KITBASH Design Contest?

[CTimm]

Design contest using the estes Explorer Aquarius nose cone.
Thats it.
You can use whatever comes in the kit itself, or anything else you feel like using.
Actual construction not needed, but you can do it anyways if you don't want to rocksim something or build a design.
BUT YOU HAVE TO USE THE ORB-LIKE NOSE CONE.
Designs can be a simple 3-view drawing (or 3D rendering), a couple of pics of your model, or even just a rocsim file.
We'll just visually pretend the cone is actually there.
The prize will be (you might have guessed already)------

A sealed kit of the Estes Explorer Aquarius!!!!

Deadline for judging would be Xmas day.

Any participatakers?

Chris

 

[sandman]

Chris,

That kit has been out of production for about 6 or 7 years.

Are you sure?

 

[CTimm]

Originally posted by sandman
Are you sure?

Yup.

 

[kelltym88]

Do you have a cone I could use? I don't have rocsim and I don't want to mess up my Exp. Aquarius.

 

[SwingWing]

I see what it looks like here, https://www.dars.org/jimz/est2016.htm
What are the dimensions?

 

[CTimm]

Originally posted by kelltym88
Do you have a cone I could use?

Thats the beauty of the contest.
You don't need a cone to enter a design.
You don't need to build a model to enter a design.
You don't need a Rocksim file to enter a design.
The minimum entry is a three-view drawing.
Pencil, crayon, whatever........

 

[SwingWing]

well here's a couple.

 

[SwingWing]

#2

 

[CTimm]

Dude!!!!

 

[CTimm]

Sweet!!!!

 

[CTimm]

Stuffing the design box is allowed.
Ya gotta love the odds so far!

 

[CTimm]

Only two weeks left!

 

[Conan]

Not that I need another since I have three Aquarii out in the stash, but I thought of this general design because I wanted to maximize the actual bash (i.e., use all the parts possible and minimal others).

I don't have any fancy software, so I used PowerPoint to lay out the design. There is no drawing of the nose cone (or tail cone) but we all know what they look like, right???

I broke out the kit and measured the following parts:
a. One 18" BT-55 main body tube
b. Twelve 4" BT-20 tubes
c. Six 8 5/8" BT-20 tubes
d. One 2.75" BT-50 (motor tube)
e. Three 3/32"x3 3/8"x2 5/8" balsa fins

The drawing has the BT-55 tubes as green, the long BT-20s as Dark Blue, and the short BT-20s as Light Blue. BT-20s are as is, except a 45 degree angle cut on one end. The BT-55 is cut to six inches for the main body tube, and then the remaining tube is cut into 3 four-inch pieces. Then each of these 3 pieces is cut along a 45 degree angle from 2.5" to 1.5". The fins are cut along an angle by dividing into thirds and cutting the angle, so that the 3 3/8" edge remains as the leading edge. My idea is to mount the "fin units" at an angle (say 10-15 degrees) to impart a spin both on ascent and descent.

Basic idea is to dispense with parachute, have a very long shock cord (probably Kevlar) and have it flip over at apogee with the Nose Cone leading the helo-descent. Hopefully when it contact the ground, the remaining rocket weight is light enough to prevent damage to the fin units. Probably would have to liberally coat the tube fin tips with CA or finish epoxy to strengthen.

Kinda sorta a cross between the old Centuri Satellite Killer and FlisKits Overdue?

But it sure looks different...

Enjoy,

 

[BobCox]

Originally posted by Conan
Kinda sorta a cross between the old Centuri Satellite Killer and FlisKits Overdue?

But it sure looks different...

Very interesting. It reminds me of The Flying Purple People Eater of Death.

 

[jflis]

Originally posted by BobCox
Very interesting. It reminds me of The Flying Purple People Eater of Death.

Yea, *that's* what I was thinking!

I'd be a bit concerned about those tubes being so far out on those wide fins, but a very cool looking model.

 

[CTimm]

I wonder who won?
Could it be Swing?
Or maybe Wing?

I wish the lotto had odds this good!

 

[SwingWing]

Originally posted by CTimm
Speaking of contests, anyone ever wonder who got the shrink-wrapped Explorer Aquarius kit?

Yes, it was I.
I have been delinquent in thanking CTimm for his generous OOP, classic, in the shrink wrap prize for this contest. T
Thanks Chris!!!!
Next time, I want to see more people designing!!!