Fat Boy
Fat Boy is a 6:1 upscale of the famous Estes Fat Boy rocket that so many of us owned as kids growing up. If fact, my daughter still has the Estes Fat Boy I gave her when she was 8, she is now 14. She has flown it too many times to count and she still flies it regularly. The Estes Fat Boy has been customized in many ways. I have seen it flown on clusters of C's and D's as well as G's and H's. As an example, I have an original size estes Fat Boy that flies on an H128.
The Upscaled Fat Boy rocket stands 79 inches high, 16.5 inches in diameter, with a span of 46.5 inches. The rocket weighs about 75 pounds before motor installation. In retrospect I could have built the rocket much lighter using more foam and fiberglass and not so much plywood. If I can sneek it in I plan on building a larger one in the future, probably an 8:1 upscale and it should weigh less than this one did. It flew several times on a Hypertel M1010 and was a real crowd pleaser.
Fat Boy was my Level 3 certification project so you can find much more detail on the construction of this rocket than you can find on any of my other projects. The detail will also help you prepare the documentation for your owm L3 Cert flight. Construction and Flight Info
Darwin's Folly
Darwin's Folly is a 4 inch 2 stage rocket capables of flight on several different motor combinations and configurations. The booster can fly on 54mm composite and hybrid motors as well as 38mm composite motors. I also have an extra booster that holds 3 - 29mm motors. The sustainer can fly on 54mm and 38mm as well, or, in a single-stage configuration, an a 54mm hybrid.
The construction of Darwin's Folly is pretty typical. I used a 4 inch cardboard tube, sanded off the outer smooth layer exposing the rough paper surface and then fiberglassed a layer of 7 oz. cloth using West Epoxy. The fins are made of 3/16 inch birch plywood saturated with West Epoxy. The fin roots extend through the outer tube and are bonded to the inner motor tube. The inner motor tube is standard phenolic and the centering rings are 3/16 birch plywood as well. The nose cone is a standard Giant Leap 4 inch nose cone. The rocket was painted with duplicolor automotive paints after many hours of sanding.
Initially I was going to name the rocket Evolution but that name is so overused. I wanted a name that was a synonym for evolution since this rocket's design evolved from other rocket designs that I had worked on. After some thought, "Darwin's Folly" was chosen, from the mythical biological process whereby simple things become more complex just given random chance and enough time.
Silver Bullet
Silver bullet was my Level 2 certification rocket and has been the workhorse of my fleet. Basically, it is a 3 inch diameter rocket with G-10 fins. The Silver Bullet is capable of flying with both 54mm and 38mm motors but its usual configuration is a 54mm Hypertek Hybrid. I use a Missleworks altimeter to trigger the dual deployment events.
The construction of Silver Bullet is very similar to other rockets on this page. I started with a 3 inch cardboard tube and sanded off the smooth layer exposing the rough surface of the cardboard. I then fiberglassed a layer of 7 oz. fiberglass cloth using West System epoxy. The fins are stock Giant Leap G-10 fins and are bonded through the outer skin to the inner motor tube. The inner motor tube is standard phenolic and the centering rings are 3/16 birch plywood. The rocket was painted with duplicolor automotive paint after much sanding.
Silver Bullet has seen a lot of use and has been launched on a number of different motors. Because it is light ~ 5lbs I can launch it on a G80 and because it is strong I can launch it on a K550. My favorite motor is the Hypertek K240 where Silver Bullet can reach ~7500'.
The Mother Ship
The Mother Ship was inspired by an Art Applewhite flying cone rocket called the Scimatar. I built 6 of the original Scimatar designs for my children to use at a local launch. The rockets performed very well on a D-12 and was awe inspiring on an E9 and I enjoyed the performance so much that I decided it would really fly well on a G12 RC motor. Fly well it did indeed.
The Scimatar is a great rocket and you can purchase ready made kits from Art Applewhite Rockets as well as a number of other interesting rockets. Construction and Flight Info