March 2015 Model of the Month

A Study in Triskelions from Marc Mitchell

It all began with the first Fliskits model Marc built. That's the yellow Triskelion, known as Rumble B, built in 2006. Rumble B was one of the first to use Marc's homemade plain paper decals. After 16 flights, accumulated wear led to its retirement from the flight line.

The MicroMax sized model, Blue Hornet followed in 2009. With fifteen flights so far, it's ready to fly many more times, aside from the wing tiplet that was lost to handling at the meeting. (this minor damage was easily repaired later.)

Next in the line was Rumble B2, built from the kit but with many detail improvements. From the herring bone scoring on the body tube at the fin connections, extra heavy fillets and brass wire pins on all fin end-plates, to the “anti-zipper device” on the kevlar shock cord and the triple CA soaking of all the fin edges as well as the leading and trailing interior edge of the body tube, this edition aims to provide a longer service life that the first. Still needs paint and decals, though.

While Rumble B2 was under construction, an otherwise destroyed rocket's nosecone provided the impetus for a 1.5x upscale, named Rumble B3.5. It further modifies the original design with thicker, through-the-wall fins, and the same brass wire pins on the end-plates as Rumble B2. It is sized for 24mm E-length motors.