| | [Not displaying correctly? View web version.] | Peak-of-Flight Newsletter #577: | | 
I’ve grown in my appreciation for the benefits of using Carbon Fiber Tow in rocketry. As a reinforcement material applied over the surface of your rocket, it adds a significant improvement in strength, but at a very modest increase in mass. If you need to strengthen a part on your rocket, then this is my go-to material. Its advantage over woven fiberglass cloth is that it is significantly lighter in weight and a lot stronger. And other than its propensity for tangling, it is easier to work, especially when it comes to cutting it. Picking up spread-tow carbon fiber is very tricky. It is so lightweight and so fine, it wants to seemingly float in the air, twist up and tangle. Once it is tangled, you lose a lot of the strength benefit of the material because the orientation of the fibers isn’t in the direction for maximum strength. In this article, I’ll show you my new technique of handling it, so that it doesn’t tangle up and so you’ll be less frustrated by the process. And you’ll end up with a nicer part that is stronger and lighter weight. Also in this Issue - Free PLAN! The Star Racer by Sam Pullen Have you ever wanted to race to the stars? That was the goal with this rocket, something sleek and simple, that will transport your imagination to the heavens. With its 18mm motor mount, it offers up a lot of motor choices and lots of variety in flight performance. This rocket is designed around 33mm tubing (also known as BT-55) which gives it a nice size perfect for cutting through the air. In addition to the tubing the rocket also has a drag reducing boattail on the bottom to help it get even higher into the air due to a lower base drag than a typical model of its size. If you are planning on racing to the stars, this rocket is a great place to start. | | Read the rest of this week's article, either on a downloadable PDF for printing out, or on our website (great for viewing on your phone)! Previous issues of our newsletter are found at our archive page. |
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| Check out the latest products to hit Apogee's shelves! | T2 Tether and Release Device | | 
From Tinder Rocketry, the T2 is a tether-release mechanism for high-power rockets. It allows dual-deployment to occur out of a single parachute bay by preventing the main parachute from deploying out of a deployment bag until a preset altitude. It replaces the old Tender Descender. |
| Piranha Line Cutters | | 
The stainless steel Piranha Cable Cutter is used to delay the opening of your main parachute, so it acts as a streamer initially, and delays the time at which the parachute opens. This prevents the rocket from drifting as far because the main parachute opens at a lower altitude. |
| Chisel Tip Knife Blades | | 
One of the lesser-known, but really practical tools for hobbyists, is the Chisel Tip Blade for a hobby knife. It can do things that you can't do with a regular #11 blade hobby knife nor a razor blade. What makes it really useful is that you can mount it in the handle of an ordinary hobby knife. That gives you a way of holding it that you can't get with other wide blades like a razor blade. Because it is in a handle, you can get it into hard-to-reach spaces that you can't normally access easily. |
| Quest SuperBird | |  The Quest SuperBird rocket was one of our favorites from the past. It is big, has a nice size payload bay, comes down with two parachutes, and rises fairly slow off the pad compared to other rockets. It's back again, and it is just as we remembered it. With its balsa wood fins, the rocket is an easy Skill-Level 2 build, and flies nice and stable. Get one today before they fly off the shelf.
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| Decal Tweezers | | 
If you're looking for broad tip tweezers for precision tasks like picking up thin water-slide decals, these are just what you're looking for. These stainless steel tweezers with straight, flat, broad tips are useful for sliding under thin paper, and plastic membranes and tapes to lift them off and hold them. But these come without the serrated teeth of standard tweezers that could damage the delicate objects you're holding. Some rockets, like our Saturn V kit, have very tiny water-slide decals (like the camera targets). These small decals are often hard to position because you can't tell if they are between the pads of your fingers. When you put them down on the rocket, they often stick to your finger instead of to the surface of the model. That is where these decal tweezers come in handy. |
| Make Carbon Fiber Tubes | | 
Here is an extensive and detailed video course on how to make Ultra-Lightweight Carbon-Fiber Rocket Tubes. They're so light, they give you an unfair advantage in competition. These are the ones that my daughters, Allison and Ashley used in Romania last September at the 2021 World SpaceModeling Championships. Allison was part of the senior Silver Medal winning USA team, and Ashley took home the Bronze Medal in the Jr. Division. The girls were taught how to make their own tubes, so if they can do it, so can you. The training course consists of 5 hours and 42 minutes of video instruction, covering everything I know about how to make a successful tube with a glass-finish using a 2-piece mold. It even includes all the secret techniques and materials, and where to buy them, including where to get the 2-part mold. This course is on the Udemy website, not at Apogee Components. |
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Star Racer Blasts Off The free plan of the Star Racer in this weeks newsletter is our choice for our Launch-of-the-Week simulation in the online Launch Visualizer at RockSim.com. It is a easy-build and versatile rocket that will generate feelings of "wow!" every time you launch it. Check out this free simulation now, and then take the rocket for a spin from your launch site. |
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“Apogee is a great place to shop on line. They have a large selection of Rocketry items to choose from. I find myself just browsing through their items and I always find something I could use or spares for my launch box. They always respond immediately to confirm your order and with notification of your shipment. Tim's videos can be very informative and I enjoy watching them as well. Give Apogee a try they will not disappoint.” -- Mark Cassola | |
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We're looking for someone to write a definitive guide to selecting igniters, controllers and batteries for rockets. We'd love to have a newsletter article on that topic, because we get lots of inquiries about it. Is that you? Do you know how many e-matches can be set off in a cluster by a 3.7v 400 mAh battery? See our Newsletter Guidelines on how to submit an article on this topic and get paid up to $350 for your time.
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 I'm now actively seeking writers for articles to appear in this newsletter. And I want unique and cutting-edge articles because that is what you want to read, right? I realize this, so to get articles from outside writers that have the same level of quality, I'm going to have to pay a lot of cash to make it worth it for them. So I've come up with a compensation package where I'll pay up to $350 for good how-to articles. Are you a writer, and does that interest you? That is a lot of cash! Far more than you'll get by writing for other magazines. And with over 23,000 worldwide subscribers, if you write for the Peak-of-Flight Newsletter, you'll gain a lot of notoriety. Writing for the Peak-of-Flight Newsletter is a great way to show off your rocketry projects and your technical expertise, at the same time as helping out other rocketeers. Imagine how great you'll feel knowing that you made a difference to the hobby. If you're interested in writing, see the guidelines on our site. | |
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