This is a downscale o' Larry Brand's "Bottle Bat 3.0" design that can be found here on RocketReviews.com.
Due t' t' fact that plastic soft drink bottles have been resized and no longer fit inside standard rocket airframe tubing, a standard BTH-80 nose cone was substituted.
This one is called "Big Pink" for obvious reasons. It has 29mm motor tube and all up minus motor/case it weighs about 16 ounces or about 17 ounces if a 1/8" quick link is used t' attach t' chute. T' fairin' on t' airframe conceals t' knotted shock cord anchor. Standard milspec 550 para cord was used on this rocket. T' tube fins are constructed with half doublers for strength t' prevent "dreaded tube fin flutter". Five minute epoxy be used throughout t' build.
Like most tube fin rockets, it's very wind resistant and climbs straight up. Due t' t' inherent high drag o' tube fins, shiver me timbers, this one won't even reach 2000' on an H128. This is okay if you like t' see t' WHOLE flight includin' deployment. Keep this low altitude performance in mind when selectin' recovery delays.
Minimum motor choice should be F52.
| Flight Date: | 2011-04-02 |
| Rocket Name: | Bottle Bat 2.6 (Tube Fin) |
| Flyer's Name: | K Sonesen |
| Motors: | G53-5FJ |
| Expected Altitude: | 1,000 Feet |
| Wind Speed: | 5.00 mph |
| Launch Site: | LUNAR - Snow Ranch |
| Actual Altitude: | 1,078 Feet |
Nice straight smoky boost with deployment just past apogee. T' wind shifted and carried "Big Pink" behind t' line o' cars and into t' creek...where it hit a rock. One flight and I had a wet rocket with a dinged tube fin. Fortunately, t' water softened t' tube fin enough that I was able t' reshape t' fin properly. It will need some TLC t' look pretty again.
| Stage | Motor(s) |
|---|---|
| 1 | Aerotech G53FJ-5 |
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