Construction Rating: | starstarstarstarstar |
Flight Rating: | starstarstarstarstar |
Overall Rating: | starstarstarstarstar |
Manufacturer: | Art Applewhite Rockets |
Brief:
A great and cheap to build monocopter. Flies well on an A motor. I first found out about this rocket via The Rocketry Forum. Within a day of seeing the post, I had started to build the monocopter.
Construction:
Not much is needed to build the monocopter:
Art's design is simple and excellent. The plans are very well laid out with lots of photos so it's nearly impossible to get it wrong. The only alteration I made was to use cotton thread instead of nylon. This was by no means an improvement--the nylon option is better. However, I did not have any nylon string on hand, but I did have some cotton thread!
I emailed Art about using epoxy instead of nylon, his reply was to use the nylon, as epoxy won't hold it together.
After my first shred, I soaked the cotton threads in glue and also put several wraps around the support and mount, mainly as a backup. I will be building another monocopter exactly to Art's description.
Finishing:
After the first few flights (and repairs), I gave it a quick spray with a spray can, which is not needed but it makes it look a bit neater.
Construction Rating: 5 out of 5
Flight:
It flies well on a 1/2A but a full A gives much better flights.
My first flight resulted in the mount ripping itself clean from the monocopter. Because I was in a rush to fly the monocopter and I did not read Art's instructions fully, I used too much rod.
Rest of the flights (after repairs) were all good. Altitudes of about 40-60ft were achieved.
One interesting flight had the monocopter hovering at head height--I reckon it was a motor failure.
The best thing about this rocket is the noise it makes, a nice thumping beat.
Recovery:
Depending on how high it gets, the monocopter usually rotates back down, and close to the pad. I did have one go off at an angle and hit a wall, but it was undamaged.
Flight Rating: 5 out of 5
Summary:
This is a great design, and I've now been bitten by the monocopter bug. My own design (18mm motor) is slowly being built. This is a great introduction to monocopters. Looking at Art's website, it looks like there are some bigger brothers getting ready for a spin too.
Overall Rating: 5 out of 5
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