Odds & ends & nosecones

   Spent much of the day cleaning up from the snowstorm. My four kids were school free yesterday, so I spent the day shoveling, and playing in the snow with them. I did find a little time for the rocket. The picture on the left is the original plastic nosecone. The one on the right is it’s Scotglas fiberglass replacement. Scott Broderick, a WOOSH member happened to have an “extra’ 7.5” nosecone he was willing to sell.  I was in the right place, at the right time, as this is a custom nosecone, and they can take forever if you order them. I was thinking about building my own, but a certification rocket didn’t seem like the right vehicle to be learning something so critical. The bad news is because this is a custom nosecone, it didn’t fit my upper airframe at all – the shoulder’s outer diameter is too large for the magnaframe. I was able to sneak away and do a LOT of sanding. No way I was going to do this in my office. You would be surprised at the amount of fiberglass dust even a small sanding can create. For sanding curved surfaces, I use a Crasftman 3D sander. The sander has three floating heads each with their own circular sanding pad. This lets the sander conform to most curved surfaces, reducing the possibility of creating a slat spot using a traditional sander. Unfortunately, they don’t seem to make these anymore, so the pads are becoming a little hard to find. This is an indispensable tool for me, so if someone knows of a reasonable alternative, let me know!