Teledyne Firebrand

[stevem]

My son and I were looking at rockets on Designation-Systems and he really liked the Firebrand so I built one.

Here is the finished rocket - Bt-60 based, 27" long. The rear fin pods are made of Estes PNC-55 nose cones cut up and glued together.

Not sure how this will fly with the fin config more like an airplane than a rocket but we'll see as soon as weather gives us a chance to launch.

I looked all over the web for info on a color scheme since the only photo I could find was BW. No luck so we decided to paint it orange because we don't have an orange rocket yet. How's that for 'scale' research?

 

[flying_silverad]

Due to the non symeteric fin design, I wonder if you'll suffer any loops. It is an awesome model though. Have you tried a swing test on it yet? That might reveal some flight issues before you light it off.

Really want to see more of this, awesome job!!!

 

[Prowler901]

That's an awesome job! I too am very interested in finding out how it flies.

Regards,
Todd

 

[stevem]

thanks John
I haven't done any swing testing yet but I plan to sometime in the next few days.
It is sounding like we have a pretty decent weekend coming up weather wise so I am hoping I'll be able to get this (and a bunch of others I haven't flown yet) into the air.
I'll post results (and pictures if I remember to bring my camera this time!)

 

[rstaff3]

Another great looking model Steve!

 

[SwingWing]

Nice looking bird!! Kinda reminds me of the X-1
How does it recover? parachute or glide??

 

[sandman]

SAAAAWWWWWEEEEET!!

Very unusual!

sandman

 

[stevem]

thanks guys -
this one will be chute recovery. I thought about the glide thing but to be honest I am not sure how to go about designing so it can glide. Probably need to make the forward wings bigger. Heck I'm still trying to get my OT glider trimmed out so it at least resembles a glide when it comes down.

I can't wait to see how this one flies. I don't have Rocksim or anything so the first flights on my scratch builts are always a bit edgy. Maybe we should be wearing full body armor when we launch this one.

It always fun until someone loses an eye.

 

[teflonrocketry1]

That is one neat design, and an excellent job on the build!

If you post the details or send them to me, I can create a RockSim file for this design (complete with stabilizer mounted jets) and give you an estimate where the CP lies along the main body tube. At least you will know if you need added nose weight.

Bruce S. Levison, NAR #69055

 

[stevem]

thanks for the offer Bruce - I appreciate that!


I did the cutout-cardboard method of determining CP on this thing and we flew it on New Year's Day -

It flew just as straight as could be! We flew it on a D12-3, est.altitude approx 500'. Landed less than 100' from the pad.

I was apprehensive about flying this with the asymetrical fins but it flew beautifully!

I expected that the toothpick we used for the antenna on the nose cone would not last the first flight but it did.

 

[Steve]

Stevem -

So was your only source that website and picture? What a cool looking model! Great job!

Stephen

 

[stevem]

yep, the picture on the web site was all I had to go by.

I am not a scale purist so my scale models aren't 'exact' by any means but I try to capture the essence of the rocket. I try to get as many pictures as possible before I start so I can get an average of the proportions. However in the case of this rocjet the only picture I could find was the black and white photo on designation-systems.net.

I could not find any data on markings or color so I had to guess.

Since it looked a little like an X-15 and the fact that I had a can of orange spray paint I decided orange was 'scale' enough for me.

Since this one flew so well I am thinking I'll build a bigger one, maybe bt-80- based. Also thinking about what would happen if I had engines in the wing pods.