Albatros DVa model rocket

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Daddyisabar

Oddroc scum. Mindsimmer.
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This is a 2.6 inch rocket version of the WWI German fighter the Albatros DVa. Three 29mm motor mounts and a whole lot of fins up front. It has a prop fin made out of tongue depressors. It is just an Estes Mega Skeeter kit with some mods. The rear 2.6 cone is a reject Apogee nose cone from their "Free with purchase" box for in store customers, it had a crooked tip but was perfect for this application. Lots of squishy Hobby Lobby balsa, label paper, thick Apogee 29mm motor mount, motor blocks are cut from used casings. Dowel from the hardware store, JB Weld Plastic Weld and and an old body tube for a launch lug, 3/8" rod minimum. Will come down on two chutes, one for the nose cone and one for the rest. Cut the head off my old parachute guy. Motor mount made with six drops of CA and the Mega Skeeter centering ring, then glued TTW. Trusty trifold shock cord on reinforcing coupler.

Still deciding on a paint scheme. Red Baron? Ernst Udet? an early Von Shleich (Pre Black Knight)? Hauptmann Kitty from the photo knows all the Old Eagles so he might have to decide. Putting on the top wing will be one of the last steps, along with installing a modicum of stinking, performance robbing nose weight.

Poor Young Turks at the launch. Here comes an old fart with a 100 year old airplane and a 3/8 inch launch rod. Fins and motors way too far forward! I must believe in the power of mid mount canted motors! Thick old launch rods rule, can't use a fancy modern rail on this one. Paper, balsa and lots of dope for these WWI contraptions.

Shown with Beech Staggerwing and Blackburn Triplane, old veterans with many flights. Hopefully the DVa will have similar luck.

DVA 10.jpgDVA 2.jpgDVa 3.jpgDVA 4.jpgDVa 5.jpgDVa 6.jpgDVa 7.jpgDVa 8.jpgDVa 9.jpgDVa 1.jpg
 
Awesome! I love the engineering you've put into this...mid-dual engine pods angled like the Deuces Wild so it doesn't mess up the profile and can still be stable if only one motor lights...right? Very clever! :clap:
How about you go all out and give it a Lozenge camo? :wink:
 
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Your airplane rockets are the best. Maybe Hauptmann Kitty-style camo?
 
Awesome! How about you go all out and give it a Lozenge camo? :wink:

Thanks! A Lozenge would take real skill and lots of ink cartridges, this is a fairly big model. On the DVa I have seen Lozenge mainly on the lower wings and some on the tail. I am leaning towards the early Von Schleich, baby blue, mauve and light green with a nice Bavarian touch.
 
Awesome! I love the engineering you've put into this...mid-dual engine pods angled like the Deuces Wild so it doesn't mess up the profile and can still be stable if only one motor lights...right? Very clever! :clap:
How about you go all out and give it a Lozenge camo? :wink:

It is a three motor mount and if only two lit it would most likely arc over and crash before ejection. That is why it can only fly in low fire danger or have a crew at the ready. A good clip whip and Q2G2s are a must. Careful prep and good weather conditions are also required.
 
It is a three motor mount and if only two lit it would most likely arc over and crash before ejection. That is why it can only fly in low fire danger or have a crew at the ready. A good clip whip and Q2G2s are a must. Careful prep and good weather conditions are also required.

Ah! Then more like the Tres! I had missed the one tube coming out of the cockpit...goes to prove how well your design hides the motor system! Kudos! Boy, it takes a lot of guts to make such a beauty and fly it with such lower margin of error. Big fan here! :)
 
Ah! Then more like the Tres! I had missed the one tube coming out of the cockpit...goes to prove how well your design hides the motor system! Kudos! Boy, it takes a lot of guts to make such a beauty and fly it with such lower margin of error. Big fan here! :)

Thanks. Hiding those motors is key to the good looks required. Like any three canted motor cluster you need all the motors to light at once or the odds of a good flight quickly vanish. Flying oddrocs is a low margin business so you have to take all the precautions you can, but it is no different than flying other complex designs.

