| The Black Brant Project |
|
Take a look at What's New
in our web.
|
Note: Actual project will be almost 2 feet taller than the real one shown in
the picture
|
|
| The Black Brant Project is proving to be the most
ambitious and daring project to come down the road in a long time.
Never before in the history of High Power Rocketry have three motors
in the "P" impulse range ever been clustered together into one rocket.
That combined with the overall size and weight of the project will
make this the most spectacular flight of not only 2004, but for some
time to come. This project will combine the talents of three
prominent individuals: Wedge Oldham
(airframe), Darren Wright
(propellant), and Jeff Taylor
(motor cases). By dividing up the project each team member is
allowed to make maximum use of of special skills. By combining
the skills of each person the results will be far greater than any one
person could achieve.
If you are interested in becoming part of this history making
project please visit our
sponsor page.
 | Description: A 107% scale Black Brant II with three 6 inch (152mm) motor mounts. |
| Flight configuration: Three 45,042 NS motors (10% "P"
motors), all lit on the pad. |
| Total installed impulse will be 135,126 Newton-Seconds
or 65%
"Q" |
| Diameter: 18.5" |
| Length: 357" (29 3/4 feet) |
| Estimated Altitude: 14,700
feet |
| Estimated Velocity: Mach 1.05
(1170 Feet/Second) |
| Launch Date: September, 2004 |
| Launch Site: Black Rock, Nevada |
| Visitors since February 25th 2003 
|
Launch date: BALLS
2004 September 11
The following is a list of recent additions to our web. Whenever I submit a status report, or add anything else to our web,
I'll put a notice here. Every so often I'll remove the oldest items. The most recent changes are listed first, and each item is linked
to the page with the updated content.
September 15, 2004
September 7, 2004
| FINAL UPDATE: The Black Brant departs for Reno tomorrow
morning. We are go for launch. |
| Next update after we return from BALLS. |
| 4 days till launch |
September 6, 2004
| The Black Brant was
loaded into the truck. This job was
seriously underestimated and took most of the day. Luckily
there was plenty of help on hand. A special thanks to all
who participated. |
| Main chute has been
packed. |
| 5 days till launch |
September 2, 2004
|
Painting has been
completed. |
| Joe Zamiska did an
outstanding job of painting this rocket. The finish is just
awesome and something that can not really be captured in a
photograph. |
| Melinda Catalano
has worked her magic with the people over at Penske Truck Rentals
and secured and outstanding deal on a 15' truck. |
| A special thanks to Jolene Berganio at
PENSKE SAN FERNANDO RENT for her great service. Jolene
was also responsible for securing the truck when the
Nike went to LDRS 21 in
Amarillo, Texas. |
| 9 days till launch |
September 1, 2004
| The rocket has been
taped in
preparation for the black paint. |
| Darren has reported that all grains have been cast and are
ready to go. |
| Updated the "Launch
Information" page. |
| Added a great shot of the
launch tower
to the launcher page. |
| 10 days till launch |
August 30, 2004
| Joe Zamiska shot
the first color coat. The
white sections
are now fully painted. |
| Updated the estimated Velocity and Altitude prediction with
the results of the static motor test. |
| 12 days till launch |
August 27, 2004
| Countdown to launch continues. |
| Wet sanding was completed on the Booster Section and the
Payload Section yesterday. These sections are now ready for
the first color coat. |
| Joe Zamiska plans
on shooting the first color coat on Sunday August 29th. This
will be the final paint for the white sections. Black Sections are scheduled to be
overlaid on Tuesday August
31st. |
| Added pictures of the Launch Rail. |
| 15 days till launch |
August 23, 2004
| Posted videos of the
"P" motor test done on August 22nd. There is some great
footage of the awesome power of just one of the P motors. If
you think a single P motor looks great just imagine what three of
them will look like. |
| 19 days till launch |
August 22, 2004
| Motor Test successful. The static test of one of
the Black Brant motors today was a complete success. |
| The successful completion of this
test means that we are "GO FOR LAUNCH". |
| Picture & video to be posted on this site, as soon as they are
available. |
| 20 days till launch |
August 21, 2004
August 8, 2004
| Fin can complete. |
| Fin can is
inserted in the booster. |
| Joe Zamiska wants
to shoot primer this Friday, due to him going out of town the
following week. This presents a conflict with the schedule
as the booster section will not be ready at that time. If we
are unable to resolve this conflict the paint will go on without a
primer coat. |
| 34 days till launch |
August 6, 2004
| Added pictures of a
test fitting of
two fins, the motor mount, and one motor case. |
| This test fit reveled a major construction flaw. It
seems that as soon as the fins are attached to the motor mount,
there will be now way of getting the rocket out of the backyard.
