How many Elevens could I possibly incorporate into a model rocket?

I didn’t start with a pencil, paper and ruler to design this project. Initially, I came up with a few obvious “11" ideas. But, I let things stew for a while and kept track of (maybe too many) workable “11" themes.

There are 33 - “Elevate 11 Features”:

1. Rocket built using an specially designed 11" long Ruler, all inches divisible by 11
2. Every rocket component (except for screw eye) Incorporates the number 11, in measurement or markings.
3. All rocket construction dimensions divisible by 11.
4. 11 sided parachute,
5. 11 inches in diameter,
6. 11 shroud lines,
7. Each shroud line is 11 inches long.
8. Tape “disks” were cut from white adhesive backed paper. All pieces were cut to 1.1" x 4/11" long.
9. Add 11 streamers down shock cord,
10. Each Streamer is 1" x 11" long.
11. Each streamer is attached to the shock cord by an masking tape tab that is 1 1/11" square.
12. The main body is made up of two Series 11 tubes,
13. Both tubes are 11 inches long.
14. The tube coupler is 1 3/11" long
15. Two launch lugs, both 1.1" long.
16. 11 fins,
17. All 11 fins are different sizes
18. Fins made from 11 ply cardstock and paper overlays,
19. All fins are numbered “countdown” style with decals, 11 to 1 going towards engine end. Fins glued in a spiral pattern,
20. 11 Different Fonts, one font style on each fin.
21. Engine mount Centering “Ring” is 11/11" long
22. Engine Block is 2/11" wide,
23. Engine sticks out back of model by 3/11".
24. 11 inches of Kevlar tied to,
25. 44 inches of shock cord (four pieces of 11 inch elastic tied together.
26. Rocket trim color is light green. On a standard Color Wheel, the color at the 11 O’Clock position is light green.
27. Decal stripes beneath Nose Cone joint is actually an eleven applied on it’s side.
28. Another 11 is included in the EMRR Elevate 11 decal.
29. Launch with C11-5 Estes engine.
30. Launched on May 2, 2009 at 11:11:11 a.m.
31. Count down from eleven,
32. Launch button pressed by an eleven year old girl named Emily. (R.O.C.K. section family member)
33. All rocket features - 33 in all - are divisible by 11!

The build and patterns have been submitted for a regular MOPS review.

To Elevate Eleven, the plan was to build 11 rockets in 11 weeks. The idea came to me as the two neighbor kids wanted to see the box of un-built rockets kits (again). The kids are 8 and 5 years old and since I moved next door within the last year, they have really come to like rockets. So for the Elevate Eleven contest, we decided to pick out some rockets kits to build as well as design a couple of scratch rockets for a total of eleven. Using the table below the schedule was set and we began our plan to have them completed so we could launch them the weekend of July 4th. Of course when working with kids this age, things change.

A couple comments regarding the changes. During the first week, the kids wanted to know where I had gotten the kits. I told them that some had come from hobby stores but the bulk of the kits were from on-line orders. They made me give them some website addresses and three days after that they had purchased new kits from Semroc. They enjoyed designing the first scratch rocket in RockSim so much, each of them wanted to design their own tall scratch rockets for weeks 4 & 5. The other change was our actual building schedule. Both kids needed to be building at the same time (in order to have peace in the rocket lab) so weeks 2 through 8 were built in pairs. The remaining rockets were primarily built by me with some assistance from my rocket helpers.

Our launch schedule has been postponed to later in July and we are looking forward to the big day. It was a fun project and I am sure we will be doing more builds in the future.

I thought long and hard about how to Elevate eleven, Nick mentioned doing a payload on the contest page, Then one day while building a new rocket I thought why not use the AR-2050 there light enough a wouldn't hurt any one, I had some paper streamer material. I Cut Eleven 11" strips of streamer and fasten them to a Eleven AR-2050 rings loaded them into a Maxi Alpha and launched it on a Estes C11-3 engine. Nice flight all the payload ejected and came down nicely.

While looking at some of the other Elevate Eleven entries, it suddenly hit me that a fitting tribute to Apollo 11 would be to photograph eleven Apollo's.

So here it is.

Back row, from left to right:

Apogee Saturn V, Apogee Saturn 1B, hybrid Estes K-29 Saturn 1B (started in 1972, finished 30 years later with an Apogee Apollo capsule and vacuform wraps when the originals could not be located), Estes K-29 Saturn 1B 'original' (all 1/70th scale), Estes K-36 Saturn V (1/100th), Estes EST 2001 Saturn V (1/100th). Front row, left to right: Estes EST 0892 Little Joe II (1/100th), Semroc Little Joe II (1/70th), Centuri KS-8 Little Joe II (1/45th), Estes EST 2048 Saturn 1B (1/100), Estes EST 2157 Saturn V (1/100).

Contest Winner: Eldred Pickett

"The best thing about EMRR’s website in its eleventh year is: In 11 years of operation, you've probably compiled 11,000 years of knowledge and info! With so many people willing to share their experience, this is a MUST HAVE source for anyone wanting to learn almost anything about rocketry."

I thought I would elevate eleven by embracing one of the most important themes of EMRR – paying it forward.

