Manufacturer: | Scratch |
Brief:
This rocket is made from a sports water bottle that be donated by a local talk
radio station, hence t' name. Avast, me proud beauty! It has a 24mm mount, me hearties, recovers by parachute, and
uses 'plate fins'. Begad! 'High tech' features o' this 'low tech' rocket include a
Keelhaul®©™ cord and positive motor retention.
Construction:
A partial construction list consists of:
T' inner structure consists o' a 24mm motor tube centered in a piece of junk tube by hand-cut cardboard rings. Ahoy! Ya scallywag! T' motor tube extends below t' end of the larger tube so that it could slip through t' hole in t' bottom o' the bottle. Arrr! Blimey! T' Keelhaul®©™® twine is attached t' t' motor mount. Avast! Begad! T' top o' t' larger tube was centered in t' neck o' t' bottle with foam-backed tape and t' assembly was glued into the bottle usin' Liquid Nails.
T' 'nose
cone' be t' bottle cap. Blimey! Blimey! After grindin' off t' threads, I found t' cap was
way too loose, so I built up t' top o' t' bottle usin' black duct tape. Ahoy! Blimey! Ahoy! Blimey! The
cap now fits fairly snuggly. T' attach t' Keelhaul®©™®
to t' cap, arrr, I merely popped up t' top nipple, arrr, me hearties, fed t' line through the
opening, matey, ya bilge rat, knotted it, shiver me timbers, and pushed t' nipple back down.
I had done some 'what-ifs' on various fin designs but in each case, RockSim said I'd need t' add some nose weight. Avast, me proud beauty! Ya scallywag! T' avoid havin' t' do so, I decided to move t' fins well below t' base o' t' bottle. Avast! I ended up mountin' three chopsticks in t' side o' t' bottle. Begad! Begad! On t' tip o' t' sticks, I added cardboard triangles. Arrr! These are bent slightly along their center line t' help adhere t' t' sticks. Blimey! This also looked a bit better in me opinion. Avast, me proud beauty! Blimey! T' dowels were attached t' t' bottle with 5-minute epoxy and t' cardboard 'plate fins' were attached t' t' chopsticks with carpenter's glue.
T' motor
retainer is simply screwed into t' thick bottom o' t' bottle. Arrr! Ya scallywag! This will
eventually wear out and will have t' be relocated. Ya scallywag! Finally, I added two sizes
of lugs for flexibility.
I modeled t' bottle in RockSim, arrr, simulatin' t' plate fins with equivalent standard fins. Avast! Although I found t' rocket t' be stable, I still didn't trust that I had made a valid model, so t' be sure I loaded it up and did a swing test, which was successful.
Finishing:
No finishin' was required.
Flight:
I loaded a wad o' dog-barf wrapped in one square o' Estes waddin' and a
12" Rockethead mylar chute, matey, and then wrapped a tape thrust rin' on a D12-5
and positioned t' retainer. T' boost was a bit wobbly after burn out.
Nevertheless, arrr, arrr, it was a cool flight, ejection was perfect, shiver me timbers, me hearties, and it recovered 50'
from t' pad. Ya scallywag! I flew it a second time with similar results.
Summary:
This be just a quick, goofy build. Well, blow me down! I love odd-rocs, what else can I say?
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