39" of fins attached to 18" diameter body tube will not fit out
the gate. Therefore Booster Section construction has moved
from the Vehicle Assembly Area (the backyard) to the
smaller Vehicle Assembly Building (the garage). This
move has cost the project a couple of day. |
| The motor mount / fin can will be installed in the booster
tube on Sunday 8/8/2004. |
| 36 days till launch |
August 4, 2004
| Darren is currently
casting the grains to build four "P" motors. One
motor to be used in a static test, and the other three will be
flown at BALLS. |
| Darren and Jeff
will be performing a full static test of the Black Brant motor on
August 21st. This static test represents a significant event
in the Black Brant Project. |
| Parachute deployment bags and main pilot chute arrived from
Rocket Rage |
| 38 days till launch |
August 1, 2004
| Applied two layers of
carbon fiber
to all fins. Fin can should be completed sometime this week. |
| Joe Zamiska
stopped by today to evaluate the painting aspect of the project.
The actual logistics (where, when and how) are still being worked
out. |
| Most of the rest of the week was spent with bondo and fine
sandpaper, Nose Cone
and Payload Section
should be ready for primer this week. |
| Ordered parachute deployment bags and main pilot chute from
Rocket Rage |
| 41 days till launch |
July 28, 2004
| Added a page showing
Fin Construction |
| Added photos showing the
test fit of
the fins into the motor mount |
| Added photos showing the
foam placement
on the fin leading and trailing edges. |
| 45 days till launch |
July 21, 2004
| Epoxied the main coupler into the payload section,
to join it
to the booster section. |
| Cut and drilled the centering rings for the
motor mount. |
| Doug Lay has started
welding the launch tower rocket support. |
| 52 days till launch |
July 12, 2004
| Laid up the
final layer of glass onto the nose cone. |
| 61 days till launch |
July 8, 2004
| Received the 7.5 nose cone from Performance
Rocketry, great construction and design on this one. |
| Spoke with Darren Wright
today, and he reported no problems on the propulsion side of the
rocket. Darren anticipates having all grains cast no later
than August 15th. |
| 67 days till launch |
July 6, 2004
June 22, 2004
| Updated the igniter page showing the test
setup and the
results. |
| 50 grams of thermite will be used for each motor. |
| 81 days till launch |
June 20, 2004
| First motor case has been
received. |
| Igniter testing completed. |
| Black Brant will be hauling
Rocket Mail
at BALLS, contact
Bruce Kelly
to have your letter fly with the Black Brant. |
| High Power
Rocketry Magazine added as a sponsor, a full page ad for
the Black Brant should be appearing in the next issue. Troy
Monroe Stacey will be doing the layout. |
| Aerotech
has been added as a sponsor. |
| First parts of the nose cone
sheeting have been attached. |
| Wedge Oldham turned 47
on the 17th |
| Happy Father's Day Dad. |
| 83 days till launch |
June 8, 2004
| Cut and test fit pieces needed for
sheeting
the nose cone. |
| Igniter and thermite testing
to be at ROCstock
XIX this weekend. |
| 95 days till launch |
June 4, 2004
| LAUNCH DATE CHANGE |
| The launch date has been changed to September 10-12, 2004. |
| 98 days till launch |
May 31, 2004
| Busy weekend this week, actually got a lot accomplished on the
rocket this week. |
| Mounted the nose cone shoulder to the coupler tube to for the
base of the nose cone. |
| Epoxied
the centering rings onto the main nose cone tube. |
| Cut
hatches in the shoulder section of the nose cone. |
| Cut and epoxied the nose cone
ribs to the
centering rings. |
| Next step sheeting the nose cone. |
| 109 days till launch |
May 27, 2004
| Jeff Taylor has just
completed
hydrostatic motor testing of the first of three
motor cases. This case was successfully tested to a pressure
of 1500 pounds per square inch, or twice the expected mean
operating pressure. |
| The Motor Case will ship tomorrow to
Wedge Oldham for use in
building the fin can / motor assembly. |
| The motor case will also be on display at
ROCstock XIX,
the semi-annual three day launch of the
Rocketry Organization of California |
| This completed motor marks a significant milestone in the
Black Brant project. |
| Chemistry for the thermite igniters was delivered today.
Testing will take place at
ROCstock XIX |
| 113 days till launch |
May 26, 2004
May 23, 2004
| Was able to purchase more epoxy and resume construction this
weekend. |
| Purchased a used floor Drill
Press. |
| Added another layer of epoxy to the nose cone
main tube. |
| Continued construction on the nose cone by cutting all
centering rings. |
| 117 days till launch |
May 21, 2004
| Ran out of epoxy and money this week. Not much has been
accomplished on the rocket in the last five days. This
weekend should see some major advances in nose cone construction. |
| Ordered chemicals need for a new igniter compound.
