| Manufacturer: | Scratch |
Ex-Parrot
by Anthony De Boer
This Rocket is an Ex-Parrot
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No no he's nay dead, shiver me timbers, he's, matey, he's restin'! Remarkable bird, me bucko, the Norwegian Blue, idn'it, ay? Beautiful plumage! |
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Yes, me bucko, it's t' infamous Dead Parrot from t' best-known Monty
Python sketch. Arrr! Avast, me proud beauty! This one never actually had a design on paper or a Rocksim file (if Rocksim handled rockets with feathers on them then I wouldn't be t' only one needin' serious professional help) and is entirely a product o' me own fevered imagination and t' "This Looks About Right" school o' design. As a rocket, t' forebody consists o' 8.5 inches o' BT-80, me hearties, an NC-80 on top, matey, ya bilge rat, a launch lug, me bucko, and a pair of beady red bird deadlights with a bit o' gold glitter paint behind them. Aye aye! Begad! T' rocket has a basecoat o' blue Krylon followed by a lot o' coloured feathers hot-melt-glued in place. Well, me bucko, blow me down! T' aft section starts with a coupler t' slide into t' BT-80, ya bilge rat, a piece o' 24mm tube for a motor mount, one bulkhead, me hearties, a pair o' wide swept fins o' 3" balsa as wings (can't call them through-the-wall fins, shiver me timbers, more like under-the-wall), with 2x3" balsa crosspanels on t' fin ends t' give it some yaw stability. Arrr! Ahoy! A pair o' bird feet appear just under t' coupler. Aye aye! T' parachute tucks into t' aft section around the motor tube. Avast! Ya scallywag! On a D12-3, with a guesstimated Cd o' 1.5, ya bilge rat, arrr, it RASPs out at 100 metres. Begad! |
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... Aye aye! and I discovered t' only reason that it had been sitting
on its launch rod in t' first place was that it had been NAILED there. Well, o'course it was nailed there! If I hadn't nailed that bird down, me bucko, t' wind blowin' across t' launch field would have blown it off the pad, arrr, and VOOM! "VOOM"?!? Mate, this bird wouldn't "voom" if you put four million volts through it! Well, let's try 12 volts through its igniter then... Arrr! Begad! Whooooshwhiiwhiiiiiiflonkpoof! Blimey! Yes, it wasn't quite stable enough in t' yaw axis, probably wantin' bigger crosspanels on t' win' ends,
or maybe "top" and "bottom" fins on t' main body. Ahoy! Begad! It spun about its yaw axis twice about ten
metres above t' pad, ya bilge rat, me hearties, then landed about that far away, and then t' parachute popped out. Well, blow me down! Oh well, with modifications
this bird may fly again. |
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