DIY Javelin Guided Missile Part 2/3

by FliteTest | October 10, 2016 | (0) Posted in Projects

In part one of Peter Sripol’s DIY Javelin Guided Missile project, we looked at how Peter began to create a launcher that could propel a projectile that could be flown when deployed.  In part two of three, we will continue to follow along with Peter as he gets closer to finishing this project.

When we last left Peter, in part one, he was waiting on the 5 inch around, 3 foot long PVC tube that would be housing the actual missile RC aircraft.  In part two, Peter used a more of a PVC, and balsa wood design with a Styrofoam ball piece at the front to absorb some of the blow when it lands.  

For this project, he purchased multiple E9-6’s.  The E9-6’s have a max thrust of 5.6 pounds with a six second time delay.  These motors will actually propel the missile along through the 3 feet long PVC tube in a matter of nano seconds and eventually into airspace.  When Peter first received these motors he was having a lot of trouble with them not working. They were exploding in one second after launch.

"The motors would burn just fine as soon as it was lit, but a split second later the whole thing would explode.”

Peter mentioned that at some point Estes must have screwed up on the manufacturing process.  It seems that they forgot to put in the delay charge and or if they did something went wrong with packaging the explosives. 

In one trial, one of the missiles was destroyed on launch.  The folding wings stopped working, the case of the rocket exploded, half of the engine cord with the core, and all the components exploded all the way to the front of the missile.  This completely ruined the missile and Peter had to start over from scratch.  

After many failed attempts, Peter was able to get a successful launch from his contraption.  In my personal opinion, it was a thing of beauty.   

Part 3 Coming Soon

___________________

Mitchell Gray - Flite Test

COMMENTS

Air-headed Aviator on October 10, 2016
ROCKET PLANE!!!
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JollyOlBrits on October 11, 2016
I may have a viable solution for you. Grant Thompson has a video on building model rocket motors extremely cheaply, that also provide a large amount of thrust and longer burn time than the Estes motors. They are composed of potassium nitrate and sugar. Unfortunately I haven't been able to test the concept myself, but I think it could work quite well. Aside from that, this is REALLY cool, I just wish British model rocket laws would let me do this :-)
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DIY Javelin Guided Missile Part 2/3