One of my 2015 rocketry goals is:
Put an entry (however pathetic) into at least four club launch contests and four club launch themes
Nothing like buying a pig in a poke: I didn’t know what the contests and themes for this year would be at the time. I do now:
| Month | Theme | Contest |
|---|---|---|
| May | Scratch-built rockets | B streamer spot landing |
| June | Cluster rockets | ½A cluster duration (3-motor cluster) |
| July | Gliders | A glider duration |
| August | Odd-rocs | A helicopter duration |
| September | Scale models | Sport scale |
| October | Multi-stage rockets | Random duration (duration will be set by roll of die at start of launch) |
Well, now, look how nicely that lines up with NARTREK Silver. I’ve done my payload flight. I need a glider flight, and July is gliders. I need a scale model, and September is scale models. And I need a cluster flight, and June is clusters!
The one fly in that ointment is I was planning to fly a Ranger clone for my cluster flight, but a Ranger won’t exactly get lost in the stratosphere on 3x½A. Just for giggles I tried putting ½As in a Ranger in OpenRocket. I think it claimed it’d get an altitude of 67 feet. Um, no.
In fact, I wondered, are there any current kits that’ll fly on 3x½A? Having Googled for answers I’ve come up with one — from QCR; I should have known. Their #270 Cluster: “1/2A, A Cluster (3 engines), (3) 13mm tubes, 4 fins, streamer, (3) nose cone, 12 gram Wt.” For twelve bucks. It got a lousy review in 2004 though. Quality could have improved since then but I see no other reviews. So maybe a scratch build or kitbash would be best for this contest.
Presumably the DRT would be suitable for the sport scale contest. I have rockets I could use for the streamer duration, glider duration, and random duration. I had one I could use for helicopter duration but it got lost. So to enter all the contests I’d have to build two new rockets not in the present in progress/build pile.
As for the themes, I’m covered using present fleet and in progress/build pile birds. I’d like to have a different odd-roc for this year, but I don’t need to.
All right. I could skip both the cluster and helicopter contests and still meet my 4 contest goal, but that would kind of defeat the goal’s purpose of pushing my learning and experience. I should do at least one of them. I’m looking at the Rose-a-Roc from FlisKits or the Gyro Chaser from Apogee, and for the cluster… maybe a scratch build.
Rich's Rockets 
A rather major “D’OH” here: The QCR 270 Cluster is designed for cluster altitude. The SRC contest is cluster duration! Which needs a very different design.