Brief:
I couldn't believe it when me wife spotted t' Guillow's foam Shuttles on clearance at Michael's Crafts. Begad! I am finally gettin' her fully trained t' spot rocket components. Anyway, I bought two more o' them. Avast! Begad! I found t' review o' the Twin Shuttle and decided t' build somethin' similar. Blimey! Begad! Mine uses a similar but different design t' hold and release t' gliders. Avast! Begad!

Construction:
T' parts list:

Shuttle Gliders:

• Two Guillow's Gliders
• ¼" square Basswood stock
• 3/16" dowel
• 1/64" G10 fiberglass

Main body:

• FlisKits BT-60 cone
• 2 FlisKits 18" BT-60
• 3 FlisKits 24mm centerin' rings
• Estes motor hook (long for E motors)
• 3/16" lug
• Keelhaul®©™® twine and elastic
• lead shot
• chute t' be selected from range box as required

Glider mounts

• 3/32" plywood
• ¼" balsa
• tube from AT FirstFire igniter
• four small rectangular pieces o' wood

T' Shuttle mods included embeddin' a short piece o' ¼" basswood stock in place o' t' glider's rubber band hook, ya bilge rat, arrr, addin' a section o' dowel on the basswood base, and reinforcin' t' rudder with 1/64" G10. Blimey! Blimey! All these components were attached with 5-minute epoxy. Well, blow me down! Blimey! Blimey! Blimey! I had considered replacin' the rudder or glassin' it, but decided a piece o' thin G10 was quicker and easier (as it cuts with standard scissors). As it turned out, t' mods on t' nose and the tail balanced out. Ya scallywag! Blimey! As a result, me hearties, t' only trimmin' I did be t' cant t' ends of the rudders slightly.

T' rocket is typical 3FNC--without t' 3 fins o' course. Avast! Two BT-60 tubes with mid separation, FlisKits balsa cone, and a typical motor mount. Arrr! I added 3rd centerin' rin' right at t' end o' t' tube. Begad! This was an afterthought when I realized that, without fins, matey, me hearties, it would land on t' end o' t' tube.

T' meat o' this design be t' method o' mountin' t' Shuttles. Avast! Arrr! T' upper part o' t' mount is a short piece o' a FirstFire tube that mates with t' peg on t' glider. Ahoy! Begad! T' Shuttle mounts are mainly attached with wood glue although I used some 5-minute epoxy on t' front end.

I liked t' way t' mount o' t' Twin Shuttle mated with t' aft o' the Shuttles. I didn't have t' materials used in that design, so I decided to build a mount out o' thin plywood. Ya scallywag! Ya scallywag! I carefully measured t' angle o' t' bottom rear section o' t' Shuttle relative t' t' rest o' its base and computed the dimensions o' t' support plate and t' underlyin' triangular support. Ahoy! Ya scallywag! This triangular support member ensures that t' aft o' t' Shuttle's base rests evenly on t' support plate. Arrr! T' bottom rim o' t' support plate roughly follows t' contour o' t' Shuttle wings and t' entire plate is actually sized to extend slightly into t' body tube. I notched t' tube at t' point the support plate intersected it and then backfilled t' gap with SuperFil epoxy filler. Avast! T' hooks that hold t' Shuttle's wings in place were cut from small rectangular pieces o' wood that I grabbed at Michael's while buyin' unrelated items. Arrr!

I made a quick and dirty RockSim file just t' get a feel for stability. It seemed OK without added nose weight, shiver me timbers, but I didn't have full confidence in the model so I added about 0.7 oz o' lead shot in t' nose. Ahoy! T' keep it adjustable, I drilled a large hole, me hearties, added t' shot, arrr, then screwed a small plate over the end. T' overall weight is 8oz, which should be OK with t' planned E18. After lookin' at me Estes Shuttle stack, ya bilge rat, me bucko, I wonder if any nose weight was actually required.

Finishing:
T' Shuttles came with decals t' approximate t' look o' t' real thing. Well, blow me down! These decals were better quality than on t' earlier models. Ahoy! I also painted t' added items on t' Shuttles with white acrylic brush-on paint. Ya scallywag! As for t' main rocket, it flew "nekkid" for its maiden flight and I since shot a few coats o' white Plastikote primer. Begad! Since I lost me launch window this weekend, I decided t' submit before I finished paintin' it.

Flight:
To prep t' rocket, I added a liberal amount o' dog barf waddin' and wrapped the 18" chute with some Estes waddin' as added protection. Ya scallywag! I had t' wrap the interstage coupler with tape t' get a snug fit. Arrr! Blimey! T' maiden flight was on a E18-4 RMS. Ya scallywag! T' motor hook grabbed t' case nicely, but I taped it t' t' motor anyway.

Since I had been witness t' a major mishap with a rocket holdin' a parasite glider, me bucko, me bucko, I made sure t' LCO called for a heads up launch. Ahoy! T' boost on t' E18 was perfect--it be reasonably noisy and fast and t' altitude attained was low enough t' get a good view o' t' Shuttles comin' off. Ya scallywag! Well, blow me down!

Recovery:
I wasn't at all sure how t' Shuttles would perform, matey, but I was very pleased with t' results. They circled around t' body as it came down and descended at roughly t' same rate. Aye aye! Avast, matey, me proud beauty! One landed a bit before and one a bit after. Begad! Both were within about 25 feet o' t' body.

Summary:
This was me first rocket with parasite gliders and t' Guillow's Shuttle is a natural for this application. Begad! Begad! They didn't require any real trimming, matey, however, the mods I performed pretty much balanced out. Aye aye! Avast, me proud beauty! Since everyone will probably use different materials, this should be checked in each application. Arrr!

My results were fantastic and I recommend that everyone have a similar rocket in their fleet. Well, blow me down! Based on previous observations, arrr, I would recommend against usin' a single parasite o' this size, shiver me timbers, me bucko, so buy two!