After 20 years of waiting, this week we got our own BT-60 sized, blow-molded plastic nose cone. It is beautiful, if I say so myself. It is a 3-to-1 ogive shape, making it nearly 5 inches long. The eylets are sized so that you can easily tie on both the shock cord and the parachute easily. And they are beefy to make them super strong. Also included on the part is a conical transition section, so you can change the diameter of your rockets to give it a one-of-a-kind look. The shoulders on the transition have cut-lines built in, so you can easily remove the ends to allow gases to pass through. You can also use this transition for a boattail on the bottom of the rocket, or by flipping it around, it would look like a simulated bell nozzle.

We'll be designing many kits around this nose cone, so stay tuned for that information in this newsletter.

Tuesday we sent out our 594th edition of the Peak-of-Flight Newsletter. This one featured an article that is important to rocket designers or those that are modifying kits. It is about getting models to fly straight and true. More to the point, it lists the 15 different ways you can improve the stability of the rocket, or how to prevent it from going unstable.

In other news around here, we got hooked back up to the new water main that the city put under the street. We don't have to use the garden hose water supply that was coming into our building for the last few weeks. So we don't have to worry about it freezing at night, and running the faucets 24/7. But the new water line had some mud in it, so it is coming out brown instead of clear. Maybe by next week it will have flushed out all the dirt, so we can start drinking it again.

Tool of the Month: A Pocket Scale

For the month of March, we're offering a super deal on an indispensible tool for all rocketeers. Introducing our small digital scale. With a maximum capacity of 200 grams, this scale can weigh even the smallest of objects with precision of 0.01 grams. The large digital LCD screen provides clear and easy-to-read measurements without having to put on your reading glasses. It has a blue back-lit panel that can be turned on and off for use in bright sunlight or at those rare night launches.

This compact and lightweight scale is designed to provide accurate measurements for a variety of small objects, making it an essential addition to any hobbyist's toolkit. And it is small enough to fit in your rangebox or back pocket for on-the-go measurements. It is perfect for weighing out black powder for dual-deployment ejection charges. And if you have RockSim, it will allow you to perform accurate simulations because you'll know the mass of every component.

To get ths scale for free (it's a $15.95 value), just purchase $150 worth of Apogee's merchandise. This offer is only available until March 31, 2023, so don't miss your chance to save on a valuable tool. Act fast, as this offer will not be repeated!

What to Look Forward to Next Week?

On March 7, we'll be putting out our 378th Advanced Construction Video. These videos are "tactical", providing you the hands on skills you may need to perform rocketry successfully.

In the next video, we'll be talking about how to design multi-piece fins. In other words, fins that are so large, that they won't fit at all on one sheet of balsa wood. They have to be broken into parts so that you can get the full fin. But they have to be designed properly, or you'll have weak fins.

I'll see you in your email in-box next Tuesday.