Browsing ebay, I came across an old Centuri kit from 1979 - the Draconian Marauder.
Released to coincide with the Buck Rogers craze. This kit is mint in an unopened package. I know that rockets should be built and flown, but this is really a collectable and I can't bring myself to open it.
I searched the web and managed to locate the plans and good quality scans of the parts. The unusual thing with this kit is that the fins etc. are all cardboard!
I re-drafted the parts in CorelDRAW and laser cut them out of medium weight cardboard. For the main body tube I used a length of BT50. The original body tube was about 1mm smaller - I don't think the difference will matter.
From what I've read, the included nose weight isn't enough (and being so dry, it's hard to get a correct weight. Due to the weight of all the paper & cardboard at the back end of the rocket, I fear that this may not be terribly stable, so I have added quite a bit of weight to the nose - well in excess of what was originally included.
October 16th saw the final Tripoli launch of 2011. we were greeted with a bright clear day along with quite a stiff breeze. Being the last launch of the year, quite a few certifications were attempted - some successful, others not.
(Right: Mark's Successful L2 flight)
The highlight of the day was Les's Level 3 certification flight. The launch rail was moved back to a safe distance and rocket loaded up. The NOTAM had been entered during the week prior as the estimated altitude was going to exceed our standard waver of 10,000'. The launch window had been approved and preparations were completed in time. Les's rocket got away well for a great flight however, recovery wasn't completely successful. Les had designed the nosecone to be recovered on a separate parachute. Due to the wind it was blown some distance from the rest of the airframe and not recovered on the day.
The good news is, however, a local farmer located the nosecone and returned it - Les's certification has subsequently been approved! Congratulations Les!
To see all the photos of the launch, take a look at my Flickr album.
I've been building a few kits of late, the first one is The Launch Pad's Hellfire AGM-114A.
The Launch Pad kits have been described before as a kit for scratch-builders and that's a pretty fair description.
I bought this kit along with three other Launch Pad kits a couple of years ago but put them aside and have only just got back to building them.
The kit includes the usual assortment of parts - motor mount, 2.6" body tube, centring rings etc. The fins aren't pre-cut; you get a template and a sheet of balsa. Unfortunately, the balsa isn't quite big enough to fit the fins :( I ended up re-drafting the fins in CorelDRAW and laser cut them from 1.5mm ply.
I airbrushed the rocket with matt olive green and created a stencil for the lettering and yellow squares. To paint the nosecone, I mounted it in the chuck of my lathe and turned it by hand. Once finished, the Hellfire stands almost 2" tall and is designed to fly on 24mm motors. (Click image to Embiggen)
For a long time I've used a plastic storage tub for my low-power BP motors and decided to use this old army surplus ammo box for my motors. I picked this up recently partly because it was cheap ($5) but mostly because it looked cool.
When I originally got it, there were some markings in white paint on the outside of the box - denoting the original contents. I removed this with 'goo off' without damaging the underlying green paint.
I laser-cut a stencil and applied new markings :)
I still need to line the box with MDF before I load it up with motors, but once done, will perfectly fit 18mm motors across it's width.
The August launch marked the end of the Winter here in Australia - but Winter wasn't ready to let go just yet. The day was cold, windy and overcast. However, despite the weather, quite a few rockets got off the pads!
I launched my ACME rocket. The RSO wasn't so sure and went through all the standard questions "Have you flown this before?" and initially said "No way!" but decided to let me fly it off the high power pad as a head's up launch.
I have flown the ACME rocket before on D & E's, but this time around I wanted to push it up on an F. My flight card was approved, an F24 was loaded and off to the pad.
Heads up was called, the launch officer did the count down and:
The ACME rocket leapt off the pad and weather cocked ever so slightly and had a nice boost to 600' or so. Fins are so over-rated! More photos after the jump and the full set available on Flickr.
I've just returned from a 1950km (1211 mile) road trip up to central New South Wales for Lydia's graduation at the Charles Sturt University. Since we were in the neighbourhood, I thought a visit to the Parkes Radio Telescope was in order :)
The Parkes Radio Telescope was built in 1961, It's a 64 meter antenna, making it the second largest radio telescope in the Southern Hemisphere. (The largest is the 70 meter antenna at Tidbinbilla near Canberra) It's known locally as "The Dish"
When Buzz Aldrin switched on the TV camera on the Apollo 11 Lunar Module, three tracking antennas received the signals simultaneously. They were the 64 metre Goldstone antenna in California, the 26 metre antenna at Honeysuckle Creek near Canberra in Australia, and the 64 metre dish at Parkes.
In the first few minutes of the broadcast, NASA alternated between the signals being received from its two stations at Goldstone and Honeysuckle Creek, searching for the best quality picture.
A little under nine minutes into the broadcast, the TV was switched to the Parkes signal. The quality of the TV pictures from Parkes was so superior that NASA stayed with Parkes as the source of the TV for the remainder of the 2.5 hour broadcast.
How could I not take the opportunity to visit this piece of space history!
Here's some photos I took of the dish.
(Click to embiggen)
More after the jump.... (or see the full set on Flickr)
I finally had a chance to launch Freefall in an attempt to gain my Level 2 Certification. The launch was stunning, with the Freefall being pushed to a simmed 3,100' on a J570.
Upon ejection, the nose cone has whipped around and struck the rear launch-lug, causing some damage. unfortunately since this requires a repair before I can fly it again, I didn't certify :(
Not to worry! A little bog and some fibreglass will have the Freefall all ready to fly again in time for the next launch & will try for the cert again :)
Here's the video of the on-board camera! (Video cuts out a few seconds after deployment. I suspect that the shock cord has hit the power button on the camera.)
The ground camera video and photos of the damage available after the jump:
I've always loved the simplicity of Art Applewhite's saucer rockets, so I thought I would have a go at building one of my own design. I picked the humble traffic cone to model it on. I have designed and built two versions, both unfortunately unstable :(
I will revisit these designs at some time and see if I can get something stable to fly.
Rocketry 
