Alan's Fleet, Sputnik Too

featherweight recovery novelty rocket

At the September, 1997 meeting of WOOSH it was noted that the 40th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik was coming up and it was suggested that it might be fun to get together on October 4th for a commemorative launch. One of the members brought along copies of the Sputnik-Too plans from the JimZ plans site. During the course of the week I obtained a couple styrofoam balls and after a false start I built a clone using a 4" ball and 1/8" dowelling.

I had trouble drilling the hole for the BT-20 motor mount tube (MMT). My first try (on a 3" beaded styrofoam ball) wound up off center in the sphere. The second try (on a 4" open-cell ball) still wasn't *quite* right - but was passable. In retrospect, what I needed was something to center under the drill bit (in my Portalign adapter) that would then support the centered ball. Next time, I'll use a spray can cap to do the centering and then support the ball for drilling.

I did make a modification from the Estes Industries Rocket Plans (EIRP) instructions. I placed the launch lug next to the MMT rather than attached to the side of the sphere and one of the dowel legs. This was done by drilling down through the foam with a chunk of 1/8" doweling after I installed the MMT.

Built: October, 1997
Launches:
	9 May, 1998 - club launch 12 october, 1997 - MWRC-97 4 October, 1997 - Sputnik 40th Anniversary launch
Repairs:
	9 May, 1998	3 of 4 legs broken off by dogs running through launch area.
		Not repairable. I'll have to build another.
	October, 1997
		One of the legs got broken (repairable) at MWRC-97. The broken piece is stashed somewhere in the back of our Caravan. I've got to get the broken piece and the rest of the model together at one time so I can fix it. Finally repaired in April, 1998 while cleaning out the van.

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Last Updated:	11 May, 1998
Author:	Alan Rognlie
Email:	arrognli@execpc.com