Manufacturer: | Scratch |
The Enema Rocket
or "EnRoc" for short
This little gem actually does what you think just happened - when you get to meet one of these things for real!
Yes, that is a real live enema tip just like they use in the X-ray departments to give you a "barium enema". I was presented with this one in the form of a pen. Yeah I know... even that is a little warped.
Materials:
Construction
The enema tip is exactly the same OD as the BT-5 and has a smaller nipple
on the aft end for hooking up the hose in it's real use. I used masking
tape to make it fit the tube and we're half way done. Trim the scrap
balsa to slip down inside to keep it rigid under power. The Super Tack
is tied trough a hole drilled in the nipple and the nose cone is done.
The airframe gets the three fins CA'd on and a launch lug (don't know for sure what it actually is). The Super Tack is tied to a scrap of body tube and glued in with the bottom 1 1/4" in from the bottom and serves as the engine block. Tie on the crepe paper with another piece of Super Tack. Spritz on a little bit of white primer to simulate the barium and..... presto! "EnRoc"
Simulation:
VCP puts CG about 4.5 calibers ahead of CP. A bit overstable, but so
what. On a A10-2T Wrasp puts it at about 143 feet with ejection just
before apogee.
EnRoc Flight Report:
Well, it hasn't quit raining, snowing, sleeting or blowing up here for
months so it hasn't flown yet. But there may be a window of opportunity
this weekend so I will hopefully get a flight report in the first part
of the coming week.
EnRoc Flight Report March 4, 2001:
It quit snowing and such. In fact it turned out to be a nice
day. It was about 35 degrees, mostly clear with about 10-15 mph of
wind from the NNW.
First launch - A10-3T, Straight fast boost up to about what Wrasp said (as a guess), nosed over at apogee and.... spit the motor. Oh NO!!!! Ballistic into the parking lot. Doom and gloom on everyone's thoughts. But NO! That enema tip is very resilient and soft. It did however manage to "insert" itself in the mud and when pulled out looked like one I had seen at work. eeeewwwwyyyyy!! A little masking tape, reset the recovery system (spilled out on impact) tape the crap out of another motor and ready to go again.
Second launch - A10-3T, straight and fast again, over at apogee, eject and...... shock cord failure. The airframe just drifted down (feather weight/ tumble recovery) and the "nose cone" came down with the streamer. No damage at all.
It did seem to me that the ejection charges on these engines was very "robust". The sound on the ground was a quite sharp, loud report. That's ok.. I will just make the recovery system more robust. All in all it was a real "shot in the @ss"!
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