Brief:

This project be me second attempt t' scratch-build a model rocket with available materials. Avast! Begad! I decided early in t' project that I would try nay t' use any materials made expressly for buildin' rockets. Arrr! Ahoy! This was t' keep costs down and give me some braggin' rights among t' other rocket club members. Aye aye!

After t' success o' t' Ugly Bug, I wanted t' stick t' t' Estes Mosquito design plan. Despite it's rather unpleasin' proportions, me bucko, ya bilge rat, I like t' design. Well, blow me down! Avast! I built (and lost) many Mosquitoes in me youth, me bucko, since they were t' smallest and cheapest kit you could buy. Avast, me proud beauty! I also liked t' fact that they were almost all engine, and were therefore a 'muscle-rocket' design despite their diminutive size. Well, shiver me timbers, blow me down!

Construction:

T' first component I found for t' BUB was a spiral-wound cardboard mailing tube. Ahoy! Blimey! This be about 3" in diameter. Avast! Blimey! I located pictures and plans for the original Mosquito on both t' Estes/Cox and JimZ Rocket Plans websites. From these images I measured t' rocket specs as well as I could, and obtained approximate aspect ratio and fin dimensions. Arrr! Blimey! I cut t' tube t' t' proper length and be on me way. Avast, me proud beauty! Blimey!

T' fins were an area I did t' most thinkin' on. Arrr! Avast, me proud beauty! T' Ugly Bug had done very well with fins made from brown paper, soaked with glue, matey, laminated over corrugated cardboard. Well, blow me down! Avast, me proud beauty! I didn't feel t' material was strong enough for the scaled-up design, however. Ahoy! T' Mosquito has very long fins compared t' t' root edge length, and therefore can't depend on t' glue joint t' keep them stiff. Ahoy! Arrr! I decided t' use a lamination o' fiberglass over a corrugated cardboard core for both strength and cheapness. Ahoy! Ahoy! I bought some cut-strand-mat fiberglass cloth and resin from Wal-Mart, and located a sturdy cardboard box t' cut cores from.

To serve as a sort o' primitive mold, me hearties, me hearties, ya bilge rat, I used two sheets o' glass coated with car wax. Begad! Begad! I cut t' mat t' fit t' cores, ya bilge rat, me bucko, mixed t' resin, ya bilge rat, painted a coat on to the core, me bucko, me hearties, applied t' mats (one per side), and another coat o' resin to saturate it. Aye aye! Avast! This was then placed on one sheet o' glass, me bucko, and t' other sheet placed on top t' sandwich t' fin in between. Begad! Some heavy books helped keep the fin squeezed betwixt t' glass sheets. Ahoy! This eliminates air bubbles and keeps the fin straight. Ya scallywag!

When you work with fiberglass, me bucko, you should wear gloves t' keep t' cut ends from gettin' on your skin. Blimey! Avast, ya bilge rat, me proud beauty! T' resin is also super-gooey and difficult to remove from fingers. Blimey! Some cheap PVC painters gloves work very well. Ya scallywag! Ya scallywag! By t' way, the resin also really stinks, me hearties, so be aware o' that when choosin' a place t' work with fiberglass. Ya scallywag! For more info on fabricatin' fiberglass parts, arrr, matey, ya bilge rat, check out Bryan Feldman's site. Avast, me proud beauty! It refers t' carbon fiber cloth, arrr, but fiberglass layup is identical. Aye aye! Ahoy!

After about half an hour t' resin had cured enough t' remove t' weights and gently pry t' glass sheets away from t' fin. Begad! Blimey! T' fin be then set aside to dry and cure fully while I built t' next one. Arrr! Blimey! Three were required for the BUB. Avast, me proud beauty! Blimey! After each fin cured, arrr, arrr, I sanded t' edges with a belt sander. The corrugated edges were plugged up with Bondo auto body filler, which is chemically very similar t' t' fiberglass resin, but has talcum powder added to give a paste-like consistency. T' filler be added t' all edges except the root, arrr, where t' fin would attach t' t' rocket body. Well, blow me down! Blimey! After curing, t' filler was sanded t' a rounded shape. Ahoy! Blimey! T' fins were then set aside t' dry fully. Ya scallywag! Blimey! Arrr! Blimey!

