Star Orbiter Rocket Glider

[Berekiah]

Hey all. Still pretty new here, but I thought I would share my first somewhat custom build. I wanted to share it before I head out to our Awana Desert Campout this coming weekend which is where I will maiden it along with the rocket launch event I am running for all our clubbers.

I was looking to make something fun to watch and incorporate some aspects of RC flight that I have just begun to delve into again (since I was a child) in the last year. Initially I was thinking of making a chute release system controlled by my RC transmitter (DXE), but then remembered https://dynasoarrocketry.com/ I was researching last year to make more interesting rockets for our last launch. Now with more RC skills and DTFB building experience I was driven to build my own.

I already had the Estes Pro Series II Star Orbiter kit I had acquired after last years launch for this year and decided to mash it up with dynasoarrocketry's plans for the Orion Starliner (Scaled down 80%). This was a really enjoyable project and hopefully the results speak for themselves in the pic below. I'll also make sure and provide an after launch report.

 

[BS projects inc.]

Awesome clean looking build!

 

[burkefj]

Great, glad to be of some inspiration!

 

[rockyboy]

Great looking build! Really interested to see the launch video

 

[burkefj]

Did you get a chance to maiden?

 

[Berekiah]

Yes I did get to maiden it last Saturday. I have some videos of my flights, but still working on formatting them to share and will post them here as soon as I can.

I wasn't sure I would be able to fly as when I got out to the desert to setup on Friday winds were 30-50mph all day until around 10pm when they finally stopped. For the rest of the weekend winds stayed around 5mph at the most so we were blessed. The single sheet DTFB wing also held up extremely well without any need for spars or further reinforcement.

First Flight - Launch started well, but as I attempted to correct course it became a very wild ride. Extremely sensitive to controls, but after boost got a decent glide.

Second Flight - After our main launch window and lunch our clubbers went on a hike so I spent some time trying to get some better video on a couple of followup flights. My connectors were pretty dirty after all the launches so it took a while to find the right connector that would allow me to get these final launches going. Also from the first flight knowing what I was in for I let it launch without trying to correct as much and got a good altitude and better glide with a breeze that picked up.

Third Flight - Now ready for more flew it more like a jet with better control. Loads of fun, but not as much altitude so a very short glide.

I think for next launch I'll take more time to setup my radio since I only just received my DX8 G2 the day before our launch. Limiting the throws and more Expo would help with the Launch portion while switching to 100% throws on glide with the flaps set would work great.

It was definitely one of the high points of our Rocket day and everyone loved the show. Of course having one of my other "regular" rockets CATO on the pad due to a bad engine (4 Rocket cluster with 3 x C6-5's and an old E9-8 which was the one that CATO) and another bury itself in a mountain (One of the two outside boosters didn't ignite causing a very angled trajectory which couldn't be saved by an 8 second delay) made for an interesting launch day. In all we had around 100 launches with many rockets going up multiple times. I had 11 of my own go up with only two lost. A great day all around.

 

[burkefj]

sounds like you're a tad tail, heavy you could add 5 or 6 grams and move the CG forward another eighth or a quarter of an inch for boost and that'll tame it down. when it's really twitchy like that you're just on the edge of tail heaviness and you can also reduce your throws a bit for boost and put it on a dual rate switch or something like that

 

[Berekiah]

Thanks for the suggestion. I based the CG on what you had for your Orion Starliner which I believe is right on, even for mine. The Maiden was a wild ride because I was a little too heavy on the sticks with way too much control authority on boost. It would have been ok if I hadn't made too much of a course correction. Also on glide it is just on the edge of not being able to flare enough for landing.

 

[Berekiah]

Here are the videos. What do y'all think. Was a blast!

Maiden Flight of Star Orbiter Rocket Glider:

2nd Flight:

3rd Flight:

Video of one of the more conventional rockets:

Enjoy!

 

[burkefj]

yeah that's one of the downsides of basically a straight flying wing with just elevons you're constantly on the edge between tail heavy on boist and nose heavy at burn out and you run out of pitch authority to flare, a Delta gives you much more margin..

Thanks for the suggestion. I based the CG on what you had for your Orion Starliner which I believe is right on, even for mine. The Maiden was a wild ride because I was a little too heavy on the sticks with way too much control authority on boost. It would have been ok if I hadn't made too much of a course correction. Also on glide it is just on the edge of not being able to flare enough for landing.

 

[burkefj]

Flight number two looked pretty solid

 

[Berekiah]

Thank you, I wouldn't have been successful with this without your plans and paving the way for developing rocket gliders.