Finally Launching
After almost a year off (between a horrible drought and travel, it’s been a bad year for rocketry), I finally flew a rocket again last weekend at AARG’s January launch. My PML AMRAAM (4”) flew on an AT I357T to about 1600’. This rocket is one of the simpler ones I still fly on a regular basis. No electronics, no dual-deploy, just a simple rocket. It’s held together surprisingly well, considering that it’s PML’s Quantum Tube. I’ve been pleasantly surprised with QT’s performance so far. However, this rocket has never flown above 2000’ or on particularly hard-hitting motors. It should be able to handle higher flights, especially with the foamed fin can, but single recovery above 2000’ gets painful.
I built this rocket without any dual deploy considerations, so it presents several challenges for an upgrade. The first is the coupler tube. The AMRAAM missile has fins both on the aft end and at mid-body - this model replicates both sets of fins. The mid-body fins are attached not surface mount, but with dado slots in the upper tube. The coupler was installed before the fins, to provide stop at the bottom of the slots. This coupler also has a solid bulkhead installed on the aft end with an eye bolt for recovery attachment. I’m going to have to at least cut the center of that bulkhead out for access to an actual electronics bay. Knowing how messy epoxy attachment is, I can’t count on a smooth inner coupler surface all the way to the bulkhead, so sliding a bay down and bolting it to the remaining ring probably won’t work. Instead, I’m probably going to need something semi-permanently installed. Unfortunately, I’m getting stumped about exactly how to add a normal bay. I’ll probably just have to cut into it and figure it out from there.