Arial the mermaid scratchbuild for my daughter

My 6 y/o daughter said to me yesterday, "Daddy we need to build me my own rocket!" You betcha honey! I held up a BT5 tube and said, "How about this size?". She frowned and said, "Fatter!" So I held up a BT55 and that lit up her face.

Tonight I took a piece of 2x4 out of the scrap pile, ripped a square blank and turned a nosecone. This was my first nosecone and one of the first things I've ever turned. I just got an old metal lathe last week for my first lathe. I bored it out on the drill press to lighten it up but it still feels pretty heavy compared to blow molded plastic but I think it will be doable. Once we have a fin design I'll start simming some different configurations to see if the cone is useable.

My daughter lasted through about half of the turning sitting on a stool with her googles on watching and then vacuumed up the chips. Once she got bored and went in I finished it up and took it in to show her. She approved and we started talking about themes for the rocket.



She wants an Ariel the mermaid rocket. I'm thinking flipper shaped fins of some sort, light sea green BT paint, white or red like her hair for the nosecone, a picture of Ariel on the side, and the rocket's name along with my daughters name.

Any suggestions or examples I should see?

something like this perhaps. feel free to use or modify if you like.
rex

View attachment mermaid.pdf

View attachment mermaid.ork

There's something fishy about this thread.

You already built one! What a fluke! (pun intended)

lol, only a virtual one , you asked for ideas...looked at various mermaids on google(I strongly suggest safe search if daughter is anywhere near). a few minutes with my paint program, then I needed something to put them on, a quick import/scale later I figured might as well finish the 'design'. I will note that you'll have to change the nose to match yours. roughly 20 minutes for a simple rocket . hope whatever you end up building meets with approval.
rex

If your daughter has the 12 inch Ariel doll then you already have a perfect fin/fin pattern.

As for painting, a metal flake or opalescent paint should give you the fish scale quality you're going for. Combine the paint with some fishnet masking and the illusion of scales should be complete. Do a google search of lure making or fishnet masking and you will find some great tips for painting. An airbrush would be great for adding some fade and shadow detail.

JPVegh said:

There's something fishy about this thread.

Click to expand...

:roll:

Neuport said:

My 6 y/o daughter said to me yesterday, "Daddy we need to build me my own rocket!" You betcha honey! I held up a BT5 tube and said, "How about this size?". She frowned and said, "Fatter!" So I held up a BT50 and that lit up her face.

My daughter lasted through about half of the turning sitting on a stool with her googles on watching and then vacuumed up the chips. Once she got bored and went in I finished it up and took it in to show her. She approved and we started talking about themes for the rocket.

or red like her hair

Click to expand...

This is great! I just went through the same thing with my nine year old, got her the moon mut and let her paint it. Mine's a red head too, firey, stubborn and emotional.

Going launching this Sunday, she'll get her chance to watch it fly... AND I have a few of my own... :headbang:

Good luck with your launch! We will be getting started when we get home next week.

I played around with the .ork file that Rex posted and came up with this. Mostly I just scaled the components. The tube dimensions are not exact yet. A C6-5 would make for a nice flight. Do you see any problem with 1/16 basswood fins on a 4 oz rocket?

View attachment mermaid.ork

couple of thoughts came to mind...thought this was going to be for daughter...looks like she likes big motors , you may find it a challenge locating body tubes 1.25" o.d. though semroc does have some that is 1.22", the semroc 'cataloge' is a great reasorce for rocket designers .
rex

Thats what I meant by the tube dimensions aren't final. I turned a nose cone to fit a 55 that I have a box of. I didn't have the tube or NC with me when I was working on this so the diameters were guesses to get close so I could size the motor. I started to design around a BT 5 and my daughter said she wanted to use the bigger tubes. We then turned the NC, weighed it, and went from there. What do you think about 1/16 basswood fins?

I don't have an answer on the basswood, I haven't tried it yet. methinks that if one wanted a 'bigger' airframe that bt55 (1.325/1.283/0.021)would be a good choice...corse with venders like semroc etc. there are a few more sizes to choose from .
rex

BT-55 is what I am using. I was working on my net book at the park w/o access to the Internet so I guessed on the dimensions. I will update the sizes before I finalize the model.

Finally made some progress on my daughter's rocket.

Fin stock stacked - 1/8" basswood


Rough cut


Sanded stack


Individual fins

Dry fit - looked too long to me


Cut off 2 inches


3 layer poster board glue up for centering ring stock


ORK file
View attachment mermaid.ork

A little more progress today. I'm afraid it is going to be a pig with my heavy wooden nosecone and thick basswood fins but I really like the design that Rex came up with.

Looking good so far!

I did the easy part...you're doing the hard part(and doing it nicely) of turning the design into a rocket. heavy just means you can fly it on a smaller field . can't wait to see it painted.
rex

Thanks guys. It will be a slow build with the other non rocketry projects I have going on right now.

looks great! my two daughters are into fairy and princess themes for their rockets. I don't have the skills to scratch build them, though. they pick out an estes rocket and we paint it colors of their choosing. the last one was a joint effort (one daughter chose nose cone color, the other picked body color). the resulting combo looked surprisingly good!

for my daughters, they don't really care how high it went. they just like to see it fly. in some cases, a heavier rocket is better as you stand a better chance of recovery.

I can't wait to see how this ends up!

Your project reminded me of these... Here are a few rockets built by Carol Marple a few years ago for the NARAM 51 Fly It/Take It program. The Arial and Princess rockets are Estes Patriots decorated with stickers from Micheals.

I think you all are right. The plan all along was to keep the flights fairly low on C motors so she could easily track it. It's cool that you all are involving your daughters. I am hoping do something like suggested above with the two tone scale pattern.