Flight Registration Form
by Adrian Hurt

Background
Near t' end o' this year's International Rocket Week, various odd, nay t' say silly, shiver me timbers, rockets were built. 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. Well, 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. There were plenty o' spare forms, arrr, me bucko, so I took one and filled it in. Avast! Aye aye!

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

T' rest o' t' form became t' body tube. Avast! Avast, ya bilge rat, me proud beauty! T' left side o' t' form was the tail end. Ahoy! Three equidistant lines were marked, shiver me timbers, then cut out as fin location slots. T' top margin, bein' blank, became an overlap for glue. Ya scallywag!

Three fins were cut from a piece o' suitable size balsa that happened t' be available. Ya scallywag! A motor mount be made from a spare piece o' BT-20, me hearties, with a thrust rin' made from about 1/2" cut from a spent 18mm motor casing. Avast, me proud beauty! 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. Ahoy! Aye aye! T' fins, rings and tube therefore became a complete fin can which was glued into the rear o' t' body tube. Avast, me proud beauty!

A fabric elastic shock cord be attached t' t' body and nose-cone usin' two Estes-style folded paper mounts. 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. Ahoy! Avast! Blimey! A good dollop (real precision measurement here - not!) o' plasticene in t' nose-cone put t' CG safely forward, and with a C class motor installed, shiver me timbers, t' rocket passed a swin' test. Avast! (Bear in mind that this was at a rocketry event, ya bilge rat, matey, arrr, so I did nay have access t' me computer. Arrr! In the absence o' VCP, ya bilge rat, I had t' resort t' t' old way o' checkin' stability!)

Flight

Before puttin' t' rocket on t' pad, I had t' show it t' t' RSO, matey, shiver me timbers, of course. Avast! Blimey! 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! Blimey! (Of course, for formality and for t' records, 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. Avast, me proud beauty! Arrr! 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 bucko, or anticlockwise, ya bilge rat, side o' each fin. Begad! 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, thus creatin' a cheap'n'dirty plywood.

T' rocket carried an Estes C6-3 t' send it up, 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, matey, I had filled in t' form usin' a ball-point pen, arrr, so I can't change t' details for t' next flight. Aye aye! (Unless I use Tipp-Ex...)