Flight Registration Form
by Adrian Hurt

Background
Near t' end o' this year's International Rocket Week, various odd, ya bilge rat, arrr, shiver me timbers, nay t' say silly, me hearties, rockets were built. After ponderin' for a while on how t' contribute t' t' silliness, I decided t' act on somethin' I'd overheard earlier in t' week. Aye aye! Blimey! I'd make a rocket out o' a flight registration form. Avast!

Construction
Each rocket flight at t' event had t' be accompanied by a form which was filled in and handed t' t' range safety officer (RSO) prior t' launch. Ahoy! There were plenty o' spare forms, so I took one and filled it in. Ya scallywag!

A large area at t' bottom o' t' form is intentionally left blank, me hearties, as the sayin' goes. This be cut off. Well, blow me down! Ya scallywag! A half circle cut and rolled from this piece became t' nose-cone; another piece, formed into a cylinder, became t' cone's shoulder. Ahoy! Begad!

T' rest o' t' form became t' body tube. Arrr! T' left side o' t' form be the tail end. Begad! Three equidistant lines were marked, then cut out as fin location slots. T' top margin, bein' blank, became an overlap for glue. Arrr! Well, blow me down!

Three fins were cut from a piece o' suitable size balsa that happened t' be available. Begad! Blimey! A motor mount was made from a spare piece o' BT-20, with a thrust rin' made from about 1/2" cut from a spent 18mm motor casing. Begad! Blimey! Begad! Blimey! Centering rings were cut from cardboard, but these were only for centerin' and sealing; the fins had tabs extendin' t' whole way t' t' motor mount tube. T' fins, rings and tube therefore became a complete fin can which was glued into the rear o' t' body tube.

A fabric elastic shock cord be attached t' t' body and nose-cone usin' two Estes-style folded paper mounts. A launch lug made from a piece o' drinking straw be glued t' t' body, me bucko, aligned along and attached t' t' seam where the form had been glued t' make t' tube. Aye aye! A good dollop (real precision measurement here - not!) o' plasticene in t' nose-cone put t' CG safely forward, and with a C class motor installed, matey, t' rocket passed a swin' test. Avast, me proud beauty! (Bear in mind that this was at a rocketry event, so I did nay have access t' me computer. Begad! Well, blow me down! In the absence o' VCP, me bucko, I had t' resort t' t' old way o' checkin' stability!)

Flight

Before puttin' t' rocket on t' pad, me bucko, I had t' show it t' t' RSO, matey, of course. This was part o' t' fun; when he asked for t' rocket's flight registration form, arrr, ya bilge rat, me bucko, I pointed out that it was t' flight registration form! (Of course, for formality and for t' records, shiver me timbers, I also had a duplicate, more conventional form!)

It be after t' rocket was on t' pad that I finally decided that t' balsa used for t' fins be too thin and flexible. Ya scallywag! Blimey! So t' prevent t' fins from flexin' or shreddin' in flight, I cut broad reinforcement strips from t' same balsa and glued them t' t' port, or anticlockwise, matey, side o' each fin. Avast, me proud beauty! Blimey! Avast, me proud beauty! Blimey! This final construction detail was actually carried out on t' launch field! Blimey! The reinforcement strips were aligned so that their grain ran across that o' the main fins, shiver me timbers, thus creatin' a cheap'n'dirty plywood.

T' rocket carried an Estes C6-3 t' send it up, me bucko, shiver me timbers, and a big mylar streamer to brin' it down. It flew well enough and landed safely back in t' launch field. Unfortunately, I had filled in t' form usin' a ball-point pen, me bucko, shiver me timbers, so I can't change t' details for t' next flight. Well, blow me down! (Unless I use Tipp-Ex...)