July 17, 2002

The first photo shows all the pieces. Left to right these are the Tiny Tim booster, the WAC Corporal airframe, and the WAC Corporal nose cone. In front of the Tiny Tim are the nozzle closure and the electronics used to pop the Tiny Tim's 'chute. Next to the WAC Corporal nose cone are the electronics used to ignite the WAC Corporal motor and to pop it's 'chute.

The Tiny Tim's nose cone still needs three short dowels, a round ring and a tube coupler that will connect the Tiny Tim lower stage to the WAC Corporal upper stage.

The nozzle closure is a disk of 1 1/2" by 3/16" plywood with 33 holes drilled in it! These holes model the nozzle openings, ignitor sockets and bolt heads of the real Tiny Tim. The 2nd picture shows a closeup.

The third picture shows a closeup of the electronics and the Tiny Tim nose cone. I made two special circuit boards that connect two commercial circuit boards together--a staging timer and a magnetic apogee detector. A second magnetic apogee detector is partially visible on the left; this is what deploys the 'chute for the lower stage.

July 26, 2002

Here is the full stack--WAC Corporal sitting on it's Tiny Tim booster. I am still working on the interstage cage, but I took a break to put the stack together when the first application of epoxy hardened. The WAC airframe (the yellow part) still needs work--I have to even out the paint and apply decals--and the interstage cage and the connector plate above it need to be painted. And the WAC fin can, the part below the yellow airframe with the silver and black fins, needs to get some "reality" finishing--the silver paint has to be scuffed up a bit so it looks like bare sheet titanium bent over a rigid framework. I've already scuffed up the fins on the Tiny Tim booster for a similar reason.

July 30, 2002

I've almost completed the WAC Corporal. I still have to install the motor mount in the WAC fin can and attach the fin can to the airframe, and add the "duct tape" decal, but everything else is done. I put together the full stack again for a photo op. Notice those lines of dots near the root edges of the fins? (OK, now do you see them?) 48 tiny decals of circular rivet heads I cut by hand <brag>. The duct-tape decal will go along that small-diameter tube on the right side. In the real rocket that tube was a cover for the fuel lines, and was held closed with a strip of duct tape! I kid you not! I also finished the display stand. The black object partially visible under the rocket is a rick, painted black, which helps anchor the stand and guard against tipping over. The stand includes a little mirror on the bottom to allow the viewer to see the nozzle closure on the Tiny Tim.

August 8, 2002

Flew the stack at NARAM 44 in Texas. While the upper-stage motor lit, the Tiny Tim didn't separate, so its nose cone (the "blast deflector") was toasted. It was pretty obvious this was going to happen. When I placed the WAC on top of the Tiny Tim, the coupler was a tight fit. I think things swelled in the Texas humidity. You can see in the photo that I put tape around the bottom half of the coupler so only half the coupler was in the WAC, but that didn't help.

October 6, 2002

Flew the repaired stack again at Steel City Smoke Trails II near Pittsburgh. I had an epiphany while rebuilding the staging coupler--why not close off the bottom of the coupler! That would keep the WAC motor from toasting the Tiny Tim nose cone AND would give a "piston" effect to help the WAC stage! Duh. Since I had to rebuild the Tiny Tim nose cone, I replaced the magnetic apogee detector with a PerfectFlite timer. This time the upper stage didn't even light. After diagnosing the problem, I wonder how it ever lit in Texas. The problem was I didn't include a capacitor to buffer a large "pulse" to light the ignitor. I am guessing the battery, by itself, is marginal and in the hot sun in Texas had enough juice to light the ignitor. The tip of the WAC nose cone was damaged, but not too badly. I am repairing it now.