My Son recently found my old model rockets up in the attic, and just thought it was awesome that he could make models that he could "blow up" yes thats his goal to lauch a rocket and explode it... but anyway
It was all i needed to get this one rolling, i've been wanting to make a replica of the Phoenix for years and this was all the nudge i needed. i plan to have the finished product 3d printed, then maybe try vac-forming to get a lightweight version, but we'll get to that when we get to it. i want the final version to be full RC with some sort of camoflaged or clear glider wings and a camera setup.'
this is just a rough draft of the nose/cockpit section that i worked up over the weekend:
i'm still studying the main body parts, i'm having trouble finding good reference for it, so i'll probably work up the titan rocket shell next.
Posts
NX-PH_0.5-000.jpgNX-PH_0.5-001.jpgNX-PH_0.5-002.jpgNX-PH_0.5-003.jpgNX-PH_0.5-004.jpg
theres a LOT more geometry than i was expecting, even standing in front of the real things before i never really paid attention to how they were built.
still working on the new version of the nose too, this time its based on the full size prop instead of the model. still think its going to be the one i go with.
Tii_S1-01.jpg
there's good pics of the nose section, both the model and the full scale one, but for the rest of the ship not much at all. i looked at some of the plastic and resin models, but they dont hold up well to whats seen on-screen
i tried reaching out to both Doug and John through facebook, but didnt get any responses from either, so it will be mostly just guesswork.
aside from screenshots of the dvd these are the only good pics i have of it at all:
cochys_rockie.jpgDSCN0330-1.jpgDSCN0334-1.jpg
http://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/scans/prefed1.htm
just the engine left to add in, then its time to get down to the Phoenix body itself
Tii_S1-02.jpg
edit: aaand finished off the engine today, next weekend i'll probably start on an easy part of the phoenix, like the nacelles
Tii_S1-03.jpg
researching and modeling the rocket has been a lot of fun, i always enjoy reading NASA history, but sadly that part's done now, and its on to the actual Phoenix!
finished roughing out the basic shapes for the Phoenix, and did a quick mockup of the launch sequence yesterday:
Ph_001.jpgPh_002.jpgPh_003.jpg
the original shape seen earlier in the thread was based on the illustrator gifs that are floating around. this one was proportioned more on the available space inside the rocket. in the end its really close to the popular gif's. mine is almost 7 feet shorter in the mid section, and the nacelles are about 2 feet shorter. its still not perfect though, i havnt gotten matches to the model photos i like yet, but its geting there!
I woke up to a really nice email on this subject today, i was looking at the watermark on those model photos i posted earlier. about a month into this thing and i only just realized i knew who's mark that was... (boy i'm gettin old ) anyway, i sent him a message, and got a reply this morning (from Search4 over at the TrekBBS, he's a very nice gentleman and Trek collector and has helped me in the past too, check out some of his collection at www.ncc1701.us ). Well It turns out he has this little gem in his collection too, and he said that he'd put the photo's back up on his website soon, so there will be little left for guestimation on the ships body now!
anyway; i'm almost finished with the design of the new cockpit section though, i will be going with the full-scale version (it's just looking better) i'll post up my cad sketches as comparison of both versions later today once the new version is done
the new nose is shaping up nicely, still a few things i think i'll change though. i started out with the more narrow dimensions of the mock up, but i really like the thicker shape of the model, so it ended up a mash up of the 2. its a much more economical mesh too, only 16k polies vs 38k on the original rounded shape.
Ph_004.jpgPh_005.jpgPh_006.jpg
the old one:
NX-PH_0.5-003_1.jpg
Z kept me up all nite trying to finish that case of Tequila....
:devil:
the engine in the booster stage is different thought, its not a titan double engine, they made their own motor and engine bell to "fudge it" with 22nd century tech :P
the original Titan S1 engines:
ksc0217z.jpg
and the FC variant:
12-36-52-37.jpg
last nite i just couldnt get it out of my head (thinking about 10 steps ahead in the project) and started thinking about just how i will eventually get the final model UP, and how high do i want it????
i finally decided on a scale for it all, 1/24. it will give me a tube diameter of about 5" (also means i can cut out a large chunk of design and testing by picking up a commercial kit, theres a lot of great ones at that scale)
but then i started thinking about weight, what kind of power do i want to use on the phoenix, glider?, full rc?
just the Phoenix itself w/o any wings will have a 16" span for the nacelles, and be almost 28" long.
that means its going to either weight a LOT building it the way i used to. or cost a TON going with newfangled carbon fiber and other modern mediums.
either way, you're right, in order to get any decent separation height for it, i'm going to need at least 2 multi-engine stages, unless again i go with more modern (more $$$) custom engines...
and finally, i hadnt even STARTED thinking about airfoil designs yet, and now to fold them up into a rocket tube...
needless to say, my brain was a very interesting place last nite... i'm going to go over to the hobby shop later today and throw some ideas around with the guys and see what they can come up with!
the flight version also only marginally changes the profile of both the Phoenix and the rocket itself, and i can manufacture the wings and canards from clear plastic to camoflage them too.
by using the extension of the nacelles to open the wings, rooted on the structural outer beams of the phoenix itself, creating a biplane i still dont have any weight estimates yet, but this is with a large 5" set of wings
TitanII_1.2.png
here's the theoretical biplane idea: (seems the new server doesnt like .PNGs? i had to convert it to a gif to make it show)
TitanII_1.2.gif
and a mishmash of some other things:
PT_003.jpgTii_S1-04.jpgPh_012.jpg
Ph_009.jpgPh_010.jpgPh_011.jpg
a couple fun ready-to-launch pov's:
PT_001.jpgPT_002.jpg
Gigabyte RTX 3080 Gaming OC 12GB
1TB NVMe SSD, 2 x 1GB SATA SSD, 4TB external HDD
32 GB RAM
Windows 11 Pro
1.3_001.jpg1.3_002.jpg