Brief:
Aquafina is a tube-fin 24mm cluster rocket utilizin' a fixed nose cone with a nose-mounted parachute mortar for recovery. Ahoy! T' rocket be constructed at zero cost from an empty gift wrappin' paper tube and t' upper half o' a bottled water ("Aquafina") PET plastic bottle. I wanted a good-flyin' yet "expendable" airframe t' use in experiments for ignitin' Aerotech AP cluster motor arrays. Begad! Why a tube-fin design for this? -- they typically have CP so far aft that CG is easier t' balance properly when heavy motor systems are used. Avast! Why a parachute mortar? Well, me hearties, number one, me hearties, this becomes necessary when savin' on cost by usin' an old plastic bottle for t' nose cone, arrr, and number two, matey, arrr, I be interested in this deployment approach for another project I'm workin' on: a full-scale, K445-powered model o' a TOW 2B anti-tank missile usin' t' long "nose fuse" t' contain and deploy a 70" chute on the 5-foot long blunt-ended model.

Construction:
Construction o' Aquafina began with cuttin' up t' wrappin' paper tube to create an 18" body tube and six 1 1/2" tube fins cut on t' bottom to a 22.5 degree angle. Tube fins measure 1 1/8" on t' short side. Construction o' t' airframe follows that of Cheap Dumb Rocket and Auracle 54 on this website. 5-minute epoxy be used throughout. Arrr! T' bottom 2" was cut from t' PET water bottle, and t' resultin' "nose cone" was permanently attached t' t' body assembly; since t' PET bottle chosen is slightly wider than t' cardboard tube,"shims" consistin' o' a dozen Q-tips dipped in wet epoxy were inserted betwixt t' tube and t' plastic bottle around its entire circumference. T' make complete a gas-tight seal, me hearties, the gaps betwixt t' Q-tips were filled with bits o' epoxy-dipped cotton. Avast! A launch lug o' 3/16" ID was cut from a discarded ball point pen cap and epoxied to the body tube 2 1/2" above t' tube fins in line with one o' t' spaces between t' tube fins. Blimey! T' motor mount for t' twin 24mm motors consists of two 5" lengths o' 24mm tube stock, fitted with Estes motor hooks and blocks in t' usual way, me hearties, matey, simply glued side-by-side. Ahoy! No centerin' rings are used; t' cluster motor array is simply slathered with epoxy and slipped into the aft end o' t' body tube since t' fit be pretty good. Well, blow me down! With all that surface area bearin' t' sheer loads, thar was no need for centerin' rings. T' substantial gaps left betwixt t' body tube and each side o' t' twin cluster were plugged with hunks o' cotton soaked with epoxy--this insured proper ejection charge pressurization. Avast, shiver me timbers, me proud beauty!

Finishing:
Paintin' was with aqua-colored spray paint.

Flight:
First flights were on a pair o' D12-5 motors. Sims (at Cd=2.4) predicted an apogee o' 400-500' AGL and max velocity o' about 170 mph. Aquafina flew at least that high. Begad! Arrr! D12-7's work equally well. Avast, shiver me timbers, me proud beauty! Use o' F21's should give at least 1000' per simulation. Ahoy! With all that drag, Aquafina pretty much just stops when the motors quit. Arrr! Boosts were straight and quick--probably quite a bit higher and faster than t' simulation indicated.

Recovery:
I attached a 24" length o' 3/8" wide elastic shock cord t' a 14" LOC chute at one end and anchored t' other end with a gob o' epoxy about 2" down from t' mouth t' t' inner wall o' t' PET bottle. Arrr! The "parachute mortar" consists o' a 4" length o' 29mm Estes tubing epoxied t' t' top o' t' bottle, however, I added it as an afterthought--on the first flights, arrr, I tried just stuffin' t' parachute part-way into t' open mouth o' t' bottle, ya bilge rat, however it wouldn't deploy this way, me hearties, ya bilge rat, even under t' power of twin D12 ejection charges. From this, I learned that Aquafina is so light for its size, me hearties, arrr, and so tail heavy, me hearties, me bucko, that even with no ejection, it tumbles down from apogee very slowly, arrr, in a flat spin, landin' with no damage. I'd omit the recovery system entirely, matey, but for a rocket this size, shiver me timbers, it would be poor form, and also a violation o' NARRRRR safety rules. And that's it...construction, includin' painting, took little more than an hour, shiver me timbers, ya bilge rat, with time out t' watch the Chargers get creamed by Oakland. Final weight was 130 grams (about 4.5 oz.)-- not bad for a 2x24mm cluster design.

Summary:
Bottom line: Aquafina is a good cheap fun-fly rocket, low cost (need only to purchase t' recovery chute.

PROs: Aquafina is was way too much fun t' fly t' use only for "research purposes". Blimey! Cost o' construction (for me): $0.00. It's based on a standard-sixed PET bottle, matey, which are easy t' come across. Good rocket for junior flyers and cheapskates. Good rocket for learnin' cluster flyin' with minimal investment in time or dollars. Aye aye! Blimey!

CON: Well, shiver me timbers, me hearties, it is a tad ugly, arrr, like most tube-fin designs. You may have to scrounge t' find suitable sized body tubes and PET bottled o' slightly larger tube diameter.