I thought it looked great after I painted it black.
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Doubt they are printing that high of volume. I do like to coat mine in a light coat of epoxy and then sand down, gives a real nice finish to paint on.
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Campout!
I got my vehicles packed up. My rockets and some of the larger camping gear items went into my GX470 while I packed the rest of the camping gear and trip supplies in the Rav4. My sister met me at my house on Wednesday night and the plan was for her to follow me and my wife out to Ithaca, where I we would pick up my daughter and then head to the Country Charm Campgrounds. We wanted to get there early because tent campers know it can be a big headache to unpack and set up in the dark (lights draw bugs like crazy).
Here's a pic of my GX470. I have converted it for out landing with a rooftop tent (RTT) that sleeps 2 and the vehicle cabin has a platform with a gel mattress, which sleeps another 2.
Beautiful!
Now the problem with this arrangement is that my rocket vehicle is also the sleeping vehicle for 4. Logistics were difficult. This meant that we had to empty the vehicle at the end of each day and set it up for sleeping. Then to attend the rocket launch, I'd have to wake everyone up, put away bedding, close the RTT and load my rocket stuff. Even in the rain. Still, we managed to pull it off, but maybe we'll plan something else next time if it's 4 of us, like a cabin.
Lesson I learned too late: I found out too late that I could've first went to the LDRS field and set up my canopy in a good spot on the day that I arrived to the campsite (Wednesday). By the time I got to LDRS on Thursday, I had to pick a spot in Row 3.
Bonus funny story: I've touched upon my having bad luck or timing quite often with mostly small annoying things. That first night and early morning was horrible for me. I had already driven 4.5 hours on little sleep and was pretty exhausted. I initially thought my wife would sleep better in the vehicle by herself and I could sleep in the tent on a cot (one of us snores
). Well, for starters, someone left the zipper undone and when I went inside at night it was very full of bugs! They drove me nuts! After a few hours of being hot as heck sleeping covered to protect myself, I had the brilliant idea of trying a small mosquito netting canopy that my wife had brought (a spring like contraption) and I popped it open and slept in that. Great! However, in the middle of the night it started raining harder and my head started getting wet, so I had to do a fetal position sleep. lol. Then around 5AM or so right next to our site, there was a farm or something and the garbage truck decided to come in and start hauling the garbage, making a racket! WTH. I thought it would be quick, but that jerk stayed around for like half an hour and I couldn't sleep after that. UGH. Oh well, at least the other nights I slept well!
I got my vehicles packed up. My rockets and some of the larger camping gear items went into my GX470 while I packed the rest of the camping gear and trip supplies in the Rav4. My sister met me at my house on Wednesday night and the plan was for her to follow me and my wife out to Ithaca, where I we would pick up my daughter and then head to the Country Charm Campgrounds. We wanted to get there early because tent campers know it can be a big headache to unpack and set up in the dark (lights draw bugs like crazy).
Here's a pic of my GX470. I have converted it for out landing with a rooftop tent (RTT) that sleeps 2 and the vehicle cabin has a platform with a gel mattress, which sleeps another 2.
Beautiful!
Now the problem with this arrangement is that my rocket vehicle is also the sleeping vehicle for 4. Logistics were difficult. This meant that we had to empty the vehicle at the end of each day and set it up for sleeping. Then to attend the rocket launch, I'd have to wake everyone up, put away bedding, close the RTT and load my rocket stuff. Even in the rain. Still, we managed to pull it off, but maybe we'll plan something else next time if it's 4 of us, like a cabin.
Lesson I learned too late: I found out too late that I could've first went to the LDRS field and set up my canopy in a good spot on the day that I arrived to the campsite (Wednesday). By the time I got to LDRS on Thursday, I had to pick a spot in Row 3.
