Losing my marbles, an oddroc

[teepot]

Here is another rocket I made using styrofoam balls. From the top, a 2", 4" 6", 8" 10" and 12". The 8, 10 and 12 were hollow. The others were solid. It has a 3" body tube core. A 29mm x 12" motor mount. It weighs 46 ounces. I probably should have made the fins bigger. When I drew it up they looked big enough. Only time will tell. Hasn't flown yet. I'm counting a lot on drag to help stabilize it. Thrust curve predicts 500 feet on a H135. Anyone else using styrofoam to build rockets?

 

[mbeels]

That should be an interesting flight! I've seen styrofoam balls as ornaments on rockets, but not the actual body itself.

 

[les]

Interesting...

 

[Aeronerd]

Clever.

 

[BABAR]

Cool look.

To quote Han Solo,

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

Maybe the lower spheres will provide enough base drag. Your fins are basically useless, they are far to small and are in the wash of the lowest sphere. Anyway, FWIW, it doesn’t pass my mindsim. Maybe @Daddyisabar can chime in, he and @rstaff3 are two of the oddroc experts.

 

[Daddyisabar]

I'm with Babar. It's funny looking. For any chance the cg would have to be at least 2/3 the way up. Not Styrofoam but a lead ball is needed up top. My mindsim as shown creates a lead ball in my tummy. Flown a lot of Styrofoam ball rockets; tape worms and a Jack in the box, seen lots lots of strange things, but this gives me a bad feeling too kid. Seen unstable high power oddrocs on Malistare, very dangerous. A sith RSO on Correllia would let it fly! Given a lucky charm it might work. Motors placed up front would work better but there would be melting on this design. What would JarJar Binks say?

 

[MadRocketer]

How about if you turn it over? Fill the motor void with some foam, and a bit of weight. Let’s encircle the motor with a couple more of those white balls, if they are big enough. That would look neat. Now, fins. Those ones would make nice leading edges, but bigger would be better.

 

[teepot]

I know the fins are too small. When I drew it up they seemed bigger. Cg is at the mid point. I might make the fins bigger before I fly it. I don't fly my oddrocs in public until I know they work.

 

[BABAR]

I don't fly my oddrocs in public until I know they work.

good decision. Even so, while I will fly some rockets that I think PROBABLY will work but I am not sure in private, I try never to launch any rocket that by mind sim I think probably WON’T work. Kind of a waste of a motor and time.

and for the record, not all the rockets I thought would PROBABLY work actually DID work.

@Daddyisabar has apparently got an extended lease on the far pad, but I expect while he pushes the envelope, his expectation is that the flight will stay inside the paper.

 

[Daddyisabar]

The basic rules must always be obeyed! Bend but do not break! If broken you must compensate with active Stabilization and throttlable engines. Rocket Science RULES!

 

[GlenP]

You could also use Sputnik or MoonNik type dowels that extend from the lowest sphere. They give quite a bit of drag stability even for a small dia dowel, especially if they extend outwards larger than the lowest sphere diameter.

https://www.erockets.biz/oddl-rockets-flying-model-rocket-kit-sputnik/
https://www.spacemodeling.org/jimz/eirp_14.htm

 

[teepot]

You could also use Sputnik or MoonNik type dowels that extend from the lowest sphere. They give quite a bit of drag stability even for a small dia dowel, especially if they extend outwards larger than the lowest sphere diameter.

https://www.erockets.biz/oddl-rockets-flying-model-rocket-kit-sputnik/
https://www.spacemodeling.org/jimz/eirp_14.htm

That's a good idea. What I had been thinking of doing was to add a fin at a right angle to the existing fin. And I did a Sputnik too. I'm working on another oddroc. I'll post pictures when it's done.