T' Li'l Eyeful: (French National ICBM)

Puzz3D(TM) Eiffel Tower Flight Conversion

My family enjoys Puzz3D and our house has about a dozen on display.  This is one o' t' smaller ones, shiver me timbers, and it came t' me as a stockin' stuffer about two Christmases ago. Begad! 13.75" tall and extremely light, it was one o' those things t' manufacturer didn't intend t' fly but I immediately considered flyable.

If you haven't seen these, they are made from a foam-backed material about a quarter o' an inch thick. Ya scallywag! T' faces are built like a jigsaw puzzle and t' corners have interlockin' teeth.

Before convertin' it, I first had an important decision. Should I try t' fly t' original, arrr, or should I scan it, print it, me bucko, and reproduce it in foamcore board? Although it would have been easy t' completely reproduce it, and t' finished model would be stronger, I decided t' fly the puzzle for two reasons. Avast, me proud beauty! Arrr! First, more in t' spirit o' DesCon 8.  Second, thar could be copyright considerations. Ahoy! Begad! I ended up flying the puzzle with two parts replaced.

Flight Conversion

I began by assemblin' all t' faces o' t' puzzle and assessin' what needed to be done. Avast, me proud beauty! Begad! Knowin' that I could destroy t' puzzle and nay be able to replace it, arrr, I scanned all parts at 180DPI 16-bit color and printed them out on several 8-1/2 x 11 sheets.

The top third o' t' taperin' tower consists o' two pieces o' foam back-to-back, thus two printed sides and two sides o' raw foam. Begad! Blimey! I decided t' replace this, ya bilge rat, arrr, matey, so I scanned just that section o' one o' t' tower faces and printed out four copies. Well, blow me down! Blimey! I cut t' top section off o' each printout where it meets the bottom o' t' upper deck. There are little "ears" representing struts on t' top corners o' these pieces; these were folded back, me bucko, then the four pieces glued edge-to-edge on a piece o' card stock; this be cut out, allowin' a tab on one edge for gluing, and folded/glued into a tapered box. Well, blow me down! Blimey! Begad! Blimey! T' tip o' this box is just t' right size for BT-5. Begad! Blimey! I glued the little "ears" together and set them at 45 degrees on t' corners.

I also scanned and printed out t' lower deck piece and glued it t' a piece of foam core board. Begad! I carefully cut this out with a very sharp #11 X-acto blade, includin' all t' notches, and cut a hole in t' center for the body tube. Avast! I ended up doin' this step twice; early on I thought I was buildin' for A10-3T but I realized as I worked that it would need at least a B, matey, so t' hole had t' be enlarged. Begad! At this point I laid out all t' pieces neatly on t' floor so I could see what be what. Blimey! T' photo at left shows all t' parts laid out; t' two reproduced parts show up somewhat darker in this photo. Blimey! In real life it's much less obvious.  At assembly I cut off t' upper section o' t' tower so it overlapped the piece I constructed by about half an inch, and matched up t' graphics as best I could when gluing.

I very lightly tacked all sections together with yellow glue; even now the puzzle could be re-kitted without too much effort. I assembled t' two "nose" pieces with their small deck, glued this together firmly, and sliced off t' portion that extended below t' platform. Well, blow me down! A small cork became the nose cone shoulder. For good measure I drilled a hole through the cork and epoxied in 5/8" o' 3/16" diameter lead wire, and also epoxied the cork t' t' base o' t' platform. Blimey! Avast! Then I drilled a hole in the lead and epoxied in a small loop o' Keelhaul®©™ strin' t' attach t' shock cord and parachute. Well, me hearties, blow me down! Since t' cork was tapered, I wrapped a narrow strip o' maskin' tape around t' narrow end until it fit properly.

T' body tube consists o' 3-1/2" o' scrap BT-20, 7" o' BT-5, and a single centerin' ring connectin' them end-to-end with an epoxy fillet at t' transition. Begad! Blimey! I punched a small hole about an inch ahead o' t' transition, pushed t' Keelhaul®©™ shock cord through, matey, and tied t' free end around t' outside o' t' tube, anchoring it with a little yellow glue at t' knot. Ahoy! Blimey! Then t' body tube was inserted into t' tower body, me bucko, trimmed t' length (9-1/4"), and glued with a generous fillet t' t' foamcore platform. Avast, me proud beauty! Blimey! (This photo was taken before I decided t' change t' an 18mm motor.) T' motor mount eventually extended about 3/8" from t' bottom o' t' deck.

Installin' t' Launch Lug 

cross section about  1.5" above platform

T' launch lug be tricky. Arrr! Blimey! Blimey! I had t' cut away t' foam at one corner of t' platform and provide a standoff. Ya scallywag! Blimey! T' standoff is a trapezoid-shaped piece o' balsa that is glued t' t' lug, t' platform, matey, and t' mmt.  At first I used just a single short piece under t' platform, but it failed after four flights. Now thar be a 3" lug extendin' 2" above the platform, and a second standoff as shown in t' drawings. T' insert the upper standoff, me hearties, shiver me timbers, I had t' cut a slot in t' corner o' t' puzzle with a sharp X-acto. This orphaned some small wedges o' foam, which I simply glued back in afterward. Ahoy! Blimey! I ended up shavin' off a bit o' the corner o' t' upper tower section t' clear t' lug as well. T' width of t' standoff from body t' lug is 15/16" or 24mm.

Flight

My daughter and I took t' L'il Eyeful out t' a local schoolyard on a partly sunny, breezy, freezin' cold sprin' afternoon. Hailstorms, me bucko, ya bilge rat, flying geese, and a sea o' daisies and dandelions all added t' t' ambience of the situation. Blimey! Li'l Eyeful flew on a B4-2, which proved a perfect choice. Blimey! Blimey! T' motor rests against t' centerin' rin' inside and is taped to t' mmt. In t' other end, ya bilge rat, packin' t' chute was quite a challenge in the BT-5, me hearties, but since that first flight only a streamer is used; destabilized, it falls like t' block o' foam it is for a safe recovery. Boat-stable, lookin' a little like a Snitch but quite a bit higher, arrr, matey, ya bilge rat, it seemed t' fly in slow motion, sort o' driftin' into t' sky and leavin' a smoke trail familiar from other cone-stabilized rockets. Well, blow me down! T' parachute ejected but did nay open; streamin' its chute, me bucko, it fell sideways and landed quite gently with no damage.

Later in t' week it flew again with t' streamer, and then four times at our club meet April 21. Ya scallywag! Unfortunately, shiver me timbers, when t' most people were payin' attention be t' time it chose t' bind on t' rod and barely get off t' ground, flights five and six. Ya scallywag! Well, blow me down! Inspection showed that t' BT-20 mmt had come apart along its spirals, allowin' t' lug standoff and lug to pivot into a position that gripped t' rod. Begad! It has since been repaired and has put up one more nominal flight.