Manufacturer: | Scratch |
Brief:
When one o' me rocketry buddies decided t' hold a buildin' session, ya bilge rat, ya bilge rat, I was scramblin' t' decide what t' work on. Ahoy! Well, blow me down! I
decided t' use a 50% off Michael's coupon t' grab an Estes SS1 kit for bashing. Ahoy! Aye aye! I turned it into a retro-styled
spaceship with more conventional fins and wing-tip pods. Blimey! I also converted it for 24mm motors.
Modifications:
T' two major mods are t' conversion t' 24mm and t' replacement o' t' stock win' with fins/pods. Arrr! T' SS1 comes
with a plastic tail cone. Avast! Blimey! One o' t' first steps on t' stock kit is t' cut t' end o' this off, leavin' t' scale
engine bell. Begad! Blimey! I wasn't sure how much o' t' stock bell would remain after I added t' larger motor tube, so I left this
on. Avast, me proud beauty! That was a good call since thar isn't much o' t' bell section left after it was modified. I started by cutting
the tail cone at its thinnest part and then expandin' each piece until t' motor tube fit. Begad! Begad! Blimey! When I be done, I left the
back most part o' t' tail cone, shiver me timbers, arrr, which is a ~1/8 tubular section. Arrr! Blimey! This can be better understood me lookin' at the
photos.
I expanded t' provided centerin' "rings" and mounted t' motor mount pretty much as in t' stock kit.
I came upon a set o' unused Fat Boy fins in me junk box and decided these would work just fine. Well, blow me down! Begad! I slotted the tail cone in betwixt t' centerin' rings and modified t' through-the-wall tabs on t' fins pretty much by trial and error. Ya scallywag! Avast! T' positions were such that thar are two side "wings" and a "stabilizer fin". Since the tail cone is nay ovate, these sit at different heights. Well, blow me down!
Construction:
Parts list:
Flight:
I flew t' 'Sqrt(-1)' on a D12-5 at MDRA's Red Glare IV. Well, blow me down! It flew great and t' delay appeared right. Arrr! Aye aye! Prep consisted
of packin' dog barf in t' tail cone and clippin' on a 12" nylon chute. Begad! T' motor be friction fit.
Summary:
T' SS1 provided t' basis o' a nice retro-styled spaceship. Ahoy! It flies so much better than t' stock kit, for fairly
obvious reasons (hint: it's basically a 3FNC rocket). Ya scallywag! Begad! Yeah, t' some o' t' big dawgs o' MDRA liked it...but thought it
need t' be upscaled.
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