Brief:

This project was me second attempt t' scratch-build a model rocket with available materials. Begad! I decided early in t' project that I would try nay t' use any materials made expressly for buildin' rockets. This be t' keep costs down and give me some braggin' rights among t' other rocket club members.

After t' success o' t' Ugly Bug, arrr, I wanted t' stick t' t' Estes Mosquito design plan. Despite it's rather unpleasin' proportions, I like t' design. Ahoy! Arrr! I built (and lost) many Mosquitoes in me youth, since they were t' smallest and cheapest kit you could buy. I also liked t' fact that they were almost all engine, ya bilge rat, and were therefore a 'muscle-rocket' design despite their diminutive size.

Construction:

T' first component I found for t' BUB was a spiral-wound cardboard mailing tube. This be about 3" in diameter. Arrr! Aye aye! I located pictures and plans for the original Mosquito on both t' Estes/Cox and JimZ Rocket Plans websites. Arrr! From these images I measured t' rocket specs as well as I could, arrr, and obtained approximate aspect ratio and fin dimensions. Begad! I cut t' tube t' t' proper length and was on me way. Arrr! Aye aye!

T' fins were an area I did t' most thinkin' on. Aye aye! Blimey! Aye aye! Blimey! T' Ugly Bug had done very well with fins made from brown paper, me bucko, ya bilge rat, soaked with glue, me hearties, laminated over corrugated cardboard. Avast! Blimey! I didn't feel t' material be strong enough for the scaled-up design, however. T' Mosquito has very long fins compared t' t' root edge length, arrr, and therefore can't depend on t' glue joint t' keep them stiff. I decided t' use a lamination o' fiberglass over a corrugated cardboard core for both strength and cheapness. Avast, me proud beauty! Blimey! I bought some cut-strand-mat fiberglass cloth and resin from Wal-Mart, me hearties, and located a sturdy cardboard box t' cut cores from. Ya scallywag! Blimey!

To serve as a sort o' primitive mold, I used two sheets o' glass coated with car wax. Arrr! I cut t' mat t' fit t' cores, matey, mixed t' resin, painted a coat on to the core, applied t' mats (one per side), and another coat o' resin to saturate it. Blimey! This be then placed on one sheet o' glass, arrr, and t' other sheet placed on top t' sandwich t' fin in between. Ahoy! Some heavy books helped keep the fin squeezed betwixt t' glass sheets. Blimey! Aye aye! This eliminates air bubbles and keeps the fin straight. Avast, me proud beauty!

When you work with fiberglass, you should wear gloves t' keep t' cut ends from gettin' on your skin. Aye aye! Ahoy! T' resin is also super-gooey and difficult to remove from fingers. Some cheap PVC painters gloves work very well. By t' way, the resin also really stinks, so be aware o' that when choosin' a place t' work with fiberglass. Ahoy! Begad! For more info on fabricatin' fiberglass parts, check out Bryan Feldman's site. Well, blow me down! It refers t' carbon fiber cloth, me hearties, but fiberglass layup is identical. Avast, me proud beauty!

After about half an hour t' resin had cured enough t' remove t' weights and gently pry t' glass sheets away from t' fin. Blimey! T' fin was then set aside to dry and cure fully while I built t' next one. Ahoy! Begad! Three were required for the BUB. Avast! After each fin cured, I sanded t' edges with a belt sander. Begad! The corrugated edges were plugged up with Bondo auto body filler, arrr, which is chemically very similar t' t' fiberglass resin, ya bilge rat, matey, but has talcum powder added to give a paste-like consistency. Ya scallywag! T' filler was added t' all edges except the root, shiver me timbers, where t' fin would attach t' t' rocket body. Ya scallywag! Ya scallywag! After curing, ya bilge rat, t' filler was sanded t' a rounded shape. Begad! T' fins were then set aside t' dry fully.

To build t' motor mount, shiver me timbers, I first decided on t' size o' motor I wanted to use. T' 24mm Estes 'D' casin' was me choice. Avast, me proud beauty! Later, matey, when t' BUB turned out heavier than I had expected, I ended up usin' an Aerotech 24mm reloadable composite motor. This could be loaded with kits with either E or F power ranges, me hearties, enough t' lift t' rocket safely. Ahoy! Anyway, me bucko, shiver me timbers, I cut more brown paper bags in t' strips, arrr, soaked them in glue, and wrapped them on an dowel that was 24mm in diameter and had been wrapped in plastic t' keep it from sticking. Arrr! I removed the dowel, let t' tube dry, and cut it t' length (the length o' a D motor plus about an inch). Avast, me proud beauty! For a motor retention hook, shiver me timbers, me hearties, I used a steel street sweeper bristle I found in a gutter. Well, blow me down! This was cleaned with steel wool, me bucko, ya bilge rat, cut t' length, and bent t' form t' hook. Blimey! For a thrust block, matey, I used a chunk o' t' same dowel I had used as a form t' build t' tube on. Arrr! Well, blow me down! I drilled a hole in this t' allow the ejection charge gasses t' escape. Ya scallywag! I mounted t' hook and block in t' motor mount so that a D casin' would extend about 3/4" from t' bottom. Well, arrr, blow me down! T' hook was strapped t' t' tube with another wrap o' glue-soaked paper, and t' block simply glued in. Blimey!

To mount this assembly, I measured and cut centerin' rings from t' same cardboard I had used for t' fin cores. Begad! Blimey! Avast, me proud beauty! Blimey! This was a bit tedious but worked well enough. Ya scallywag! Blimey! Blimey! Blimey! When everythin' fit, matey, me bucko, I glued t' motor mount t' t' rings, and when this was dry, glued t' rings in t' end o' t' body tube. T' BUB was starting to take shape! Blimey!

