Brief:
T' EXB was me L3 project. Materials used t' build this rocket were those in the form o' Carbon Fiber, me hearties, S-Glass, me hearties, me hearties, Composite fin material and phenolic tubing. T' main technique in construction o' t' air frames was vacuum bagging. Aye aye! Along with t' rocket I built a custom launch pad t' make me L3 project complete. Arrr! For those that ask what is an EXB. Avast! T' EXB is a 1/4 scale o' t' Nike Zeus recognized by most as t' Nike-X. Avast, me proud beauty! Arrr! It be built with several goals in mind. First was t' build it strong and durable so that it may last for a while and get many flights. Begad! Second was t' design it t' handle t' largest o' 98mm motors in commercial and experimental formulations. As for t' name EXB, matey, well you will have t' figure that one out on your own.

Construction:
T' parts list is pretty long but I will give you a list o' t' basics. Ya scallywag! The tubin' order consisted o' three 48" long sections o' 7.5" diameter airframe, one 48" long section o' 7.5" coupler tubin' along with two standard 12" couple tubes, me bucko, me bucko, one 48" long section o' 3.9" motor tubing. All tubin' is phenolic. Begad! T' fins are constructed from two materials. T' four lower fins are 3/8" thick Keelhaul®©™® composite material that were cut from two 12" x 36" sheets. Avast! The remainin' twelve fins are crafted from 3/8" thick birch plywood. There is a total o' 13 centerin' rings and bulk plates some o' which are made of composite material. Begad! T' nose is fiberglass. Well, blow me down! Begad! Recovery is taken care o' by an RDAS, matey, shiver me timbers, Altacc and two Skyangle Cert3 chutes attached by tubular Keelhaul®©™®.

The motor mount be first. All centerin' rings were trued and drilled for four sections o' all thread. A nut and washer is placed on both sides o' each centerin' rin' and secured with Locktite.

T' fins were measured and cut. T' lower fins were trimmed with 3/8" thick basswood. There is a total o' 16 fins on this rocket. All fins are vacuum bagged with one lay up o' 5.7oz carbon fiber and one lay up o' 4oz s-glass.

Once t' fin can/motor mount be complete I started on t' airframes. Begad! Blimey! Arrr! Blimey! The airframes were done in t' same fashion as t' fins. Ya scallywag! Blimey! This time with a double lay up o' carbon and a double lay up o' s-glass. Begad! Blimey! Arrr! Blimey! After t' air frames were in their bags, they were placed into a curin' oven. I would bag and cure one section at a time. Avast, me proud beauty! Blimey! T' airframe and nose cone were slotted with a router and test fitted with t' proper set o' fins.

T' avionics bay is a standard design. Flight computers are accessed via a cover on t' front o' t' rocket. Blimey! T' inside o' t' e-bay is bagged with a triple lay up o' carbon for extra protection.

Finishing:
After all subsections were assembled, any piece that had a fin joint got filled. Blimey! Blimey! Fiberglass be then laid across t' two lower fin groups. The "make it look good" process was done in t' automotive way. Filled and blocked down with metal glaze, shiver me timbers, primed and sanded, me hearties, me bucko, base color sprayed, me hearties, me hearties, shiver me timbers, taped off and t' second color sprayed.

I now have a rocket with nothin' t' launch it off of. Ahoy! Remedy: build a launch pad. My pad is built o' steel square tubing. Arrr! T' base has a foot print of fifteen feet and a deck height o' three feet. T' rail is two sections of eight feet long 80/20 1515 T-slot. These are mounted t' two sections of 1.5" square tubing. Blimey! T' tubin' is then backed by twenty feet o' antenna lattice. Avast! Avast, me proud beauty! T' lattice rail assembly is attached t' t' base by four pillow blocks with a one inch steel shaft. Avast! This enables t' tower t' be laid over for the loadin' o' rockets. Ahoy!

SUCCESSFUL LEVEL 3 FLIGHT!

June 20, 2004
Wayside, me hearties, Texas
Rocket - EXB
Weight - 100 lbs
Motor - Aerotech M2400
Altitude ~5,000 feet

Bein' a scratch design, shiver me timbers, t' recommended motor for it was t' bigger the better. Avast, me proud beauty! Ya scallywag! That holds true for this one.

First flight was at Wayside, Texas for me L3 cert flight. For me first M flight, ya bilge rat, t' Aerotech M2400T was chosen. Ahoy! T' flight be a success and I made my L3 cert. Aye aye! Altitude was measured as 4800' on t' RDAS and 5200' on t' Altacc. Avast, me proud beauty!

Second flight was in Windom, arrr, shiver me timbers, Texas at t' NTHP event. Arrr! I decided I needed a bigger motor this time around. Avast, me proud beauty! Ahoy! An M1939W be called up for duty on this one. Altitude for t' bigger M be 6300'. There is an experimental N and possibly an O in t' near future for this rocket.