Not an oddroc, but still odd

So what do you get when you combine the love of birds, rockets, and electronics with a rather unfortunate sense of humor? Well, this is what I got!

The "Mad Duck" is a bit over two-feet long, based on BT80 tubing. I designed a small board to mount a 160mAh LiPo battery and constant current LED driver and used two ultra-bright red LEDs for eyes. It's a bit hard to see in the pictures, but impossible to miss in person. With a home-made ripstop parachute and Nomex parachute protector it is still light enough to fly ( only just ) on a C11-3. OpenRocket has it flying well, as is, on up to an F50 if I were in a particularly evil mood and, with a bit of nose weight, maybe, even on a 24-mm G. But surely it's not worth upsetting the poultry that much.

Anyone else run a-fowl of similar leanings?

Martin Jay McKee

That's a mighty build. I'm sure people quack up when they see the eyes in person.

That's really nice looking. Now you need a hen to go with the drake.

I'd say unique, not odd. Looks great. Now, if I tried that, it would undoubtedly be very odd.

:duck:Great imaginative build. I hope no one has to " DUCK " during recovery

Thanks for the comments. This has been a fun build.

Perhaps unique is a better descriptor. I've been considering a swan "super-roc." It'd be complete with bulbous head and body, long neck and wings. The paint job would be a darn sight easier too. A hen would be interesting as well. Maybe this guy's mad just because there isn't a hen around?

I haven't flown him yet, but I've had great luck with an otherwise identical ( but boring! ) model. Looking at this weekend for a possible maiden.

Martin Jay McKee

I am voting odd on this one.

This quacked me up...

That's cool.
Im interested in how you applied the pigment?
Mask and spray,brush,both..????

Seems only one step removed from a Black Brant...

Nice, I like it. I did a similar paint job on my Fliskits Drake.

Paint was applied almost entirely spray can with blue painter's tape masking. The blue highlights on the wings were brushed on as was the small amount of line work on the beak.

I don't really consider myself much of a painter -- it's the hardest part of any build for me -- so, joking aside ( for a quack moment... ) I wanted to push myself to do a more complicated paint job with this beast. The paint is far from immaculate, but the overall effect works, if I do say so myself.

I love the version of it on the Fliskit kit. It clearly references the appearance of a mallard without being overtly representational.

I had considered painting it as a Black Brant -- the whole series of sounding rockets are some of my absolute favorite designs -- but somehow I saw it in a ( very recognizable ) mallard. Perhaps not so good a rocketry joke, but it works for non-rocketeers. So far, I've gotten positive feedback from people who mostly have no interest in these things. That's a good sign.

I've wanted to upscale this design for small HPR anyhow, and now I'm seriously thinking about about a pair -- a hen and drake -- built on 3" tube, with a 38mm motor mount. It's just such a fun rocket ( and, in it's previous incarnations, a great flyer ). I'm not sure I'm ready for that much painting though! ( especially the flecked feathers on a hen... hmm... any suggestions? )

Cheers,
Martin Jay McKee

Flecks? I always think of people dipping a toothbrush in paint (perhaps decanted from a spray can) and using the bristles to flick small speck out by pulling their finger along the bristles. That said, I really have never seen a duck up close to know how big the flecks would need to be.

I like the idea of flicking paint for the flecks in the fins. I'm not sure it would be quite large enough flecks, but it's surely worth a try. It wouldn't be too hard to test, after all.

The "Mad Duck" had his maiden today -- he's still mad. I'm not sure why he hasn't cheered up; it was a beautiful flight. The eyes were visibly glowing, even in the sun, while he waited on the pad. A D12-5 took him up around 500ft and the chute popped just at apogee. A nice descent ( with his eyes flashing to us on the way down ), and it was an easy retrieval with zero damage. All around, quite successful. I'm liking this design ( that is, the airframe ) more and more. Which reminds me, here's the OpenRocket file, just in case anyone wants to see the nuts and bolts.
View attachment mad_duck.ork
I have yet to do anything regarding appearance in OR, so it's pretty boring looking. But, all the parts are there.

Martin Jay McKee