Drawing Projects

• Nike-Tomahawk Data Project.  Ever since 2004 when Dave Fitch met with Don Larson, an “old rocketeer” from NAR competitions past, Dave and I have been on-and-off sorting through Don’s collection of data regarding Nike-Tomahawk flight 18.26 IA to deal with data conflicts to ultimately present the rocketry community with an updated set of scale data drawings and photos.  I am hoping to finish my drawings in the next few months and will be talking to Tom Beach about an article for Sport Rocketry magazine.
• Aeolus Scale Data.  In conjunction with Al Pizzo, I plan to finish updated scale data for future inclusion in a NARTS data packet.
• Scale Drawings of Various Vehicles.  I have been working on and off with Marc McReynolds, a long-time NAR scale modeler and NARAM scale judge, on a series of drawing sets that may appear in future editions of Sport Rocketry.  Since Marc is in charge of this project, I’ll keep the details a secret, but I think you will be pleased with his selection of vehicles.

Possible Scale Kit

In addition to the various drawing projects, for the past several months we have been weighing the possibility of producing an Argo D-4 Javelin in 1:14 scale (that’s a BT-60 lower body tube) as a kit.  At this early stage of development, we plan on having laser-cut basswood fins (through-the wall for the large booster fins) and cast resin for the nose and perhaps for the transitions.  This would be a sport scale model with accurate part lengths and profiles but would not be a super-detailed kit.  Possible release dates would be late 2013 or sometime in 2014.  Whether or not we pursue this idea will depend on interest expressed by you, the potential customer, so feel free to let us know what you think!

1. Save As .STL from TurboCAD (Model was saved in standard inches)
2. Open your STL file inside the netfabb
3. Pull-Down Menu: Part/Convert Units/Inches to mm (netfabb assumes your STL units are millimeters by default, so it has to be scaled up accordingly)
4. Repair Part (Red Cross Button)
5. Automatic Repair
6. Pull-Down Menu: Repair/Remove degenerate faces (you *will* need to play with the Tolerance settings here–IIRC, I’ve been trying .005 to .02 with varying results)
7. Apply Repair (pop-up: Remove old part- YES)
8. Pull-Down Menu: Part/Export Part — as STL (binary)

I’ve noticed that if I try to export without performing step 6, I’ll typically get a warning and an opportunity to “fix” the part, which usually does okay, but sometimes the visual result can be unpredictable (with lots of added black lines, for example). So I’ve been doing the Step 6 even if I don’t see any noticeable red lines (which indicate degenerate faces); this seems to avoid the warning message during export.

Only one project is open at one time, so if you want to check the exported file, just go to the menu ‘Project/New’. Otherwise, if you ‘Open’ with a project already active, you’ll just be adding a new object on top of an existing one.

Additionally, netfabb also has a cloud-upload automated repair you could try at their site, which is also free.

Something else to consider (prior to exporting the STL file from TurboCAD or other CAD program) is the resolution of the surface of your 3D model.  Be sure to adjust whatever faceter settings (Options/ACIS/Faceter Mode in TurboCAD) to get decent resolution.  Recently, I have been using Custom Faceter Parameters with Surface tolerance set to .00015 or .0002 (this is in inches, metric will require different settings).

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Also, as of this morning, our nose cone prices have been reduced.  So visit our 3D Printed Parts page OR go directly to our Shapeways shop.

George Gassaway’s main page:  http://georgesrockets.com/GRP/GRP-home.htm

George’s Little Joe II directory page:  http://georgesrockets.com/GRP/Scale/DATA/LJoeMain.htm

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http://www.youtube.com/user/Drumn4J

I will probably embed the videos in the appropriate meatballrocketry.com locations as time allows.  Enjoy!

