Brief:
1:1 scale model of the original Atari 2600 joystick. Designed for looks and laughs--and of course, flying!

Construction and Finishing:
Work started with a 6" length of BT-20 body tube, some scraps of balsa cut into 4" strips to form the handle and a box made from mounting board (the stuff that framers use around photographs).

Six strips of balsa are glued to the top of the body tube to give the classic hexagonal shape. Working out the width of the strips took a few minutes and in the end I just eye-balled it.

I built up the box at the base using scraps of mounting board sourced as off-cuts from a local framing company. I used a craft hole cutter to cut the disks to give the appearance of the rubber molding around the base of the handle.

An engine block was mounted in the body tube, a hole drilled top and bottom of the box for the launch rod and then pained with gray undercoat followed by black.

The red fire button and yellow dashes were hand-painted.

Flight and Recovery:
I've flown this 4 times on C6 motors. The first flight was picture perfect with tumble recovery starting just after motor burnout. It landed without any damage due to the very light weight and poor aerodynamics.

The second flight was very unstable, looping through the air, but again landed without damage.

Third and fourth flights were again picture perfect, just like the first flight. I suspect that the second flight may have been unstable as when reviewing the video and comparing with the first flight, the rocket was further up the launch rod. For the third and fourth flights, I positioned the rocket much further down the rod.

On the two launch occasions (two flights on two different weekends) there was a little wind but nothing too strong, and it had no effect on the launch.

Summary:
PROs: It's an OddRoc! Everyone loved seeing something different and all were impressed with the fact that it actually flew. I really enjoy being able to launch something that stands out. I was able to build it for virtually nothing as all parts except for the engine block and paint were scrap. Oh, and the best comment of the day from another flyer was "Oh, is that your new launch controller??" His jaw dropped when I said no and proceeded to send it skyward!

CONs: None. I achieved what I set out to do with this project. I turned an iconic gaming device into a stable flying rocket!