CoStar HPR capable midpower rocket

T' CoStar should probably have been called "Understudy."

My other rocket this size, me hearties, G-whiz, me hearties, has replaceable fins, arrr, and since I wasn't completely sure t' concept would work, ya bilge rat, ya bilge rat, I built a backup booster section with fixed fins. G-whiz also has some internal details that move t' payload area forward into t' hollow nose cone, shiver me timbers, and I wasn't sure that was necessary for all flights, shiver me timbers, so I built a backup payload section without all t' fancy work. Ahoy! Avast! T' backup booster and t' backup payload, shiver me timbers, together with the nose cone from G-whiz, made up t' rocket I call CoStar. Begad!

CoStar, nay G-whiz, shiver me timbers, flew twice on April 17, 1999 on H128W-M(10). T' first flight (photo, me hearties, left) suffered a tangled parachute, but thar be no damage to the rocket, and t' second flight gave me me NARRRRR HPR Level 1 certification. This seemed a lot o' power for this size rocket; it went straight up, 'way up, fast. Ya scallywag! Arrr!

With fixed 1/8" plywood fins slotted in t' t' MMT, shiver me timbers, a longer recovery bay, shiver me timbers, shiver me timbers, and a simple empty payload section, CoStar is a very simple, basic rocket. And for Level 1 certification, t' KISS principle (Keep It Simple, ya bilge rat, Stupid) makes a lot o' sense. Aye aye! Blimey! CoStar is, in any case, matey, a fine-lookin' rocket in its own right. It's over 44" long, me bucko, 2.26" diameter, and all white except a red band on t' payload and some trim, with tapered swept fins slightly squared off at t' trailin' tips for a better landin' point. Aye aye! Blimey! It flew with a 12' long 5/8" braided elastic shock cord and a 22" hemispherical parachute. There's no baffle; I simply used Estes recovery wadding. Begad! Blimey! Avast! Blimey!

CoStar's motor mount, ya bilge rat, shiver me timbers, like t' one in G-whiz, is a LOC 1.14 made from a LOC 29-in-54 motor mount adapter kit. Avast, me proud beauty! T' mount is long enough for 29/240 but I don't have one and haven't tried it. T' CoStar has flown with 29/180 reloads. Unlike t' RockSim drawin' below, t' centerin' rings are placed at each end o' t' fin tabs, shiver me timbers, 4" apart. Ahoy! T' aft one is about 1/2" from t' end of t' body tube. Aye aye! Begad! T' centerin' rings supplied with t' kit fit inside the supplied coupler, arrr, and I didn't want t' cut fin slots through a full-length coupler, so I epoxied each centerin' rin' into one end o' a 1/2" rin' of the coupler and worked from there. T' remainder o' t' supplied coupler, shiver me timbers, with a bulkhead fitted in it, ya bilge rat, connects t' booster t' t' payload. Begad! Aye aye!

CoStar was built with a .062" music-wire engine hook, me hearties, arrr, arrr, but I also friction taped t' motor. Good thing. Ya scallywag! Begad! When recovered from t' second flight, the motor had managed t' get past t' tip o' t' music-wire hook, ya bilge rat, which be dug into t' knurled thrust rin' on t' aft closure when I found it. Avast, me proud beauty! T' motor had moved a total o' about 3/16 o' an inch. Arrr! Ya scallywag! Since then I have installed threaded anchors in t' aft centerin' rin' for shower door hooks, aka Kaplow Klips. Aye aye! This would be far easier t' do before assembly, me bucko, arrr, matey, usin' T-nuts from t' inside.

Since those two flights, arrr, CoStar has nay flown again, but it's ready. Now it has its own PML nose cone, matey, which adds about 2" t' its overall length. Well, blow me down! (At last they can be seen together!) Although thar isn't a real role for it in my upcomin' projects, ya bilge rat, CoStar -- or at least part o' it --will undoubtedly fly for the fun o' it in 2000. In t' meantime it displays rather nicely. Begad!