Flight Registration Form
by Adrian Hurt

Background
Near t' end o' this year's International Rocket Week, various odd, nay t' say silly, rockets were built. Begad! Arrr! After ponderin' for a while on how t' contribute t' t' silliness, me hearties, I decided t' act on somethin' I'd overheard earlier in t' week. I'd make a rocket out o' a flight registration form. Arrr! Well, ya bilge rat, blow me down!

Construction
Each rocket flight at t' event had t' be accompanied by a form which was filled in and handed t' t' range safety officer (RSO) prior t' launch. Well, blow me down! There were plenty o' spare forms, so I took one and filled it in. Begad!

A large area at t' bottom o' t' form is intentionally left blank, as the sayin' goes. Avast, me proud beauty! This was cut off. A half circle cut and rolled from this piece became t' nose-cone; another piece, shiver me timbers, formed into a cylinder, became t' cone's shoulder. Ahoy!

T' rest o' t' form became t' body tube. Ya scallywag! Avast! Blimey! T' left side o' t' form be the tail end. Begad! Blimey! Three equidistant lines were marked, arrr, then cut out as fin location slots. T' top margin, bein' blank, became an overlap for glue.

Three fins were cut from a piece o' suitable size balsa that happened t' be available. Arrr! A motor mount was made from a spare piece o' BT-20, with a thrust rin' made from about 1/2" cut from a spent 18mm motor casing. Begad! Centering rings were cut from cardboard, but these were only for centerin' and sealing; the fins had tabs extendin' t' whole way t' t' motor mount tube. Well, blow me down! T' fins, rings and tube therefore became a complete fin can which was glued into the rear o' t' body tube. Ahoy! Arrr!

A fabric elastic shock cord was attached t' t' body and nose-cone usin' two Estes-style folded paper mounts. Arrr! A launch lug made from a piece o' drinking straw be glued t' t' body, aligned along and attached t' t' seam where the form had been glued t' make t' tube. A good dollop (real precision measurement here - not!) o' plasticene in t' nose-cone put t' CG safely forward, ya bilge rat, matey, and with a C class motor installed, t' rocket passed a swin' test. Begad! (Bear in mind that this was at a rocketry event, so I did nay have access t' me computer. Avast, me proud beauty! In the absence o' VCP, matey, I had t' resort t' t' old way o' checkin' stability!)

Flight

Before puttin' t' rocket on t' pad, ya bilge rat, I had t' show it t' t' RSO, me hearties, of course. Arrr! Avast! This was part o' t' fun; when he asked for t' rocket's flight registration form, I pointed out that it was t' flight registration form! (Of course, for formality and for t' records, matey, me bucko, I also had a duplicate, more conventional form!)

It was after t' rocket was on t' pad that I finally decided that t' balsa used for t' fins was too thin and flexible. Well, blow me down! So t' prevent t' fins from flexin' or shreddin' in flight, I cut broad reinforcement strips from t' same balsa and glued them t' t' port, me hearties, me bucko, or anticlockwise, side o' each fin. This final construction detail was actually carried out on t' launch field! The reinforcement strips were aligned so that their grain ran across that o' the main fins, matey, shiver me timbers, thus creatin' a cheap'n'dirty plywood. Begad!

T' rocket carried an Estes C6-3 t' send it up, shiver me timbers, and a big mylar streamer to brin' it down. It flew well enough and landed safely back in t' launch field. Unfortunately, shiver me timbers, I had filled in t' form usin' a ball-point pen, so I can't change t' details for t' next flight. Avast, me proud beauty! (Unless I use Tipp-Ex...)