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1. es OGLE putty and sand it smooth It can become nearly perfect with a The fixture can be scaled up to make any size nose cones little bit of effort For bigger nose cones lay up some fiber And hot wire foam cutters are easy to make if you don t want glass and epoxy and you ll end up with a light weight and to buy one hard as nails nose cone If you like this plan be sure to send Michel a note of appreciation Mount the plug of foam to the rotating Make sure the foam can Are up yaur Nat wire taam base plate with double sided tape rotate freely between the cutter and use the side side plates templates to quide the wire as you cut through the foam Rotate the nose slightly and repeat this cutting procedure Make sure to Keep the wire moving or you could melt a divot into the side of your nose cone with enough passes of the wire the nose cone will come out nearly perfect and is ready for finishing 1130 Elkton Drive Suite A Colorado Springs CO 80907 USA www ApogeeRockets com 1 orders ApogeeRockets com c OMPONENTS phone 719 535 9335 fax 719 534 90502. Shrox When making your own rockets do you find you never have the right size nose cone to fit the tube Here is a simple little plan by Michel Demey that shows how to build a simple fixture to carve your own nose cones from blocks of EPS ex panded polystyrene foam The advantage is that styrofoam is dirt cheap and it can be found in almost any household Nearly every electronic device is shipped in a oversize foam block for protection which you can now convert into rocket nose cones You can even laminate smaller chunks of the foam together with some light coats of spray adhesive to make really big nose cones Plus this fixture is simple to build and can be made out of the scrap wood you have in your box of rocket supplies Making foam nose cones should cost you nearly zilch to make To make the foam nose cones you ll be carving them to shape with a special fixture and a hot wire foam cutter First we ll describe the special cutting fixture As you can see in the pictures there is a rotating plate and two side templates These will all be made out of wood The side templates have the profile of the nose cone shape We use only 1 2 of the profile so you can start cutting at the same point on the tip every single pass of the hot wire knife That is why there is a straight section extending from the tip of the nose You can use RockSim to print out the nose profile you want and then draw the rest of the template around it on the
3. being called the How To Get Started Guide This guide is only partially complete but it does walk you by the hand through a simple rocket design The guide has become a favorite among modelers because it takes you step by step through a basic RockSim design and simulation And we know it has become a favorite because we eWhere Will Your Rocket Land Downwind Be eWhere Will Your Rocket Land Crosswind RI eDrag Prediction Above Mach 1 Design Re Entry Vehicles Put Your Rocket Into OnDit rs ee Predict Fin Flutter Velocity eWill The Fins Be Stripped Off By Flight Forces good results gt best results A DOGEE OMPONENTS get a lot of requests for the unfinished chapters in the docu ment If you d like to write one of the unfinished chapters in the How To Get Started Guide please feel free to contact me But hopefully with the two files the User s Manual and the How To Get Started Guide you ll have all the informa tion you ll need to become a true RockSim expert user SOFTWARE NEWS With all the great software that Apogee is now selling it may be getting confusing for customers to decide which pro gram they should buy To make the decision easier we ve cre ated a chart that lists the major features of each program You can simply read down the chart and find which software will perform that ta
4. else is reaping the benefits I don t like giving these people any traffic to their sites but if you d like to see what I m talking about compare the links these web sites have to those on Apogee s Model Rocket Education Guide page http www rocketsforschools com teachers index html http users chariot net au a_q lessons Here s what you can do to help me out and thwart those people that are gaining visitors off our efforts And it is real simple to do Just put a link on your web site to the Apogee Model Rocket Education Guide They don t want people com ing to the Apogee site so when you recommend to them that they do with a link on your own site it makes my site just a Apocee POGCEE little easier to find If you don t have a web site then tell your friends to sign up to receive this free e zine newsletter I do appreciate your support To conclude I ve come to the conclusion that the educa tional information on the Apogee web site must be pretty great Otherwise those other sites wouldn t bother swiping the infor mation Check it out for yourself if you haven t already seen it The Pendulum Rocket Fallacy http www geocities com jim bowery pendrock html This is a neat little web site by Jim Bowery is worth visit ing even though the top most image is over 300K in size which can make it download slowly if you have a dial up modem But the information is good and the animated gif images re ally help