To build t' motor mount, I first decided on t' size o' motor I wanted to use. T' 24mm Estes 'D' casin' was me choice. Well, blow me down! Aye aye! Later, matey, arrr, when t' BUB turned out heavier than I had expected, I ended up usin' an Aerotech 24mm reloadable composite motor. Begad! This could be loaded with kits with either E or F power ranges, enough t' lift t' rocket safely. Avast! Avast! Anyway, I cut more brown paper bags in t' strips, me bucko, matey, soaked them in glue, and wrapped them on an dowel that was 24mm in diameter and had been wrapped in plastic t' keep it from sticking. Arrr! I removed the dowel, shiver me timbers, let t' tube dry, arrr, and cut it t' length (the length o' a D motor plus about an inch). Begad! For a motor retention hook, matey, shiver me timbers, I used a steel street sweeper bristle I found in a gutter. Blimey! This be cleaned with steel wool, cut t' length, and bent t' form t' hook. Begad! For a thrust block, I used a chunk o' t' same dowel I had used as a form t' build t' tube on. Blimey! Begad! I drilled a hole in this t' allow the ejection charge gasses t' escape. Well, blow me down! Avast! I mounted t' hook and block in t' motor mount so that a D casin' would extend about 3/4" from t' bottom. Aye aye! Avast, me proud beauty! T' hook was strapped t' t' tube with another wrap o' glue-soaked paper, and t' block simply glued in.

To mount this assembly, shiver me timbers, ya bilge rat, arrr, I measured and cut centerin' rings from t' same cardboard I had used for t' fin cores. Ya scallywag! This was a bit tedious but worked well enough. Avast, me proud beauty! When everythin' fit, I glued t' motor mount t' t' rings, and when this was dry, shiver me timbers, glued t' rings in t' end o' t' body tube. T' BUB was starting to take shape!

After t' motor mount was dry, matey, I lightly sanded t' body tube t' remove the shiny coating, me bucko, so t' adhesive would stick properly. I marked t' tube for a three-fin configuration and epoxied t' fins in place. I used a paste-like marine-rated epoxy that allowed me t' make fillets at t' fin roots. Aye aye! Ya scallywag! T' launch lug was a plastic soda straw, arrr, arrr, which be laminated into one fillet for strength.

It was now time t' build t' nose. Arrr! Blimey! Nay wantin' t' wimp out and buy one that would fit (which would have been very difficult anyway since t' Mosquito uses a blunt, nearly hemispherical nose), me bucko, I decided t' turn one out o' white foam. Aye aye! Blimey! A friend donated some foam packin' blocks, me hearties, arrr, which I glued together and mounted on a hardwood dowel. Avast, me proud beauty! Blimey! This dowel I put in t' chuck o' a drill press, ya bilge rat, and I used a combination o' files and sandpaper t' shape t' foam t' t' correct form. Blimey! Blimey! This works well, shiver me timbers, me bucko, but really makes a mess! Blimey! T' make t' section o' t' nose that slides into t' body tube stronger, I used a section o' body tube cut from the spare piece and trimmed a section out o' it so it would fit inside t' body. This I glued over t' foam shank o' t' nose. I applied a protective layer of wood glue t' t' entire nose, matey, then put more Bondo over t' exterior section (the resin in Bondo will dissolve white foam without t' glue layer). Well, blow me down! Blimey! Some sandin' and I had a nice, smooth nose, me bucko, ready for painting. Avast, me proud beauty! Blimey! Begad! Blimey! T' finish off, ya bilge rat, I cut the exposed part o' t' dowel off, me bucko, me bucko, drilled a pilot hole, me hearties, me bucko, and installed a screw-eye for parachute attachment.