Darren Wright devolved this
thermite mixture, and Neil McGilvray
used it to launch the "Liberty"
project. The result have been simple amazing. |
| We are at 17 weeks until launch today. |
| 119 days till launch |
May 17, 2004
| Busy weekend with construction, most of it centered around
Nose Cone. See the new
Nose Cone page
for details. |
| 123 days till launch |
May 14, 2004
May 11, 2004
| The nose cone shoulder was joined together this evening, along
with an update to the nose cone
shoulder page. |
| Jeff Taylor reports that
the first "P" motor case for the Black Brant will going to the
anodizing shop this week and should be ready to be picked up this
Friday (5/14/2004). |
| Darren Wright reports
no problems on the propellant side. |
| Curtis Turner of Performance
Rocketry has informed me that the 7.5" 5:1 conical nose cone
will ship in approximately 2 weeks. |
| Victor Lock is
working on two support stands for the Black Brant. This stand will
allow assemble of the rocket, and be used for transport to the
launch pad. This design will be
similar to
the support stand used by
Jeff Jacobs at BALLS 2003. |
| Doug Lay has pledged his welding assistance in
fabricating the support stands. |
| 130 days till launch |
May 9, 2004
| ROC held it's normal
monthly launch for the month of May. I was able to pick up
my 30 yards of carbon fiber at this launch. |
| The tube for the nose cone
shoulder has been split and a section removed. This represents
the first stage in making a coupler section for 18" fiberglass
tube. |
| A number of fellow rocketeers have asked will the Black Brant
be ready for BALLS. At this time confidence is high that
everything will come together. The purchase of the tubes and
carbon fiber represent significant milestones in the funding of
the project. We're not out of the woods yet, time will still be a
major factor in getting everything done. |
| Happy Mother's Day mom! |
| 132 days till launch |
May 6, 2004
| Main Body Tubes have been placed in the Black Brant
Construction area, meaning the back patio. Clearing space for them
proved to be a large challenge. |
| All tubes have been marked in preparation for cutting, check
the "Tube Marking" page
for details. |
| "Victor Locke" has been
added as a Project Contributor. |
| All tubes have been cut
to length |
| Time is beginning to run short, and there's very little
construction completed. Construction is now on high
priority. Future website updates will have to take a back
seat to actual construction. |
| 135 days till launch |
April 29, 2004
| Main Body Tubes have arrived. These three tubes measure
18" in diameter and are 10 feet long. They will form the main body
of the rocket. |
| Carbon fiber has arrived. An order for 30 yards of
carbon fiber arrived and will be picked up at the next ROC launch. |
| 142 days till launch |
April 24, 2004
| CONSTRUCTION HAS BEGUN an area has been cleared (and
cleaned) on the back patio for construction of the Black Brant.
|
| The coupler
section of the nose cone has been built, along with the two 7.5
inch tubes forming the inner tubes of the nose cone. The
center section
of the nose cone is now ready for glassing. |
| 147 days till launch |
April 18, 2004
| Jeff Taylor has been hard at work on the motor
cases. Check out his progress on this
page. |
| Jeff anticipates shipping a completed case over to Wedge
Oldham for fitting within a month. This will ensure that
everything will fit together perfectly at the launch. |
| 153 days till launch |
March 17, 2004
| Van Norman Audio Visual has tentatively agreed to
coordinate all of the video aspect of the flight of the Black
Brant. This division of labor will greatly relieve the
burden of the core flight crew. |
| Carl Delzell of Rocket
Rage has been hard at work sewing shock cords and building a
prototype pilot chute. Check out the new page dedicated to
recovery issues. |
| After constant and unrelenting insistence by Melinda Catalano
(girlfriend of Wedge Oldham) the Black Brant Project
has been assigned the official tag-line of "On
the verge of insanity" |
| 185 days till launch |
March 2, 2004
| The propulsion side of the project is now fully funded. |
| An order for 300 feet of tubular nylon has been placed with
Rocket Rage |
| "The Black Brant Project" banner
is now available. |
| 200 days till launch |
February 29, 2004
| Added a page showing the design of the
fin can. |
| Changed the motor mount design
from using 1/4" all-thread to 5/16". Opened up the spacing
between the motor to give a 1/16" clearance between the thrust
rings. Original design called for a an interference fit that
would be filed to fit. |
| 202 days till launch |
February 25, 2004
| Drawings and a description of the
igniters to be used for motor ignition have been posted to the
site. |
| The individual body tube lengths have been changed, moving the
center coupling section of the rocket forward. This was done
during the nose cone redesign, and helped contribute to the weight loss
and forward shift of the C/G. |
| Construction phase to begin sometime next month. |
| Jon Danner has joined the Black Brant Project team
as a "Project Contributor". Jon has
volunteered his services as a graphic designer. Jon's first order
of business will be to tackle the problem of getting all the scale
markings onto the rocket and keeping them on during it's Mach plus
flight. |
| 206 days till launch |
February 7, 2004
| The redesign of the nose cone has been completed. These design
changes have resulted in the following: |
- Overall weight of the rocket has been reduced by 20 pounds,
- The center of gravity (C/G) has moved forward by 7 inches.