5. thing that always happens when I print a catalog is that people come back to me and say you have a typo on page such and such So this time I m going to let you all have a chance to download it first That way you can report back to me before I actually go ahead and print it up I appre ciate the reports so please let me know of any errors that you see The catalog isn t totally finished yet but it is far enough along to let you pick through it You ll see the one page that is still a little bit blank You ll also notice that some of the prices are going up when the new catalog is printed Maybe you ll have a little incentive to place your order now while the prices are lower The pdf version of the catalog can be download at http www apogeerockets com education downloads apogee _catalog pdf The file size is approximately 3 5 Meg APOGEE RECEIVES GREAT REVIEWS We like it when an Apogee product gets a good review So I thought I d point out two of the ones that I noticed re cently They were both buried in articles published in the July August 2002 issue of Sport Rocketry magazine The first one was about the new 1 70th scale Saturn 1B On page 4 Tom Beach says The new Saturn 1B from Apogee is a very impressive kit It is the same 1 70 scale as the legendary Estes kit of the 1970 s but even more detailed with its vacu formed wraps and molded parts Photo included On page 12 In an article titled Rocketry for Col
6. e file not found error messages The WayBack Machine gives new life to dead links that you may find on the Apogee Educational site What you ll need to do is copy the URL name from our site and then go to the WayBack Machine When you get there simply paste the URL into the appropriate slot The WayBack machine will then come back with a listing for the web site and how many times that particular page changed over time For example if the site owner added a new block of text on the site the WayBack Machine will give you links to the older version as well as the newer one I personally start at the most recent and then work backwards to the older ones if it doesn t con tain the information I was looking for Like I said the WayBack machine will allow you to view Apocee POGCE those old web sites that are no longer in existence and makes doing web research less painful The only drawback is that I didn t notice that it archived the images on the pages But at least you get to see the text I still rate it a five star web site for the usefulness that it offers Here is an example so you can give it a try right now There was one web site that everyone seems to miss tremen dously That site was produced in the late 1990s by Mac McGarrigle and it featured his lifting body rocket gliders Every now and then people on rmr ask about what happened to it The site is gone but the Way Back Machine has a copy of it While you can t se
7. e side plates of the fixture The trimming of the foam is done with a hot wire foam cutter There are many places on the internet where you can find free plans for hot wire foam cutters So I won t go into details of this tool If you don t have one try a search at your favorite search engine or try one of these sites http members fortunecity co uk slmohr rcinterest2 htm http www public iastate edu orman air cutter hotwire html http www charlesriverrc org articles tools brengmancutter htm After heating up the wire you ll lay the taunt wire on the straight section at the top of the side templates As you touch the foam with the hot wire cutter it will quickly melt the foam So push the wire down against the edges of the wood side plates so you can control the direction of the cut Then just follow the curvature of the template with the hot wire When you reach the base just pull the wire away from the foam to remove the excess Then turn the base plate with your hand slightly and make another pass with the hot wire cutter Continue to rotate the base plate and cut with the hot wire After 5 minutes you ll have a good custom nose cone After cutting and removing the foam nose cone from the fixture you can coat the outside with some water based filler cont on pg 8 1130 Elkton Drive Suite A Colorado Springs www ApogeeRockets com orders ApogeeRockets com phone 7 19 535 9335 fax 719 534 9050 CO 80907 USA
8. e the pictures all the text is there http web archive org web http www phoenix net rocket mac html Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery Apogee s Model Rocket Education Guide http www ApogeeRockets com education I didn t realize how useful the Education Guide on the Apogee Components web site has become That is I didn t realize this until I started seeing it duplicated by other web sites I started the educational section in the Spring of 2000 I wrote about it in Apogee E Zine Newsletter 7 after I first posted it on our web site http www apogeerockets com edu cation newsletter07 asp I created the site because I wanted a place where teachers and youth group leaders could go to find a one stop listing of sites that specifically had information about using model rockets as a teaching tool It took a long time to create the education guide because I had to look up each site individually and decide whether or not the information it contained would be useful for teachers Then I had to categorize each site by topic and write a short description about what it contained and why it might be use ful to teachers Apogee s Model Rocket Education Guide is a unique web cont on pg 6 1130 Elkton Drive Suite A Colorado Springs www ApogeeRockets com orders ApogeeRockets com phone 719 535 9335 fax 719 534 9050 CO 80907 USA LSS UE 807 2 A UG UCS T AS WEB SITES OF THE WEEK site because i