1. I just added a PDF version of the 2005 R&D report on the PVC Spider, to replace the HTML version that was previously available.  (link)
2. I finally got around to publishing a brief Scale Data article regarding Nike motors. (link)
3. Along with the Nike Data post is a series of photos of the Nike-Orion at the Virginia Air and Space Center documenting the stenciled lettering style used on the Nike motor.  (link)
4. And some additional new content that is a bit less recent, I added the series of photos of the WSMR Aerobee 350 taken by Peter Hughes in 2007 (link)…
5. …as well as some excellent Iris scale data and photos provided by Chris Timm (link) (Chris’s collection came from Richard Morrow, and Brian Nicklas, and through correspondence with Atlantic Research Corporation).  There are also some Iris photos from a couple of my visits to GSFC’s Visitor Center.

As far as I know, that was the last major rocket event flown from that location in Center Valley, PA, which had been host to several other model rocketry events (including at least two NARAMs if I understand correctly) over the years.

You can see photos from our 2002 trip here.

My dad had flown rockets on and off over the years.  When I was four he built the three-stage Estes Astron Farside and flew it with us at a local school in Saginaw, Michigan.  The first Space Shuttle launch was the same year, and that really got me hooked. For most of my childhood I wanted to be an astronaut.  My earliest rockets were built for me by my parents.  I enjoyed all sorts of rockets, but scale models were always my favorites, especially the Space Shuttle (my very first flying shuttle model was this one from Centuri).  Rocket launches for us usually consisted of one or two kits to be flown at a local field every once-in-a-while.  Even my brother and sister had their own rockets on occassion, but I was the only serious rocketeer in the family.

Joining the NAR (1988-1992)

My rocketry interest came and went in phases but never waned completely.  Several factors came into play late in my elementary school years to spark an especially intense interest in rockets, such as reading G. Harry Stine’s Handbook of Model Rocketry and discovering a very old Astron Farside kit at a local hobby shop, among other things.  I finally joined the National Association of Rocketry (NAR) in 1988.  Not long after starting high school I was privileged to meet international (FAI) scale spacemodeler Bob Biedron.  He graciously let me visit his workshop on multiple occasions and showed me several advanced modeling techniques.  Later my freshman year I also got my first taste of NAR competition and attended several group launches with the Vikings NAR section near Richmond, Virginia.

The High School Lull… A Brief Spark… Then Another Lull (1992-2001)

The remainder of my high school career I was busy running track and cross country or helping out at church and did not do any rocket building or flying. A year after graduation I was involved in a kids’ Vacation Bible School (1995) that had a space theme–I knew that we needed a rocket to launch for the kids, so I bought an Astrocam.  Unfortunately, we had no success with the photos, but I was bitten again by the rocket bug.  So later that summer, my friend Jeff and I flew the clustered and staged “Addicted 2 Jesus” rocket (named after a certain Christian song–kinda cheesy, I know, but it is a cool rocket).  I began full time college classes the following spring, humbling whatever fantastic spacemodeling plans I had in mind at the time.

A Family Hobby (2001…)

A couple years later I became heavily involved playing drums at church.  Jess and I started hanging out and then married in 2000, but I was too busy tinkering with electronic drums to think about rockets.  We eventually visited a sport launch hosted by a local club, SEVRA, and we began flying almost every month and continued to do so even after Ben and Jane were born. With both of them in tow we still managed to attend at least a few launches every year with the Vikings Rocket Society near Richmond.  We also have occasionally attended the ECRM regional meet in Maryland, and every so often we even make it to a NARAM (national meet).

Competition Flying (2002-2009)

Since the spring of 2002, Jess and I both have entered models in NAR Sport Scale competition either individually or as a team along with other rocketeers.  In 2008 we finally completed the 1:59 scale Saturn I model, flying to 1st place in Team Division Scale at NARAM-50.

Virtual Scale Modeling and Other Pursuits (2009-2013)

Since 2009, I began working on improving my CAD skills by focusing on 3D modeling, mostly using rockets as modeling subjects.  In 2011, I completed an Associate Degree in CADD Technology and anticipate an additional degree in Mechanical Engineering Technology in 2013.