- The stability has increased to 7.16 calibers.
- The descent speeds of both the nose cone and the main body are
now closer to each other with both coming down at about 15 feet
per second.
| Revised all 3D drawings for the nose cone. |
| 224 days till launch |
January 2, 2004
| Mark Clark has announced the dates for the National
Experimental Launch "BALLS". This year BALLS will be held
during the third weekend of September. Dates are the 17th
through the 19th. The Black Brant is scheduled to fly on Saturday,
September 18th. |
| Happy New Year to all. |
| 260 days till launch |
December 30, 2003
| Working on a major re-design of the forward part of the Black
Brant. The design has been changed from a dual deployment to a
single deployment with twin chutes. This has resulted in a
lighter design, with a more equal weight distribution between the
27' chute and the 47' main. |
| A JVC DV camera has been added. Just doesn't seem right
to launch a rocket of this size and power without capturing it on
film. |
| Working with a different drawing program to show details in
3D. Look for more drawings to be published soon. |
| 263 days till launch |
November 28, 2003
| Fin design has been finalized. Check out the
Fin Construction page for details. |
| New look and feel selected for the Black Brant Project
website. |
| "Other Projects" moved from BlackBrant2.com and placed on
www.WedgeOldham.com |
| 295 days till launch |
November 3, 2003
October 12, 2003
| The body tubes purchased were designed to be cut from 12 foot
lengths. The manufacturer has informed me that only 10 foot lengths of
this tube are available. This has caused a design change in the
way the tubes will be cut. The new tube lengths and cuts has been
updated on the design page. |
| Details of the
Tomahawk
construction have been added. |
| 343 days till launch |
October 9, 2003
| Attendance at BALLS, and the flight of the
Tomahawks has taken
priority over Black Brant Project website updates. Short version
"I've been busy". Now that the Tomahawk is out of the way we will
begin making more updates to the website. |
| The Tomahawk flew. Look for a complete set of pictures
describing the construction. For now here's a
picture of the 12
Tomahawks at liftoff. |
| Check out the "Save
Rocketry Now" button at the bottom of this page. |
| 346 days till launch |
August 10, 2003
| Some of the first drawings of the nose cone using the solids
modeling feature of AutoCAD have been uploaded. These drawings
have been a great help in showing the exact relationship of all
parts. View the first (of many) pages here. |
| 406 days till launch |
July 18, 2003
| Our first sponsor has signed on. Curtis Turner of Performance
Rocketry has agreed to supply the 7.5" fiberglass nose
cone for the Black Brant. Details of the nose cone and it's
construction are here. |
| Darren and Jeff are at LDRS 22 this week. Jeff
will have one of the Black Brant motors on display. Darren
will fly one of the "P" motors in Neil's' COW rocket.
This motor is the same as will be used in the Black
Brant. |
| Pat Gordzelik will be flying one of Jeff's
cases at LDRS. This case will be loaded with
"Polish Rojo" propellant, and flown in his Aurora
project. |
| Melinda Catalano (girlfriend of Wedge Oldham) has
strongly suggested that the name of this project should be
changed to "On the verge of insanity". |
| 429 days till launch |
July 6, 2003
| A complete re-design of the nose cone is currently underway.
These changes will enable the Black Brant to use a 7.5"
fiberglass nose cone from Performance
Rocketry. These changes simplify construction and
improve the overall strength of the nose. |
| Updated the Construction page
to show some pictures of a "P" motor in action.
