Alpha - Well, sort of...
Making the rounds during vacation in the summer of 2000, I picked this kit up at a great price.  Of course, rocketeers need no valid reason to buy a rocket - urge is all you need. 

Wanting to have a rocket suitable for demonstrations and small flying fields, I rigged this one with a 13mm motor mount.  Feeling the need to make it look different, I cut the fins down hoping to get a striking look.  Instead, the fins just look ugly.  And she tends to cone on the way up.  I suspect the fins don't have quite enough span to get out in the clean air so she's a little slow in correcting. 

Nevertheless, her finish turned out nice, and I fly her whenever I'm looking for a quick fix and a short walk.

After breaking a fin, I decided to play with it a little and came up with this over-sized fin to give it an asymmetrical look.  Now it looks even weirder than before.  <sigh>

But you don't learn without making a few mistakes.  Next time, I'll stick with the stock setup.

Doug's Rockets Homepage

4-18-2004