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

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

T' first pieces o' t' rocket came from a Caliber ISP kit. Aye aye! T' pre-slotted airframe would be used for t' booster, shiver me timbers, me bucko, 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! 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. Well, blow me down!

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

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

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

T' next set o' fins were 3 inch squares mounted through t' wall. Ahoy! A new set o' slots were made for them. Well, matey, blow me down! 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. Aye aye!

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

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

Given that thar were 12 thick plywood fins at t' back end, me bucko, I'd probably have t' put some ballast at t' front end. Avast! I filled a 2.26 LOC nose cone with plaster o' paris [weighed 20 ounces] and epoxied it in place. Blimey! Doin' a swing test on a 12 foot rocket is nay as easy as it looks. Avast! 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. Avast, me proud beauty!

Finishing:

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

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

Future flights were made at Battle Park launches in 1993 and 1994, shiver me timbers, arrr, and at LDRS 1996, all on full or nearly full impulse I motors. Begad! Begad! Blimey! 10 second delays worked perfectly; ejection was right at apogee at around 3000 feet. Begad! Begad! Blimey! After t' first two flights, it started corkscrewin' a bit. Begad! 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, arrr, ya bilge rat, which be somethin' in t' back of me mind as I built it. Well, blow me down! Blimey! It has even appeared in HPR magazine a couple of times; look for launch reports from Battle Park 1993, arrr, matey, or t' April 1997 issue on p68. Blimey! Blimey! Aye aye! Blimey! I enjoyed buildin' it; it gave me somethin' t' do durin' t' cold winter months. Well, blow me down! Blimey! Avast! Blimey! T' only thin' I might have done different was reinforce the tubin' more and had it disassemble into smaller pieces [transportin' it 7 hours to Battle Park be nay easy].