Skeeterrific - A Mega Skeeter Kit Bash

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Daddyisabar

Oddroc scum. Mindsimmer.
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With the burn ban in effect and no launching allowed, the only way to fight the dreadful boredom is to get into the stack of extra Estes kits bought during the big Christmas sale a few years back. I have used up all the Mega Skeeto kits except one. What to do with all the extra left over bits? Answer: Just do a simple, quick, kit bash. Cut off an old pointy, plastic nose cone, get out the plastic weld epoxy clay, use all the bags of little side mosquito kits that came with the Mega packs, beef up the 24mm-2.6" stock paper centering rings with left over 29mm plywood ones, paste on some googly eyes, CA on some antennae, reuse a 24mm motor retainer and there you have it. I call it Skeeterrific!

3FNC set up for a kick booty 24mm composite motor with positive retention, just what the Pad Fuhrer will like. Hopefully he will not get out the snipers for the asymmetrical antennae. The fin roots are reinforced with Sonic igniter tubes that are just long launch lugs. The main tube is internally reinforced with scrap. Shock cord is underwear elastic. The reinforced pods on the side are merely for decoration and will NOT be used as silly powered PODS to create a "questionable clustered oddroc" that could be launched the very near future. There is no motor block to accommodate a BP motor in the center tube! To cluster up such a beast one would have to pre-install the correct amount of nose weight before gluing the nose cone together. So I weighted it up for one of those awesome CTI 6 grain composite motors, what is the harm in that? Yes, I do have a bag of those little red 13mm booster motors that are begging to be plugged and clustered, but I can resist. Not even thinking of taping a rear thrust ring on a center line E12 for a cluster, the fire ban is still in full effect!

Skeeter 6.jpgSkeeter 5.jpgSkeeter 1.jpgSkeeter 2.jpgSkeeter 4.jpgSkeeter 3.jpg

Thinking Lime Green would be nice and have a ton of skeeter decals to use.

If we do get in a Summer launch this year, hopefully this "cute rocket for the kids" will open up the attending soccer mom's wallets for the donation can at the club. Maybe I could teach our LCO the Bugaloos song to sing to the kids before Skeeterrific is launched. . . that could work.

Bugaloops 2.jpg

"We're the Bugaloos, the Bugaloos, we're in the air and everywhere, Flying High, Flying Free, in this land made for you and me."


Maybe with a few winks I could even get the soccer grandmas to contribute! Maybe time to come up with something from the New Zoo Review, Sigmond and the Sea Monsters or Land of the Lost.

New Zoo.jpgSigmond.jpg
 
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Sorry to hear about the burn ban! With all the Wild Fires out west I suppose such restrictions are a necessary headache. Very Nice Mega Sketter.

Because I often flew at the NASA Visitors Center at Wallops Island, Va. Infamous for it's HUGE and blood thrusty mosquito's.
After giving about a pint at one Saturday Launch, I customized an Estes Mosquito as shown below called "Wallops Island Welter".
It's only Flown twice at Wallops Island and once at our home field in Middletown, Md. She's now mostly a display model.
Sure was a fun build & painting though.
thought I had a lift-off photo but apparently those flights were before I learned to catch the lift offs of such Quick flying models.

022_Wallops Island Welter_03-26-89.jpg
 
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NICE ONE!

The Bugaloos! Ha'! Never knew about that, and wish I had not googled it!

Please do get video of the flight which will likely be EPIC, especially with the audience you have planned.
Are you going to test it first? I'm sure it is a base dragster and will fly incredibly straight and fast too given what you are loading her with.

I once had a thread about "Is It Possible To Make An Unstable Mosquito".

As a child, I knew they were one rockets I could fly without a pad at all, and yes, that was unsafe and dumb, but I was like 8-10 yrs old when I was doing that.

Nice show indeed, and can't wait to see the finished product!!!!

You really nailed it design-wise.

Given your experience level, it must take a lot of self-control to not want to put the mini motors in there, but given your attention to the launch conditions it's the best choice. This is one of those rockets that is best watched closely and not from an away pad.
Any "Pad Fuhrer" that says no to that needs his common sense levels checked at the Gate at the next launch. The kids will love it!

What a cool design!
 
The first test will be on an E 18 reload an then move up from there. With the additional nose weight I am not concerned with stability even with bigger or maybe multiple motors. Like you said this is a very stable kit with the big fins, The eyes move the CP up but the PODs should bring it down. In primer now and hopefully some lime green by tonight.
 
To update the Skeeter has flown many more times on more powerful CTI 24mm motors. Even with a reinforced tubed it dose like to zipper. On one flight on a very punchy motor it drag separated and ripped off the tri fold shock core mount. The body came in ballistic and it required a new top end of the body tube. Repair done it has flown a few more times with the nose cone a little tighter. The kids and mom's like the googly eyes and antennae.
 
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