Please pardon the picture. I hope to put up a better one later. Built from plans downloaded from JimZ Rocket Plans. The nose cones are balsa and original specifications purchased from BMS. I made the decals from a scan of a set of decals purchased from JimZ and printed onto Bel decal paper using my HP inkjet printer. All other parts are from current production. Fins on the booster are all made from basswood, glider fins are all balsa. I actually made two gliders. The first glider was made using basswood. Big mistake! All wood grain and tube windings were filled. I used Krylon paint and covered with Future premium floor finish. Except for my Estes Uprated Saturn 1B (in need of major repairs, now), the OT is perhaps the most difficult model I have ever constructed. This was also my first attempt to build a highly finished rocket. It was built to enter into the Dallas Area Rocket Society's ("DARS") Classic Kit Flyoff Contest held on October 27, 2001, at the Shoot for the Stars launch in Windom, a small town northeast of Dallas where DARS holds many of its launches. It was also my first time to enter a rocket competition. To my surprise, the OT won first place. Blake and I were both flying high. I think Blake was even more proud than I was. It was an excellent day!
Below is a picture taken by Bill Gee, a fellow DARS member, of Blake and I with Vernon Estes holding the OT after he signed it for me. Woowee! By the way, Mr. Estes is a super person. The picture was taken at the National Association of Rocketry's Annual Meet #44 (NARAM 44). It was our first NARAM, and meeting Mr. Estes was one of the highlights. Another super event was Blake's winning a 3rd place trophy in 1/2A Parachute Duration. I am so proud of him. Quite an accomplishment for competing at a national level, especially considering it was the first time he's ever entered a contest.
First Flight - Winds about 5-10 mph. Used B6-2. Perfect flight, straight as an arrow up to probably a couple hundred feet. Glider detached perfectly and glided down in slow, tight circles, landing about three feet from the booster. Both were only about 20 yards from the launch pad. That is the most nervous I have ever been while flying a model rocket. Blake was urging me not to fly it because I had flown another entry, an Astron Sprint, and the paper streamer burned in half disqualifying it from competition. It was a close race though and I needed the flight points. What a relief to see the parachute blossom out over the rocket and the glider performing as designed. Whew!!
Second Flight - Brad's place. Winds about 5-10 mph. Used C6-5. Perfect flight up to about three hundred feet, and then started a tight loop upwards for about another couple hundred feet. Not sure what happened, but I think the glider may have slipped sideways a little. Delay was too long. Ejection charge went off after rocket was about 50 feet into descent, and the nose cone slapped into the body tube leaving a huge arc in the middle of the back side of the nose cone. No other damage. Plan to use C6-3 next time. Glider detached perfectly and performed almost identically to the first flight. I actually caught the booster before it hit the ground about 25 yards from the launch pad. The glider almost hit me in the head while I was catching the booster.