Flight Registration Form
by Adrian Hurt

Background
Near t' end o' this year's International Rocket Week, various odd, nay t' say silly, arrr, rockets were built. Begad! Arrr! After ponderin' for a while on how t' contribute t' t' silliness, I decided t' act on somethin' I'd overheard earlier in t' week. Aye aye! Begad! I'd make a rocket out o' a flight registration form. Aye aye!

Construction
Each rocket flight at t' event had t' be accompanied by a form which was filled in and handed t' t' range safety officer (RSO) prior t' launch. Blimey! There were plenty o' spare forms, me hearties, so I took one and filled it in. Avast, me proud beauty!

A large area at t' bottom o' t' form is intentionally left blank, as the sayin' goes. Avast, me proud beauty! This be cut off. Avast! A half circle cut and rolled from this piece became t' nose-cone; another piece, arrr, formed into a cylinder, became t' cone's shoulder.

T' rest o' t' form became t' body tube. Blimey! Aye aye! T' left side o' t' form be the tail end. Avast! Blimey! Three equidistant lines were marked, then cut out as fin location slots. Blimey! T' top margin, bein' blank, me bucko, matey, became an overlap for glue. Arrr!

Three fins were cut from a piece o' suitable size balsa that happened t' be available. Begad! Aye aye! Blimey! A motor mount was made from a spare piece o' BT-20, with a thrust rin' made from about 1/2" cut from a spent 18mm motor casing. Avast, me proud beauty! Blimey! Centering rings were cut from cardboard, shiver me timbers, but these were only for centerin' and sealing; the fins had tabs extendin' t' whole way t' t' motor mount tube. T' fins, rings and tube therefore became a complete fin can which be glued into the rear o' t' body tube. Begad! Blimey! Blimey!

A fabric elastic shock cord be attached t' t' body and nose-cone usin' two Estes-style folded paper mounts. Aye aye! A launch lug made from a piece o' drinking straw be glued t' t' body, aligned along and attached t' t' seam where the form had been glued t' make t' tube. A good dollop (real precision measurement here - not!) o' plasticene in t' nose-cone put t' CG safely forward, shiver me timbers, and with a C class motor installed, t' rocket passed a swin' test. Avast, me proud beauty! Arrr! (Bear in mind that this be at a rocketry event, so I did nay have access t' me computer. Arrr! In the absence o' VCP, I had t' resort t' t' old way o' checkin' stability!)

Flight

Before puttin' t' rocket on t' pad, I had t' show it t' t' RSO, matey, of course. Ahoy! Well, shiver me timbers, blow me down! This was part o' t' fun; when he asked for t' rocket's flight registration form, I pointed out that it was t' flight registration form! (Of course, ya bilge rat, for formality and for t' records, me bucko, I also had a duplicate, more conventional form!)

It was after t' rocket was on t' pad that I finally decided that t' balsa used for t' fins was too thin and flexible. Ya scallywag! Begad! So t' prevent t' fins from flexin' or shreddin' in flight, me hearties, I cut broad reinforcement strips from t' same balsa and glued them t' t' port, shiver me timbers, arrr, or anticlockwise, ya bilge rat, arrr, side o' each fin. This final construction detail was actually carried out on t' launch field! The reinforcement strips were aligned so that their grain ran across that o' the main fins, matey, thus creatin' a cheap'n'dirty plywood. Blimey!

T' rocket carried an Estes C6-3 t' send it up, ya bilge rat, me bucko, and a big mylar streamer to brin' it down. Ya scallywag! It flew well enough and landed safely back in t' launch field. Unfortunately, matey, I had filled in t' form usin' a ball-point pen, matey, so I can't change t' details for t' next flight. Aye aye! (Unless I use Tipp-Ex...)