Back in the good old days, my brother and I played with model rockets. They were fun, but not so much when those tiny rockets (Mosquito) for 99cents were built and flown, never to be found again. Eventually, we migrated to building rocket cars and sleds out of balsa wood from model aeroplanes that never got finished. A few were successful, some were not. After 15 years of losing interest, the time has come to do it again. This time, instead of using a prototype rocket vehicle, it's been decided to use Barbie's 1971 country camper instead. Barbie has volunteered to pilot the vehicle for the test. This project will be fully documented and photographed. The plan is to do an initial flat surface hi-speed run followed by another run with a ramp installed, and then possibly a crash test to determine crashworthyness of the country camper. Barbie will then report her results to us. The country camper has been acquired. Inspection and then an outline of the project will be drawn up shortly.
Dateline 14aug01: The motorhome has been parked for the moment whilst other projects get worked on. Finally, a preliminary inspection was performed. As you can see, there is a crack in the top of the RV near the windshield. Barbie should be more careful in the future when parking near low objects, such as tree branches. This damage should not affect the results of future testing. This type of RV is known as a type A or basically a box on a frame.
The interior view shows a bright and clean, albeit dated interior. Everything seems to be in place. There's plenty of room for Ken and Skippy to ride along if they want to. Since this is a 1971 model, there are no provisions for seat belts. Who needs em anyway? As you can see in the picture, the wheels are in good shape although the tires have a very hard compound, which may cause traction problems at high speed. This will be addressed at a later time.
As for the rocket propulsion systemm, an ESTES rocket motor will be used due to simplicity of design and low cost. There was some discussion with the other original rocketcar designer as to how best mount the propulsion system. Some thoughts were to mount the motor on the RV's roof or attached to the RV's undercarriage. However, due to a wide variety of possible rocket motor sizes, this could cause uneven thrust which Barbie might not be able to control. It was then best decided to modify the rear of the RV slightly to allow the rocket motor to be fitted. This will put the thrust lower to the CG of the RV, improving stability. Depending on results, clustering of rocket motors in the future may be investigated. For now, the RV must wait as a suitable test pilot is being searched for. Updates will be forthcoming.
Notice of withdrawl of further development:
Unfortunately, changes in life had to be taken which has now stopped any further development on the rocket RV primarily due to space constraints. This project certainly has enough importance to be revived at a later time perhaps. The ultimate test would be to use the Barbie star traveler RV which is very close in appearance to the GMC front wheel drive RV. Also, Estes makes even BIGGER size rocket motors now; that being the E range Anyone have a Barbie Star Traveler to donate to the cause?
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