This shiny new LOC Expediter rocket is ready for induction into the Telstar Logistics fleet. It has been heavily reinforced to take the stress of big motors and a strap-on video camera to catch the launch action.
For example, I Kevlar-wrapped the body tubes (the reduction coupler shows it unpainted) and fiberglassed the fins, tip-to-tip. The battery connections are soldered. I used a custom motor tube than runs up through the yellow coupler
To streamline the videocam cylinder, I glued half of a plastic Easter egg on top and fiberglassed the seam.
And the laser-cut vinyl flames come from GraphixnStuff. I met Dave at BALLS and was delighted to see a site dedicated to rocket decoration!
This will be my third camera to try to survive the g-loads of launch and the mishaps of reentry. The first one shredded on a V2 + K700 motor. Here is a “successful” Norad flight photo and video from camera #2 on an H210 motor (the next launch became a ballistic lawn-dart into the Black Rock Desert). This Expediter kit is a scaled up version of that earlier Norad rocket, and I will try successively larger motors to test its limits (J350, K550, L730… see ya! That last motor would certainly remove the camera as RockSim shows it screaming through Mach1… need a plan for that =)
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