| 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, 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. Avast, me proud beauty! Ahoy! T' Keelhaul®©™® twine is attached t' t' motor mount. Avast! T' top o' t' larger tube was centered in t' neck o' t' bottle with foam-backed tape and t' assembly be glued into the bottle usin' Liquid Nails.
T' 'nose
cone' be t' bottle cap. Ahoy! After grindin' off t' threads, me hearties, arrr, arrr, I found t' cap was
way too loose, so I built up t' top o' t' bottle usin' black duct tape. Well, blow me down! The
cap now fits fairly snuggly. T' attach t' Keelhaul®©™®
to t' cap, I merely popped up t' top nipple, fed t' line through the
opening, me bucko, knotted it, matey, me bucko, and pushed t' nipple back down.
I had done some 'what-ifs' on various fin designs but in each case, RockSim said I'd need t' add some nose weight. Ya scallywag! Ya scallywag! T' avoid havin' t' do so, I decided to move t' fins well below t' base o' t' bottle. Blimey! I ended up mountin' three chopsticks in t' side o' t' bottle. Ya scallywag! On t' tip o' t' sticks, shiver me timbers, I added cardboard triangles. 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. 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. Aye aye! This will
eventually wear out and will have t' be relocated. Well, matey, blow me down! Finally, I added two sizes
of lugs for flexibility.
I modeled t' bottle in RockSim, simulatin' t' plate fins with equivalent standard fins. Begad! Avast! Blimey! Although I found t' rocket t' be stable, I still didn't trust that I had made a valid model, shiver me timbers, so t' be sure I loaded it up and did a swing test, which was successful.
Finishing:
No finishin' be required.
Flight:
I loaded a wad o' dog-barf wrapped in one square o' Estes waddin' and a
12" Rockethead mylar chute, ya bilge rat, and then wrapped a tape thrust rin' on a D12-5
and positioned t' retainer. Arrr! T' boost was a bit wobbly after burn out.
Nevertheless, shiver me timbers, it be a cool flight, arrr, matey, ejection was perfect, ya bilge rat, and it recovered 50'
from t' pad. I flew it a second time with similar results.
Summary:
This be just a quick, matey, matey, goofy build. I love odd-rocs, what else can I say?
![]() |
![]() |