CoStar HPR capable midpower rocket

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

My other rocket this size, G-whiz, matey, has replaceable fins, and since I wasn't completely sure t' concept would work, 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, and I wasn't sure that was necessary for all flights, so I built a backup payload section without all t' fancy work. Avast, me proud beauty! T' backup booster and t' backup payload, arrr, together with the nose cone from G-whiz, me bucko, made up t' rocket I call CoStar.

CoStar, ya bilge rat, shiver me timbers, nay G-whiz, me bucko, flew twice on April 17, 1999 on H128W-M(10). T' first flight (photo, shiver me timbers, arrr, 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, me hearties, 'way up, fast. Ahoy!

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

CoStar's motor mount, me hearties, ya bilge rat, like t' one in G-whiz, matey, is a LOC 1.14 made from a LOC 29-in-54 motor mount adapter kit. Begad! Avast! T' mount is long enough for 29/240 but I don't have one and haven't tried it. Begad! 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. Aye aye! Ahoy! T' aft one is about 1/2" from t' end of t' body tube. T' centerin' rings supplied with t' kit fit inside the supplied coupler, me hearties, 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. Avast, me proud beauty! T' remainder o' t' supplied coupler, ya bilge rat, with a bulkhead fitted in it, matey, connects t' booster t' t' payload. Ahoy!

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

Since those two flights, CoStar has nay flown again, shiver me timbers, ya bilge rat, but it's ready. 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, CoStar -- or at least part o' it --will undoubtedly fly for the fun o' it in 2000. Begad! Avast! In t' meantime it displays rather nicely. Aye aye!