The PeeWee is a little two stage rocket designed by Tom Rhue and featured as the Estes Design of the Month for October 1961. It stuck me as "primitive" and I do not mean that in a derrogotory manner. As someone said on YORF, it hearkens to a deay when the hobby was being made up as the modeler went along.

I decided to try and build it and promised I would post the build thread on YORF. It seems a fitting place for this venerable design.

I immediately surmised that I would be ordering my parts from Semroc and took a look at the instruction to hit my first roadblock. They call for BT3 tubing. This was one I had not worked with before. The only distributor I found for BT3 was Fliskits (I like their stuff too) but then I realized I was in the MMX dept. I checked the diamter and realized that there was no way I was going to fit an 18mm motor into the Fliskits BT3. So it is that I posted a message on YORF asking for help. The kind folks there soon gave me an answer I could use. The archaic BT3 of Estes was still availible as the Semroc BT30. That being the case, I place my order and had it two days later.

My total parts list was as follows:

1/16" balsa
3.25" Semroc BT30
2.75" Semroc BT30
Balsa Nosecone, Semroc BNC 30C
2x1/8" launch lug


After getting the parts, they sat in the box from 5 Nov until Christmas Day when I finally had time to get started. When I did get started, I found a simple but fun project to occupy an afternoon.

The sustainer body tube was supposed to be 3.125 inches long. I had ordered a 3.25" as the nearest fit. In looking at the directions, there seems to have been some play with this length. If you wanted to build a version that used streamer recovery, a tube as long as 5..5" was recommended. I decided the 1/8" was not going to hurt me. That being the case, the first step was to glue on the nose cone with yellow glue.

Attached Thumbnails

 

__________________
John A. Lee O.S.L.
Alamo Rocketeers NAR Section 661
NAR 87285, L1 8 March 2008
TRA 03040, L1 8 March 2008
Photos of the "Fleet": http://www.flickr.com/photos/23694991@N03/

I used to tell Mom, "...I want to fly rockets when I grow up!"

She said, "Make up your mind, you can't do both!"

While the nose cone was drying, I cut out the fin template and laid it on my 1/16" balsa stock and traced around it with a pencil. I then copied the pattern twice more making sure the grain was aligned as indicated. An X-acto knife was then used to cut the fins out.

Attached Thumbnails

   

__________________
John A. Lee O.S.L.
Alamo Rocketeers NAR Section 661
NAR 87285, L1 8 March 2008
TRA 03040, L1 8 March 2008
Photos of the "Fleet": http://www.flickr.com/photos/23694991@N03/

I used to tell Mom, "...I want to fly rockets when I grow up!"

She said, "Make up your mind, you can't do both!"

An Estes fin marking guide was used to mark the body tube for 3 fins and the tick marks were extended using a pencil and an angle. The template had a mark to extablish how much of the fin fell below the BT and this mark was transfered to each of the fins. The fins were then glued in place with yellow glue and a double glue joint.

Attached Thumbnails

         

__________________
John A. Lee O.S.L.
Alamo Rocketeers NAR Section 661
NAR 87285, L1 8 March 2008
TRA 03040, L1 8 March 2008
Photos of the "Fleet": http://www.flickr.com/photos/23694991@N03/

I used to tell Mom, "...I want to fly rockets when I grow up!"

She said, "Make up your mind, you can't do both!"

As the sustainer dried, I turned my attention to the booster. It called for a 2.75" length of BT30 and I did have one the right length. I marked the fin lines as before and cut out the booster fin template. The outlines were transfered to the sheet balsa and the fins were cut out. These were more difficult because of the curves. When I was done, i had to stack the fins and "regularize" them with some judicious sanding. The fins were then glued onto the booster tube in the same manner as the sustainer.

Attached Thumbnails

         

__________________
John A. Lee O.S.L.
Alamo Rocketeers NAR Section 661
NAR 87285, L1 8 March 2008
TRA 03040, L1 8 March 2008
Photos of the "Fleet": http://www.flickr.com/photos/23694991@N03/

I used to tell Mom, "...I want to fly rockets when I grow up!"

She said, "Make up your mind, you can't do both!"

The fins still need filleting and I have to put on the launch lugs but I wanted to get a look at the assembled stack.

It was, as my wife would put it, a "well wasted afternoon".

Attached Thumbnails

   

__________________
John A. Lee O.S.L.
Alamo Rocketeers NAR Section 661
NAR 87285, L1 8 March 2008
TRA 03040, L1 8 March 2008
Photos of the "Fleet": http://www.flickr.com/photos/23694991@N03/

I used to tell Mom, "...I want to fly rockets when I grow up!"

She said, "Make up your mind, you can't do both!"

That bird looks like a "goner"

__________________
Leo

My rocket fleet and more @ Leo's Leisure Site and on YouTube - My latest project: ALTDuino

I'm thinking I may have built one of these way back when.

I know it did inspire another rocket I built, using "Shorty" motors instead of full size ones, to make a 2 stage rocket that was nothing more than 2 "S" motors and the Streak style nose cone. IIRC the upper stage had swept Streak-like fins, and the booster fins were from one of the Estes fin pattern sheets of the 60s.

I can't recall any flight details.

__________________
I fought the law, and the law LOST!

Pretty neat, it is definitely old school. It is interesting to see how they did things the first time around. Like using the sustainer fins to hold the booster on.

It is funny that such a big deal is made about the ultra light sustainer floating down, never mind that nearly impossible to see spent motor casing traveling at terminal velocity right towards your face!

Leo has a point, take lots of pictures before the launch.

They even warn about that in the instructions. Apparently it was an early altitude record holder.

I sure hope Estes makes good on the A8-0 pledge.

__________________
John A. Lee O.S.L.
Alamo Rocketeers NAR Section 661
NAR 87285, L1 8 March 2008
TRA 03040, L1 8 March 2008
Photos of the "Fleet": http://www.flickr.com/photos/23694991@N03/

I used to tell Mom, "...I want to fly rockets when I grow up!"

She said, "Make up your mind, you can't do both!"

I like it but then I like old things.

I plan on taking pics and only flying when I have young eyes to do the tracking for me. Maybe I should wait until Estes reintoduces the 1/2A6-0...

__________________
John A. Lee O.S.L.
Alamo Rocketeers NAR Section 661
NAR 87285, L1 8 March 2008
TRA 03040, L1 8 March 2008
Photos of the "Fleet": http://www.flickr.com/photos/23694991@N03/

I used to tell Mom, "...I want to fly rockets when I grow up!"

She said, "Make up your mind, you can't do both!"