[Lil' Nuke](http://shop.locprecision.com/product.sc?productId=114&categoryId=12)
kit.
-So .. how about a stupidly-large upscale of the LOC Lil' Nuke! A meh-ga nuke!
+So .. how about a stupidly-large upscale of the LOC Lil' Nuke! Bdale's
+wife Karen suggested the name, since this is definitely a meh-ga nuke!
## Design Details
-After a bunch of playing around in [OpenRocket](http://openrocket.sourceforge.net/),
-and considering the limits of the CNC equipment at hand, an airframe diameter of
+After a bunch of playing around in
+[OpenRocket](http://openrocket.sourceforge.net/), and considering the
+limits of the CNC equipment at hand, an airframe diameter of
approximately 12 inches was chosen. We can fly high on 6-inch research motors
-(first flight planned to be on a James Russell research red-flame "O" motor), and
+(first flight was on a James Russell research red-flame "O" motor), and
fly low and super crowd-pleasing on fast-burning M motors like the
-[CTI Pro98 M3400WT](http://pro38.com/products/pro98/motor.php) in a suitable adapter.
+[CTI Pro98 M3400WT](http://pro38.com/products/pro98/motor.php) in a
+suitable adapter.
To achieve sufficient stability on an O motor, the nose needs to be pretty
heavy. Simulation suggested that turning the nose out of solid pine would work
logs drying... but trying to turn a nose cone out of one of those was kind of a
disaster! So we ended up asking Dan at
[Python Rocketry](https://pythonrocketry.com/)
-for help, and he delivered an outstanding nose cone for the project!
+for help, and he delivered an outstanding bespoke nose cone for the project!
Because such a heavy nose cone would put significant compression load on the
rest of the airframe, we took notes from Kevin Trojanowski's large rocket
landing. The epoxy used for all fin to ring joints (and most others in the
airframe) was augmented with West Systems 403 Microfibers, yielding very
strong yet light joints. Once the fin can was fully assembled, the fins
-were laminated with laminated with one partial layer of 5.7oz 2x2 twill
-carbon fiber for stiffness, and one layer of tip to tip 6oz fiberglass for
-surface preservation and strength.
+were laminated with with one partial layer of 5.7oz 2x2 twill carbon fiber
+for stiffness, and one layer of tip to tip 6oz fiberglass for surface
+preservation and strength.
Charge cups for primary and secondary black powder charges mount on the
top of the fin can forward ring where they are easy to load before adding
is, I think the trick will just be to paint the tube with a thick layer of epoxy
before starting to apply the glass, then be generous when wetting each layer.
-At this point, a lot of time passed, and the airframe wasn't completed until
-early 2018!
+At this point, a lot of time passed, detailed note-taking more or less
+stopped, and the airframe wasn't completed until early 2018!
## Photos
All the photos and video I've collected associated with this project can
be found [here](https://thor.gag.com/index.php?/category/MehGaNuke).
+Kent Burnett's drone video hightlights reel from Airfest 2018 includes
+[video of the launch](https://vimeo.com/295459157#t=636s) starting at
+about 10:36 in.
+
## Flight Log
-The first flight of this airframe was at the [Kloudbusters](http://kloudbusters.org/)
+The first flight of this airframe was at the
+[Kloudbusters](http://kloudbusters.org/)
[Airfest 24](http://kloudbusters.org/airfest/) in Argonia, Kansas, USA,
on Saturday, 1 September 2018. The motor was a 6-inch "O" built by James
Russell using his well-known "Russell Red" formula. Due to a slightly larger
bag, as the main chute deployed a few seconds after apogee. The stress at
deployment tore the strap off the deployment bag, and the deployment bag was not
recovered. Some minor re-design of the deployment sequence seems indicated
-before future flights. All in all, though, this was an outstanding group effort,
-a lovely flight, and a huge crowd-pleaser!
-
-
+before future flights. All in all, though, this was an outstanding group
+effort, a lovely flight, and a huge crowd-pleaser!
projects / web / gag.com / blobdiff