Flight Report
Stretched version stable. Unfortunately nose was a bit tight, failed to deploy chute, was kind of a slow motion lawn dart which also unfortunately bent the fuse as you might expect at the skinny “waist” between the box Fin can and the bottle (looks like just forward of the motor mount, which with the motor itself reinforced it up to that point.)
I WAS able to slide the bottle back to the fin can, covering the bent tube section, with enough rigidity to try a flight with the more cosmetic “stubby” version (fin can just behind bottle.). This did leave the initial nose sticking out the exact length the bottle was retracted. I figured if stable, I could mark the CG, cut the protruding forward body segment off, and pack the nose plug with enough weight to return CG to proven stable position.
unfortunately (a word occurring too often In this saga), it was comically unstable, the guidance system however proved excellent however both unintended and nonexistent, and the rocket landed about three feet from the RSO, which since I was alone at the park, happened to be me.
I think there is a compromise here to make this do-able. Comparing my box fins to actual bombs with box fins, real bombs often have a clipped delta strut or axle segment (the fin between the fuse and the box) extending FORWARD from the box. This makes the “bottle” segment of the rocket seem a it closer to the “box” then it actually is. So I would not have to move the bottle too far back. That, and some nose weight, should make this a good flyer.
