Scratch Mega Missile Toe Original Design / Scratch Built

Scratch - Mega Missile Toe {Scratch}

Contributed by Bill Eichelberger

Published: 2010-01-26
Manufacturer: Scratch
(Contributed - by Bill Eichelberger - 01/26/10) (Scratch) Mega Missile Toe

Brief:
BT-80 based, 24mm powered upscale of the Estes Goonybird Missile Toe. (Think Fat Boy with added personality.)

Construction:
The parts list:

  • PNC-80BB nose cone
  • 8" BT-80 main body tube
  • 4-3/8" BT-60 First Aid tube
  • BT-50J motor tube
  • 24mm engine block
  • 2 CR-5080
  • 18mm engine hook
  • 36" length Kevlar® shock cord
  • 36" length 1/4" sewing elastic shock cord
  • 12" nylon parachute
  • 2 snap swivels
(Scratch) Mega Missile Toe

Construction was almost as simple as my first big Goony, the Star Snoop. Two fins and the First Aid Kit standoff were attached with LocTite Gel CA, along with the actual First Aid tube. On the inside, the Kevlar® was attached to a slit in the front centering ring and glued in place before the engine mount was mounted.

Uh, that's about it for construction. (Except to say that all fillets were done with Elmer's Wood Glue.) Sorry? No, not really. It's nice to have the occasionally project that doesn't require one to perspire blood.

Finishing:
Finishing the MMT wouldn't be too much of a chore if not for the need to hand paint the "bandages" that cover the main body tube. Before that the rocket only needed a coat of gloss white paint for the body, gloss black for the fins, and some kind of flesh color for the nose cone. Almost as painless as it gets and I flew the MMT this way for quite a while until I finally gritted my teeth and decided to finish all six birds for the ultimate Goony photo op. Using gloss black paint and a small brush, I tried out my freehand painting skills. I wound up with something that at least suggested bandages, which is about as good as it needs to be. When that was done, I enlarged the decal appropriately and printed it on a sheet of self-stick paper. The sticker decals looked washed out and nothing I did seemed to help, so I removed them and printed them out again on white Bel Decal paper. This turned out to be the answer and the finished rocket looked great.

Flight and Recovery:
First flight was on a D12-5 and exhibited the odd flight path that this bird takes on most flights. Despite the wiggle it was a pretty impressive flight, quick off the pad, and a bit early on ejection but decent altitude and perfect recovery. Upon arriving at the landing site, I found that the brace for the First Aid Tube had broken and fallen out at some point in the flight. (Possibly the reason for the wiggling flight path.)

Almost two years passed before the second flight. This was the first one in full "Toe" scheme and I used a C11-5. As expected, it was noticeably lower and ejection came very early. (More like a C11-2.5) The early ejection caused the "First Aid Tube" to become tangled in the Kevlar®, causing the rocket to descend horizontally like a Centuri Super Kit.

Subsequent flights all had one thing in common: the wiggle. Since I never replaced the vane that fit inside the First Aid tube, it's possible that the tube is distorting under boost and causing the slight "squirreliness". It's also possible that the rocket needs nose weight to be stable. The next flight will begin to address these issues, but the wiggle doesn't appear to be a deal breaker.

(Scratch) Mega Missile Toe (Scratch) Mega Missile Toe (Scratch) Mega Missile Toe (Scratch) Mega Missile Toe

Summary:
PROs: It's a Goony, and one of the better looking Goons at that. Great performance and popular with kids.

CONs: Slight wiggle to the flights. No Fat Boys around to use as nose cone donors.

Flights

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