BAAH-1 Update

Summary update on BAAH-1, the L-1 cert bird. Okay, more than simply update: more of a recent history, since it’s now been quite some time since my last BAAH-1 posting. In fact, I started this update back in November 2014! Construction at that time was mostly complete. The only things remaining were the avionics bay […]

Folie à Trois

It’s a another lunatic project. First, scratch-build my L-1 cert project (see these posts; yes, I finished the project, even though I’ve not written about the final build portions and flight: that will come). Then, repair and complete another 1:70 Saturn V, modeling AS-501 (aka Apollo 4), which has numerous differences from Apollo 11 (AS-505), […]

AS-501

First, the back story. A few months ago, one of the guys on the LUNAR club list, Paul, sent email offering a 1:70 scale Saturn V model. It was partially completed, and needed finishing. Paul realized he’d never finish it, and wanted to see it fly. It had been modified from the original 29 mm […]

NASA Ames’s Open House

(What about rocket building? Very much underway. Too busy working on BAAH-1, my L-1 certification project, actually to write up the progress. But, I’ve taken lots of pictures. Quick summary: airframe done, fins painted and attached, motor mount complete, nose cone painted, rest of airframe primed and ready for final sanding and paint.) This past […]

Fins and Nose Cone Prep Work

Most of the recent work has been on BAAH-1’s paint prep. Not quite all, but most. The balsa nose cone takes an enormous amount of work to get it as smooth as I want it.  I don’t need a polished hardwood furniture-grade finish on it, but I don’t want all the lathe pits and typical […]

Next Up: Nose Cone Fit

The nose cone: it fits, but it doesn’t fit. The nose cone is a reasonably nice plastic cone, sized, at least roughly, for high-power tubes. They’re probably just about perfect for what appears to be the standard 2.56″ (65.0 mm) I.D. and 2.63″ (66.8 mm) O.D. tubes, with a 0.035″ (0.89 mm) wall thickness. I’m […]

…Houston, We’ve Had a Problem—the Hex Nut and the MMT

So many clichés. The best laid plans… Measure twice, cut once. Missed it by that much. A miss is as good as a mile. And the grandaddy of all rocketeers’ clichés: Okay, Houston, we’ve had a problem. (This one is famously mis-quoted.) The problem is hardly as life-threatening as that experienced by Lovell, Swigert, and […]

Somes Ya Wins, ’n’ Somes Ya Loses

The maiden launch of Die Fledermaus was on Saturday, February 2nd, at LUNAR‘s Snow Ranch launch facility. It was a beautiful day: light winds, pleasant temperatures, a good turnout of fellow space cases. Perfect situation to fly Die Fledermaus. The first flight, on a G64-4W, was fabulous. Picture-perfect. Nice, straight up, ejection near apogee, gentle […]

BAAH-1 Update: Fins Done, Airframe Slotted

Work continues, albeit slowly. At this point, the fin slots are cut in the airframe and fit to their respective fins and the fins are finished. I need to drill a few holes (launch lugs and rail buttons), start to build the motor mount, and begin the motor mount installation. Getting each fin slot to […]

BAAH-1 Update – Fin 1

It’s going slowly, for at least a couple of reasons, this building my L-1 cert bird. I’ve been spending a vast amount of time over the past six months on a short-term, important, urgent volunteer role, I’m intentionally working slowly and carefully when I’m working, and, despite the care, I’m having to revise the implementation […]