9. lege Recruitment Camps Warren Benson writes The use of RockSim has proven to be an excellent edu cation tool as young people can relate to it through popular computer games an then go on to actually build and fly their creations Apocee POGCE If you need to subscribe to Sport Rocketry magazine you can do so on the National Association of Rocketry s web site www NAR org MOTOR UPDATE Recently the NAR decertified the Apogee Medalist mo tors for contest use There has been a number of questions from people what this means It has caused a lot of confusion and I hope to straighten it out If you have a stockpile of the motors you can still fly them They will remain safety certified for a long time But you cannot use them in NAR competitions The reason for the contest decertification is that they are not generally available to all competitors The NAR believes it would be unfair for one person to use them and not every one The reason they are not currently available is because Aerotech has not yet fully recovered from the fire they suf fered last fall The motors will be back We fully intend to get new mo tors as soon as Aerotech gets their new facility up and run ning However there will still be a slight delay in their avail ability From Aerotech s perspective the small Medalist mo tors are a low priority item compared to their own high power and reload motors I understand this and I d take the same appr
10. lta III Rocket Kit P N 5022 Components web site http www ApogeeRockets com 35 00 Delta 3 kit asp Skill Level 5 FF Length 36 5cm 14 38 inches Diameter 46 0mm 1 81 inches Weight 50g 1 76 oz Recovery Type 18 inch preassembled plastic parachute Recommended 18mm diameter Rocket motors A8 3 or A6 2 first flight B6 4 C5 3 C6 3 C10 5 D10 5 In the last ezine we gave you the URL for a quicktime video of a large helicopter flight It seems we got one letter wrong in the address and the link didn t work Here is the correct web site address to download the video http www employees org fty apogee video Fins included are required for model rocket launch Helicaptcnnias pter You can order the rocket kit right now from the Apogee Archives of this newsletter All the articles that have appeared in this newsletter are archived at http www apogeerockets com education newsletter archive asp 1130 Elkton Drive Suite A Colorado Springs CO 80907 USA www ApogeeRockets com orders ApogeeRockets com c OMPONENTS phone 719 535 9335 fax 719 534 9050 SSS E 28 7 PROGRESS REPORT THE NEW APOGEE CATALOG We re in the process of creating a new printed catalog If you remember the last catalog we produced was on a CD ROM Many people liked that format but there were many others that missed being able to hold paper in their fingers So we ve put away the CD format and we re going back to pa per One
11. oach myself if I was in their shoes The point I want to make is that there will be a delay in getting the motors even if you hear that Aerotech is up and running at full production speed AS SOON as we get word from Aerotech we ll post the availability date on the Apogee web site It is not necessary to send us emails asking when we ll start shipping the motors As soon as we know we ll post it to the web site If you don t see a date on the Apogee web site you can as sume that we still don t know the shipping date But as I mentioned above we will have motors again It is just a matter of time We thank you for your patience When the motors do become available and we start ship ping motors again the motors will again regain their NAR contest certification That date will be 90 days after the date when the first new motors are shipped We ll post that date on our web site so you ll know when they are legal to use in com petition once again 1130 Elkton Drive Suite A Colorado Springs www ApogeeRockets com orders ApogeeRockets com phone 719 535 9335 fax 719 534 9050 CO 80907 USA onan 1 C5 E Paul Fossey has created a new pdf version of the RockSim user s manual You can download it free of charge from our web site at http www apogeerockets com education down loads Rocksim_manual pdf This new manual explains exactly what each button and setting does in RockSim The old pdf file is now
12. same sheet of paper You ll need to make two duplicate side templates There is a spacer plate at the bottom of the fixture It should be made out of a large block of wood so that it doesn t distort as you re using the cutter A large block of scrap balsa will work fine Make sure the length of the block is about double the diameter of the nose cone you intend to make This will allow you to put a rough hewn chunk of foam into the fixture in other words you don t have to start with a cylin der shape foam piece as shown in the illustrations on top of the spacer block will be a rotating base plate The size of the nose cone you intend to make will determine Apocee POGCE how you make the pivot for the base plate If it is a small nose cone you can use a pin stuck through both the base plate and into the spacer block The pin will act as the axle so you can rotate the base plate For bigger nose cones you ll probably have to attach a wood dowel to the bottom side of the base plate and pass this through a hole in the spacer block You ll need this larger di ameter axle to pivot the larger block of foam I m sure you re pretty innovative so I ll leave the details to you How To Use The Fixture Stick a block of styrofoam to the rotating plate with a double sided tape Make sure the block of foam and the base plate will rotate freely in the fixture You may need to trim off the corners of the foam block to allow it to turn between th
