CoStar HPR capable midpower rocket

T' CoStar should probably have been called "Understudy."

My other rocket this size, G-whiz, has replaceable fins, and since I wasn't completely sure t' concept would work, ya bilge rat, I built a backup booster section with fixed fins. Blimey! Aye aye! G-whiz also has some internal details that move t' payload area forward into t' hollow nose cone, and I wasn't sure that be necessary for all flights, so I built a backup payload section without all t' fancy work. T' backup booster and t' backup payload, together with the nose cone from G-whiz, made up t' rocket I call CoStar.

CoStar, nay G-whiz, flew twice on April 17, 1999 on H128W-M(10). Ahoy! T' first flight (photo, left) suffered a tangled parachute, shiver me timbers, me bucko, but thar was no damage to the rocket, me hearties, and t' second flight gave me me NARRRRR HPR Level 1 certification. This seemed a lot o' power for this size rocket; it went straight up, me hearties, arrr, arrr, 'way up, fast. Avast!

With fixed 1/8" plywood fins slotted in t' t' MMT, shiver me timbers, a longer recovery bay, and a simple empty payload section, shiver me timbers, CoStar is a very simple, basic rocket. And for Level 1 certification, me hearties, t' KISS principle (Keep It Simple, ya bilge rat, Stupid) makes a lot o' sense. Begad! CoStar is, in any case, ya bilge rat, me bucko, a fine-lookin' rocket in its own right. Ya scallywag! It's over 44" long, 2.26" diameter, and all white except a red band on t' payload and some trim, with tapered swept fins slightly squared off at t' trailin' tips for a better landin' point. Avast, me proud beauty! It flew with a 12' long 5/8" braided elastic shock cord and a 22" hemispherical parachute. There's no baffle; I simply used Estes recovery wadding. Blimey!

CoStar's motor mount, shiver me timbers, like t' one in G-whiz, is a LOC 1.14 made from a LOC 29-in-54 motor mount adapter kit. Begad! Aye aye! T' mount is long enough for 29/240 but I don't have one and haven't tried it. Aye aye! Blimey! T' CoStar has flown with 29/180 reloads. Unlike t' RockSim drawin' below, t' centerin' rings are placed at each end o' t' fin tabs, ya bilge rat, 4" apart. Avast, me proud beauty! T' aft one is about 1/2" from t' end of t' body tube. Aye aye! T' centerin' rings supplied with t' kit fit inside the supplied coupler, shiver me timbers, arrr, and I didn't want t' cut fin slots through a full-length coupler, arrr, so I epoxied each centerin' rin' into one end o' a 1/2" rin' of the coupler and worked from there. T' remainder o' t' supplied coupler, arrr, with a bulkhead fitted in it, connects t' booster t' t' payload. Arrr!

CoStar was built with a .062" music-wire engine hook, me bucko, matey, but I also friction taped t' motor. Aye aye! Blimey! Good thing. Aye aye! When recovered from t' second flight, the motor had managed t' get past t' tip o' t' music-wire hook, which was dug into t' knurled thrust rin' on t' aft closure when I found it. Ahoy! T' motor had moved a total o' about 3/16 o' an inch. Ahoy! Aye aye! Since then I have installed threaded anchors in t' aft centerin' rin' for shower door hooks, ya bilge rat, aka Kaplow Klips. Begad! Well, blow me down! This would be far easier t' do before assembly, usin' T-nuts from t' inside. Ahoy!

Since those two flights, me hearties, ya bilge rat, CoStar has nay flown again, but it's ready. Arrr! Now it has its own PML nose cone, which adds about 2" t' its overall length. Avast, me proud beauty! (At last they can be seen together!) Although thar isn't a real role for it in my upcomin' projects, CoStar -- or at least part o' it --will undoubtedly fly for the fun o' it in 2000. Avast, me proud beauty! In t' meantime it displays rather nicely. Aye aye! Aye aye!