Building the Landis Nymph (part 1)

We’re now two weeks away from the July launch, whose contest — ½A Glider Duration — is one of the ones I have focusing on as a goal. And I don’t have a thing to fly.

Yeah, I made a flex wing glider last winter. I still haven’t made a booster for it. It’ll be quick and easy to make one, once I get myself to do it. But I really should airfoil the fins, and I keep procrastinating. I did start on one fin yesterday, and I broke it in half. Sigh.

I also want to make my first rocket glider, and the one I picked out is the Nymph. The plans used to be on the NAR site. That file seems to be gone but you can find it on the Wayback Archive, and there’s a different drawing in the MIT Competition Handbook on page 21. The Nymph is a slide pod rocket glider designed by Geoffrey A. Landis in 1973. It takes a ¼A, ½A, or A mini motor.

When I went to eRockets in Dayton last February I bought the T-5 and T-5+ tubing required. (The plans use different nomenclature: CMR RB-50 and RB-52.) You’d think I’d’ve bought a nose cone too, right? Or maybe I had one in my stash I planned to use? If I did I don’t remember it and can’t find it. I also don’t seem to have any 1/32″ balsa. No ⅛” spruce either, though I do have ⅛” basswood. OK, some shopping to do. No problem, really.

Meanwhile I cut the wing out of 1/16″ balsaand I cut the tubes. There’s a ¼” piece of T-5+ glued to the end of the T-5 piece, and then a 1¼” piece of T-5+ that slides over the T-5.There need to be two holes cut to vent the ejection charge.And now there’s nothing left I can work on here but shaping the wing, or I can go back to the flex wing booster. Either way, it’s sanding balsa. Sigh.