Saturday, November 28, 2009

The Making of a Rocket

My husband, Paul and daughter, Alicia have been building rockets together since she was in 5th or 6th grade. They started with level one simple rockets and have progressed to the rocket assembly below which is a level four rocket.

Due to its size and weight this rocket will require them to locate a larger field/area and may even require them to coordinate with or notify the FAA prior to launching this rocket.

Alicia's goal is to build a large scale Saturn V rocket before she graduates from High School in 2012.

Following are a series of photos from the level four rocket. The worked on it on and off over several months.

1.) Inner engine tube assembly with supports










2.) Engine mount with fin supports installed







3.) Alicia glues the engine hook.








4.) Various parts of the rocket. Sanded, smoothed and gaps filled. Alicia used autobody bondo to make sure the body was perfectly smooth.








5.) Lower tube assembly with engine mounts installed.







6.) Alicia wears a mask while sanding and shaping the fins.







7.) Alicia brushes sanding sealer on the wooden fins.










8.) Alicia cutting out a template to help align the fins.







9.) Finished fin alignment template.











10.) Completed fins shaped and sanded. Note the larger fins were made of multiple pieces that needed to be glued and shaped prior to assembly.




11.) Upper and lower body tubes attached.











12.) Front view of the rocket with all fins attached.







13.) Another view of rocket with all fins attached.










14.) Rear view of rocket.








15.) Completed rocket ready for paint - in box to protect from overspray.











16.) Completed rocket with paint and decals.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very cool, Carla! Kudos to them both! :-)
Lisa W.

Anonymous said...

Wow what a talented kid!! You must get that talent from your family!! Ha Grandma Alice

Anonymous said...

wow that is so awesome! Great that your husband and daughter can do this together.

Tina

Unknown said...

Carla, You have a VERY special husband, and a super cool daughter!!!! I loved loved loved your blog!

Ayca HOSER said...

Wow what a talented kid !
Wish you all the best for 2009 and so on...

sjn said...

What a fun project. Will we be able to see the launch from Minnesota? :-)

Maria said...

Wow! You must be one proud momma! What a talented kid & super dh!
Maria

Jo said...

Waaaayyyyyy cool!!!

Kimba said...

This is awesome! My kids and I love to make model rockets...gotta try this!

Julie B said...

Very, very cool!

Unknown said...

Holy cow! That's an awesome rocket! I wish I'd been able to do stuff like that when I was a kid. :)

ToolGuyd said...

I wonder what size engine that took - ABC, or D? Higher?

Hope it flew as good as it looks!

Anonymous said...

WOW!!! You did a great job - you need to build some larger more complicated stuff if you did this good on a model.

Bryan Dierking (OLC)