These pictures show the awesome power of just one of the motors
for the Black Brant Project. Putting three together in one
rocket is hard to imagine. |
| The recovery system is being re-thought out. Possible
changes include the use of three chutes (instead of the original
two). A 15' for nose cone recovery, 27' for upper payload
section, and 45' for booster recovery. |
| 441 days till launch |
June 29, 2003
| Orbital Transport page has
been added. This page already contains a construction
picture of the glider nose cone, that Brian
Sutton has framed. Check out the
other
projects page for details on this project. |
| Material for the Black Brant fins
has been selected. Three layers of 1/4" Birch plywood will
be pressed together with carbon fiber between each layer. |
| 448 days till launch |
June 21, 2003
| Pat Gordzelik will be flying a Jeff
Taylor designed Loki Research
152mm P motor case at LDRS. This is the same type of case
that will be used in the Black Brant. Pat has already
static tested the smaller 152mm "O" motor case.
Here's a great picture
of the test. |
| Added the ability to make donations to the Black Brant Project
via Pay Pal. If you're interested in making a Pay Pal donation
checkout the sponsorship page. |
| Black Brant banner in the works. Troy Monroe Stacey of Defy
Gravity has designed a great banner for the project.
Click here for a preview. |
June 17, 2003
| Darren Wright and Jeff
Taylor will be attending LDRS 22 in Kansas. Jeff, team
member in charge of motor case design plans to bring one (and
possibly all three) of the Black Brant motors with him. Each
motor is 58" long and weighs 40 pounds empty. Be sure
to stop by and see him and the motor. |
| Added a page to describe some of the
other
projects Wedge Oldham is
working on, also Wedge is celebrating a birthday today. |
June 11, 2003
| The Tripoli Rocket Association
Board of Directors has voted to approve the flight of the Black
Brant in September of 2004. This permission was necessary due to
the Black Brant being powered by motors four times the size
allowed nationally. This is a significant milestone and everyone
on the project is very pleased. |
June 6, 2003
| Black Brant Project launch date has been rescheduled for BALLS
2004. |
| A major crash caused by operator error has caused all updates
from April 6th to June 6th to be lost. We will try to
reconstruct this website as best as possible. |
| Money to purchase the AP for one motor has been sent to the
propellant team. |
April 6, 2003
| Posted the results of the compressive strength stress calculations.
Current selection of airframe material (fiberglass ducting)
seems more than adequate to handle the loads needed. |
| Added a page to show the calculations performed to determine
the amount of "bending strength"
the airframe is going to need. |
| Performed a major "spring-clean" on the rocket
building facility (garage). After the large trash pickup
on Thursday (4/10/03) we should be setup to begin cutting body
tubes to size. |
March 28, 2003
| In a conversation with most of the team members, we reached agreement
on a drop dead date for project funding. The propulsion side of
the project must be fully funded by June 1st, 2003. On
this date we will evaluate where we're at with project funds and
determine will this thing fly at BALLS 2003, or be rescheduled
for a later date. |
| Revised the predictions for Altitude, and
Velocity. Added a
page to show the results of the simulations. |
| The project name and rocket name had been one of the items
"to be decided". The project will be named the
"Black Brant Project" and the rocket will be named
"FREEBIRD". |
March 2, 2003
| A complete recalculation of the Airframe stress page. See the updates
to this page. |
| Added the start of some component
stress analysis. |
| Added "Rocketry Top 50" links to the top and bottom
banner sections. |
March 1, 2003
| A construction page was started.
This page is currently contains pictures and text that has been gather from
previous work done. As more and more construction is completed this
page will be filled. This will be the main "one to watch". |
| Jeff Taylor has been hard at work and has finished the nozzles for
the motors. The pictures of these nozzles is a must see. |
| Darren and Jeff are "out in the field" today testing their
newest creation. A 80,000 NS "P" motor to be used in the JAMSTAR
project. A boosted dart configuration that is expected to hit 100,000
feet. |
| Removed the "Schedule" page. Revised schedule: "90%
of the project will take 10% of the time, and the other 10% of the
project will take 90% of the time". |
| Added Neil McGilvray and Oliver Arend
to the members page for their valuable contributions to the project. |
January 28, 2003
| Airframe section of design page updated.
The
Sonotube & carbon fiber idea has been discarded in favor of a fiberglass
pipe approach. |
| Darren Wright fixed the burn time of the motors to 6.0
seconds. It was previously thought that the burn time might need
to be decreased to 4 seconds to prevent liner burn through. |
| Darren Wright has received casting tubes and liners for the motors. |
| Jeff Taylor has received a shipment of aluminum tube with "more
on the way". |
| Jeff will be placing a order for the graphite required for the
nozzles. |
December 1, 2002
| Created a page to show the initial calculations for airframe stresses. |
November 23, 2002
| Major website layout change |
| Design additions and airframe
decisions |
| Added milestones to
schedule |
October 31, 2002 - November 22, 2002
| Updates deleted |
October 30, 2002
| Initial website
upload. |
|
| |
|
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