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The Twinsee is basically a pair of gligers which share
a common motor. At ejection, one glider keeps the motor pod while
the other glider keeps the spent motor.
Gliders must be kept light, so heavy paint jobs won't do, but having a
brightly colored bird is a big help in tracking them.
These were stained using a spoonful of fabric dye mixed in with some
ethanol. It dries fast so the chances of warping the wood are
pretty slim. The black motor pod was finished with a
marker. In fact, the entire rocket can be colored with a marker,
but fabric dye is a cheaper and more effective way of doing it.
The Twinsee, like most Edmonds kits, is a very able flier. The
only tricks when flying it are to have a helper to track one half, and
to trim the gliders to turn so that they circle around instead of
flying in a straight line. If not trimmed to turn, on a good
boost, they can (and will) fly away.
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Below: At
left, the setup is well depicted. A clamp made from craft sticks
and a clothespin forms a standoff for the rocket to rest on. The
ignitor leads are carefully routed between the twin gliders.
Another clothespin holds the wire to minimize the chances of either
clip hooking a tail as the rocket climbs skyward.
At right you can see the motor exhaust is precipitously close to the tail booms.
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Here's another liftoff shot that turned out pretty good.
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12-27-2008
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