Construction Rating: | starstarstarstarstar |
Flight Rating: | starstarstarstarstar_border |
Overall Rating: | starstarstarstarstar |
Published: | 2015-08-19 |
Manufacturer: | Scratch |
I was playing around with my Estes 'Big Daddy' one day when I discovered that its NC would fit the tube that my Aerotech Initiator came packed in. The decision was then made to acquire another Big Daddy and build the 3D Mega Daddy (3D MD).
Only 3 components were used from the Big Daddy:
From the Initiator Starter Set:
The rest of the components were either handmade or came from my stock supplies. They include:
Total construction time for this project took a little over 2 years. This was the only Con: and was because I had to make a decision early in the build whether to build a slightly shorter version without the Big Daddy BT with the possibility of only 3 fins as I was going to make this a 3 engine bird. That would make all 3 fin roots the same length and easier to glue to the MM. But after sleeping on it for a few weeks (more like a month or two) and the fact that I didn't want to have to cut new slots in the Aerotech tube, plus I wanted this rocket as big as possible, I finally settled with using the Big Daddy BT and going with the 4 fin configuration. Full detail of this build can be found here at http://www.rocketreviews.com/mega-3d-daddy.html.
Finishing was done in my normal fashion. First I went over all spiral grooves with HobbyLite by Hobbico. This has been my goto filler since the 80's when I was building gas powered balsa airplanes. Great stuff to work with. Rocket was then given the usual prime, sand, prime, sand, and main coats. Lastly the body tube was masked off and the flames added. After that entire rocket was sprayed with Dupli-Color Clear Effex paint to give it that rainbow effect.
No Cons:
3D MD Glamour shot
Rocket currently has 3 flights logged. 2 on D12-5's and 1 on E9-4's. All 3 flights have been picture perfect. No Cons:
3D MD Launch - All 3 motors lit
The main Con: is the 36" round nylon parachute I'm currently using is more than adequate for the job. Simulator says that I needed a 33" parachute but I'm walking further than I like for recovery, especially on the E engines (about 1/2 mile). On the plus side, I'm not getting any major damage from landing on hard surfaces. I may end up swapping it out for a smaller 'chute or at least a different style.
3D MD under 'chute at Graves Campgrounds M.I.S.
3D MD recovery near exit to camp grounds
This was an interesting and very gratifying build and I learned a couple new things along the way. The homemade baffle I installed seems to be working perfectly as I haven't found any damage to the parachute yet. Wish I could see how the aluminum coating on the bottom of the baffle is holding up.
Would love to try 3 composite motors like the 24mm Aerotech F32-6T but besides being hard to get all three composites to light at once, I'm afraid I might lose her unless I can find a much larger launch field and I spent way to much time building her to chance it. Maybe someday if conditions are right and I can afford the motors (that being the major factor).
Brief: I modified the Big Daddy kit to replace the stock nose cone with a fixed nose cone made from a PET soft drink bottle; parachute deployment is from an open "mortar" mounted on the bottle opening. Rationale? I swiped the nose cone from a family member's Big Daddy kit to use in a building ...
How to Make a V-2 out of an Estes Big Daddy Frustrated with the lack of availability of an affordable V-2 kit, I started thinking of ways to come up with a cheap and easy kit-bash from an existing in production kit that wouldn’t involve a lot of money or time. I also wanted to make a ...
Brief: Modified Estes Big Daddy to fly on 29mm motors. Modifications: I started this project with a regular Estes Big Daddy. When I bought the kit I knew I wanted to mod it to a 29mm so I bought a motor tube and cut it to a length that would allow it to come up and touch the base of the nose ...
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I bought this Big Daddy (on sale, of course) as a test-bed for a Micro-Hybrid motor. This required an extension of the motor mount, and the capability to house electronics in the nose cone. Before flying it on a Micro-Hybrid, I'll probably try it on a conventional motor with motor ejection (1st ...
The Estes Big Daddy first caught my eye hanging on the rack at WV Hobbies in the fall of 1998. It looked to me to be a good candidate for conversion to 29mm power, so I put it on my Christmas list. My request was granted, and away I went. My first decision was to evaluate the kit parts to see ...
What is it about the Fat Boy, Onyx, Minie Magg, etc, that makes grown men's knees weak? I don't know, but the Big Daddy has it - and lots of it. I swung by Commonwealth Displays a couple of times, but they were out of the kit. The second time I was beat out by a telephone order by an hour or ...
The Educator is a modified Big Daddy. The modifications include adding a 12" payload section and using basswood for fins and centering rings. Modifications: The first modifications were adding basswood fins and centering rings. The second modification was adding a payload section. This was ...
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