U.F.T.Y.E.S.

U.F.T.Y.E.S.

Pronounced YOUFT’-YES. The “U” sound is dominant here, like YOU. It’s an acronym folks and I can’t even tell you what it stands for. But you all have great imaginations and as the build proceeds, you’ll get the meaning. By the way, this is a pre- constructed build thread just in case you think it progressing too quickly. I wanted to fly it before I posted.
In addition, this has got to be the most unusual odd rock I’ve ever done.

Ps….Youft-Yes doesn’t roll off the tongue very easily but it was better than calling it Uhft-Yes.

Also a note to LW, you already know what it stands for so don’t go there.

Our journey begins with a Planter’s peanut can and a 50/60 shroud made with that VCP program some of you still use. I have learned something on that note. The VCP program works great on paper weights up to 65#. Since I am using 110# cardstock, I have to tweak the numbers a little. The magic number was 5 for this design. Normally I would have typed the actual OD numbers in the diameter boxes but for the BT 50 at .976”, I had to make it bigger by adding 5, making for a .981” diameter. The BT 60 OD being 1.637” had to be taken down 5, hence 1.632”. Otherwise the BT 50 would have been too tight and the shroud would have been too big for the BT 60. I know this because I already had prior issues.



The peanut can label was stripped off and a 2”x 2”x 8” balsa block was prepped for the lathe. Since certain food containers usually have a rough surface when you strip the label off they have to be covered again. Like was so when I built a rocket using a salt container. I didn’t have any BT 101 or I’d have gone that route.

While the lam-job was drying on the can, I cut the fin templates out and traced 3 inner fins and 6 outer fins on 3/32” balsa. One end of my sheet was a little warped and the 3 inner fins cut from that section were dampened and placed between two flat surfaces weighted down to dry. That should flatten them out. I must say that this is the first time I’ve ever used 6 matching fins on a single stage rocket. They were sanded even and all necessary edges were rounded off.

I then cut the motor tube, BT 50 and the payload tube, BT 60 to size. Then cleaned up two 50/60 black fiber CR’s and a salvaged 20/50 motor block. Doncha just love them black fiber rings? The peanut can dried nicely and required a little attention at the seam so I puttied that up. No biggie.



Next I shaped the edge of one of the CR’s to fit snugly inside the shroud and mounted that. I thought it might be wise to treat the edges of the can so they got CA’d and sanded smooth. I then made a 5” mark on the motor tube where the small end of the shroud will be and broke out my box-o-fin marking wraps. I’ve made dozens of those and I just keep reusing them till they wear out and print some more. That VCP proggy gets a workout from me.

I see you still have that poor neglected 1B taking up space on your workbench...

I had to make a two piece fin marking guide for the peanut can in AutoCAD because I couldn’t print a 12.5” one with VCP. The can was marked for fins, the motor mount was marked for fins, the shroud got mounted and the 2nd CR was glued on. I also cut some ribs to glue between the CR’s to insure a sturdy fit inside the BT 60. I also thought it would be wise to glue a layer of copy paper inside the can because the removal of that aluminum insulator left the can kinda rugged. That was trimmed and the engine block was installed.



The motor mount was then glued into the BT 60.

LW Bercini said:

I see you still have that poor neglected 1B taking up space on your workbench...

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That actually got moved out of the way before I finished U.F.T.Y.E.S.

When I get ready to mount fins I like stripping the glassine off where they mount and treat the raw edge with wood glue and let dry. Before I mount the fins the glue on the rood edge gets about ½ dry or somewhat tacky, giving a bit of an instant grip so I can glue them all on at the same time. I feel certain this is much better than gluing to the glassine surface. The three internal fins were flat now and got mounted.



Well wouldn’t you know it. My fins are too long to fit inside the can. PHOOIE!! So now I have to trim 1/16” off each one. Sometimes I forget I’m drawing with a zero line width in AutoCAD, :bangpan: At least it’s not the other way around or I’d be looking for that illusive board stretcher.

Since the nose cone will be slightly wider than the BT 60, I doweled up the launch lug for stand off and prepped a fluted dowel to install in the nose cone for the screw eye. It’s a lot less expensive to prep your own fluted dowels.

I didn’t want to leave the inside of the can unpainted, so I marked off where the internal fins would mount, and covered those areas with vinyl strips. I shielded the exterior of the can and painted the inside black. Later, the strips were removed. It was pretty obvious that priming and painting would have to be done to the forward assembly before I installed it. The fluted dowel was installed in the base of the nose cone and filler coats to all of the fins thereafter.

The inner fins got sanded and the launch was mounted. I then primed, sanded and painted the forward assembly. It was done. I used Testors silver spray and the fin can will get that also. It’s only primed at this point.

After I painted the fin can, the next things to do were to paint the fins and the shroud on the forward assembly. After drying I figured I might as well get the stripes on because it would be easier to handle before gluing it all together.

