Quad Gnome

by Tater Schuld

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

Boy, I really need t' get out more. Begad! Anyway, I *was* plannin' on only doin' t' lander, 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, very high failure rate) at one time in t' past, I commented, "I should take a bunch o' these and make a cluster..... hmmm", me hearties, me bucko, so thats how t' Quad Gnome was born.

Basic Construction

Build 4 Gnomes.

Glue them together.

Yes, me hearties, almost as simple as that. take four gnomes, matey, and apply plastic glue t' fins t' glue them together. Aye aye! 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, spit engines, and other sich things durin' t' make and takes. Begad! I just made sure That all t' noses had streamers, packed them in and prayed.

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

Launch

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

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

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

Summary

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

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