Bonus funny story: I've touched upon my having bad luck or timing quite often with mostly small annoying things. That first night and early morning was horrible for me. I had already driven 4.5 hours on little sleep and was pretty exhausted. I initially thought my wife would sleep better in the vehicle by herself and I could sleep in the tent on a cot (one of us snores
). Well, for starters, someone left the zipper undone and when I went inside at night it was very full of bugs! They drove me nuts! After a few hours of being hot as heck sleeping covered to protect myself, I had the brilliant idea of trying a small mosquito netting canopy that my wife had brought (a spring like contraption) and I popped it open and slept in that. Great! However, in the middle of the night it started raining harder and my head started getting wet, so I had to do a fetal position sleep. lol. Then around 5AM or so right next to our site, there was a farm or something and the garbage truck decided to come in and start hauling the garbage, making a racket! WTH. I thought it would be quick, but that jerk stayed around for like half an hour and I couldn't sleep after that. UGH. Oh well, at least the other nights I slept well!
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The Gx series Lexus are one of the finest vehicles on the planet.
We tried a practice run camping this weekend (prepare for Grits or Argonia) Camping is not for me. Bugs, rains, insane heat and humidity, lights on trailers all night, it just wasn't fun. VRBO or Airbnb or hotel for us. I promised my wife we would try again when it gets cool, but I am sunburned, mosquito bit, sleep deprived, and feel like I have been beaten by a small angry gorilla.
I am digging your thread, and just wanted to commiserate on the camping.
Steve
We tried a practice run camping this weekend (prepare for Grits or Argonia) Camping is not for me. Bugs, rains, insane heat and humidity, lights on trailers all night, it just wasn't fun. VRBO or Airbnb or hotel for us. I promised my wife we would try again when it gets cool, but I am sunburned, mosquito bit, sleep deprived, and feel like I have been beaten by a small angry gorilla.
I am digging your thread, and just wanted to commiserate on the camping.
Steve
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Thanks Steve!
I happened upon finding out about the Lexus GX470 while searching for a replacement for my 1999 Mercedes ML430 that was rusting out. I was amazed at all that I read and it sounded perfect for me, so about 2 years ago, I bought a used 2007 model for $8k. Most here in the East are mall crawlers and in great shape.
For others who don't know, it's called a Landcruiser Prado in other countries (a very capable off roader) and has a "legendary " engine that should easily hit 300k+ miles with proper maintenance (
). Also, being a luxury vehicle, the inside compartment is super quiet for sleeping. The main drawback is the poor fuel mileage - I'm getting 15mpg highway after my conversions, which isn't too horrible considering I was originally thinking of getting an RV or large trailer.I'm currently converting it for overlanding (off-roading as well as travelling across the country), which is a tricky balance... remember my fascination with "extreme opposites"?
I plan to visit National Parks when retire... perhaps this year or next.I also understand your position on camping. My wife and I used to camp decades ago and then had some really bad experiences. Also she HATES bugs, especially mosquitoes. My conversions had a focus on trying to make camping as comfortable for us as possible. I brought a bunch of anti-bug devices including mesh screens you put over the car windows for good bug-free ventilation.
This first trip in the vehicle for her proved to be very good! Still, I'd hesitate to do this if it is too hot at night.
Trivia: I get a lot of compliments on the vehicle since an overlander is fairly rare here in the East. As I was leaving LDRS on Friday during the "evacuation" due to the crazy storm and mud armageddon, one of the workers there guiding us to the exit yelled out to me "Like a god!".
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Overland build vs. L3 build
In many ways to me, the overland build I did/continue to do is much like my hp rocketry builds.
In many ways to me, the overland build I did/continue to do is much like my hp rocketry builds.
- You can do a lot of customization
- There's a lot of compromises
- It can be costly
- It can gave a LOT of headaches during construction
- Plans can often change during construction
- Others will often admire and/or judge
- Often, the more you put into it, the more you get out of it.
- You learn an awful lot!
- MANY things can go wrong
- When you do get it right, it feels great!
We have a 4 runner and a Tacoma. The 4 runner is made at the Lexus factory in Japan. I believe it is the manufacturering facility in the world for vehicles.
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Get Your Motor Running...
Before I left, I prepared my M1350 motor (DMS). Since 2015, I had kept everything except the casing in a storage bin in my living room, so I knew where it was, but I wasn't quite sure where the casing was. Luckily, I happened upon it while digging for some tubing!
