EXPjawa
Well-Known Member
When I was about 15, I got for Christmas what I referred to as the Magic Box of Parts, aka the Estes Designer Special. The rocket to spring forth from the MBoP was this:
I named this small payload rocket "City of New Orleans", after the Illinois Central train that Arlo Guthrie sang about. The fins were sort of fragile with the way I cut them out (wasn't aware of the importance of grain direction at the time), so I added a 1/16" balsa stringer behind the leading edge, then covered them with Monocote. It made them smooth and airfoiled all at the same time. I thought it was clever. At a local rocket competition, though, I was dinged for "non-traditional" fin finishing. Either way, CoNO flew rather well and often. She is still a viable rocket, but maybe a little worse for wear and in need of a refit.
Next up, I went much larger with 24mm power:
I called this 42" tall sport machine "Smokin'", after the song by Boston. The fins were basically full Estes-issued sheets of 1/8" balsa with the corners lopped off (the corners became the fore-fins). It was fast on a D12-5 and seemed to go really high, though probably not as high as I imagined at the time. But it flew well and straight and got compliments at local launches. Eventually, the motor mount broke out of it. I was going to replace it with a 29mm mount, but I think the airframe as a whole is a bit too battered, so now she hangs in my shop. I haven't had the heart to part out the nose cone or anything. I may build another yet, though I don't know if I'd be cloning my own work or simply building serial #2... :wink:
I named this small payload rocket "City of New Orleans", after the Illinois Central train that Arlo Guthrie sang about. The fins were sort of fragile with the way I cut them out (wasn't aware of the importance of grain direction at the time), so I added a 1/16" balsa stringer behind the leading edge, then covered them with Monocote. It made them smooth and airfoiled all at the same time. I thought it was clever. At a local rocket competition, though, I was dinged for "non-traditional" fin finishing. Either way, CoNO flew rather well and often. She is still a viable rocket, but maybe a little worse for wear and in need of a refit.
Next up, I went much larger with 24mm power:
I called this 42" tall sport machine "Smokin'", after the song by Boston. The fins were basically full Estes-issued sheets of 1/8" balsa with the corners lopped off (the corners became the fore-fins). It was fast on a D12-5 and seemed to go really high, though probably not as high as I imagined at the time. But it flew well and straight and got compliments at local launches. Eventually, the motor mount broke out of it. I was going to replace it with a 29mm mount, but I think the airframe as a whole is a bit too battered, so now she hangs in my shop. I haven't had the heart to part out the nose cone or anything. I may build another yet, though I don't know if I'd be cloning my own work or simply building serial #2... :wink:
