I had posted a number of rocket designs a while back, with a fair amount of favorable comments from YORFers. While I am out to realize some of these designs as prototypes, I also manage to craft on the fly.
The first pic shows the prototype for the
Night Ranger, for which a fellow YORFer had made a RockSim file and declared the design viable. It has a BT-50 tube/PNC, with two canards on the NC that match the tailfins in shape. Yes, that is a ping-pong ball installed on the tube (my first such build variation)! Length is almost 19.5". It does not match the visual dimensions shown in the original proposal, but our next launch day will be this week, so we shall see how it flies.
The blue bird in the background is Cuzzin' Mike's
Echostar, and you can see part of his new
SR-71 Blackbird. I figgered someone would ask...
The second pic shows one of my sidetracks, a little sporty bird I dubbed the
Skedaddle. Using the dorsal fin from my failed
El Dorado prototype I crafted two more and put 'em all on a BT-20 tube. The NC is an outdoor Christmas light bulb! At least until it breaks! The collar at the top of the tube is a section of corrugated packing sheet that gives the feel of the ribbed Saturn V panels. Kind of white trash, but hey... they get the point across. I expect to use a 6" parachute for recovery, considering the possibility of breaking the rattail fins. Length is 12".