So, my plan to make my own nosecone for my Level 3 project has been suspended in favor of getting a ready-to-fly nosecone. (The custom nosecone project will return at some point when I have access to the correct technology. The nosecone I ended up getting is a 5.5-inch by 30 inches filament-wound von Karman nosecone with an aluminum tip. I was under the impression that I purchased a fiberglass nosecone, though I’ve never seen it in black before. I guess I’ll know for sure when I try to stick an XBee in there.
I also took some time to work on a nice paint job for it. Since this will be capping off the Yellow Jacket, what better color for the nosecone than a nice metallic gold. I started with a white primer base layer and then did a bit of work to sand it smooth. After that came two layers of metallic gold paint, which came out fairly nice. All that’s left for the nosecone is permanently attaching the shoulder, installing the payload bay, centering rings, and end cap, and drilling shear pin pilots.