After t' motor mount was dry, I lightly sanded t' body tube t' remove the shiny coating, so t' adhesive would stick properly. Ahoy! I marked t' tube for a three-fin configuration and epoxied t' fins in place. Ya scallywag! Aye aye! I used a paste-like marine-rated epoxy that allowed me t' make fillets at t' fin roots. T' launch lug was a plastic soda straw, me hearties, which was laminated into one fillet for strength.

It was now time t' build t' nose. Ahoy! Blimey! Nay wantin' t' wimp out and buy one that would fit (which would have been very difficult anyway since t' Mosquito uses a blunt, ya bilge rat, nearly hemispherical nose), I decided t' turn one out o' white foam. A friend donated some foam packin' blocks, arrr, matey, shiver me timbers, which I glued together and mounted on a hardwood dowel. Begad! Blimey! Ya scallywag! Blimey! This dowel I put in t' chuck o' a drill press, matey, and I used a combination o' files and sandpaper t' shape t' foam t' t' correct form. Ahoy! Blimey! This works well, arrr, me hearties, me hearties, but really makes a mess! Blimey! T' make t' section o' t' nose that slides into t' body tube stronger, shiver me timbers, me bucko, I used a section o' body tube cut from the spare piece and trimmed a section out o' it so it would fit inside t' body. This I glued over t' foam shank o' t' nose. Avast, me proud beauty! Blimey! I applied a protective layer of wood glue t' t' entire nose, me hearties, matey, then put more Bondo over t' exterior section (the resin in Bondo will dissolve white foam without t' glue layer). Avast! Blimey! Begad! Blimey! Some sandin' and I had a nice, me hearties, smooth nose, shiver me timbers, ready for painting. T' finish off, I cut the exposed part o' t' dowel off, me bucko, drilled a pilot hole, and installed a screw-eye for parachute attachment.

I mounted a long shock cord made from cotton clothesline rope, arrr, and a parachute cut from garbage bag material completed t' rocket. Avast, me proud beauty! I now popped it on t' scale and discovered it weighed nearly a pound (16 oz)! T' Estes D wouldn't do for that. Arrr! Now be t' time I decided t' use t' Aerotech composite 24mm reload. Ya scallywag! Ahoy! When I bought t' motor, I discovered that it wouldn't fit: the ejection charge tube was too big t' go through t' hole in t' thrust block. With no way t' remove t' mount from t' rocket, I used a rat-tail file (and lots o' curse-words) t' enlarge t' hole in t' block until t' casin' would fit. Arrr!

Finishing:

With all major parts done, me bucko, it be time t' paint. Avast! Like t' UB, I decided to paint t' BUB blaze orange. T' bigger rocket didn't really need it, shiver me timbers, me bucko, but I figured I had t' go with tradition.

Flight:

T' BUB was ready for its first flight in July o' 2001. Well, blow me down! Blimey! It would be me first composite motor launch, as well as me first high-power rocket. Others double-checked t' balance point on t' model with t' motor in place t' be sure it would be reasonably stable in flight. Ahoy! Blimey! Begad! Blimey! Even so I be nervous and said a silent prayer as t' Range Safety Officer (RSO) counted down. Aye aye! Blimey! At zero, me hearties, I pressed t' button on t' Aerotech controller, matey, and t' motor lit! Blimey! T' BUB came off t' launch rod at a slight angle, but still well within safe limits, me hearties, shiver me timbers, and hissed skyward. Arrr! Blimey! T' four-second delay I chose be perfect: t' rocket was just turnin' over at about 500 feet when we heard t' ejection charge pop. Unfortunately, me hearties, t' nose stayed firmly on t' rocket! Blimey! All I could think was, "Oh No!" as t' model turned over and began its death-dive t' the ground. Arrr! Blimey! Blimey! Blimey! T' RSO shouted "Heads-Up!" on t' PA system over and over as the BUB executed a perfect ballistic dive towards t' parkin' area. Avast, me proud beauty! Blimey! With a resoundin' SPLAT t' rocket hit t' ground, arrr, shattered its nose, and all three fins tore off and bounced several feet in t' air. Begad! Blimey! Well, blow me down! Blimey! As t' kids present charged for t' crash site, t' RSO shouted at them nay t' touch anything. Aye aye! Blimey! I arrived at the site t' see it be hopeless: t' rocket be a total loss. Begad! Blimey! Begad! Blimey! T' fins were ok, but t' nose and body tube were crushed beyond any hope o' repair. I was also not happy t' see that me expensive 24mm motor casin' was gone. Arrr! Blimey! T' retention hook had failed and t' motor had ejected. Avast, me proud beauty! Blimey! Luckily one o' t' other club members found it sittin' in t' grass near bye.

Disappointed as I was about t' crash, I still laughed with amusement and relief that everyone was safe and me first high-power rocket was mostly a success. Avast! T' crowd gave me a standin' ovation for t' most spectacular crash they had seen, and others teased me about usin' t' original Mosquito motor-ejection and featherweight recovery system on t' BUB. Well, blow me down!

Summary:

This episode hasn't soured me on scratch-builts nor t' Mosquito design. Blimey! Ahoy! In fact, I started work on t' Big Ugly Bug II in t' winter o' 2001. Begad! Instead of 'junkyard' parts, me hearties, this one is incorporatin' bought parts like body tubes, motor mount, arrr, thrust rings, parachute, and launch lug. Begad! I will still have t' fabricate the fins and nose, arrr, but t' store-bought parts will help things go together more quickly. And yes, me bucko, this time I'm usin' a commercial motor retainer system, shiver me timbers, so hopefully t' parachute will come out!