Contents

Overview

This is a prototype of the Launcherone rocket. It is a 4" diameter booster with a 38mm motor mount. It is designed to fly from H to J motors and has a flexible avionics bay that can be configured for dual deploy or single deploy.

The build for this configuration is pretty straight forward and the design almost ensures a straight and true build.

The main components are standard airframe and plywood. The payload section is 3D printed allowing for a flexible avionics bay configuration. Here are the fins, centreing rings and the motor mount.

Build Process

The details for each step are described in the indiviual step sections, but here is a brief overview of the build process.

We start with the fincan. The fins are slotted into the centreing rings and the motor mount is attached. This prodives a very strong structure that is easy to align. You will end up with somehting like this.

The next step is to bond the fincan to the airframe. This is done with a good round of epoxy and sliding the fincan into place. The fincan is then aligned and the epoxy is allowed to cure.

The next step is to attach the payload section. This is a 3D printed part that has plywood bulkheads and an M6 threaded insert in the nosecode for the recovery system.

After that is a good prime and paint. I used a white primer and a gloss white top coat. Check out the build steps for more finishing details. For this build, I used the P38 epoxy to prepare the printed surfaces for paint.

The vinyl decals were cut on a Cricut machine and applied to the rocket in the usual way. I did print & cut the American and Union flags.

Design

The booster section is a traditional design.