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Proton was
built in a few hours from stuff lying about the house. The main and
booster tubes are rolled paper tubes that I made in a few minutes.
All the nosecones are likewise made of paper. The interstage struts
are just painted on. The fins were added because I'm pretty sure
it would've flown in circles without them.
Launch: First flight was very rewarding. There was a bit more wind than I'd like but the rocket did quite well. A B6-4 was used for this lift-off. The rocket lept off the pad and tilted into the wind ever so slightly. Stability was very good and I'm wondering if I could have left the fins off. Delay time to chute deployment was a hair long but no harm done. Rocket came down fairly fast but not bad enough to damage it. Overall a good flight. Update (09/10/01): Second flight on a C6-5. Much more altitude than first flight but experienced severe weathervaning. The rocket titled over to about 45 degrees and made about 300 feet of upwind progress before the chute came out. Recovery went well except that the nosecone was apparently lost during chute ejection. Will make another soon and try again. Update (10/14/01): Flew the ship today with it's new nosecone.
Simple pine turned on a lathe and hollowed out to save some weight.
I launched on an A8-3 due to some winds that had me worried. Short
flight but it worked quite well.
Length: 13"
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