I mentioned my motor to Rick and right away he asked me for the date code. Huh? Apparently M1350s made in 2016-2017 were recalled. My date code showed it was made in 2014, so I was good!
Before I opened up the bag of O-rings and such, I read through the instructions. One important step is to assemble the forward end and then epoxy it in place.
Looking at the instructions, it seemed like it noted 2 forward O-rings...
and not to get any grease on the "forward" one. I asked Rick about this and he seemed confused. Later, reading it again, I realized they meant "2-3/4" and it was just broken up in a horrible spot.
Also it said to let the provided epoxy set while the motor was vertical for 16-24 hours!
I was originally thinking of assembling the motor at the campsite, but decided not to since I wasn't sure I could do this while there. So I assembled the motor at home on Monday, 3 days before LDRS.
Here's the forward end with epoxy.
Beautiful!
The epoxy actually set up in maybe 3 hours, so I had nothing to worry about. Maybe the time mentioned was to be sure it's fully hardened before use.
Now that I had the precious motor assembled, I had to pack it safely to bring along. Since it was so critical, I took no chances...
Before I left, I prepared my M1350 motor (DMS). Since 2015, I had kept everything except the casing in a storage bin in my living room, so I knew where it was, but I wasn't quite sure where the casing was.
Luckily, I happened upon it while digging for some tubing! I mentioned my motor to Rick and right away he asked me for the date code. Huh? Apparently M1350s made in 2016-2017 were recalled. My date code showed it was made in 2014, so I was good!
Before I opened up the bag of O-rings and such, I read through the instructions. One important step is to assemble the forward end and then epoxy it in place.
Looking at the instructions, it seemed like it noted 2 forward O-rings...
and not to get any grease on the "forward" one. I asked Rick about this and he seemed confused. Later, reading it again, I realized they meant "2-3/4" and it was just broken up in a horrible spot.
Also it said to let the provided epoxy set while the motor was vertical for 16-24 hours!
I was originally thinking of assembling the motor at the campsite, but decided not to since I wasn't sure I could do this while there. So I assembled the motor at home on Monday, 3 days before LDRS.
Here's the forward end with epoxy.
Beautiful!
The epoxy actually set up in maybe 3 hours, so I had nothing to worry about. Maybe the time mentioned was to be sure it's fully hardened before use.
Now that I had the precious motor assembled, I had to pack it safely to bring along. Since it was so critical, I took no chances...
boatgeek
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[In your best Jersey accent] Sure is a nice motor you got there. Would be a shame if something was to happen to it.Get Your Motor Running...
Before I left, I prepared my M1350 motor (DMS). Since 2015, I had kept everything except the casing in a storage bin in my living room, so I knew where it was, but I wasn't quite sure where the casing was.
I mentioned my motor to Rick and right away he asked me for the date code. Huh? Apparently M1350s made in 2016-2017 were recalled. My date code showed it was made in 2014, so I was good!
Before I opened up the bag of O-rings and such, I read through the instructions. One important step is to assemble the forward end and then epoxy it in place.
Looking at the instructions, it seemed like it noted 2 forward O-rings...
View attachment 653854
and not to get any grease on the "forward" one. I asked Rick about this and he seemed confused. Later, reading it again, I realized they meant "2-3/4" and it was just broken up in a horrible spot.
Also it said to let the provided epoxy set while the motor was vertical for 16-24 hours!
View attachment 653853
I was originally thinking of assembling the motor at the campsite, but decided not to since I wasn't sure I could do this while there. So I assembled the motor at home on Monday, 3 days before LDRS.
Here's the forward end with epoxy.
View attachment 653856
Beautiful!
The epoxy actually set up in maybe 3 hours, so I had nothing to worry about. Maybe the time mentioned was to be sure it's fully hardened before use.
Now that I had the precious motor assembled, I had to pack it safely to bring along. Since it was so critical, I took no chances...
View attachment 653858
View attachment 653859
View attachment 653861
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