Forums › Knowledge Base › Composite Construction Help › Silicone nosecone mold
I got the F10 casing out, so the nosecone is just about ready to go. There are a few surface flaws from bubbles that I may try to fix before I fly it, or I may not, since it has such a nice polished surface except for the few flaws. The nosecone is now at 175 grams, including part of a shock cord potted into the noseweight. A fit check with my chute holder and my 29mm H rocket looks good for the nosecone, but it reminds me that I need another coat of epoxy on the rocket! Also, the coupler I installed in the aft end of the rocket may be slightly crooked. If so, I’ll need to dig it out, because straightness is so critical. When the rocket is put together, it has a nice look and feel, like it’s ready to be chucked quite a distance.
I didn’t end up fixing any of the flaws I mentioned above, and the possible slight cock of the coupler probably contributed to some coning I saw during the burn today. I prepped it on Friday, and let the av-bay sit in standby for 30 hours or so with the battery plugged in. No worries, though, since I found out accidentally last week that the av-bay can sit in standby for a week without losing excessive charge. It was nice to drive up with the rocket prepped and ready, though I did do my first sanding of the cone since I took it out of the mold, after the rocket was all together. I had a good signal throughout the flight, and got a direction toward the SE before it landed and the signal went quiet. The recovery was pretty straightforward, since I got the signal back once on top of the hill on the 122 road. Chris LaPanse went with me to locate it, and it wound up pretty close to the road, near the intersection of road 122 and road 49. We had some funny signal dropouts that in hindsight was likely due to us being lined up in the null of the transmit antenna. The flight on the CTI H160 went to 14,214, lower than the 15,710 that RASAero predicted, but that was probably mostly due to the coning during the burn. Top speed was about Mach 1.5.
We are Good to Go with our scheduled and approved launch on Saturday April 5th and Sunday April 6th, from the North Site, subject to change – Mostly cloudy and High Winds predicted. Range and waiver should be active by 9AM on Saturday. The Pawnee National Grassland remains fragile and dry, so extra precautions are in order. Please stay on the authorized roads and please don’t park more than 100’ off the road at the flight line.