Blackburn Triplane Rocket

[Daddyisabar]

They did get a photo before the launch. You can't see all the stinkin' performance robbin' nose weight on the Blackburn, but you sure can see all the stinkin' performance robbin' belly weight on the Daddy. I will have to ask the wife "Does this rocket make me look fat?" I need to build tall, sleek 3FNC rockets that will make me look thinner in photos, big ones I can carry on my shoulder, ones with coolly airbrushed, cigar smokin' skeletons playing poker with flames all around. That would be cool. That would get me out of Hobby Lobby, having to walk way to the back of the store for balsa and Baby B kits, only buying one thing at a time with the 40% off coupon. That would get me to stop using left over AT 29mm grain packing tubes for 24mm motor mounts, coupled with used 24mm engine casings. That would stop the label paper sheets that for some reason keep blowing off the shelf at work. Yes, I need to build sane rockets that cost more than $20 and have a RocSim file to prove stability, then I could launch first with more people around and getting past the RSO table would be soooo much easier. But Alas, all I have in the wallet is another tattered Hobby Lobby coupon. Looks like another Baby B and an even more insane idea for the next one.

 

[aditat2]

That is an absolutely inspiring build. Something I will keep in mind when next I enter the planning stages. Beautifully done.

 

[Daddyisabar]

That is an absolutely inspiring build. Something I will keep in mind when next I enter the planning stages. Beautifully done.

Thanks. I hope I can inspire some more war birds. They are both challenging and fun! I will hopefully fly a new HS 132 tomorrow.

 

[Micromeister]

Outstanding build Daddy!
Great subject. one question. Did you consider trying to make it a glider? perhaps ejecting some or all of the nose weight at appogee on a streamer or chute? Does the pusher prop turn? Exceedingly great looking model.

Some time back QCR offered a couple bi and Tri-wing boost gliders that were great fun. I still have my Fakker DR-1 BG although i'm not sure where the booster pod is This model really didn't boost all that well but Man does it glide...

 

[Daddyisabar]

Outstanding build Daddy!
Great subject. one question. Did you consider trying to make it a glider? perhaps ejecting some or all of the nose weight at appogee on a streamer or chute? Does the pusher prop turn? Exceedingly great looking model.

Some time back QCR offered a couple bi and Tri-wing boost gliders that were great fun. I still have my Fakker DR-1 BG although i'm not sure where the booster pod is This model really didn't boost all that well but Man does it glide...

Making anything glide is way beyond my skill level, I was just trying to make it fly "up" like a rocket. The massive nose cone does come down on a separate chute. The prop blades, motor cylinders and wheels are fixed as "fins." I flew it for the second time yesterday and it really flies straight up, I can see why Manfred loved the Triplane configuration. One of the old dudes asked if the wheels turn and I guess they could by just adding a pin/axle of some sort and it should have very little impact on flight performance. The motor and prop could easily be made to turn for display purposes by being mounted to a locking sleeve tube over the motor tube. With out the nose cone this model looks like it would make a good box kite. If you could devise some way to (rear) eject a fuselage booster pod could it be made to glide? Shifting the CG to the right spot at apogee and it might climb like an Ape, taking out the Zeppelin menace at will! All great ideas for a Blackburn Triplane Part Deux.

 

[Daddyisabar]

Flew it for the 3rd time at COSROCS this weekend and it flew straight up again, better than my trusty 3FNC Executioner. The main body chute got blown under the wing and elevator, never fully deployed so it was kind of a flat spin down resulting in a popped wheel and rudder. It looked like it wanted to glide if it had just been rid of that chute!

 

[JPVegh]

How did I miss this one? I have no words to express how amazed I continue to be by your work.

 

[Daddyisabar]

How did I miss this one? I have no words to express how amazed I continue to be by your work.

Thanks, words are not necessary, you must search you feelings, let the Force flow through you, then you will see how the war bird rocket will interact between motor, the tree, the sky, the rock. You will then say that you could almost see the flight even though you were hiding behind the blast shield. Quiet your mind and the midichlorians will tell you what to do with that spare Baby B kit. When you look at the scratch build on the shelf and it makes you happy, you will know you have taken the first step into a much larger world.

You missed this post because I can't decide where to put it - is it an Oddroc? a Gooney? a Scratch Build? a Mid Power?

I used to say that I had been to club launches from one side of the State to the other, seen lots of bizarre stuff, and there was no all powerful Force guiding my model rocket building future, but that was when I was young and foolish. Now I find myself sicking a 26" long piece of balsa through the hind end of a Baby B, making a sporty scale wing for a P-61 with a fuselage mounted canted cluster of composite motors. I must be spending way too much time listening to those crazy midichlorians!

 

[fyrwrxz]

Oh please, please, please continue with these sterling renditions of bygone glory. Anybody can weld up carbonfibre fins and a nose cone to a bodyy tube-these take CRAFTSMANSHIP!

 

[Daddyisabar]

The Blackburn has flown another three times and is still going strong, The small tail joints like to crack but a little thin CA and they are ready to go again.

 

[Daddyisabar]

Video:

[video=youtube_share;FiEDSz06UFQ]https://youtu.be/FiEDSz06UFQ[/video]

It kicked the motor as the tape job did not hold from all the dust from the prior week, Fortunately the case landed not too far from the nose and body.

 

[Daddyisabar]

Flight number five and the plucky little Blackburn Triplane is no longer a dangerous oddroc and can be launched up with the normal and safe 4FNC rockets on the kiddie rack. Yep, kid tested, mother approved the ugly little duckling is now accepted as just another rocket. This one is just a Baby B with some mods and likes to suck all the power it can from F 24 to get only half as high as a 4FNC does on a BP D12.

 

[TopRamen]

Very Nice!!!!

 

[Daddyisabar]

Thanks. I am going to try to pack in a longer shock cord on the body but that is all as the box like character has always flown straight up.

 

[TopRamen]

This Thread made me get out some of my Airplane Books.
Nice Build!

 

[Daddyisabar]

This Thread made me get out some of my Airplane Books.
Nice Build!

With different forward canted motor combinations many WWI fighters and bombers could be flown with rocket power. Rocket powered box kites. Pick one you like, start hacking away and Aces High!

 

[Daddyisabar]

The Blackburn at NARAM. Thanks to Dave Hansen for the photos.

 

[CRC]

that second pic looks cool, your rockets must get alot of attention at launches.

 

[Daddyisabar]

The sixth flight at NARAM was cool due to the great conditions at launch, The light was good off the wings on the way up and then it arced over where you could see the three wings as in the photo. They are a bit different so folks who happen to be there are entertained when they fly. A silly MPR oddroc or two is always good to fill the time between launching the big motors at an event like NARAM.

 

[rstaff3]

A silly MPR oddroc or two is always good to fill the time between launching the big motors at an event like NARAM.

A silly MPR oddroc or two is always good to fill the time between launching the big [or small] motors at an event like [put your launch here].

 

[Daddyisabar]

Some people want to fill the world with silly oddrocs . . . whats wrong with that, whats wrong with that?