Descon 10 Two C's in a Pod

Scratch - Two C's in a Pod {Scratch}

Contributed by Drake "Doc" Damerau

Manufacturer: Scratch

"Two C's in a Pod"
Kit bash of the Estes Gemini DC.
Copyright © 2002 By Drake "Doc" Damerau

Click on the pictures for a larger view.

The first thing was to get rid of the through the wall fin mounting section. The first portion removed was 5/16" of the aft section. This was used to hold the engine hooks in the next step. 3" of the center fin area was then removed and discarded.

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The two green engine adaptor rings were glued to each end of the blue motor mount tube. A scrap of the balsa was used to make a plug for the ejection gasses. This was heavily glued. All pieces in this kit were glued using Titebond wood glue. The kit comes with two parachutes and each parachute comes with a motor mount hook. The two motor hooks were centered and positioned 180 degrees apart at the aft end of the assembly. The 5/16  piece of body tube was then slipped over the assembly and glued  in place.

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A cut was made for the engine retainer hooks in each of the two pods 2 1/2" from the end. The factory holes for the ejection gasses were used and lined up with the small gas tubes before gluing. Another hole was cut into the tube for the ejection gasses just forward of the factory gas ports, to provide additional venting of the ejection gas.

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This is the final assembly. The parachute is an 18" Estes with a standard underwear elastic shock cord. A small amount of weight was need in the forward nosecone for stability. After the primer went on, I decided to make a last minuet change and used a piece of the cardboard  stock to make a fake nozzle on the end center portion. 

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OK, she was naked for her first flight.  I wanted to see her go before I spent the time finishing her. At this point she is weighing in at 2.2 oz. First flight was on a pair of A8-3's. She darted off the pad and went straight as an arrow. The A8-3's took her to about 720 feet. Her next flight will be on two C's.

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Here is the finished version. There was quite a stir on RMR about what was legal to use for finishing it. I did use the stickers. The paint was what I had left over from building my Aerotech Arrow. The chrome was some Testors chrome my son had.

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OK, it's not the most creative rocket I've ever built but it's simple, sturdy and flies straight as an arrow. I was going for something simple that anyone could build and fly. I should be able to fly this at many launches for years to come. BTW, Yes, That's a real 120mm mortar in the corner!

7  flights to date!

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First flight after paint on two B6-4's

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There she goes on C6-5's!

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...And a great shot on 2 C6-7's

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