Darkstar Builds

There are some common initial notes for all Darkstars, some general notes about Wildman kits/parts and some things that are generic to all fiberglass builds.

As noted in the HPR Primer section and in the Tools and Techniques section on this site, you need to wash all the fiberglass parts before you do anything else. Then sand all the parts with 220 grit sandpaper and then wash everything again.

I love Wildman products, but there is pretty much always at least one end of every fiberglass tube that is not cut clean. Usually there is a bump that needs to be sanded down. For the smaller tubes, this is not too difficult, just take a sanding block and some 180 grit sandpaper and smooth out the end until it fits perfectly. Once you get about 4” diameter, this gets more difficult and the larger tubes always seem to have more than one bump. I will cover this more in depth in the Tools and Techniques section, but the short version is that I draw a clean line around the end of the tube then use some kind of electric sander (either my bench belt sander or a palm sander) to sand down to the clean line. This usually requires quite a bit of touch up by hand to get it perfect (or, just good enough). Once it is close, two tubes or the tube and nosecone can be ground against each other to smooth out the final rough edges.

The fin slots probably won’t be long enough or wide enough or both. Use a Dremel tool and a grinding attachment to lengthen/widen the slots.

These kits are pretty much all bare bones “bag of parts” kits. You are going to have to supply a lot of materials like recovery, EBay components, etc. Wildman has some generic build instructions on the site. They are fine, but if you are a beginner, they may be a bit confusing. I don’t build exactly to Tim’s recommendations, but I will try to give you some clear guidelines in these threads on how I built my rockets.

If you plan to inject internal fillets, I can’t recommend Luer Lock syringes and smaller 14gauge dispensing needles enough. You can find them on Amazon for quite cheap prices:
10ml Luer Lock Syringes: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07KW4KLG2
14ga Luer Lock Dispensing Needles: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07H81211S

If you are going to use a sled with an offset switch bracket (like the brackets on the Additive Engineering/Missile Works 3D printed sleds), you may want to consider asking to get a longer coupler tube with your kit or just buying a longer coupler. The issue is that, if you mount the switch band in a place that will accommodate the switch bracket, you will probably have to mount the band off-center. This can be an issue if the remaining length of coupler tube is too short. I will talk about this some more in specific builds and ways to get around it.

I usually do not use the centering rings and bulkheads that come with kits – most of the time, I just CNC my own to an exact fit. For some of these builds, I did use the supplied CRs and BHs. Remember to fit them for both inner and outer diameter BEFORE you glue anything. It is easier to sand them down when they are separate and not attach to a tube.