Really Koo Stuff LLC

04/30/2022

Just finished modeling a U.S. Army MIM-23 Hawk Missile in Fusion 360. These are the rendered photos. Will be 16 inches tall and fly on 18 mm engines (C5-3 or a Quest 18mm composite D). Features a removable boat tail that locks the engine in place (uses a twist-lock mechanism to maintain alignment and no engine hooks needed). Nosecone hold pennies for weight. Alignment notches and groove to maintain orientation of parts. Basic dimensions taken from Peter Alway excellent reference! Other details taken from over 30 reference photos. There are A LOT of variation of this missile from various countries and times. This model is a generic "merging" of those references. The 3D printer is printing this now. Will finish in about 13 hours at 0.15 mm layer height. NEXT UP... the MIM-23 Hawk Launch platform which holds 3 Hawk Missiles (see last photo)!!!! That will be EPIC!!

04/28/2022

Here's a cool video of a working Rolleron from a Sidewinder Missle...

The rolleron....What the hell is that? Well, it's an Air-driven gyroscopic stabilizer system from the Aim-9b, not the Aim-92B like I say in the video! See th...

04/28/2022

About 3 weeks ago, I purchased a REAL AIM-9 Sidewinder Rolleron from eBay (my wife thought I was crazy). The Rolleron is attached to the tail of the AIM-9 Sidewinder missile (see photos below from Wikipedia) and is used for "passive stabilization". The wind cause by the missile's forward movement spins the large central gyro thereby stabilizing the missile. This part was engineered to spin at up to 100,000 RPM! Anyway, with the ACTUAL part in my hands, I was able to CAD up a very detailed replica of the Rolleron (with a nice stand). For those of you with a 3D printer, you can download the file using the following link to Thingiverse.
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5370388?fbclid=IwAR1gvtAmha83MUnvB8EOfLq97hT5SqZNnJo4hRPWHaQPK-A6I26wc6Go0VQ

04/16/2022

I don’t usually like to post “prototype” photos without the post processing and painting… But I’m pretty excited that this Steampunk Citadel rocket worked!! Finished gluing (epoxy) the “stained glass” onto the frames and then gluing that frames into the body. The graphics is something that I borrowed from the internet to see what the lighting effect would look like until I custom design something. Night launches here we come!!!

04/15/2022

3D printed Steampunk "Citadel" Rocket!! Based loosely off medieval gothic cathedrals. The finished rocket will have "stained glass" windows (made from transparency film). Still trying to figure out the "stained glass" design. Each stained glass is installed by gluing on a thin 3D printed frame. The tail section is removable from the "stained glass" section with a twist lock mechanism (this allows easy installation of the stained glass panels and the LED lights. A BT-50 tube will run the length of the rocket and act as an ejection conduit (not shown). The inside of the rocket will be illuminated with about 20 LED lights (the bottom hole is where the LED switch will reside). A small hatch (above the switch) will allow for easy changing of the watch batteries. Will fly on a D12-3 engine. 16 inches tall. Nosecone uses pennies for weights. Hopefully will be great for night launches!!

03/24/2022

Introducing the Celtic inspired Lugh Interceptor flying model rocket (thanks to David Bauer for the great name!). Designed in Fusion360. Flies really well on an Estes E12-6. 3D printed in PLA on a Prusa MK3S. Enjoy the photos!!

03/24/2022

The 3D printed Lugh Interceptor (thanks David Bauer for the great name!) flew its second flight on an Estes E12-6 and it was straight, slow, and BEAUTIFUL! See the video!! The first flight on a D12-3 was arching and appeared to be a little underpowered, but I'll try a few more flights with that engine in the future.

03/19/2022

I have always wonders how professional kit makers like Estes, Apogee Components, and Odd'l Rockets (Chris Michaels) make their amazing instruction manuals. I don't have the talent (or the patience) to hand draw or trace each illustration so I would carefully photograph the steps! The end result was professional but it was TIME CONSUMING! Coming up with a new rocket designs is EASY, designing a qualty and helpful instruction manual is really HARD.

After watching an Apogee video where Tim Van Milligan demonstrated his workflow (thanks Tim!), I started poking around in my CAD program and found an easy method to make 2D vector drawings within Fusion360. THAT WAS AN EPIPHANY!!! What took me 100+ hours before to make one manual (for the N1 Moon Rocket) now took only 30+ hours. In the end I used three programs in my workflow: Fusion360 (my CAD program), Adobe ilustrator, and Adobe Indesign. Here's a link to the full Soyuz FG Rocket manual if you are interested. ENJOY!!
https://assets.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:US:60ce36ab-97c2-4f17-9a4e-c8e9889b3f67?view=published&fbclid=IwAR3yrieEgZJ1xDUzubI3T2ny3zlX64ETI9YI7MYQZsN9SrPBY7R75hQZ-Ss

Honestly, I'm pretty sure that this post is so esoteric that it will interest very few people. But I'm SO HAPPY about this new workflow that I just had to share!!!

03/19/2022

Family took me to the Smithsonian "Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center" Air and Space Museum in Virginia for my birthday and I saw this beauty... So I just HAD to model it!! Took a BUNCH of reference photos. Also used dimensions from Peter Alway's book.

"Tiny Tim" missile from WWII. Will fly on G and H motors. Total height will be about 30 inches. Based on Estes 3" Pro Series Tube. Nosecone has a "penny holder" for nose weight (doubt it will be needed) and the midsection can be unscrewed for placement/access of electronics. Rails are built into the straps. Guessing that total weight including motors will be around 800 grams. The best thing about this model is that it looks like sheet metal that is floating on top of other structures. But it's just an illusion.

The scale details are about 95 percent accurate. Some concessions had to be made for 3D printing. Some of the renders are a little "shiny". It's a little "much", but I was just experimenting.

3D printer is printing the files now... ENJOY!

02/19/2022

HVAR (High Velocity Aircraft Rocket) which started seeing use in WWII. 3D printed fin and nose. Body is a BT-80 tube. Stands 36.5 inches tall. Mass is 610 gram without engine (824 grams with Aerotech H128W). About 1:2 scale. May try for my L1 certification tomorrow at the SRA Launch (weather permitting). If it is too windy, I may just launch on F or G engines. Per Rocksim, should be able to get to 915 feet on a F67, 1403 feet with a G74, and 2735 feet with an H128). See each photo for additional comments!

02/17/2022

Steampunk prototype FDM and resin printed, sanded, painted, and weathered! I REALLY pray this one is stable (has a decent amount of nose weight). See comments on each photo for details. Enjoy! Will get its first flight at the SRA launch this Saturday (weather permitting).

01/26/2022

My 7-year-old son wanted me to make him a HVAR Rocket used in WWII after we watched Battle 360 on the History Channel. After a coupled furious days of CAD modeling in Fusion 360, it's finally done and printing on the Prusa. Based on BT-80 tube. Will be 37" tall and fly on F or G composite engines. Basic dimensions from Peter Alway's book. Other details from various references. Enjoy!