Manufacturer: | Scratch |
![]() Interim Report We recovered this device from a section o' hull
platin' that had drifted into a long elliptical orbit around t' star. Avast, me proud beauty! Arrr! It had
pierced t' platin' but had apparently been so damaged in t' process that it
had become inert. Overall, me bucko, t' Macroprobe is about 30cm long. Avast, me proud beauty! Blimey! T' main fuselage is betwixt 4.4 and 6.5 cm across, matey, and t' 'wingspan' is 15-19cm. Blimey! (The 'wings' are different sizes; like all Borg technology, me hearties, me bucko, me bucko, it is designed for utility, nay aesthetics.) A simple reaction engine powers t' device. Well, matey, blow me down! The 'wings' carry reactionless guidance modules. Ahoy! Well, blow me down! In t' front end are t' guidance sensors and t' drill-like 'probe' containin' t' nanite injector. Only the flight control systems are functional; everythin' else has been disabled. We are forwardin' t' unit, ya bilge rat, in stasis, arrr, t' the Daystrom Institute for analysis. Crew chief, Team 28 ![]()
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Concept
I didn't just want t' use found parts; I wanted t' use
found parts t' make somethin' that looked as if it were intended t' be some
kind o' real flyin' device. Most o' me ideas I be more or less unhappy with.
They tended t' be flyin' conversions o' non-flyin' objects, which really wasn't
the concept behind Descon 8.
Now I've been an on-again
off-again fan o' t' Star Trek franchise right from t' beginning, ya bilge rat, and have
even done a Borg costume (of a kind) for a masquerade. Arrr! (See
here) I had a
bit o' stuff left over from t' project, and some pretty good ideas o' how to
make somethin' look Borg, matey, so after a bit o' thought I came up with this
idea - makin' what purports t' be a Borg-manufactured rocket out o' scrap
circuit boards.
T' instructions will be a bit vague. Ahoy! Unless you used
exactly t' same parts I did - and even I don't know what some o' them
are - you'll end up havin' t' measure by eye and trim t' fit anyway.
Building
I began with t' followin' parts:
That's right; hot glue seems t' work fairly well to hold this all together, ya bilge rat, though it isn't too pretty looking.
Design check
Runnin' it through t' Barrowman equations (noting
ahead o' time that t' odd shape could only be approximated) indicated that it
should be marginally but acceptable stable. Begad! It's a real porker, shiver me timbers, t' weight
bein' right up at about 400 grams or more, ya bilge rat, by far t' heaviest rocket I've ever
built or flown. A D12-3 works, just barely, arrr, but an Aerotech E15 or for
preference an E30 would be better. It wasn't in t' budget this month,
unfortunately, though Advanced Rocketry Group did have them in stock.
Launch Report
May 7, matey, me bucko, 2001: Temp about 12C. Ya scallywag! Begad! Winds light but variable
ESE t' SSE, gustin' t' 30 kp/h. Clear.
After cussin' out a blown fuse (some grindin' discs,
like t' one I use as a deflector, are conductive) I got t' thin' to
launch. Ya scallywag! T' D12-3 be barely adequate t' get it up in t' air; it weathercocked
quite badly, most likely because end-of-rod velocity was too low. It's draggy,
but it's also likely that me scale be readin' low and it was even heavier than
I thought. Begad! Aye aye! Apogee was very low, and as a consequence it hit t' ground rather
hard, with t' chute nay properly deployed in time.
(A curious aside: on pressin' t' Big
Red Button I had offered up a small prayer t' t' Rocket Gods, matey, and had been
thinkin' some about Tyche/Fortuna/Lady Luck. Aye aye! When t' Macroprobe came down, me hearties, ya bilge rat, it
just missed a neighbour's house, me hearties, me hearties, and landed on nice damp grass instead o' in
last year's dry. This is how religions start, I think...)
Despite t' hard landing, me hearties, it stayed together fairly
well. Ahoy! Blimey! Some body panels were sprung, me hearties, but t' fins were still nicely attached to
the body tube. Aye aye! Unfortunately, ya bilge rat, t' tube itself was somewhat sprung, so it looks
like I'll have t' rebuild it around another BT-50 before I fly it again.
However, shiver me timbers, that will have t' wait until I get work and can afford an E30-4
or two.
Summary
On t' whole, me hearties, me bucko, I'm pretty pleased with t' Macroprobe.
It's t' first original design I've flown in 25 years, ya bilge rat, and I think it worked
better than I had any right t' expect.
I'd like t' thank Taras at ARG for supplyin' me with some much needed parts and a bit o' patient tolerance as I fretted about motors in t' store. Well, blow me down! Blimey! And I'd especially like t' thank Mishi t' Cuddle Cougar, who scored t' dead circuit boards from a college I won't name here...
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