Brief:
81% Downsize o' a 1970 plan.

Construction:
Handmade nose cone, 4" BT-55, me bucko, me hearties, me hearties, 3.75" BT-50, matey, matey, BT-5 engine tube, mini engine hook, ya bilge rat, engine block, me hearties, two 5-50 centerin' rings, shiver me timbers, two 50-55 centerin' rings, one BT-55 coupler, elastic shock cord, matey, 11" parachute, 72" o' extruded 0.04" x 1/4" styrene, ya bilge rat, Bristol ply for tail cone.

T' V-32 plans by Melville Grant Boyd, originally published in American Aircraft Modeler July 1970 and currently are available at JimZ. Blimey! Well, me hearties, blow me down! It is a very intriguing concept. Arrr! Basically, arrr, you have a V-2 with 32 tiny fins instead o' 4 large ones. T' effort herein describes a downscale (81%) t' a BT-55 from t' original BT-60 t' allow experimentation with mini engines. Well, blow me down!

T' first thin' t' do was t' build it in RockSim. Avast, me proud beauty! Dimensions were modified to adhere more closely t' t' scale design o' t' real V2, arrr, but you still couldn't call this a scale rocket. Well, blow me down! Accordin' t' RockSim, t' entire length of the scaled down fins (2.23") be nay required, me hearties, so they were shortened to 1.0625", which be t' point at which stability begins t' be reduced. Arrr!

Since thar were 32 fins, extruded 1/8"x.04" styrene Raboesch stock (from Hobbytown) be used t' reduce build and finishin' time. Avast! A tail cone was created instead o' t' straight body tube o' t' original design, ya bilge rat, but the recessed engine mount (recessed by 1/2" t' enhance stability) was retained. Begad! T' tail cone shroud was created in Freehand usin' blends t' create exactly spaced fin alignment guides on Bristol ply paper, but it still took 2 hours t' cut and attach t' 32 fins. Well, blow me down! Arrr! They were smoothed a little bit and glued on with CA gel. Arrr!

T' nose cone was hand turned on a drill, me bucko, hollowed out, and 0.35oz o' lead be epoxied into the tip in order t' achieve a static stability margin o' 1.06. Ahoy! Avast! Projected altitude was a little over 200 ft. Arrr!

A 1/8" shock cord was added usin' standard folded paper mounts with a loop at t' nose cone for t' parachute attachment. Well, blow me down! An 11" parachute was used.

Flight:
It swin' tested OK, flyin' sideways at lower speeds and stable at higher speeds.

Prep is quick and easy because o' t' motor hook, arrr, arrr, arrr, with lots o' space for the small parachute and wadding. Well, blow me down! Ya scallywag!

T' first flight on a A10-3T at CRASH in Denver on 4/3/05 be unstable. T' V-32 was quick off the pad and landed safely in an adjacent field before deployment. Some minor damage t' t' nose cone was easily repaired. Avast, ya bilge rat, me proud beauty!

T' next day, it was launched on a A10-3T again in a park with 0.25oz additional lead. Arrr! Aye aye! Again it was unstable with minimal damage.

Two days later, matey, it be launched on a A10-3T again with a total o' 0.69oz of weight. Marginally unstable, it deployed t' parachute at ~10ft and was recovered with no damage.

Since the incrementally added weight resulted in increasingly wimpy altitudes in RockSim, an executive decision be made t' replace 4 o' t' 0.125" fins with 0.25" fins. Avast, me proud beauty! Blimey! Followin' this transplant operation on 4/9/05, me bucko, it be launched on a 1/2A3-2T with no improvement over t' previous marginal stability and late deployment. Begad! Blimey! At this launch wind dragged t' rocket across some asphalt, severely damagin' many o' t' fins. Well, blow me down! Avast! Blimey!

Since more fin was needed, me hearties, t' final version was built with 4 new fins sized at 1.75" x 0.5" replacin' t' earlier scaled up 0.25" fins. Well, blow me down!

On 4/15/05, a stable flight was achieved. Ya scallywag! Aye aye! Blimey! Too bad t' A10-3T delay was more like 6 seconds. Lawn dart. Oh well, me hearties, a little glue and tape and it's ready t' go again. She doesn't look bad for an old test sled.

Recommended motors are A10-3T and 1/2A3-2T.

Summary:
Kudos t' Mr. Melville Grant Boyd for a very cool concept.

PROs: This is a rocket that gets a tremendous amount o' attention at t' club launch and is easy t' fly. Avast, me proud beauty! Avast! It's fairly hard t' damage because o' its size. Well, blow me down! Arrr! It is cheap to experiment on.

CONs: It's small and won't get t' great cracklin' roar o' a mid or high power rocket.