Model Rocket Design and Construction (Book by Tim Van Milligan) Book/Magazine

Apogee Components - Model Rocket Design and Construction {Book}

Contributed by Dick Stafford

Overall Rating: starstarstarstarstar
Author: Tim Van Milligan
Manufacturer: Apogee Components

Summary:

The 3rd edition of Timothy Van Milligan’s Model Rocket Design and Construction contains 328 pages of rocketry goodness covering everything from planning and design through recovery. This edition is twice the size of the previous and includes an impressive array of facts, techniques and concepts about all facets of the hobby. Much of the material Tim has added in this edition was extracted from his Peak of Flight Newsletter. (If you don’t subscribe, quit reading this review and go sign up!) These are really useful and I’m glad to see this material compiled in one easy-to-reference location. However, he has also included other unpublished materials too. The range of materials makes it useful to both newbies and us graybeards alike.

The book includes plenty of diagrams and photos. I found the use of diagrams and graphs were used effectively and made the book very understandable. The material ranges from the most basic to advanced. I found many familiar techniques, some that I had known of but had forgotten about, and many others that I had never been in my bag of tricks. However, the material is covered in various degrees of detail. Some items are merely cursorily mentioned (e.g. back-sliding gliders are mentioned but no detail is provided) and other are discussed in detail (e.g. 20 pages are dedicated to the discussion of dynamic stability).

Here are a few of the things that I though stood out:

  • The inclusion of more esoteric concepts like pivoting forward fins and.cone rocket stability.
  • The emphasis on techniques for building light but still strong.
  • Techniques for motor retention in minimum diameter rockets and in boat tails.
  • Methods of making custom cones.
  • Orthographic procedures to build oblique cones (like the boosters on the Vostok) and templates to cut tubes at an angle.
  • An introduction to designing and building larger and high-power rockets.
  • The chapter of recovery, which includes information on custom parachute design.
  • A long list of rocket-related patents.

Tim references his RockSim software numerous times through the book and the short chapter on computer-aided rocket design is targeted at RockSim. I think these references are appropriate and the reader can mentally substitute the name of their favorite rocket software. The last chapter does seem a little like a sales pitch, but since I have RockSim, I didn’t mind. I actually would have liked to have seen more RockSim information tucked away, maybe in specialized sections at the end of each chapter.

One thing that was missing for this text was the presentation of the Barrowman formulas and basic altitude prediction calculations. Tim provided a good qualitative discussion of these subjects but then assumed the reader will make the jump to a software tool. I personally think every rocketeer should work through these formulas at least once as they provide a feel for and appreciation for what’s going on under the hood of said software. Maybe this is just my gray coming out?

As EMRR mentioned in his review, I have always considered Stine’s Handbook of Model Rocketry to be the benchmark that rocketry books should be compared with. Since the latest edition that I have seen is 5th Edition published in 1983, comparing the two may be apples and oranges. However, also like EMRR, I also think this may be a case where the student has become the master. While Model Rocket Design and Construction doesn’t cover everything that is covered in The Handbook, it does have more depth in other areas. Both are 5's as far as I am concerned.

Other Reviews
  • Model Rocket Design and Construction (Book by Tim Van Milligan) By Nick Esselman (December 13, 2008)

    The third edition of Timothy S. Van Millian's (Apogee Components owner) "Model Rocket Design and Construction" book has been released. I dare venture to say that this edition should be considered the new primary reference and teaching publication for rocketry. I know that most will point to the "Handbook of Model Rocketry" which was written by one of the founders of model rocketry, G. Harry ...

  • Model Rocket Design and Construction (Book by Tim Van Milligan) By Clive Davis

    Review: A soft cover book details how to design and construct model rockets. It is fiiled with numerous illustrative drawings and photos. 20 chapters plus an appendix. Price: $23.95 (as of January, 2003). 160 pages. The book includes a demo version of RockSim on CD-ROM. Book covers such topics as construction techniques, repair techniques, painting, designing gliders, helicopters, scale ...

Comments:

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D.K. (October 1, 2000)
An indispensable reference. An excellent introduction to model rocketry in its various forms, clear enough for the beginner to understand and apply, but complete enough for experienced rocketeers to learn and get ideas from. I agree with the review in Sport Rocketry.
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S.T.M. (June 10, 2003)
Besides the fact that Tim Van Milligan sent me a personal email telling me the order was on its way within hours of my order placed on the Apogee website... Besides the fact that the book was in my hands on Monday after a Friday afternoon order... This is, without a doubt, the New Testament to the Bible of Rocketry. _Model Rocket Design and Construction_ should be rubber-banded to all copies of G. Harry Stine's _The Handbook of Model Rocketry_. The best analogy I can make is this: Stine's book introduces the reader to a vast underground cavern, ripe for exploration and discovery. Milligan's book shines a light on all the gems to be found in the cavern, and opens up great big new passages for the intrepid explorer. I take Milligan's book with me everywhere and have dedicated a page in the back to my own handwritten notes - "CHAD staging - investigate" "investigate homemade tubes" "look for built-up fin plans and application;" "PAYLOADS;" "order more stuff from Tim!;" "homemade cluster rocket;" "tracking powder;" Features: The chapter on stability alone finally gave me an instinctual understanding of model rocket stability and what affects it. Without resorting to RockSim, I feel like I can design stable models from pencil and paper. 3 chapters on recovery, a whole chapter dedicated to clustering, a list of cool patents and other resources for design... Enough on features... Execution: The photos and diagrams invaluably illustrate the concepts explained in the book. Tumble recovery is one example - after looking at two diagrams and reading a short paragraph, I now know more about tumble recovery for booster stages than I ever did before. The prose style is smooth, informative and always light, almost exactly in the manner of Stine. The chapters build on one another, but the first chapter, introducing concepts and definitions of the sport, serves as an appetizer for the rest of the book - lots of "ooh, I want to read about that," and "wow - I never knew you could do that!" Overall Value: Like I said above - this should be rubber-banded to every copy of Stine's book. In fact, if you have a youngster who's interested in the sport but feels intimidated by the _Handbook_, give him or her Model Rocket Design and Construction to read first. You're going to get pestered and harangued for launches, help and more body tubes for more and more ideas... Not only that, but I've discovered that I could also be satisfied by model rockets and investigating their possibilities for the rest of my life, never moving into HPR at all, and feel perfectly happy, simply because Tim's book reveals so much to design and explore.

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