Get Shorty?

I still haven't named this rocket, and that's pitiful. He's done but for paint, and it's not like me.

I know, I said I wouldn't build more Floyd-sized rockets, and really, I haven't. This is ten inches shorter, a mere 52" long; and it's nowhere near as heavy. I might get to fly Floyd for a second time tomorrow, if it's not too windy, but the FAA notification thing and the price of composite motors makes him incompatible with most of my rocketry life, a life marked by impromptu trips to the park with my kids.



But this one is close. And flawed.


I marked the fins with an 'L' for the leading edge back when I cut them. Back in January.




Then, when sanding down the epoxy after fiberglass taping the fins in place, I see that a fin has the 'L' on the trailing edge; and that my fins aren't perfectly symmetrical, only nearly so. The odd fin out looks wrong when you know it's there.

But if you don't know, you might miss it. And at that point, the only way to fix it would be to destroy the rocket and start over. Or at least destroy the bottom five inches of it. And with the fiberglass/resin reinforcement, I'm betting the odd fin is strong enough. The grain of the wood is slightly off from the strongest orientation, but they're mounted sturdily enough I can pick the rocket up by a fin.

I also sanded down the glassing I did on Kandy Kolored Tangerine Flake Streamline Baby's booster.



And if it's too windy tomorrow, I'll go fly kites.