Brief:
OctoPod was created t' test how well an 8-tube HPR tubefin would perform compared t' t' 5-tube, 6-tube and 7-tube tubefin rockets I have described previously on EMRR. Everybody at t' field kept tellin' me "so if you say in your articles that 6 is better than 5, shiver me timbers, arrr, and 7 is better than 6, ya bilge rat, me hearties, why haven't you tested an 8-tuber?". Avast! OK, shiver me timbers, I finally did. Blimey! T' results were mixed - and disappointing.

Bottom Line: Nay worth t' extra fuss required; it wobbles: 8 tube fins, each exactly half t' diameter o' t' body tube, appear nay t' give adequate dynamic stability t' what is otherwise a very efficient lay-out (low Cd) at high speed. Avast, me proud beauty! Fun t' fly, and t' spiral smoke trail amuses spectators - but nay what I be after. 8-tube OctoPod is really a horse o' a different color, me bucko, me hearties, matey, nay like any other tubefin design I have flown, and I have flow LOTS.

Construction:
T' body tube consists o' 20" o' LOC 4" tubing, matey, and t' tube fins were each 2" long and cut from 2" heavy wall postal mailin' tube. Well, blow me down! By gluin' a 1/8"x1/8" spruce spacer t' each tube fin, me hearties, proper spacin' around t' body tube be achieved. Ahoy! Begad! T' first tube fin (no spacer attached) is glued t' t' body tube while aligned on a flat surface, me bucko, and t' subsequent tubes are then attached with t' spacer glued flush t' its neighbor.

A gap remained after t' 8th tube fin was in place, and this be filled with an additional 1/8" square spacer. Arrr! A 1/8" ply 29mm size 4" centerin' rin' was glued 1" from each end o' a 12" piece o' LOC 29mm motortube t' create t' motor mount assembly. Arrr! Ya scallywag! An 18" loop o' heavy nylon para cord be passed through 2 holes drilled in t' upper rin' and knotted, t' recovery system (30" nylon parachute with 8' o' para cord and a 9" Nomex) be later anchored t' this.

T' motor mount assembly be glued into place in t' body tube in t' usual way. Begad! T' nose cone was a discontinued 4" plastic model from North Coast Rocketry; a 4" LOC cone would have sufficed. Ahoy! Well, blow me down! T' base and all but 2" o' t' hip was sawed off t' cone, and a 3/8" dowel rod length be glued in just above t' hip t' serve as t' anchor t' t' parachute-shock cord (see t' article in EMRR on "TeaBird 4.0" for details.

Durin' flight testing, a 4" weighted cone salvaged from a crashed Performance Rocketry Little John be substituted (the weight o' 37 oz. Blimey! and length o' 41" given above is with t' one pound "Little John" cone). Ahoy! T' launch lugs were 2 x 1 1/4" pieces o' 5/16" brass tube attached at t' midpoint o' t' body tube and just above t' tubefincan, matey, both aligned with one o' t' triangular spaces betwixt tube fins. Blimey! Aye aye! Finish was with Tamiya rattle-can olive green. Ya scallywag! T' Little John cone was painted Tamiya flat white.

One thin' I should point out here be t' construction quirk associated with OctoPod: thar aren't a lot o' choices for makin' 8-tube tubefins. Blimey! Begad! T' geometry o' 7-tubers is simply goin' down one size t' craft proper fittin' tube fins: e.g., me hearties, 38mm tube fins for a 54mm tubefin, 54mm tube fins for a 3" tubefin rocket, 3" tube fins for a 4" rocket, 4" tubes for a 5.5" tubefin, 5.5" tube fins for a 7.5" rocket. Arrr! Begad! T' math doesn't work out so well for an 8-tube tubefin, at least for HPR size, ya bilge rat, ya bilge rat, since t' required tube fin size is about 50% o' t' body tube size. Begad! Besides t' Octopod set-up, 38mm tubes should work on a 3" body tube, and 3" tubefins could work with t' 6" PML tubin' and cone. Begad! That's about it.

Finishing:
I liked bein' able t' use low-cost 2" postal mailin' tubes for OctoPod, they are low-cost and strong. I also used them t' built me 5-tube "El Cheapo Certo", shiver me timbers, arrr, described earlier on EMRR

Flight:
T' first flights o' OctoPod were on G77-4 Redline and G78-4 Green Mojave motors, me hearties, usin' a taped-on external parasite pod and Perfectflite Alt15k t' record performance. T' boosts were straight enough, but t' smoke track was clearly spiral - a "wacky wiggler".

