| I picked up these
Zoomie with the
intent of using them as powered parasite gliders. Inspired by the
Little
Beth X-2 and the
Estes A.R.V. Condor, the new rocket would boost on a 3-motor
cluster (ala the Little Beth) with the outboards staging to the two
Zoomies
which would glide back down (ala the ARV Condor's).
I built the one on the right in the summer of 2001, and
all attempts
to get it to fly were unsuccessful. As soon as it left the rod
each
time, it would turn sideways and send everyone ducking for cover.
In the spring of 2003, I was hanging at Dave Schaefer's,
checking out
his rockets, and spotted his beautifully finished Zoomie, which was a
virgin.
We got to talking about them, and the next thing you know, he and I
were
in his front yard hand tossing his Zoomie. His theory was that,
while
the noseweight is necessary for stability, the elevons are needed to
push the tail down.
It's rather counterintuituve. It appears
the clay is pulling the nose down, and the elevons are pushing the tail
down, cancelling out the noseweight,
so why not get rid of both? But it works.
The flaps are cut down post-it notes with a little CA on
them to hold
them on and to stiffen them up. The trick, and it is indeed a
trick,
is to get the flaps to lay back under the forces of boost, then stand
up
in the gentler air during glide.
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The one in the middle is a clone
while the two outboards
are authentic Holversons. |
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At the field, we managed to get Dave's to boost and glide, and on
subsequent
launches, two of mine did as well.
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With some of the recently
produced motors, the
ejection charges are quite strong. I always clean the crud out of
the motor tubes and make sure the motors can slide out easily enough,
but
even so, stuff happens.
Here, the charge blew out a chunk of the nosecone.
I was quite
surprised by this.
But it was not a buzz kill. The rocket was repaired and
returned to
action.
And yes, that's a piece of grass stuck in the clay 
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Li'l Dougie
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Ever since
I received the 1970
Estes
catalog, I've been inspired by the Orbital Tranport on the
cover. I wanted to scratchbuild something functionally similar,
but have a powered glider to be staged
from the booster.
Not long after I got back in the hobby in 1999, I
started tinkering with the idea again. And when I saw the
Li'l Beth X-2, I got further inspiration.
Here's the outcome.
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Here's a closer
look. Two Holverson Zoomie gliders are deployed
at staging. A10-0T boosters will be lit on the pad and stage to
the Zoomies, likely powered with 1/4A motors, but any T motor can be
used.
The Post-It Note ailerons are key to getting these
things trimmed. Having the help of a world class glider guru doesn't
hurt either :)
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From the side, notice how the outboard
booster tubes are offset from the
airframe to allow space for the Zoomie's launch lug and wing thickness.
4 ounce glass was added to reinforce the span from the
main body tube, across the
outboard booster tubes, to the outboard fins. This little bit of
glass added an incredible amount of stiffness to the flimsy span.
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| The center motor is 18mm while the
outboards are 13mm. Not sure what
delays to use for the center motor, but an A8-3 will likely power the
first flight. Wire hooks are affixed to the center motor mount to
which a burn string will be attached. |
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The back end is a little fuzzy in this
shot, but the rocket looks pretty
kewl head on. |
| Here's another head on with the back
end in better focus. |
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Here are some side views. It looks sleek and clean. Can't
wait
to fly it. If we can just get the weather to cooperate.....Doug -
Feb 4, 2006
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Finally, in
August of 2008,
I got to fly the Li'l Dougie. I had a decent ground crew to track
all the pieces. My wife, son and two youngest daughters were
along for the event. We put the rocket on the pad and hooked up
the burn string. My son had the video camera rolling while I
tried to get a liftoff shot. The girls were supposed to track the
Zoomies.
I managed to get a decent shot of the motors coming up to pressure, but
after that all hell broke loose. One booster was a 1/2A3-0T, so
one Zoome ignited very soon after the rocket cleared the pad.
Then the othe booster, an A10-0T, burned out and its Zoomie took off.
While my crew had assignments for which Zoomie to track, events
happened suprisingly fast and they couldn't keep track of both
Zoomies. Under power, these things can turn very quickly and get
out of view, which is exactly what happened to one of them.
The other was tracked, but put in a dismal flight coming in at a steep
angle before banging into the ground. Not very glider-like.
We searched and searched for the other Zoomie, but finally had to give
up.
We even reviewed the video for clues, but it captured little more than
the liftoff smoke trail 
Given how inconsistent these things are, it's not a huge loss.
And if I ever get another urge, I can always clone one. But for
now, I've chosen to retire the Zoomies and the Li'l Dougie.
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12-23-2008
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