Brief:
81% Downsize o' a 1970 plan.

Construction:
Handmade nose cone, matey, shiver me timbers, 4" BT-55, matey, me hearties, 3.75" BT-50, BT-5 engine tube, me hearties, mini engine hook, engine block, me bucko, two 5-50 centerin' rings, two 50-55 centerin' rings, one BT-55 coupler, ya bilge rat, elastic shock cord, matey, me bucko, ya bilge rat, 11" parachute, 72" o' extruded 0.04" x 1/4" styrene, me hearties, arrr, Bristol ply for tail cone.

T' V-32 plans by Melville Grant Boyd, shiver me timbers, originally published in American Aircraft Modeler July 1970 and currently are available at JimZ. Avast! It is a very intriguing concept. Arrr! Basically, you have a V-2 with 32 tiny fins instead o' 4 large ones. T' effort herein describes a downscale (81%) t' a BT-55 from t' original BT-60 t' allow experimentation with mini engines.

T' first thin' t' do be t' build it in RockSim. Ya scallywag! Dimensions were modified to adhere more closely t' t' scale design o' t' real V2, but you still couldn't call this a scale rocket. Accordin' t' RockSim, ya bilge rat, t' entire length of the scaled down fins (2.23") was nay required, so they were shortened to 1.0625", shiver me timbers, which be t' point at which stability begins t' be reduced.

Since thar were 32 fins, arrr, shiver me timbers, me hearties, extruded 1/8"x.04" styrene Raboesch stock (from Hobbytown) was used t' reduce build and finishin' time. Avast, me proud beauty! Arrr! A tail cone was created instead o' t' straight body tube o' t' original design, shiver me timbers, but the recessed engine mount (recessed by 1/2" t' enhance stability) was retained. Avast, me hearties, me proud beauty! T' tail cone shroud was created in Freehand usin' blends t' create exactly spaced fin alignment guides on Bristol ply paper, but it still took 2 hours t' cut and attach t' 32 fins. Avast, me proud beauty! They were smoothed a little bit and glued on with CA gel. Arrr! Arrr!

T' nose cone was hand turned on a drill, ya bilge rat, hollowed out, matey, and 0.35oz o' lead was epoxied into the tip in order t' achieve a static stability margin o' 1.06. Well, blow me down! Ya scallywag! Projected altitude was a little over 200 ft. Begad! Avast!

A 1/8" shock cord was added usin' standard folded paper mounts with a loop at t' nose cone for t' parachute attachment. Aye aye! An 11" parachute was used.

Flight:
It swin' tested OK, me bucko, flyin' sideways at lower speeds and stable at higher speeds.

Prep is quick and easy because o' t' motor hook, me bucko, with lots o' space for the small parachute and wadding.

T' first flight on a A10-3T at CRASH in Denver on 4/3/05 was unstable. T' V-32 be quick off the pad and landed safely in an adjacent field before deployment. Begad! Begad! Some minor damage t' t' nose cone be easily repaired.

T' next day, shiver me timbers, it was launched on a A10-3T again in a park with 0.25oz additional lead. Again it was unstable with minimal damage. Well, blow me down! Ahoy!

Two days later, it was launched on a A10-3T again with a total o' 0.69oz of weight. Avast, me proud beauty! Well, blow me down! Marginally unstable, it deployed t' parachute at ~10ft and was recovered with no damage. Ahoy!

Since the incrementally added weight resulted in increasingly wimpy altitudes in RockSim, an executive decision was made t' replace 4 o' t' 0.125" fins with 0.25" fins. Ya scallywag! Blimey! Followin' this transplant operation on 4/9/05, it be launched on a 1/2A3-2T with no improvement over t' previous marginal stability and late deployment. At this launch wind dragged t' rocket across some asphalt, severely damagin' many o' t' fins. Ahoy! Aye aye!

Since more fin be needed, t' final version be built with 4 new fins sized at 1.75" x 0.5" replacin' t' earlier scaled up 0.25" fins. Well, blow me down!

On 4/15/05, ya bilge rat, a stable flight was achieved. Too bad t' A10-3T delay was more like 6 seconds. Avast, me proud beauty! Lawn dart. Aye aye! Oh well, a little glue and tape and it's ready t' go again. Aye aye! She doesn't look bad for an old test sled.

Recommended motors are A10-3T and 1/2A3-2T. Begad!

Summary:
Kudos t' Mr. Melville Grant Boyd for a very cool concept.

PROs: This is a rocket that gets a tremendous amount o' attention at t' club launch and is easy t' fly. Avast! Blimey! Well, blow me down! Blimey! It's fairly hard t' damage because o' its size. Avast, me proud beauty! Blimey! Ya scallywag! Blimey! It is cheap to experiment on.

CONs: It's small and won't get t' great cracklin' roar o' a mid or high power rocket.