This 4" upscale Midget
was to be my Level 2 rocket. But all my rocket buddies talked me
out of it. They're all level 2's and 3's, so I was hardly in a position
to argue
But this baby rocks on H's and I's.
It had been ready for paint for months, but I found cracks in all the
fillets, so I had to grind them out, 'glass over them,
and re-fillet. The key was trying to use too fine a filler for such
a large fillet. I should have had some aggregate - perhaps micro-balloons
- in the filler to make it more suitable for large fillets. Or I should have 'glassed or papered them to start with.
Like the Midget600, there is no lower stage.
There's a chance one could be added, but there were no features (such as
electronics bay) included in the design to support it, although it might
be possible to attach a staging coupler to the sustainer's motor retention
T-nuts.
And like the Midget600, the Midget400 has an external recovery attach point
to bring it down throat first.
The nosecone was turned from cedar and hollowed out as shown.
A T-nut in the hole allows ballast to be added and provides the attach
point for the recovery harness and parachute.
|

Photo courtesy of Tim Sapp
|