Brief:
What do you get when you combine an Aveeno lotion bottle and an Estes Interceptor rocket kit? Well, you get my entry for the "Design this Spaceship" contest. The name I am giving my design is "Interceptor L" with the "L" being for lotion.

Construction:
The materials include:

• Aveeno 18 fl. oz. lotion bottle
• Estes Interceptor rocket kit #1250
• 1/16" Balsa for fin set
• 1/8" Balsa for fin set
• ¼" Balsa for body feature
• Estes BT-50 Nosecone

Additional supplies:

• Two part epoxy
• Hobby knife
• White glue

I first took an Aveeno lotion bottle and cut off the top and opened it up large enough to accept the Interceptor body tube. I then cut a hole in the bottom of the lotion bottle so that it could fit the 18mm motor mount assembly that came with the Interceptor. I then inserted the body tube assembly into the lotion bottle and cut the body tube so that it was flush with the lotion bottle, approximately 7-1/8".

Next, I took the Interceptor nosecone and cut down the forward part to just in front of where the canopy meets the fuselage. I then found a small BT-50 nosecone and modified it so that it more closely resembled the featured design. I attached it to the Interceptor nosecone using 5-minute epoxy.

Now, on to the fins! This was the most challenging part of the project. I created the fins using 1/16" and 1/8" balsa. I have provided a template of my design which shows how many of each part and the corresponding thickness. Since the plastic bottle doesn't lend itself very well to sticking to glue I decided to have the fins go through the wall to the body tube. I made slots in the sides of the lotion bottle and the alignment of these slots was made easy due to the mold seams that were already in the lotion bottle. I used the ¼" thick balsa pattern for the rear body feature. This needed to be sanded down and formed to resemble the photo. I attached the fins as well as the body feature using 5-minute epoxy.

The assembly of the fins was pretty much straightforward but required a bunch of gluing to make sure that the fins were properly secured to the lotion bottle and to themselves.

Finishing:
The entire rocket was first primed using Rustoleum "Painter's Touch" gray primer (1980830). It was then sanded with 400 grit sandpaper and then painted in Rustoleum "Painter's Touch" Winter Gray (1982830). After the paint was completely dry, I applied various decals from the Estes Interceptor kit to give it a military fighter look.

Flight:
Recommended motors: Estes B6-2, B4-4, B6-2, B6-4, C6-3, C6-5

The first flight was on a C6-3. This was a great motor for this kit. The rocket did a little bit of twirl but then straightened out and flew great. The parachute deployed a little after apogee and the Interceptor 18" parachute proved to be a good size. The next motor will be either a B4-2 or B6-2. I did not capture the rocket taking off since the motor took longer than expected to come to life.

The second flight was on a B4-2. The rocket flew great but as expected didn't go very high. This rocket is made for the larger C motors.

The third flight was once again on a C6-3 and once again performed great.

Recovery:
Recovery is by an Estes 18" parachute and used the elastic strap and paper template that came with the Estes Interceptor kit.

Summary:
This was a fun rocket to build and fly. An experienced builder can complete this project over a couple of weekends.