FRAGILE: handle with care!

Our newest creation that we made is called "Fragile: Handle With Care." This rocket is called this because we used a mailing tube as the airframe, and there was a sticker on the side of the tube with that on it.  We built it in about a day to fly at a church rocket camp we were helping out with.  We wanted to show the kids a large, interesting, and relatively powerful rocket.  Unfortuntately, with our limited launch space at the church, composites were out of the question (too much power and limited availability).  So of course we opted for a big Estes cluster!  The rocket holds 13 18mm motors, and for this (and probably the only) flight, we used (10) A8-3s and (3) C6-3s.  This averages out to a 52NS F58-3 motor (65% F) with a .9 second burn time.     F.H.W.C. was built from a NCR/Estes nosecone, a mailing tube, the mailing tube's end caps (for centering rings), and plywood fins that were first glued,  and then duct taped onto the body.  We went for the duct tape because F.H.W.C. was built in haste (mostly on the day it was launched), and we were worried that the glue for the fins wouldn't cure in time.  And as the saying goes: if you can't duct it, fu...well, you finish the rest.     We used the reliable (yet dangerous if you don't do it correctly) flashpan ignition method.  We sat the rocket on the pad (a 1/4" rod staked into the ground with the rocket sitting on the PVC end cap which was used as the flashpan), hooked up the igniter (a Hot Shot e-match buried in the flashpan's powder), and fired the rocket.  The launch was awesome, but the nose cone came off at ignition because the gasses from the flashpan got through some gaps in the motor mount and blew it off.  It did a flip or two because of the lack of a nose cone, and as a result, it didn't go very high (not expected anyways). The pics are from a video that Chris shot of it.  F.H.W.C. II is currently being made by Marcus...watch out, (1) G69 and (10) C6's, here we come!!  Hope you enjoy... -Chris and Marv

Marcus holding Fragile: handle with care.

That's beautiful.

A view of the PVC end cap flashpan (note the BP in the pan and the e-match coming out from under the pan).

Ignition!  The flashpan makes for an awesome launch shot as it's smoke engulfs the rocket, and the flames from the 13 motors glow under the smoke.

Outta sight!  The rocket is gone on a thick column of smoke, but notice the nosecone (and it's orange streamers) in the launch exhaust.

F.H.W.C. is on it's way, but notice that there is no nose cone (the flashpan got through the airframe and blew it off).

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