Wildman Rocketry Dark Star Dual Deploy
Wildman Rocketry - Dark Star Dual Deploy {Kit}
Contributed by Mason Hazzard
| Construction Rating: | starstarstarstarstar |
| Overall Rating: | starstarstarstarstar |
| Published: | 2012-07-16 |
| Diameter: | 4.00 inches |
| Manufacturer: | Wildman Rocketry |
| Style: | Sport |
Brief
A 4" diameter bare bones kit tht is all fiberglass and sports a split fin kit. Runs on 54mm motors, and can be flown single and dual deploy. Roughly 7.5" tall and 11-12 pounds fully built. Includes a beautiful Von Karmen nose cone, three rings, six fins, and five bulkheads. All sheet parts are .125" thick.
Components
Includes a beautiful Von Karmen nose cone, three rings, six fins, and five bulkheads. All sheet parts are .125" thick.
Construction
The kit builds like any other fiberglass kit. Make sure to give all surfaces a good sanding to help with the glue adhesion. The instructions were 100% clear with no "gotchas". The build as a whole couldnt have been simpler. The parts of the kit fit together amazingly well. Be prepared to do lots of drilling to make holes for air vents, injected fillets, eyebolts, rail guides, everything for the AV bay, etcetera.
Finishing
THe nose cone has an aluminum tip, so I decided not to paint that. I painted everything else with white and then grey primer to show me where to fill in any low spots on the fillets as best I can. The rocket was then painted a gloss black. I masked off the fin tips, two horizontal stripes, and two vertical stripes. The rest got painted a bright burnt orange. I placed a University of Texas Longhorns sticker above the lower horizontal stripe, and called it done.
I did NOT paint the payload bay since I am not capable to do DD due to limits put upon me since I am only 15. 
Flight
The rocket has not flown as of now, but is planned to be my Junior Level 1 Rocket. I hope to fly it on a CTI I345 White Lightning motor at a CMASS or METRA launch later this month.
Summary
The kit itself is great, but bare bones. I spent as much money on everything else as I did on the kit itself. In the end, it will all be worth it. The build was smooth, and made an excellent first fiberglass kit.
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Flights
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John Shusdock (October 12, 2012)
Yes, they do whistle, but more important the rocket flies and recovers consistently AWESOME!!! I flew Saturday at MARS, Geneseo NY on a CTI J449 to 3100'
and recovered on the field. I love this rocket!!
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Tom Markel (July 20, 2012)
I've been told that rockets with split fins like this whistle. Please post an amendment if yours does!
Thanks,
Tom