As the site is a wealth of information for any new rocketeer, and with the last few years concentrating on getting young people involved in rocketry and into the EMRR family, I decided to give eleven rocketry items that would be useful to someone starting out in the hobby, to one youngster. So in my school at the moment, there is an open competition to everyone and anyone. To win the goodies they have to give the best answer to the following question in less than 50 words.

The best thing about EMRR’s website in its eleventh year is…………………..

Use the FEEDBACK button on the top line for your submission.

The eleven goodies are enough to get anyone started into rocketry from new:

1. Estes Wizard kit.
2. Model rocketry book.
3. Launch pad.
4. Electron beam controller.
5. 4 x AA Batteries.
6. Recovery spares – Elastic shock cord, Swivels x 2, Nomex wadding x2, Kevlar thread.
7. Altrack.
8. Parachutes 2 x 12 inch.
9. A pack of motors.
10. Assembly tools – Glue, sand paper, hobby knife, pencil, steel ruler.
11. Spray paints – Primer and enamel.

A prototype rocket, testing 11-fin concept. Name is the "EXT", not excelsior.

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(WMV 2.1M)

My idea to Elevate 11 has been to create a rocket with 11 tube fins. This came about after much deliberation of what to do or create. I finally decided to make a tube-finned rocket with 11 fins. I determined that I wished to use BT-5 tubing for the fins, so, thus, I went to EMRR's resource library to utilize my friend Rick's tube-fin calculator to determine the size airframe to hold my 11 fins. After creating the design in RockSim, I went to my parts box and searched for the tubes, a nosecone, etc coming up with a BT-55 size airframe for the 11 BT-5 tube fins. RockSim indicates this configuration will be stable. It flew on a C6-5.

My scratchbuilt rocket "Galadriel" where the rocket achieved an altitude of 11,111 feet.

This Metalocalypse themed Sunward Eruption rocket has eleven images of Dr. Rockzo, the Rock and Roll Clown. I originally planned to use 12 images, eight at the bottom (two per fin), and four at the top. When applying the stickers I realized I could leave one off and elevate eleven.

This is my entry for the Elevate Eleven contest: the Excelsior. Now, some explanation. As I was thinking about ideas for this contest, the one I really wanted to do was a James K. Polk-inspired rocket as he was the 11th President of the United States. Unfortunately I couldn't find anything (bobblehead, etc.) to use as a nose cone so I went to Plan B. I decided to base my entry on the 11th state in the Union, New York. The name of my rocket is the Excelsior. "Excelsior" is New York's motto and means "ever upward," an apropos name for a rocket. New York's colors are blue and gold. The fins are in the shape of the state of New York and have the state seal as the fin decal. I added the EMRR logo to the seal as well. Just for good measure there are two other elevens: 1) the rocket is 11 inches tall and 2) it is a 2 motor cluster so that the protruding tubes resemble the number eleven.

Nick says about the contests - "Don't procrastinate!" So what did I do? Procrastinate. I had intended to build a rocket for the Elevate 11 contest. Since I put it off until the last minute, I didn't finish it in time. Maybe that will be a future article... :) So I decided to try to launch a Snitch 11 times within 5 minutes in my backyard. After the first two launches, it was clear that I was never going to make it. The motors kept threatening to light the thatch in my grass on fire, so I decided to quit. Besides, my neighbors were starting to look out of their windows... :) But I was able to get an interesting(?) picture of the first launch.

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Elevate 11 Entry: As the Elevate 11 contest progressed, one of the suggestions put up on the site was to build a rocket that had 11 stages (yeah right). That got me thinking though, and eventually I wondered, what if I could design a staged rocket that used some combination of 11 motors, or better yet, how about a booster that used a cluster of 10 motors to "Elevate" a sustainer, powered by the "Eleventh" motor. The seed was planted, all I had to do now was design, build, finish and fly the thing. The booster takes off on a central D12-0 with 9 outboard A10-3/Ps, and the sustainer flies on either a C11 or D12-7. Both the booster and sustainer recover under streamers. Life being what it is, I did not complete all four tasks prior to published deadline. I did however, manage to design and build my Elevate 11 Rocket, and even got a coat of primer on it. So here it is as of 20 July 09, stay tuned for the full review and flight report coming soon!

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This is my submission for elevate 11. It was the morning of July 19th 2009,the day that the Livermore Unit of the NAR was to hold their Club Launch of the 40th aniverssary of Apollo II at Moffett Field/nasa ames research center in Mountain View California,{how fitting is that}. We were incorporated in to the celebration on Sunday to try to promote the benefits of model rocketry.My partner in crime and my youngest son woke up in the middle of the night vomiting and couldnt make it the next day. So the dream of launching 11 different rockets on 11 different motor cofigurations was not going to happen. The RSO also did not want to launch 11 at a time. So in frustration I launched several mid power's in the air to ooh and ahh the crowd. Finally I told my story to a fellow rocketeer and he asked if I would like to put an altimeter into my Aerotech Tomohawk. Of course I said yes. On the second flight I recorded 1111' on an F20-7. I wasnt even going to enter this contest due to setbacks, but thanks to the e-mail I got an hour ago I said what the heck !!!!!