On Sunday one of my rockets landed close to one of the Pad Fuhrer's rockets so we had a nice walk back were we discussed the DV. He actually said forward fins are OK if the motors are up front as well. I was so happy I almost fell over. So the prop fin went on, not that it really makes that much difference but it looks cool.
 
@daddyisabar...you have so many interesting rockets that it is hard to keep up with them. I think a set of fleet pics is warranted. The number of photos should d'pend on the number of rockets in said fleet.
 
Mucho cool
Are the horizontal and vertical stabilizers gonna get scorched?

Mindsim has a bit of burn on the top of the rudder, but shaping you fins with fire during flight is a good, natural thing. . . right? I always try to max out the fins in back, but when you put the motors up front that can be a problem, darn burn. Not that I am desperate to bring the CP down from the big bi fins up front, and the landing gear fins, and the prop fin, and the exposed cylinders, exhaust, machine guns, windscreen and pilot head. Not that I am desperate to reduce the colossal amount of no good, stinking, performance robbing nose weight. Not desperate at all, just brimming with steadfast oddroc confidence that all the motors will light and I can trust in thrust . . . right?:eek: Maybe time for a little liquid courage to boost the Hopesim!
 
@daddyisabar...you have so many interesting rockets that it is hard to keep up with them. I think a set of fleet pics is warranted. The number of photos should d'pend on the number of rockets in said fleet.

I don't even know if all the rocket planes would all fit into a single photo these days. All but two are still flyable.

B 58 1.jpgBeech Satggerwing 2 motors 2.JPGMig 3 launch.JPGHS 123 5th number 2.JPGJU 87 Four.jpgP5030228.jpgP4190203.jpg169.jpgDO 217 2.jpgP9170001.jpg
 
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@daddyisabar...you have so many interesting rockets that it is hard to keep up with them. I think a set of fleet pics is warranted. The number of photos should d'pend on the number of rockets in said fleet.

I seem to have forgotten the Black Widow and VAL! Plus some more to fill up the 10 picture slot.

2013-12-01 CRASH Launch 084.JPGDSC_8453.jpgP 61 take off.jpgDSC_8452.jpgHustler 12.jpgBlackburn Naram 3.jpgimage.jpgShinden takeoff tif.gifCorsair launch.gifP9120015.jpg
 
The Albatros is taking the worst features from both the Blackburn Triplane and Beech Staggerwing and putting them together into a next generation silly oddroc. Kind of like bad breeding making something even more scary. And this time it has a new mutation of a prop fin. Oh the CP horror. Is the drag roughly equivalent? Will the flame fin action from three canted motors all lighting at the same time save the day? With brain damage like this maybe Gas Dynamic Stabilization doesn't sound so bad.
 
LOL, you should have put on proper propellers with a nose cone that would spin.
 
Well John, I credit you with the idea to convert one for flight! If I had an 18mm RMS, I would not have had to add those silly, non-scale 13mm RAM Jet pods :)
 
Daddy seems to be able to find cool aircraft that I've never even heard of. But now I have to google the Cessna.
 
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Cessna O-2 is an observation plane (built a small model of it as a kid and always thought it was very cool). Here's a pic of a model of one (not my build!)...I think it's funny with the words on the wings:
cessnao2a48fc_2.jpg


Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cessna_O-2_Skymaster

I like strange planes and actually was already familiar with the Pogo shown earlier...I thought of it possibly being a good rocket conversion a year or two ago before I found out about John's fantastic version. As cool as I could've imagined it. :)
 
Then there's the North American/Rockwell OV-10 which could make for an interesting Daddy build
 
Then there's the North American/Rockwell OV-10 which could make for an interesting Daddy build

The Bronco probably would work better than the Skymaster, if for no reason other than the high tailplane would be more or less out of the thrust. Of course, one could also make it twin engined...
 
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