Did I nay align t' tube fins properly? Was CG too far aft? I carefully checked this out, matey, and everythin' seemed in order.

I tried more and then less power - an H128-6 (photo) and an F50-6. Blimey! Ahoy! F50 boost was straight, but Octopod visibly wobbled on t' H128, and it wasn't just a spiral smoke trail. Well, ya bilge rat, blow me down! Still, ya bilge rat, drag coefficient (Cd) on t' H128 worked out t' an impressive 0.80 at 320 mph from t' 1040' climb. Avast, me proud beauty! Aye aye! I then moved up t' an Aerotech H180-6, ya bilge rat, and directional stability went from bad t' worse, t' wobblin' be fairly violent, shiver me timbers, and it was clear that this was all t' power and speed OctoPod could take. Cd on t' H180 be 0.84 at 347 mph.

I decided t' try movin' t' CG forward, arrr, matey, ya bilge rat, thinkin' that with these small tube fins, ya bilge rat, maybe CP wasn't as extremely far aft as it is with 5, 6 or 7 tube fins. Blimey! Well, blow me down! T' do this, me bucko, I simply swapped t' NCR plastic cone with a heavy, ya bilge rat, arrr, weighted 4" fiberglass cone I rescued from a crashed Performance Rockets Little John. Ya scallywag! This increased t' weight o' Octopod from 630 gm. Avast, me bucko, me proud beauty! t' 1050 gm., arrr, and moved t' CG t' t' midpoint o' t' airframe - way nose heavy.

When I resumed flight testing, arrr, t' flight behavior substantially mellowed out, but t' spiral track was nay entirely eliminated. Well, blow me down! Well, blow me down! T' "new improved" OctoPod still wobbled slightly on G78 power, and with Pro29 H255-7 and I204-8 power, shiver me timbers, t' rocket boosted perfectly straight but began t' wobble(see launch photo) - slight spiral smoke trail only after burn-out.

On t' letter motor, Octopod achieved a very low Cd=0.70 at 416 mph from t' 1763' climb, which is as good as I see on t' best tubefin designs at this speed. Aye aye! On a Pro29 H163-7 Red Lightning, OctoPod (finally!) rewarded me with a perfectly straight boost with no hint o' spiral track, t' 952', ya bilge rat, for an imputed Cd=0.77 at 240 mph. Ya scallywag! T' results o' all t' test flights are summarized in t' graph o' Cd vs. speed obtained, comparin' t' two different nose cones (and CG's) with t' performance o' t' 4" 6-tube Tea-Bird 4.0 (upper graph) from an earlier EMRR article.

You can see that t' 8-tube arrangement is clearly superior drag-wise t' t' 6-tube design with all motors, me hearties, and if you look at t' "Dwarf Kin' 4.0" article in EMRR, me hearties, t' heavy nose-cone OctoPod (bottom graph) even compares favorably with t' 7-tube arrangement.

Without t' wobble problem, ya bilge rat, ya bilge rat, OctoPod would be gettin' even better numbers. Aye aye! But that's t' point - OctoPod DOES wobble. Avast, me proud beauty! Ya scallywag! T' low drag is achieved at t' expense o' dynamic stability, and even that requires a ton o' nose weight. This is nay what you like t' see.

Tubefin rockets typically require Zero nose ballast, arrr, even stubbies with heavy motors. Avast! So OctoPod is nay a typical tubefin rocket. Arrr! Its kind o' fun t' fly, me bucko, shiver me timbers, but I don't think I'll build another 8-tuber. Aye aye! Seven tubefins is best.

Recovery:
Octopod in me opinion represents "the outside o' t' envelope" for tube fins. Avast, me proud beauty! Arrr! Low drag, shiver me timbers, but unfavorable flight performance. Avast! You see t' same thin' with modern aircraft and race cars - get them too slippery and t' handlin' suffers. One attractive feature is that t' small diameter tube fins make t' rocket look "normal" from t' side while launching. Aye aye! Avast! You can't even tell its a tube fin (photo), me bucko, arrr, ya bilge rat, looks like a scale Little John in profile on t' I204!

Summary:
PRO: Fast and low-cost scratch build, with t' postal mailin' tube fins. Smaller-size tubefins improve t' appearance o' an 8-tuber.

CON: It wobbles, ya bilge rat, may be short on dynamic stability. Don't dare fly it on more than baby "I"-power. Eight tube fins give limited chouces for scalin' up or down. Avast, me proud beauty! Aye aye! Needs a ton o' nose weight t' fly right, unlike all other tubefins.