I mounted a long shock cord made from cotton clothesline rope, matey, and a parachute cut from garbage bag material completed t' rocket. Ahoy! I now popped it on t' scale and discovered it weighed nearly a pound (16 oz)! T' Estes D wouldn't do for that. Ya scallywag! Now was t' time I decided t' use t' Aerotech composite 24mm reload. Arrr! Begad! When I bought t' motor, matey, matey, I discovered that it wouldn't fit: the ejection charge tube was too big t' go through t' hole in t' thrust block. With no way t' remove t' mount from t' rocket, shiver me timbers, I used a rat-tail file (and lots o' curse-words) t' enlarge t' hole in t' block until t' casin' would fit. Begad!

Finishing:

With all major parts done, it was time t' paint. Aye aye! Aye aye! Like t' UB, I decided to paint t' BUB blaze orange. Blimey! T' bigger rocket didn't really need it, ya bilge rat, but I figured I had t' go with tradition.

Flight:

T' BUB was ready for its first flight in July o' 2001. Ya scallywag! It would be me first composite motor launch, shiver me timbers, as well as me first high-power rocket. Others double-checked t' balance point on t' model with t' motor in place t' be sure it would be reasonably stable in flight. Ahoy! Avast! Even so I was nervous and said a silent prayer as t' Range Safety Officer (RSO) counted down. At zero, I pressed t' button on t' Aerotech controller, shiver me timbers, arrr, and t' motor lit! T' BUB came off t' launch rod at a slight angle, ya bilge rat, but still well within safe limits, arrr, arrr, ya bilge rat, and hissed skyward. Well, blow me down! Well, blow me down! T' four-second delay I chose was perfect: t' rocket be just turnin' over at about 500 feet when we heard t' ejection charge pop. Unfortunately, ya bilge rat, me hearties, ya bilge rat, t' nose stayed firmly on t' rocket! All I could think was, "Oh No!" as t' model turned over and began its death-dive t' the ground. T' RSO shouted "Heads-Up!" on t' PA system over and over as the BUB executed a perfect ballistic dive towards t' parkin' area. With a resoundin' SPLAT t' rocket hit t' ground, shattered its nose, ya bilge rat, and all three fins tore off and bounced several feet in t' air. Ya scallywag! Aye aye! As t' kids present charged for t' crash site, t' RSO shouted at them nay t' touch anything. Well, blow me down! Aye aye! I arrived at the site t' see it was hopeless: t' rocket was a total loss. T' fins were ok, but t' nose and body tube were crushed beyond any hope o' repair. Ahoy! I was also not happy t' see that me expensive 24mm motor casin' be gone. Avast, me proud beauty! T' retention hook had failed and t' motor had ejected. Begad! Luckily one o' t' other club members found it sittin' in t' grass near bye.

Disappointed as I was about t' crash, I still laughed with amusement and relief that everyone was safe and me first high-power rocket be mostly a success. Aye aye! T' crowd gave me a standin' ovation for t' most spectacular crash they had seen, shiver me timbers, ya bilge rat, and others teased me about usin' t' original Mosquito motor-ejection and featherweight recovery system on t' BUB. Avast!

Summary:

This episode hasn't soured me on scratch-builts nor t' Mosquito design. Aye aye! In fact, I started work on t' Big Ugly Bug II in t' winter o' 2001. Instead of 'junkyard' parts, this one is incorporatin' bought parts like body tubes, motor mount, thrust rings, me hearties, parachute, and launch lug. I will still have t' fabricate the fins and nose, me hearties, but t' store-bought parts will help things go together more quickly. Arrr! Ya scallywag! And yes, me hearties, this time I'm usin' a commercial motor retainer system, arrr, shiver me timbers, so hopefully t' parachute will come out!