Our club does a night launch every year in August (except we skipped last year), and there’s night launches at NYPower which I’ve gotten to, uh, once I think, and yet I’ve only ever flown two different rockets at them: my Loadstar II with LEDs in the clear payload section, and my Big Blinka. Nothing wrong with Big Blinka but it’s four years old and I’m feeling like changing things up this summer.
I’m calling this thing Roll Model. It’s based on designs by Joseph Peklicz in the #352 issue of the Apogee Peak of Flight newsletter. It’s a spool rocket with half pieces of tubing inducing a horizontal spin on recovery. Mine is designed so it can be flown clustered: there’s a central 24 mm motor tube with three 18 mm motor tubes arranged around it. No particular reason, just felt like it. Further from the center are the three half 24 mm tubes, and there are three 18 mm posts.
Those posts are where the night launch capability comes in. I bought a bag of 18 “Flashing Colorful LED Light Up Bumpy Jelly Rubber Rings Finger Toys for Parties, Event Favors, Raves, Concert Shows, Gifts”. Six of them will go on the posts.
The end plates are thin corrugated cardboard, cut from a surplus box.
I made four motor mounts, three 18 mm and one 24 mm (all 2.75″ long) and glued them into holes cut in the bottom plate.
Then I measured from the top of the plate to the forward end of the motor hooks and cut some 18 mm and 24 mm tubes to that length. The 24 mm ones I sliced in half lengthwise.
I glued those onto the plate.
Rich's Rockets 