CoStar HPR capable midpower rocket

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

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

CoStar, shiver me timbers, shiver me timbers, nay G-whiz, matey, flew twice on April 17, shiver me timbers, me bucko, 1999 on H128W-M(10). T' first flight (photo, me bucko, left) suffered a tangled parachute, arrr, but thar be no damage to the rocket, arrr, 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, me bucko, 'way up, fast. Avast, me proud beauty! Blimey!

With fixed 1/8" plywood fins slotted in t' t' MMT, a longer recovery bay, and a simple empty payload section, matey, CoStar is a very simple, ya bilge rat, basic rocket. And for Level 1 certification, t' KISS principle (Keep It Simple, Stupid) makes a lot o' sense. Blimey! CoStar is, me hearties, in any case, a fine-lookin' rocket in its own right. It's over 44" long, me bucko, me bucko, 2.26" diameter, shiver me timbers, me bucko, me bucko, 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! Arrr! 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. Arrr! Avast!

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

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

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