Mastodawn

The FRL team had a tremendous day. Perfect weather (except for the wind). Barbecue and tire d'érable. Five flights, with the whole extended family getting very into it. Three flights with the Estes rocket kit and two with the custom Kerbal-inspired rocket.

Unsurprisingly, the Kerbal rocket performed as a Kerbal rocket is wont to do. Short, wobbly, and unbalanced are words I would use to describe it! Lots of learning happened. I look forward to redesigning this one, and developing other silly, fun rockets to print and fly.

The Estes rocket that the littlest built performed beautifully. Two flawless flights on A and B motors, perfect chute deployment and landings. Unfortunately, we pushed our luck with the last flight of the day. We launched between small gusts of wind, which weren't much stronger than others we'd flown in earlier, but the wind picked up and sustained after parachute deployment. The rocket whipped *up* and away and found a place at the top of a very, very tall tree, hundreds of feet away. Littlest was heartbroken, but on balance had a blast, and we're already planning to get another kit. Or maybe two. And being more conservative about flying in windy conditions. Onward and upward!

#modelrocket #3Dprinting #Inkscape #maker #rocketry #Estes #WIP #KerbalSpaceProgram

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Trevor Mar 29

Conditions are looking windy, but the Family Rocket Lab team is still hitting the road and heading for the launch site today. Estes says to fly their kits in wind speeds of less than 20 mph and we're looking at speeds of about 20 kph, which is only about 2/3 of their recommended maximum. Littlest is very excited, teens are dragging a bit. Grandparents and my sister's family joining soon, including my tiny niece, which is exciting! We'll launch into the wind and hope for the best!
#modelrocket #3Dprinting #Inkscape #maker #rocketry #Estes #WIP #KerbalSpaceProgram

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Trevor Mar 28

Model rocket side quest: our own space program! Last weekend, littlest and I looked through space program logos from all over the world and identified some shapes and imagery. She drew a graphic that she really liked. We interpreted it as a rocket rising off the red plastic Estes launchpad from our kit, up the launch rail into the sky. So with her input and guidance I drew a refined version, and tonight I made variations for us to use as patches and stickers for our rockets. And, of course, we named our program: the Family Rocket Lab. I'll fire up the Cricut tomorrow and do some print-and-cut vinyl stickers for the rockets, and maybe some others for us to wear while we launch. #rocket
#modelrocket
#3Dprinting
#Inkscape
#maker #rocketry #WIP #KerbalSpaceProgram

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Trevor Mar 26

This is so dumb and I'm so happy with how it's coming together. Needs parachutes and some glue. And paint, I think!

#rocket #modelrocket #3Dprinting #Fusion360 #maker #rocketry #WIP #KerbalSpaceProgram

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Trevor Mar 25

I think this is the design I'm going with. Clearly I am going for vibes, not optimization. We'll try three smaller chutes for the capsule, like Apollo would use, and see how that goes. Connection point for the chutes will be an eye hook under the parachute cap, with channels for the strings to run into the fuselage. First time I'm trying anything like this so I have no idea if this is going to work at all, or how much altitute I'll get or how destroyed it'll be on takeoff or landing, but at the very least it'll be fun to see what happens. Time to get printing!

#rocket #modelrocket #3Dprinting #Fusion360 #maker #rocketry #WIP #KerbalSpaceProgram

Trevor Mar 25

I know that when you're doing model rockets, you want to generally do tall, thin rockets. But I've played enough Kerbal Space Program to know that dumpy little rockets are fun. So in addition to trying out an Estes kit with the kids, I'm going to print up some parts, stick 'em on a small Pringles tin, and we're going to fly a dumpy little rocket. The idea is that it separates and lands the capsule and ascent stage separately. Still work to do, especially figuring out the parachute. Wish me luck!

#rocket #modelrocket #3Dprinting #Fusion360 #maker #rocketry #WIP #KerbalSpaceProgram

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Anthony Horton Aug 3, 2025

For anyone who has no idea what I'm talking about but is interested anyway, almost 3 years ago I starting trying to design from scratch 3D printed model rockets to carry a small video camera and altitude logger while remaining as small and light a possible.

I spent quite a bit of time fiddling around in FreeCAD and OpenRocket and 3D printing prototype parts trying to come up with something that could carry the payload while being both light enough to fly well and tough enough to survive the flight. Eventually this resulted in a series of lights in late 2022, and here are the results: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4I2bufpGQc

#ModelRocket #3DPrinting #FreeCAD #OpenRocket

3D printed rockets - first flights

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Anthony Horton Aug 3, 2025

Dusting the rocket garden in my third bedroom/home office/maker space I am reminded that the white one on the left there is yet to fly.

I actually made this semi-scale flying model of the Gilmour Space Eris rocket way back in December 2022 but I killed the camera during assembly, then it took ages to source a replacement (they were discontinued), and by the time I got the replacement all momentum had been lost and I never got around to installing it and flying the rocket.

I really should make time to actually launch it. I will, of course, regard any flight of at least 14 seconds duration a huge success.

#Space #Spaceflight #3DPrinting #ModelRocket #GilmourSpace #ErisRocket #TinyEris