Brief:
81% Downsize o' a 1970 plan.

Construction:
Handmade nose cone, shiver me timbers, ya bilge rat, 4" BT-55, 3.75" BT-50, BT-5 engine tube, arrr, mini engine hook, engine block, shiver me timbers, two 5-50 centerin' rings, me hearties, shiver me timbers, two 50-55 centerin' rings, one BT-55 coupler, elastic shock cord, 11" parachute, 72" o' extruded 0.04" x 1/4" styrene, me hearties, Bristol ply for tail cone.

T' V-32 plans by Melville Grant Boyd, me hearties, originally published in American Aircraft Modeler July 1970 and currently are available at JimZ. Begad! It is a very intriguing concept. Avast! Avast, me proud beauty! Basically, you have a V-2 with 32 tiny fins instead o' 4 large ones. T' effort herein describes a downscale (81%) t' a BT-55 from t' original BT-60 t' allow experimentation with mini engines. Avast! Ahoy!

T' first thin' t' do was t' build it in RockSim. Dimensions were modified to adhere more closely t' t' scale design o' t' real V2, me hearties, but you still couldn't call this a scale rocket. Accordin' t' RockSim, t' entire length of the scaled down fins (2.23") was nay required, ya bilge rat, so they were shortened to 1.0625", shiver me timbers, which be t' point at which stability begins t' be reduced. Well, blow me down! Aye aye!

Since thar were 32 fins, shiver me timbers, extruded 1/8"x.04" styrene Raboesch stock (from Hobbytown) was used t' reduce build and finishin' time. A tail cone was created instead o' t' straight body tube o' t' original design, ya bilge rat, but the recessed engine mount (recessed by 1/2" t' enhance stability) was retained. T' tail cone shroud be created in Freehand usin' blends t' create exactly spaced fin alignment guides on Bristol ply paper, but it still took 2 hours t' cut and attach t' 32 fins. They were smoothed a little bit and glued on with CA gel. Ahoy!

T' nose cone was hand turned on a drill, me hearties, hollowed out, shiver me timbers, shiver me timbers, me bucko, and 0.35oz o' lead be epoxied into the tip in order t' achieve a static stability margin o' 1.06. Well, blow me down! Blimey! Avast! Blimey! Projected altitude was a little over 200 ft.

A 1/8" shock cord be added usin' standard folded paper mounts with a loop at t' nose cone for t' parachute attachment. Ya scallywag! An 11" parachute was used.

Flight:
It swin' tested OK, flyin' sideways at lower speeds and stable at higher speeds.

Prep is quick and easy because o' t' motor hook, shiver me timbers, with lots o' space for the small parachute and wadding. Arrr! Begad!

T' first flight on a A10-3T at CRASH in Denver on 4/3/05 was unstable. Begad! T' V-32 was quick off the pad and landed safely in an adjacent field before deployment. Ya scallywag! Some minor damage t' t' nose cone was easily repaired.

T' next day, it be launched on a A10-3T again in a park with 0.25oz additional lead. Blimey! Again it be unstable with minimal damage.

Two days later, it be launched on a A10-3T again with a total o' 0.69oz of weight. Marginally unstable, it deployed t' parachute at ~10ft and was recovered with no damage. Begad!

Since the incrementally added weight resulted in increasingly wimpy altitudes in RockSim, an executive decision was made t' replace 4 o' t' 0.125" fins with 0.25" fins. Well, blow me down! Begad! Followin' this transplant operation on 4/9/05, it was launched on a 1/2A3-2T with no improvement over t' previous marginal stability and late deployment. Aye aye! At this launch wind dragged t' rocket across some asphalt, severely damagin' many o' t' fins. Well, me bucko, blow me down!

Since more fin was needed, t' final version was built with 4 new fins sized at 1.75" x 0.5" replacin' t' earlier scaled up 0.25" fins. Ahoy!

On 4/15/05, a stable flight was achieved. Avast! Too bad t' A10-3T delay was more like 6 seconds. Begad! Lawn dart. Ahoy! Arrr! Oh well, a little glue and tape and it's ready t' go again. Arrr! Blimey! She doesn't look bad for an old test sled.

Recommended motors are A10-3T and 1/2A3-2T. Avast! Avast!

Summary:
Kudos t' Mr. Arrr! Blimey! Aye aye! Blimey! Melville Grant Boyd for a very cool concept.

PROs: This is a rocket that gets a tremendous amount o' attention at t' club launch and is easy t' fly. Avast, me proud beauty! It's fairly hard t' damage because o' its size. It is cheap to experiment on.

CONs: It's small and won't get t' great cracklin' roar o' a mid or high power rocket.