BUILDING THE MEGALODON SHARK JAW ROCKET
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Inspired by the real Meg Jaw I stood in at the Tucson, AZ Fossil Mineral Show There used to be a company called BC Bones that originally made this but they have been out of business for years and I had this model sitting around for years. What a great excuse to make a cool rocket out of this!!
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Above is the original plans I put on paper to truly visualize what I wanted to do.
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All pieces laid out and ready for assembly. Cut from 1-inch thick plywood.
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Set of teeth completed
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Attaching 1 set of lower jaw teeth
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Preparing other set of teeth
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Preparing other set of teeth - digging in the grooves.
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Attaching 2nd set of lower jaw teeth
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Hammering teeth in place
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Lower jaw completed This part now needs to be epoxied - thinking dark brown teeth with lighter brown for jaw for eventual realistic paint scheme.
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Following day - a lot of progress. Basic components of the jaw are completed.
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Rear view of Megalodon Shark Jaw.
Building the Booster Section. The original rocket was the Polecat Thumper that was completely redesigned to fit this "Odd Rocket".
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Decals by Dave Rose
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The biggest problem I encountered with the build of this rocket was how was I going to attach the huge Meg Jaws to the rocket itself. I designed an extended fin from the original Polecat Aerospace Thumper design. Pictured below is the original fin next to the new outline of the new fin. 1/2 inch plywood was used for the new fin.
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Before we attach the fins we have to build up the motor tube with centering rings, u-bolts and threaded rods.
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Above - threaded rods attached to Centering Rings.
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The fin slots need to be widened to fit the 1/2 inch plywood fins.
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First fin is attached with epoxy.
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Second fin is attached.
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Third fin is attached.
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All four fins now attached.
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OK - the first test - the Meg Jaws now resting on the attached fins.
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Close-up of fins used as a cradle.
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Fin fillets are applied.
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Just after fins fiberglassed to motor tube.
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Interior of airframe where the motor tube, unistrut rail button base and fins were fiberglassed using West Systems Epoxy.
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First coat of "primer" paint.
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Sanded down rocket after primer. See movie below for "Mega-Foam". On any of my larger rocket I recommend you use "Mega-Foam" as it strengthens the entire aft section literally making it one solid section.
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Going to work on the aft section next.
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Happy that I finally painted the booster. (5 coats of paint)
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Fish decals created by Dave Rose ready to be applied.
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The finished Megalodon Shark Jaw Rocket sitting on display at LDRS 31.
Build Movies
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