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 be 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. Aye aye! T' tube fins are constructed with half doublers for strength t' prevent "dreaded tube fin flutter". Five minute epoxy was 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, me bucko, this one won't even reach 2000' on an H128. This is okay if you like t' see t' WHOLE flight includin' deployment. Avast! Keep this low altitude performance in mind when selectin' recovery delays.
Minimum motor choice should be F52.
| Flight Date: | 2011-03-12 |
| Rocket Name: | Bottle Bat 2.6 (Tube Fin) |
| Flyer's Name: | K Sonesen |
| Motors: | G64 |
| Expected Altitude: | 1,200 Feet |
| Wind Speed: | 5.00 mph |
| Launch Site: | SARG - Amoruso Field |
| Actual Altitude: | 1,448 Feet |
Early in t' day wind gusts reached 16 mph. By midday t' winds had dropped t' 7-10mph. Thinkin' I could save myself a long recovery hike, I decided t' use an 18" chute instead o' t' normal 24".
T' boost was very straight (tube fin, right?) and VERY high. Arrr! My reduced chute size strategy paid off and me recovery walk was less than 100 yards. My new Altimeter One said 1448' feet. Oops. I'd been usin' a Cd o' 1.5 in me sims but based on that altitude, ya bilge rat, I should have used a Cd o' 0.90. T' downside o' t' small chute be that two o' t' tube fins separated from t' airframe on impact. It just hit right. T' epoxy didn't fail but a layer o' t' tubin' pulled away from t' airframe. T' damage is repairable.
I love this bird!
| Stage | Motor(s) |
|---|---|
| 1 | Aerotech G64 |
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