Space Station Deuce
By: Matthew McFarland

I decided to build Space station Deuce for the Deuce bash contest because I thought there was a huge shortage in the area of aerobrake recovery cluster powered rockets and this is my favorite type of model(aerobrake).  I have had the Idea for some time, but never got around to doing it until spurred on by the contest.  The Space Station Deuce uses only the parts from the kit and not all of them at that. You

1.      Get two weeks off work.  (The model does not take this much time and in fact I built six rockets during my time off.)

2.      Mark the body tube and cut out the motor mount sections as outlined in the deuce instructions.  Make sure you mark the four fin lines all the way from end to end on the tube. 

5.      Cut one of the 126mm sections into two ea. 63mm sections and number the fin template lines sequentially from 1-4 in any direction you find to be fun.

6.      Cope the 63mm sections 12mm deep to fit BT-60 tubing on one end each.  This was easily done by wrapping 100 grit sandpaper around one 126mm

Layout of major components

7.      At this point you should have coped the two 63mm pieces on one side only.  Now cope each piece making sure the second notch is oriented the other way(square it on the other set of fin lines2,4). It is vital that you make sure the orientation is correct or your booster will not mount correctly and you will need more tubing!!!

8.      Center the 63mm piece on the 126mm piece and glue together to make a T.  Repeat with the other 63mm and 126mm part.

9.      Glue the T shaped pods on the booster section.

Solar Panel mount cut

10.  Make a 45 degree angle jig out of paper and put it on the end of one side of the T section.  You are only cutting off a little part of the tube here so take note.  Place the jig with the thin part on the top of the rocket and the fat part on the bottom  sticking out from the tube.  With the template square you need to recess the top only 13mm from the tube end to the template end and mark the tube.  Keep the little part you cut off, you need it!  Do this on

each side.  It is easier to get the template on if you install the nosecone in the tube before sliding it on.

11.  Now we will make the Solar panels.  Take the fin stock and cut a 30mm strip the long way from each one.

12.  Measure the long way on the big piece of fin stock 30mm and draw a line.  This is where you glue the 30mm piece you cut. Do this to both panels.

Close up of the solar panel mount cut

13.  Now lay one panel face down(with the glued on strip up.)  Center the 45 degree cut section of the solar panel support tubes on the solar panels. With the cut strip abutting the edge of the original 90 degree cut.   Glue in place with CA.

14.  Take the little piece left over from cutting the 45 degree support and using CA glue it to the support tube and the panel so that it fills the hole.

15.  Repeat steps 13 and 14 for the other side.

16.  Now all we have left is the nose cone and the launch lug.  Glue the nose cone on.  I originally mounted the launch lug on a fillet made of Locktite putty epoxy that I was experimenting with on this model.  I had bad results with the putty as it set up too quickly.  The only real bad thing was that the launch lug was not centered between the engines and on a C powered flight the model tipped over and broke the launch lug off.  I quickly re glued it and flew it on A’s and B’s, but the C broke it again.  I then drilled a hole in one of the 63mm pieces right next to the support tube and then had successful C powered flights.

I have had many successful flights and have determined the following:

Expect about:
35-40 feet with A motors.
60-80 feet with B motors.
80-100 feet with C motors.

Solar Panel detail