And there you have it. U.F.T.Y.E.S. Probably the fugliest rocket I ever designed. Maybe now you have some idea what the acronym means. That nose cone was the last thing I wanted to show because it now defines the look. It was a fun build considering I usually indulge in fantasy type designs and “out of the box” types. All I gotta do now is fly it and make a video. CG is like in dead center and with all these fins and large fin can, stability shouldn’t be an issue.

The field behind the middle school, around the corner, is all I have to launch in and there’s no size to it at all. Flying anything with a C or better is really risky. Thrust curve only recommended a C-5 in 18mm because there wasn’t enough room on a 3’ rod for it to get enough speed up for a B-6. So I strapped on a bigger lug and broke out my 6 footer.

I figured that should be enough rod for it to move on and it was. Although now I wish I had stocked up on some B-6-2’s because I only had 4 second delay B motors. It’s pretty obvious that 4 seconds was too long for this rocket and since the flight, I now know I probably have gotten away with a C motor.

[video]https://s343.photobucket.com/user/glbyrum/media/UFTYES_zps0727ee27.mp4.html?filters[user]=75504036&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=0[/video]

The forward section tubes got crunched and will have to be replaced. The transition, fins, fin can and the nose cone survived without a scratch. It's fixable and I'll have it back together for the ROSCO launch in October. It was designed with 24mm motors in mind so I figure it'll sport a D 12 pretty nicely. At least it was stable.

I've decided to make this repair as a "post as I go" since I'm entering territory that's a bit different than any fixer upper I've done before.

The carnage was worse that I thought. The motor tube had been crushed inside the can about 1 inch into the internal fins leaving me with decisions. And after a brief thought on that, I loaded up my Dremel with a cutting disk and prepped a measuring stick. This would be what I use to mark the motor mount from the bottom of the fin can up to where I needed cutting marks.

I wasn't sure my efforts were going to pay off but it would seem I was mistaken. A slice here and a slice there, a little carving with the knife and some sanding was the trick. This was test fitted with a new tube and showed I still had a little cleaning up to do.

That NC.....Crazy! (I got to get me a lathe)
The whole thing is....Crazy!
Love the application of the pigment.

Whats behind it,upside down with the half tubes (from post #10?) and NCs in post #11?

Scotty Dog said:

That NC.....Crazy! (I got to get me a lathe)
The whole thing is....Crazy!
Love the application of the pigment. Whats behind it,upside down with the half tubes (from post #10?) and NCs in post #11?

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That's another build that's in painting mode now. I call it "Bogus." Named it after a really good friend of mine. It's his nickname. Those slotted 1/2 tubes go over the 3 fins. I have no pics yet but it'll be silver met with black application. I realized I didn't have enough silver colored rockets in my fleet and it's an effort to use some of those 80K nose cones LW sent me.

U.F.T.Y.E.S. is another whole breed of unusual for me. I had it in my head if Chuck were to hold a contest for the "Ugliest Flying Rocket", that this would be a candidate. Unfortunately I'll have to rebuild it. Like that nose cone Scotty?

Gary Byrum said:

And there you have it. U.F.T.Y.E.S. Probably the fugliest rocket I ever designed. View attachment 144363

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I dunno about that ole buddy. Some of your designs from the 70's were pretty freaky. But I do admit, this one is quite homely.

LW Bercini said:

I dunno about that ole buddy. Some of your designs from the 70's were pretty freaky. But I do admit, this one is quite homely.

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I don't remember any that were this strange. You have all of those drawings. Maybe you should grill me with a few scans.

That thing definitely wants a C6. You could even fly it on a D21 or up size the MMT and do a D12.

apburner said:

That thing definitely wants a C6. You could even fly it on a D21 or up size the MMT and do a D12.

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It's prepped for 24mm motors. I used a B 6 because the field I was in is so small. I plan to fly it in October with D 12's.

Should fly really nice on a D12. Looking forward to the video

I was able to salvage the CR section above the transition but that tranny was dented worse than I thought. This repair isn't going to be near as tough as I thought it would. There was enough tube left above the engine block to accompany a coupler so as to splice in the forward assembly and I coupled the other end to fit in the CR assembly. There was still an inch of tube in there. It's a shorter coupling fit than I would prefer but I don't expect it to give me any trouble. It's LPR after all. This will have to be primed and painted before I can install it. It'll be a few more days until I can re-up on some Testors silver so I am about as far as I can go with it for now except for priming I guess.

You wouldn't have an Open rocket file for this great design would ya.

apburner said:

You wouldn't have an Open rocket file for this great design would ya.

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Nope. I have O.R. but I only use it to view other ppls files. Why, you wanna build one of these? You're gonna need a lathe. I have the specs in CAD and can make you a scaled PDF file for fin templates if that's what you want.

Yes would love one. And yes I have a lathe. Just turned a 29mm nose cone for a minimum diameter 29mm rocket out of basswood cuz I had some. LOL

P.M. me with your email addy. I'll send you everything.

PM sent. thanks