ULTRA VIOLENT EXPRESS II

The ULTRA VIOLENT EXPRESS had a CATO on May 20, 2023. Body and fin can heavily damaged. Motor casing ripped in two. All replaced by Bernie. The upper bay and nose cone are fine, Also the shock cords and streamer are fine and streamer will be resew and a bit shorter. A few feet were burned in the CATO process. Rocket will be rebuild in time.

Update 05/21/2023 - Started taking the closures apart. All is really tight together, probably because of the heat. Put some grafity oil and then things started to loosen up. Could recover the retainer ring, also the 54 mm casing closure and all the pieces of the adapter 75 mm - 54 mm. So that is great !

Update 05/21/2023 - Started with cutting the old motor mouth out, with saw saw. Ribs cone out too. Had to cut the rocket in half to get to the motor mouth to make a clean cut. I have another motor mouth that will fit. Have to make a perfect round at the fin can that was violently opened up. It will take some time but it will all come together fine again.

Update 05/22/2023 - Contacted some rocket companies, but they seems to be all out of stock of 75 mm retainers. Tim came to the rescue and will send me one of his spare 75 mm retainers, Thanks a lot Tim.

Update 05/25/2023 - Got Tim his retainer in the mail today. I still had a 75 mm motor mouth. I cleaned out the inner part around a fin can (inside) a bit more to fit the motor mouth. I cut some spacers that will go on the sides of the motor mouth to re enforce and keep the motor mouth centered. I also used my 75 mm casing to reposition and center the motor mouth correctly. Also I will use the old connection of the chock cord for the chute/streamer. I will ad another kevlar piece to it. For the moment all is taped on the motor mouth but will be glued on with rocket poxy and fiberglass. I ordered Rocket Poxy from Apogee today 8 oz. kit.

Update 05/26/2023 Started filling in the 'holes' with bondo, a few coats of Bondo, sanding till it has close to it's curve, than finish it of with a compound to smoothen it out. After this all is dry I will sand the whole tube and make it ready for one wrap of fiberglass. Should all come out smooth.

Update 05/28/2023 - The Rocket poxy from Apogee came in Saturday. So today after the yard work, I started to tape on the shims/cut trim pieces on the motor mouth and also the shock cord and the back up shock cord. Had to clean up the inner fin can to get rid of the old pieces of the motor mouth. After those were cleared out the new motor mouth with shims sides in nicely. So at this point I was confident and started to Rocket epoxy the Shims and the shock cords. Used masking tape to keep it all in place, After this all is dry I will do another dry run, remove the masking tape and slide in the motor mouth and see if there are any obstructions by sliding it in all the way. If works out I will glue in the motor mouth and close up the fin can and make sure it's all rounded up before I glue on the motor retainer.

Update 05/29/2023 - Bought a pipe clamp (4.5") to tighten up the bottom of the booster and also to make it more round when I slide in the motor mouth with the Rocket poxy. Cleaned out the inner booster from the old shims and motor mouth pieces. Also sanded out the retainer a bit so it slides a bit better around the motor mouth tube. Have to work on the fins, one has a twist in it.

Update 05/30/2023 - Had enough confidence to start on the fin can and get that done. Mixed some rocket poxy and distributed that in the area's were the shims will be sitting. Mixed a second batch of rocket poxy and distributed that on the existing inside fins extensions. Slided the fin can in positions a bit in and out to get the poxy distributed properly. Pushed the motor mouth all the way down, put some poxy on the retainer ring and flushed that with the motor mouth, and screwed the retainer ring on all the way, than pushed the motor mouth back inside the booster till it cleared the screw-on ring just a tad. Let it all dry for now. Also put some wedges on the outside fins to separate them properly. Hopefully when all is dry they stay in place. Also fitter the sleeve and the booster sections for joining together, had to sand out a bit for smoother contact. Had some time after dinner and decided to join the two booster halves with the sleeve. Used a lot of rocket poxy to join them together. Twisted the pieces a few times to get the rocket poxy all in there. Will see how it looks like tomorrow. I braced the two pieces with L-metal so they stay nice in line. Things are going somewhere now.

Update 05/31/2023 - Was awake last night, thinking about how to connect the shock cord to the little short piece of shock cord secured in the rocket. It's a long haul with my arm in there to reach the eyebolt in there open it up and connect it. After a few tries I could manage to put the loop in there. Me arm reach was just long enough to do the trick. Booster pieces are solid connected, so I started patching some spots on the rocket with fiber glass. The main purpose was to epoxy the sheet of fiberglass that separated from one-off the fins. I applied a lot of epoxy there on both sides, put some plastic in between the wood sheets that I use to compress it down with clamps. Also put a few screws in the wooden sheet on the fillets side were the�fin meets the booster. I will let it dry for now and when is all cures I will start fiber glassing the booster section, 3 wraps. Took the clamps off and give it all a good sanding before fiber glassing. Around 4 PM I started fiber glassing. Made the mix and used all the protection necessary. Had the feeling that I have the wrong fiber glass cloth, so I only did two wraps and see how that comes out when it is dry, Hopefully it sand ok, I can always fill in the gaps if there are any. Fingers crossed.

Update 06/01/2023 - Picked up a 2 feet X 36" piece of fiber glass cloth at WEST MARINE in St. Augustine for free. This will be the last wrap, only one, wrap around the rocket, so after that sanding and priming and painting..

Update 06/02/2023 - Started fiber glassing around 4 PM, just one and half wrap, Enough to cover and sand. Will dry over night and maybe tomorrow sanding.

Update 06/03/2023 - Did some heavy sanding today. I guess the rocket is ready for priming. Filled in some spots with bondo. Started with priming the fins with ZINSSER PRIMER. Will patch more on the uneven spots. Patching the dips with painters patch synthetic stuff. works great, easy sanding. Will sand with finer grid and see how that comes out, right now it's already smooth, will prime again.

Update 06/06/2023 - Did some more priming today, also more patching and sanding, and priming again.

Update 06/07/2023 - Did some more patching sanding and priming today. After all dry I started taping the fins off for a design - stripes - Painted one face of the fins white gloss and than taped them off when dry. Painted grape color on fins but ran out of paint, order from Walmart pickup tomorrow.

Update 06/08/2023 - Picked up the grape paint in Walmart today, started finishing the rocket. Peeled off the design strips and by doing so I also peeled off some white under paint. No big deal, will wax it all when the lettering is on.

Update 06/09/2023 - Got the letters from WALMART, 3", a bit big but they will do. Glued them on the rocket in line. Drilled the vent hole.

Update 08/10/2023 - Installed the rail buttons and did some more design on the fins. Will probably put a clear gloss on the letters. All done. It will be just a fun to fly rocket, not a Mach rocket, fins are a bit warped from the intense fire.

Update 06/11/2023 - The total weight of the rocket with streamer, chute and sled is 7.358 kg = 16.221 pounds.

Update 06/15/2023 - Put a clear coat on the rocket to protect the lettering and design.

Update 06/16/2023 - Put a second clear coat over the lettering and design.