Gollum and his Precious
OR.. the fourth and last Ringbearer

Summary
I love the "The Lord of the Rings", both the movie and the books. The idea for this rocket started when the alien from the Venus Probe was noticed to look like Gollum. He was sitting in a broken parts box because our Estes Venus Probe had crashed and destroyed the lander. Gollum became the nose cone for a rocket which needed a ring fin to look like the ring of power. If you are confused by the subtitle, please read the books more carefully. There was another (very brief) ringbearer between Isildur and Smeagol (Gollum's real name); and you need to read Book 3 to find out how the ring was destroyed to see that Gollum was also the last ringbearer. It flies on an 18mm motor, and the booster and nose cone recover on separate parachutes. It is 16" long with a BT-60 body tube, has a span of 4", and weighs 4 oz. without engine.

Materials

• *One (1) Alien from the Estes Venus Probe kit
• *14" of BT-60
• *one 18mm engine mount for BT-60
• *4 fins constructed of 3/32" hard balsa or basswood (see pattern)
• *ring fin constructed of 1" length of 4" diameter plastic tube
• *one BT-60 coupler tube
• *2" of 3/16" launch lug
• *1/8 inch braided Kevlar® (12 inch length)
• *Carpenters wood glue
• *Epoxy
• *Krylon gray sandable primer, gloss black, & clear sealer
• *Testor's enamel paint: gloss grey, gloss black, gloss gold, gloss red, chromate yellow, and railroad grime
• *red gel pen
• *Ruler
• *masking tape
• *Razor blade
• *Scissors

Construction:
Nose Assembly:

1. Obtain the alien from an Estes Venus Probe kit. In my case, it came from one which crashed in a parking lot and destroyed the lander body leaving the alien intact.
2. Cut a 1/2" portion off the end of the BT-60 body tube.
3. Sand all the red layer of cardboard off the coupler tube.
4. Glue the short section of body tube to one end of the coupler tube.
5. Wrap masking tape around the alien lower section until it fits snug inside the coupler tube.
6. Glue the alien section to the tube coupler section using epoxy.
7. Using an exacto knife, cut a channel into the coupler to allow the shockcord that extends out of the back of the aliens neck to fit inside the body tube and attach to a parachute during flight.
8. Paint the alien gray. Paint his eyes chromate yellow. Draw bloodveins in his eyes using a red gel pen. Paint the shoulder of the nose cone grimy black. Paint grimy black splotches on Gollums body to simulate swamp slime. Paint the mouth, two nostrils, and eyeballs black.
9. Sand the nose cone shoulder (that fits inside the tube) until it slides easily.
10. Mask and spray Krylon clear over the painted portions to protect the finish.

Ring Fin Fabrication:
1. Sand the 1 inch length of 4" diameter plastic tube to the desired smoothness.
2. Trace out using a #2 pencil, the elvish script from source documents that translates to the "One ring to rule them all..." script. Use either the books or the movie guide to obtain the script. Erase and retrace until you are satisfied with the proper elvish penmanship.
3. Have your father or other appropriate adult carve out the letters in the ring using a Dremel tool and engraving bit following the pencil tracings.
4. Sand until smooth and clean out the letters with exacto and sandpaper.
5. The ring will be painted after it is glued to the booster assembly.

Booster Assembly:
1. Assemble a standard 18mm motor mount with BT-60 centering rings.
2. Glue the motor mount into one end of the body tube with a little bit sticking out the back end.
3. Cut four fin slots x" long in one end of the body tube starting 1/2" from the end. Mark and cut these slots 90 degrees apart from each other around the body. Draw the lines on the body tube using a dooor frame to make sure the lines are straight. Draw a straight line half way between two fins for the launch lug.
4. With a pencil, trace out the fin pattern onto your fin stock.
5. Using an exacto knife or razor blade, cut out the fins. Test fit them in the booster with the ring fin. Sand them to a good fit, good smoothness and the same shape. Keep checking fit as you sand to make sure you do not make the fit too loose.
6. Using epoxy, glue the braided Kevlar® shock cord into the other end of the body tube. Use the method recommended by Doug Pratt of Pratt Hobbies. Make sure it is far enough down inside the tube so it won't interfere with the nose cone.
7. Glue the launch lug onto the body tube about 2" in front of the fin slots.
8. Glue each fin into the slots mounting them to the motor mount tube. Keep them straight out from the body while the glue dries. Keep a used engine in the motor mount while the glue dries to make sure the glue does not shrink the motor tube.
9. Glue the ring fin to the ends of the four fins.
10. Put epoxy fillets on all the fin joints to the plastic ring fin. Put regular carpenter's glue fillets on the body-fin joints and launch lug joints.
11. Sand everything to make sure it is smooth prior to painting.

Finishing
1. to be added later....

Flight Report
Gollum had his first flight at the MASA club summer picnic.
See the club flight report here.

Flight 1: C5-3. good straight flight to about 250 feet, both chutes deployed and brought the booster and Gollum down to a safe landing with no damage.