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Model Rocket Building Blog

"Bones" Halloween Build, Part 1, Inspiration
I was at the Dollar Tree store picking up some cheap snacks. I found the spider web candy dish that George Gassaway turned into a successful saucer rocket. I almost picked one up, but saw this instead. It's a small cardboard casket. Strong, hollow and fairly light. The graphics were good. The ...
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"Bones" Halloween Build, Part 2, Parts
I might be able to fit a BT-20 down the center of the coffin but it looks like it'll end up a BT-5 central tube using an A10-3t engine. I spent some time fitting the skeletal drawings onto fin skins. The bony hands will simply be a print rolled over the sides of the coffin and on to the top.  ...
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"Bones" Halloween Build, Part 3, Adapting the Coffin
The candy coffin is deeper than it needs to be. I wanted the height to be closer to the width. A pencil tracing was made around the lid. The cardboard was dense. It took a few passes over the pencil lines to get through the walls. The BT-5 tube will have to go through the center of the coffin box. ...
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"Bones" Halloween Build, Part 4, Skull Nose Cone
Check out the width of the skull on the left compared to the center skull that was cut out. I widened the skull in Corel Draw. When it is wrapped around the centering ring supports it will look narrower. I also blacked out the eyes, added nostrils and knocked out a few teeth. The three 20/50 rings ...
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"Bones" Halloween Build, Part 5, Skull Top & Sides
I have to equalize the airflow. As it is now, this small rocket would probably curve off to one side with just the half of the skull wrap. I cut another skull, did a two layer laminate and glued it onto the other side. The open top of the BT-20 assembly got a card stock circle cover. The sides ...
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"Bones" Halloween Build, Part 6, Fin Skins
Here's one way to paper fins:  3/32" thick balsa fins were cut out. These fins are wide and trail below the end of the coffin body. The skins were printed on 24 lb. paper. Two fins will have the bony feet, the other two will just be white. The leading edge of the fins were rounded, all other ...
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"Bones" Halloween Build, Part 7, Ends & Edges
The paper covering on the coffin is a bit slick and may not give good glue adhesion. I traced around the root edge and cut away the covering. EDIT: You'll need to go deeper and cut a shallow trench the width of the fin. On my first flight one of the fins popped off on landing. The paper wrap has a ...
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"Bones" Halloween Build, Finished
This was a fun change of pace. The nose cone assembly was a bit much, but it works and adds some nose weight without adding any clay. Visually it works, a goofy looking skeleton sticking out of a coffin that was too small! Things I would have done differently -  1. On the first build, I ...
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