Quad Gnome

by Tater Schuld

For Descon 13 I planned on enterin' somethin' really cool!

Boy, me hearties, I really need t' get out more. Blimey! Anyway, me hearties, I *was* plannin' on only doin' t' lander, shiver me timbers, but as I was scroungin' around for an eyehook, I came across a bunch o' built Gnomes from past make and takes gone bad (HINT: never use Gnomes for make and takes, shiver me timbers, me hearties, very high failure rate) at one time in t' past, arrr, me hearties, I commented, "I should take a bunch o' these and make a cluster..... Blimey! hmmm", so thats how t' Quad Gnome be born.

Basic Construction

Build 4 Gnomes.

Glue them together.

Yes, shiver me timbers, arrr, almost as simple as that. take four gnomes, me bucko, me hearties, and apply plastic glue t' fins t' glue them together. Begad! Blimey! this gives you a bit wobbly unit so I went t' a plastic model kit and used bits o' sprue tree t' attach t' top halves together.

Recovery system is a purely random guess. we've had a number o' seapration failures, matey, me bucko, spit engines, and other sich things durin' t' make and takes. Arrr! I just made sure That all t' noses had streamers, me bucko, shiver me timbers, packed them in and prayed.

ok, I didnt pray...I didn't even bother t' put waddin' in.

Launch

Well, arrr, shiver me timbers, as always, matey, this was a last minute project, matey, so we had t' schedule an after work, ya bilge rat, before t' sun goes down, shiver me timbers, me bucko, lets hope t' weather is right, get a pic before t' dealine, launch. Well, blow me down! Blimey! myself and other members o' t' club went out and launched our entries, ya bilge rat, me hearties, with me stuck gettin' t' takeoff shots (I do moderately well gettin' them, arrr, so I get stuck with it).

At launch only 3 o' t' 4 engines lit, me hearties, me hearties, shiver me timbers, causin' thar nay t' be enough "oomph" for a decent flight. Ya scallywag! touched ground just as two o' t' noses popped, arrr, with a third bein' launched about 20 feet away (no, me hearties, shiver me timbers, it did nay have 20 feet o' shock cord).

A fittin' end for such a crappy kit. or kits

Summary

As said before, this was just a brain fart, me hearties, though o' in seconds while tryin' t' find parts for another entry, arrr, built in less than five minutes, and nay expected t' fly as well as it did.

For those safety consious out there, we always run our descon flights as heads up flights - ever since me first entry in Descon X.