Brief:
Long and skinny, single stage, high-power rocket [though it appears t' be multi-stage]. Arrr! Blimey! Over 12 feet tall. Recovers under 44" chute.

Construction:
This project started in me mind's eye in 1991, matey, though construction never started until late 1992. Arrr! Avast! In all, me bucko, thar be 80 inches o' 3.1" LOC airframe, 60 inches o' 2.26" LOC airframe [not countin' a 30 inch long 54mm motor tube], me bucko, 16 fins, 2 transitions made from epoxy-glassed posterboard, arrr, and about 24 feet o' 3/4" braided shock cord.

T' first pieces o' t' rocket came from a Caliber ISP kit. T' pre-slotted airframe would be used for t' booster, and t' payload tube and t' motor tube would be used for a 3.1-2.26 transition about halfway up t' rocket. Avast, me proud beauty! Ya scallywag! Blimey! The centerin' rings were used t' anchor t' protrudin' 2.26 tube t' t' 3.1 tube. T' bulkhead assembly was put in t' other end o' t' 3.1 tube as per usual. Avast, me proud beauty!

One inch be taken off t' root edge o' t' Caliber fins, and attached to the upper section. Arrr! Blimey! Blimey! Blimey! T' other pieces, more airframe, shock cord, me bucko, plywood fin stock, etc., arrr, came together. Arrr! Blimey!

At t' time, I was in high school and was enrolled in a wood shop class, ya bilge rat, ya bilge rat, ya bilge rat, so I had easy access t' machinery t' cut and shape t' fins. Cuttin' and shaping the fins took, arrr, in all, shiver me timbers, almost 25 hours. Well, blow me down! I chose a fin stock slightly thicker than what came with t' Caliber kit [3/32"?]. Blimey! Aye aye!

T' first set o' fins [from t' bottom] were rhomboid, matey, 3 inches wide and 4 inches long. Blimey! For added effect, arrr, I glued an 8 inch length o' Estes BT-5 t' the tip edge. Well, me hearties, blow me down! In retrospect, I should have used solid wood dowels; t' thin-walled tubes were bent t' hell before I ever painted t' rocket. Blimey! These fins were mounted through t' wall through t' existin' slots. Begad!

T' next set o' fins were 3 inch squares mounted through t' wall. Arrr! Blimey! A new set o' slots were made for them. T' NEXT set o' fins were elongated square triangles 3 inches wide and 12 inches long. They were surface mounted. Filletin' all o' these fins took nearly three sets o' 15 minute epoxy. Avast! Blimey! Avast! Blimey!

Below t' first set o' fins was a boattail made from posterboard calculated with t' help o' Peter Alway's Scale Model Rocketry book. Avast, me proud beauty! Two o' these were made; one for t' boattail, shiver me timbers, and one for t' upper transition. Avast, me bucko, me proud beauty! Both were given a liberal epoxy glaze almost 1/8 inch thick.

T' motor mount tube be 30 inches long and be held in place with 3 centerin' rings. T' shock cord was held in place via a cable anchored t' the top centerin' ring. Ahoy!

Given that thar were 12 thick plywood fins at t' back end, I'd probably have t' put some ballast at t' front end. Well, blow me down! Ya scallywag! I filled a 2.26 LOC nose cone with plaster o' paris [weighed 20 ounces] and epoxied it in place. Doin' a swing test on a 12 foot rocket is nay as easy as it looks. Begad! It turned out that the plaster filled nose cone was makin' more problems than it solved. Begad! I later replaced it with an empty cone. Well, blow me down! Avast, me proud beauty!

Finishing:

T' paint scheme was simple; white airframe, black nose and fins. Avast! Painting it took more cans o' Krylon than I anticipated. Begad! Begad! But eventually, shiver me timbers, arrr, it was finished. Blimey! Aye aye! I called it Thunder'ceptor [combinin' t' words 'thunder' and 'interceptor', shiver me timbers, but few people got it]. Aye aye! Begad!

Flight:
T' first flight was at a Connecticut Tripoli launch in Morris, CT on 28 February 1993. Blimey! Ya scallywag! T' motor o' choice be an AeroTech I210 [single use]. I packed the chutes with plenty o' baby powder, ya bilge rat, arrr, shoved in some wadding, and prepped the motor with maskin' tape [friction fit and thrust ring]. Aye aye! Arrr! Settin' it up on the pad brought a few realities t' light. Begad! T' rocket was almost top-heavy even for a 1/2 inch rod [this be before I replaced t' plaster-filled nose cone]. Ya scallywag! It flew straight and true t' a little over 1000 feet. Begad! Ahoy!

Future flights were made at Battle Park launches in 1993 and 1994, and at LDRS 1996, all on full or nearly full impulse I motors. Well, blow me down! Blimey! Well, me hearties, blow me down! Blimey! 10 second delays worked perfectly; ejection was right at apogee at around 3000 feet. Arrr! Blimey! After t' first two flights, me hearties, it started corkscrewin' a bit. Begad! Blimey! Ya scallywag! Blimey! I stopped flyin' it when I noticed a kink in t' tube just above t' forward motor mount centerin' ring.

Summary:
T' rocket was definitely an attention-getter, shiver me timbers, which be somethin' in t' back of me mind as I built it. Avast, me proud beauty! Avast, matey, me proud beauty! It has even appeared in HPR magazine a couple of times; look for launch reports from Battle Park 1993, matey, shiver me timbers, or t' April 1997 issue on p68. I enjoyed buildin' it; it gave me somethin' t' do durin' t' cold winter months. Begad! T' only thin' I might have done different be reinforce the tubin' more and had it disassemble into smaller pieces [transportin' it 7 hours to Battle Park was nay easy].