I'm a fan of retro-style rockets, so decided to jump into the contest. This is my entry.
I rather like the pod on this Buck Rogers ship, and the long trailing fins. Initially, I wanted something a little sleeker and less "busy", so my first cut was a BT-55 design with pods; the spars holding the pods were stretched out into fins.
This wasn't really doing it for me. I like it well enough, and maybe it will be a future build, but it's too... ordinary.
So I changed direction a bit. First off, probably my favorite Estes rocket is the outstanding Dragon Ship 7.
I love the motor tubes, the shape of the fins, and the horizontal landing position. (It worked for Buck, Flash, and Commando Cody!)
Unlike Commando Cody, I like the retro look of long fins running along the main fuselage.
This rocket sculpture built for a parade in 1936 by a sheet metal workers union is AMAZING! Someday I'd like to build a version of it that flies. But that's not this project.
With all that in mind, I started to sketch, and ended up here:
In OpenRocket, I decided to make it longer, a lot longer, to keep the nose weight down so it can fly on B and C motors.
The colors aren't final, and of course it will eventually get windows, rivets, a door, and other details.
With 35g of nose weight, a C5-3 will take it about 300'. OR gives the static stability margin as just 0.8 cal, but the flight simulation shows that it's 1.23 cal by the time it leaves the launch rod at over 50 fps and it remains stable throughout the flight. I feel pretty confident since OR seems pretty conservative about CP, but I'll do more testing once it's built and adjust the nose weight as needed.
I considered rear ejection, but I didn't want all that extra weight in the rear for this. I designed it with a baffle and an 18" chute (I'll probably actually make it 19", thin air up here calls for bigger chutes).
I noticed that 1930s designs don't generally have the noses of real rockets. They tend to be either very round, or long spindly spires, or both -- none of the actual aerodynamic shapes found in the 1940's and later. So I went with hemispherical nose cones, which I'll turn from balsa on a lathe. The pod's tailcone is just a cone, which I'll also turn myself.
I opted for 1/8" plywood for the fins. I'd prefer balsa for the weight, but they need to be rugged so those long bits sticking out the back don't break on landing. Even with the plywood, I may add some sort of reinforcement there.
Dragon Ship 7 used BT-3 tubes around the 18mm motor mount. For this one, I plan to use an Estes screw-on motor retainer. BT-2 tubes should fit between that and the BT-60 body tube, but I don't have any yet to test. But if it works, I'll epoxy those tubes to the retainer cap itself, and the whole unit will screw off and on to retain the motor.
I'm in the middle of another project I have to finish, but parts are on order, and hopefully I'll get to start building within a week or two.
I rather like the pod on this Buck Rogers ship, and the long trailing fins. Initially, I wanted something a little sleeker and less "busy", so my first cut was a BT-55 design with pods; the spars holding the pods were stretched out into fins.
This wasn't really doing it for me. I like it well enough, and maybe it will be a future build, but it's too... ordinary.
So I changed direction a bit. First off, probably my favorite Estes rocket is the outstanding Dragon Ship 7.
I love the motor tubes, the shape of the fins, and the horizontal landing position. (It worked for Buck, Flash, and Commando Cody!)
Unlike Commando Cody, I like the retro look of long fins running along the main fuselage.
This rocket sculpture built for a parade in 1936 by a sheet metal workers union is AMAZING! Someday I'd like to build a version of it that flies. But that's not this project.
With all that in mind, I started to sketch, and ended up here:
In OpenRocket, I decided to make it longer, a lot longer, to keep the nose weight down so it can fly on B and C motors.
The colors aren't final, and of course it will eventually get windows, rivets, a door, and other details.
With 35g of nose weight, a C5-3 will take it about 300'. OR gives the static stability margin as just 0.8 cal, but the flight simulation shows that it's 1.23 cal by the time it leaves the launch rod at over 50 fps and it remains stable throughout the flight. I feel pretty confident since OR seems pretty conservative about CP, but I'll do more testing once it's built and adjust the nose weight as needed.
I considered rear ejection, but I didn't want all that extra weight in the rear for this. I designed it with a baffle and an 18" chute (I'll probably actually make it 19", thin air up here calls for bigger chutes).
I noticed that 1930s designs don't generally have the noses of real rockets. They tend to be either very round, or long spindly spires, or both -- none of the actual aerodynamic shapes found in the 1940's and later. So I went with hemispherical nose cones, which I'll turn from balsa on a lathe. The pod's tailcone is just a cone, which I'll also turn myself.
I opted for 1/8" plywood for the fins. I'd prefer balsa for the weight, but they need to be rugged so those long bits sticking out the back don't break on landing. Even with the plywood, I may add some sort of reinforcement there.
Dragon Ship 7 used BT-3 tubes around the 18mm motor mount. For this one, I plan to use an Estes screw-on motor retainer. BT-2 tubes should fit between that and the BT-60 body tube, but I don't have any yet to test. But if it works, I'll epoxy those tubes to the retainer cap itself, and the whole unit will screw off and on to retain the motor.
I'm in the middle of another project I have to finish, but parts are on order, and hopefully I'll get to start building within a week or two.
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".)
I refined my technique after that. Where I ended up is:
