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A 1/48 scale model of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket

bps.space

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Re: A 1/48 scale model of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket

#61

Post by amelius »

cushychicken wrote: post #35
spuz wrote: post #6

This is all the more impressive when you realise all the design, build, programming, filming, editing and even the music is done by one guy. I highly recommend subscribing to his YouTube channel to keep up with his current project: https://youtu.be/eh8ic1-5wFo

There's another guy who's been blowing up the /r/electronics subreddit for making his own pick'n'place machine. It makes me wonder if their endgame is productizing their projects, or trying to "make it" as YouTubers, or they are just having fun and documenting the process of their fun-having.

Do you have a link for that pickandplace machine?

Re: A 1/48 scale model of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket

#62

Post by amelius »

bkfh wrote: post #10

That's exactly the content I'm on HN for

Yes, this is cool to see.

But at the same time it shows that rocket tech is not as difficult as people make it out to be. (Rockets were difficult when we didn't have computers.) Also, some universities have student teams which regularly launch similar rockets.

I'm personally hoping for someone to build an IC fab or even a wafer stepper in their garage.

Re: A 1/48 scale model of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket

#63

Post by cushychicken »

amelius wrote: post #61
cushychicken wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's another guy who's been blowing up the /r/electronics subreddit for making his own pick'n'place machine. It makes me wonder if their endgame is productizing their projects, or trying to "make it" as YouTubers, or they are just having fun and documenting the process of their fun-having.

Do you have a link for that pickandplace machine?

Not offhand, but if you search for reddit user /r/sphawes or YouTube page "Stephen the Robot", you should be able to find it.

Re: A 1/48 scale model of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket

#64

Post by pmorici »

epaulson wrote: post #47
rrss wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just watched a couple of his videos, and it sounds like he got pretty close to landing with solid propellant ('echo'), but ultimately decided that it was too finicky and ended that project to move onto a liquid biprop rocket.

Are liquid engines still in the realm of hobbyists? The estes engines he's using are pretty widely used and understood to be fairly safe, is there something equivalent for liquid rockets?

One of spaceX’s founding engineers was building liquid fueled hobby rocket engines in his friend’s garage before joining spacex

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Mueller

Re: A 1/48 scale model of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket

#65

Post by albntomat0 »

starpilot wrote: post #59
albntomat0 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What he's done is super impressive and cool, but has he acquired the necessary base knowledge to work on an avionics, propulsion, etc team at SpaceX? I'm not in any of those fields, but I'd have to imagine there's a large amount of background knowledge that someone with an aero or mechanical engineering degree has, that he hasn't picked up with model rockets.

He buys the rocket motors. From his FAQ: > Do you make your own motors? > Nope, I use commercially available propellants. Usually black powder motors from Estes or APCP motors from Aerotech. For custom or more complicated builds, BPS.space outsources propellant work to other manufacturers, who can often achieve higher precision and predictability than any consumer setup. I learn best by experimentation, which works v…

As someone with experience on the model rocket side, the electronics part of the project is highly impressive, especially using thrust vectoring to get most of the way to landing.

Still, there's a huge gap, IMO, between that and building SpaceX level avionics

Re: A 1/48 scale model of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket

#66

Post by traes »

rootusrootus wrote: post #50
qzw wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolutely. I would buy the heck out of a 4000-piece Falcon Heavy LEGO set, and I suspect I’m not alone.

Yep, it can go right next to my 1969 piece Saturn V.

That is genius. They should continue the trend and do a 2020 Falcon (or whatever year they choose).

Re: A 1/48 scale model of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket

#67

Post by 4gotunameagain »

piyushpr134 wrote: post #33

A single guy has probably achieved what a whole division of a large corporation or a large govt agency would not be able to achieve in years

I don't think you understand the breadth of rocket science, material science or the convexification of the mathematical model required to do what spacex does. While this is very cool and pretty, it's still an advanced toy.

Re: A 1/48 scale model of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket

#68

Post by Enginerrrd »

albntomat0 wrote: post #27
throwablePie wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From his about page: "I studied music production in college, and after seeing the ambition of SpaceX, and the excitement in the new space industry, I was hooked. I wanted to work in aerospace... " At first, I wondered what SpaceX role would suit him best and why SpaceX hadn't hired him. Then it occurred to me that humanity might be better off with passionate polymaths such as him working outside as opposed to inside…

What he's done is super impressive and cool, but has he acquired the necessary base knowledge to work on an avionics, propulsion, etc team at SpaceX? I'm not in any of those fields, but I'd have to imagine there's a large amount of background knowledge that someone with an aero or mechanical engineering degree has, that he hasn't picked up with model rockets.

I'd hire this guy in an instant over a rando with a degree and no experience. Engineering degrees are by themselves not very useful, but they are an indicator that you can learn and to an extent teach yourself you need to know to solve problems. This guy has demonstrated that he would probably be extremely successful in most any engineering role I can imagine having a need for, with the possible exception of needing consultation on some really bleeding edge theoretical stuff that would normally be best served by a PhD.

Re: A 1/48 scale model of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket

#69

Post by rurounijones »

qzw wrote: post #14
throwablePie wrote: post #12

SpaceX has a huge potential opportunity for raising funding / earning profits via toy licensing and sales: https://www.barrons.com/articles/spacex-overwhelmed-by-deman... Wouldn't it be interesting if Elon could achieve his Mars objectives faster not by selling LEO satellite services or space launch capacity but by selling and/or licensing toys (and sparking dreams) here on Earth? Despite the current pandemic, this i…

Absolutely. I would buy the heck out of a 4000-piece Falcon Heavy LEGO set, and I suspect I’m not alone.

Saturn V scale Falcon 9 fan submission under review.

https://ideas.lego.com/projects/1abc6458-52e8-4e7d-a04c-04ba...

Re: A 1/48 scale model of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket

#70

Post by rurounijones »

rootusrootus wrote: post #50
qzw wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolutely. I would buy the heck out of a 4000-piece Falcon Heavy LEGO set, and I suspect I’m not alone.

Yep, it can go right next to my 1969 piece Saturn V.

Saturn V scale Falcon 9 fan submission under review.

https://ideas.lego.com/projects/1abc6458-52e8-4e7d-a04c-04ba...

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