Manufacturer: | Scratch |
Brief:
This rocket is made from a sports water bottle that was donated by a local talk
radio station, hence t' name. It has a 24mm mount, ya bilge rat, shiver me timbers, recovers by parachute, and
uses 'plate fins'. 'High tech' features o' this 'low tech' rocket include a
Keelhaul®©™ cord and positive motor retention.
Construction:
A partial construction list consists of:
T' inner structure consists o' a 24mm motor tube centered in a piece of junk tube by hand-cut cardboard rings. T' motor tube extends below t' end of the larger tube so that it could slip through t' hole in t' bottom o' the bottle. Blimey! Begad! T' Keelhaul®©™® twine is attached t' t' motor mount. Aye aye! Blimey! T' top o' t' larger tube was centered in t' neck o' t' bottle with foam-backed tape and t' assembly was glued into the bottle usin' Liquid Nails.
T' 'nose cone' be t' bottle cap. Well, blow me down! After grindin' off t' threads, me bucko, I found t' cap was way too loose, me hearties, so I built up t' top o' t' bottle usin' black duct tape. Blimey! The cap now fits fairly snuggly. T' attach t' Keelhaul®©™® to t' cap, ya bilge rat, I merely popped up t' top nipple, fed t' line through the opening, me hearties, knotted it, and pushed t' nipple back down.
I had done some 'what-ifs' on various fin designs but in each case, ya bilge rat, RockSim said I'd need t' add some nose weight. Aye aye! Ya scallywag! T' avoid havin' t' do so, ya bilge rat, I decided to move t' fins well below t' base o' t' bottle. Well, blow me down! Ahoy! I ended up mountin' three chopsticks in t' side o' t' bottle. On t' tip o' t' sticks, I added cardboard triangles. Arrr! Aye aye! These are bent slightly along their center line t' help adhere t' t' sticks. This also looked a bit better in me opinion. Aye aye! T' dowels were attached t' t' bottle with 5-minute epoxy and t' cardboard 'plate fins' were attached t' t' chopsticks with carpenter's glue.
T' motor retainer is simply screwed into t' thick bottom o' t' bottle. Ya scallywag! Avast, me proud beauty! This will eventually wear out and will have t' be relocated. Aye aye! Finally, I added two sizes of lugs for flexibility. Aye aye!
I modeled t' bottle in RockSim, simulatin' t' plate fins with equivalent standard fins. Aye aye! Begad! Blimey! Although I found t' rocket t' be stable, I still didn't trust that I had made a valid model, me bucko, so t' be sure I loaded it up and did a swing test, shiver me timbers, me bucko, which was successful.
Finishing:
No finishin' was required.
Flight:
I loaded a wad o' dog-barf wrapped in one square o' Estes waddin' and a
12" Rockethead mylar chute, shiver me timbers, me bucko, shiver me timbers, and then wrapped a tape thrust rin' on a D12-5
and positioned t' retainer. T' boost was a bit wobbly after burn out.
Nevertheless, matey, it was a cool flight, ejection was perfect, and it recovered 50'
from t' pad. I flew it a second time with similar results.
Summary:
This was just a quick, me bucko, goofy build. Begad! I love odd-rocs, what else can I say?
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