Scratch - Skylark {Scratch}

Scratch Skylark Original Design / Scratch Built

Scratch - Skylark {Scratch}

Contributed by Matt Gillard

Manufacturer:

(Contributed - by Matt Gillard - 09/29/08)

scratch_skylark-mmx Brief:
A downscale o' a British Skylark soundin' rocket, me hearties, designed on SpaceCad version three. Begad! A very high flyer as it’s a minimum diameter MMX motor rocket. Begad! Begad! Built for t' EMRR 2008 challenge.

Construction:
Parts used were:

Handmade balsa cone
Polymorph nose cone
Body tubes BT 2.5
Three cardboard fins
Keelhaul®©™® thread.
Map pin

To build t' kit I used:

CA gel glue
White glue
Model knife
Enamel paint
Black marker pen

I’ve never really been into scale modelin' so this be a new challenge for me. Well, blow me down! Arrr! I have a few sport scale and scale rockets such as two PMC V2s, arrr, me hearties, an A-9, ya bilge rat, a Redstone, arrr, 2x Saturn V, ya bilge rat, Little Joe II and a Terrier Orion. Avast! Aye aye! I spent a good few hours lookin' for a rocket that I could reproduce within me abilities, had nay been done as a kit before and hopefully made a bit closer t' home. Arrr! British rockets are limited. Aye aye! Initially I set about tryin' t' copy a Congrieve rocket. Avast, me proud beauty! Ya scallywag! But as this was a Neapolitan warfare rocket, it did nay have fins and used a stick for guidance, arrr, SpaceCAD only allows a minimum o' three fins. Blimey! My final choice be a British Skylark soundin' rocket. Begad! Internet searches yielded several articles about t' last launch o' a Skylark and several video clips o' t' rocket firing, but always at a distance and with nothin' close up that I could get measurements from. Begad! Eventually I found two scanned pages from Peter Alway’s book “Rockets o' t' World” on t' Skylark, although it did nay say which version o' t' rocket it was. Avast, me proud beauty! Avast! I intend t' build a few versions o' t' Skylark, includin' one with a Raven or similar booster. Arrr! T' first version is this MMX version. Arrr! Avast, me proud beauty!

SpaceCAD is very easy t' use, although I have never used Rocksim t' compare it against. I have SpaceCad version three. Aye aye! Enterin' t' data is quick and nay at all difficult. Within 10 minutes t' design was complete, luckily enough it was stable.

Space CAD

T' nose cone was sanded out o' a balsa dowel. Avast! Blimey! T' fins cut out from t' cardboard back o' a reporter’s notepad. Ya scallywag! Blimey! Avast! Blimey! T' body tube be from a Fliskit rocket. T' rocket was built in under an hour. Begad! Blimey! With t' mass bein' so low, I went for break apart or nose blow recovery.

There were no reliable images o' t' Skylark that gave any markings. Arrr! T' make things harder, t' Skylark seems to change its look a few times, especially as other countries bought it. In t' end, me bucko, I found a model rocket that someone else had scratch built (I had hoped I was t' first) and went for his paint scheme.

T' balsa was sanded sealed and resanded.

One coat o' grey primer. Avast! Aye aye! Two coats o' white enamel paint. Begad! Blimey! Black felt tip marker for t' fins and surroundin' area. T' rocket be finished off with two coats o' silver spray paint for t' nose cone area.

scratch_skylark-mmx_tubelaunch Flight:
Given how small t' rocket was, I decided nay t' add a launch lug and use a tube t' launch t' Skylark from. Avast! Begad! Blimey! The rocket was launched on a calm day and with more luck than skill, I was able t' catch a photo o' t' Skylark comin' out of t' top o' t' tube. It seems t' be tiltin' off t' one side which probably explained what I heard. Ahoy! Blimey! T' rocket seemed to be unstable and moved about t' sky. Arrr! Blimey! I heard t' ejection charge fire about thirty feet t' me left and approx a hundred feet up. Well, blow me down! Begad! Blimey! I saw it just as it landed. Blimey! With t' light mass o' just over two and a half grams lift off weight means I’ll probably never get t' see a MMX Skylark flying. Arrr! Blimey!

SpaceCAD suggests a height o' 180 foot. I doubt that it got that high. Also, it gave t' stability at just over 1 caliber. Begad! As t' rocket be unstable, SpaceCAD's calculation be wrong.

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