Stands for Spare Parts Rockets . They're ugly, they're thrown together with whatever falls behind the work bench, they're future sacrifices to the Rocket Godz. They're fun to build.
After getting done reassociating all the disparate parts from the 20 odd Centuri rockets (and the odd Estes) I had in my large box of parts, I still had a small pile of leftovers (shredded fins, creased BTs, plastic nosecones without shoulder inserts, spacers, engine blocks, etc.)
I decided to have some fun and do a couple of throw together 'what if's' just grins and giggles. I'm no rocket designer, and I still need to string test these things, but I had a blast throwing them together.
The smaller one on the right I call the Argon, cause I guess that if you put a C-6 up its rump it Ar-gon. It started out as a body tube (BT-20? ST-10?) that already had a motor assembly and engine clip in it. I found an old dented balsa NC that fit, and alrady had a old 12" Estes Star Wars chute attached. Cut some elastic, and glued in one of my handmade cord mounts. Then I made some simple raked two piece fins with feet and glued the whole mess together. The cone was already red, so I shot the rest of it silver, masked it, then shot the fins black. A couple of decals, pin stripes and a coat of Future later I had a Rocket.
The larger one started out as a smaller gnarly dented body tube with a reinforced plastic transition glued to it. A had an 8" section of crushed BT fom an old Iris kit that fit on the end, so I hack off the good part and glued it on. I had a plastic NC that was the right diameter, but had no shoulder insert, so I cut one out of a block of balsa and sanded it to fit. I found a BT20 size engine tube, a motor block, and some spacers and glue them into the bottom tube. Then I had three large red fins from God knows what lost rocket that I sanded the roots down on and glued them on. I also had a few rough small black fins that I cut down from trapezoids to triangles and glued on. Attached a long shock cord to the upper BT, and put a screw eye in the new balsa shoulder, and it was done, all in about an hour (except for the glue drying). No need to paint it, as I have no idea if this thing is going to survive the first flight, but I did throw on some striping tape and a couple of decals on it to give it a proper look. I'll string test it and make it a 'heads up' launch.
It needs a name though. Something like 'Daamram'
So, what other DIY hack job junk yard mongrels are lurking on the back of your shelf?
After getting done reassociating all the disparate parts from the 20 odd Centuri rockets (and the odd Estes) I had in my large box of parts, I still had a small pile of leftovers (shredded fins, creased BTs, plastic nosecones without shoulder inserts, spacers, engine blocks, etc.)
I decided to have some fun and do a couple of throw together 'what if's' just grins and giggles. I'm no rocket designer, and I still need to string test these things, but I had a blast throwing them together.
The smaller one on the right I call the Argon, cause I guess that if you put a C-6 up its rump it Ar-gon. It started out as a body tube (BT-20? ST-10?) that already had a motor assembly and engine clip in it. I found an old dented balsa NC that fit, and alrady had a old 12" Estes Star Wars chute attached. Cut some elastic, and glued in one of my handmade cord mounts. Then I made some simple raked two piece fins with feet and glued the whole mess together. The cone was already red, so I shot the rest of it silver, masked it, then shot the fins black. A couple of decals, pin stripes and a coat of Future later I had a Rocket.
The larger one started out as a smaller gnarly dented body tube with a reinforced plastic transition glued to it. A had an 8" section of crushed BT fom an old Iris kit that fit on the end, so I hack off the good part and glued it on. I had a plastic NC that was the right diameter, but had no shoulder insert, so I cut one out of a block of balsa and sanded it to fit. I found a BT20 size engine tube, a motor block, and some spacers and glue them into the bottom tube. Then I had three large red fins from God knows what lost rocket that I sanded the roots down on and glued them on. I also had a few rough small black fins that I cut down from trapezoids to triangles and glued on. Attached a long shock cord to the upper BT, and put a screw eye in the new balsa shoulder, and it was done, all in about an hour (except for the glue drying). No need to paint it, as I have no idea if this thing is going to survive the first flight, but I did throw on some striping tape and a couple of decals on it to give it a proper look. I'll string test it and make it a 'heads up' launch.
It needs a name though. Something like 'Daamram'
So, what other DIY hack job junk yard mongrels are lurking on the back of your shelf?