13. sk a i a ee a E aie ae x gs i Ne E E een eG steer Jus ke aed artnet he a eee Xoo Be eR E a A E A EE te K se A EE TN EES EE E E Ie EOE gt oe www ApogeeRockets com 1 130 Elkton Drive Suite A Colorado Springs CO 80907 USA www ApogeeRockets com orders ApogeeRockets com phone 719 535 9335 fax 719 534 9050 LS s UE 87 AUG US TOL o sy WEB SITES OF THE WEEK INTERNET ARECHIWE waueaedmachine The WayBack Machine One of the problems that I ve discovered with the educa tional section of the Apogee web site http www apogeerockets com education is that the linked sites that I ve listed are constantly changing Not only do they change but a lot of times they drop out completely and when you click on the link you get the dreaded 404 Error File Not Found There are many reasons that the sites have changed For example the site owner may have been using free server space which is now no longer free They may have switched to a new server and didn t leave us any clue to the new site Or they forgot to renew their site domain name It is possible that it just got too hard to main tain their site and they ve decided to scrap the whole project But I found a nifty web site that continually archives in dividual sites It is called the WayBack Machine http www archive org What it does is allow you to find old web sites that are no longer listed on the internet It gets you past thos
14. t is grouped by topic So a teacher that has a question about say rocket parachutes can go to the site and click on the recovery devices link and find a list of other web sites that have useful information about making parachutes for model rockets They can then read a short de scription of those sites and pick the one that best suits their needs or grade level Ihave been continuing to add links to it since then as I ve come across interesting rocketry sites If you have a site with educational information on it and would like me to link to it be sure to send me the web address My email is tvm apogeerockets com Anyway as I was doing research to add new sites to the educational guide I discovered that there were a few people that were simply taking my work and posting it on their own web sites Instead of just grabbing the text from our site I prefer that they just put a link from their web sites directly to the Model Rocket Education Guide I know it is a sincere form of flattery to be imitated But it would make me more inclined to make the site even better if I knew that I would be rewarded with visitors That is why it touches me in a prickly way I put a lot of effort to attract visitors to my site with unique and useful in formation But people searching for the information aren t getting to my site because they found my stuff on someone else s site first In effect I put a lot of effort into the project but someone
15. to simplify the complex subject of rocket stability The site takes a look at rocket without fins that have the motor mounted near the top For example a firework skyrocket or Robert Goddard s first liquid propellant rocket It talks about why these types of rockets can be very dangerous to fly Goddard s rocket went unstable too The other thing this site looks into is a fallacy that many people new to rocketry have They don t know the relation ship between the CP and the CG of the rocket They think that if the rocket is heavy at the back end that it will swing like a pendulum and self stabilize One person thought that the Apo gee Components Delta HI kit http www ApogeeRockets com Delta 3 kit asp would be stable without fins because it was heavier in the back than it is in the front As you experienced rocketeers know the position of the rocket s CG is critically important If it is in the wrong loca tion the rocket will go unstable This web site illustrations this concept beautifully If you have a web site that is geared toward educating other modelers and would like us to review it send me an email at tvm ApogeeRockets com 1 130 Elkton Drive Suite A Colorado Springs www ApogeeRockets com orders ApogeeRockets com phone 7 19 535 9335 fax 719 534 9050 CO 80907 USA Se HUES 87 HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN FOAM NOSE CONES Plan by Michel Demey Bruxelles Belgium email viralex viralex be Illustrations by
16. ure Plan ow To Make Your Own Custom Foam Nose Cones Delta Ill Rocket Hit Add a Piece of Spac History To Your RocHet Fleet Web Sites of the Week How Do You View Old Rocketry Web Sites That Say File Not Found Apogee News 1130 Elkton Drive Suite A Colorado Springs CO 80907 USA www ApogeeRockets com orders ApogeeRockets com COMPONENTS phone 719 535 9335 fax719 534 9050 ee OGL No collection of scale model model kits is complete with out the Apogee Delta III kit It is a perfect desktop display model since it doesn t take up a lot of room When people walk by an see it you can explain to them about rocketry and how it truly mimics the real space program America s middle size workhorse is the Delta II rocket from the Boeing corporation It can loft a satellite the size of a jeep SUV to 24 000 mile orbit above the earth This 1 107th scale model faithfully details this rocket and features 10 plastic nose cones six small nozzles three large canted nozzles vacuum formed plastic nose cone amp tran sition section water transfer color decals 45 7 cm 18 inch diameter plastic parachute and a plastic main engine display nozzle with matching display stand Also comes with scale data and photos of the real ve hicle This model can built as either a display model or a real flying model rocket by attaching the die cut balsa fins Build ing it is pure pleasure launching it is pure excitement De
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