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Two of my friends have discussed with me the possibility of making the DC into a twin cluster with 18 mm engines in the outboard pods, with either conventional or rear deployment, but neither has done so, owning, at least in part, I would imagine, to the additional nose weight required. I had purchased another DC kit during these discussions in hopes of building one after seeing these proposed clusters fly, but it sat for many months before I decided to attack the problem myself.
I had forgotten what a pain this bird is to build; the fins don't fit though the slots in the body tube, the side pods are a pain to get straight and equally spaced between the fins, its difficult to get paint in between them without runs, and the decals are tough to get right. To make things even worse, the fins in my kit were misstamped, and I had to add a leading tip to one and a trailing tip to another. At least the side pod ducts were easy to plug; a ¼" dowel does so quite nicely.
Paint is Krylon True Blue (#1910), and with a good pre-seal on the fins, I was able to get away with just two coats. I had intended to add a clear coat, too, but it beaded up on the decals so badly, I wiped it off. With the mini-motor adapter in the main tube, she masses just under my target weight of 2.5 ounces; remarkable, considering that this bash has a ton of extra parts, including nose weight!. Recovery is by a single 12" 'chute, which may be too small, but I don't trust a mini-motor to push out an 18"er.
If "DC" stands for "Dual 'Chute", then "DE" should stand for "Dual Engine", but it doesn't, as this bash uses three mini-motors. I've kept the name in honor of my friends' inspiration, and perhaps to goad them into completing their versions. My bash will fly on just about any full A mini-motor configuration I can cobble together, and with a bit of nose weight she'll even run some ½As and a few 18 mm engines since I didn't glue the mini-mount in the center tube. She's no great performer, and neither Aerolab or RockSim will properly model her, but it will fly, and the 'chute management should be much better.
Her first flight was on a single B6-4 to check stability. Even though it was windy, she didn't weathercock, which says she's right on the edge. As I thought it would be, the four second delay was a bit long, but ejection was perfect, and she landed without damage.
Her next flight was her first cluster outing, and as was on three A10-3 motors. One was dragged out of its mount as she lifted off, but it managed to light anyway. Even with only two engines, she flew pretty straight and to a good, if low, ejection and recovery. No damage, but I've got to tighten the outboard mounts up before I attempt a cluster flight again. Our club photographer got it on video, and though its hard to see what happened, you can hear the outboard engine freewheeling though the air quite distinctly.
Her next flight was also on A10-3s, and with them firmly taped into the mounts, I felt I might just get her to go right. Wrong. Only one motor lit, luckily an outboard, and after an initial 3 inch climb up the rod, settled back onto the pad, ejecting the engine into the dirt. I abandoned any further attempts that day, and began considering starting the outboard motors with thermalite lit from the main engine plume.
As that seemed a bit extreme, I decided to give her one more chance to do the right thing, and without removing the other two motors, replaced the outboard and flew her again. This time all three caught, and it was spectacular. She wobbled a bit under power, but settled down during coast, and ejection was a bit early. She recovered without incident, so I put her up on a different diameter mix.
Her second successful cluster outing was on a B4-4 main with two ½A3-2 outboards, one of the new 18/13 mm mixed clusters I'd recently added to her motor matrix. Ignition went well, and the flight was perfect, deployment occurring just past apogee. Her next loft was her first mixed 13 mm, and though one of the A10-3 outboards didn't eject, all three caught, deployment was perfectly timed and recovery was flawless. Her fourth full cluster boost was an A3-4 main with two A10-0 boosters in the outriggers. That also was perfect, and the boosters ejected low enough that they were trackable; I actually got one back. Using the A10 boosters opens up a whole new list of motors for her in the mixed 18/13 category.
Her next flight was on an A6-4 central motor and two ¼A3-3s. Ejection was late, the A6-4s long delay really requires at least ½A motors in the outriggers. Recovery was without damage, though, so I've added that motor to her matrix. Her next effort was on a set of A10-3 outboards and a central C6-5. The power source on the launch system wasn't hot enough for a cluster launch, and only the central and one outboard caught. The A10 went first, and when the C6 lit, she wobbled off the pad to a near horizontal, tail-sliding flight. Thanks goodness the ejection was early, the 'chute fully inflated about ten feet off the ground and she landed without damage. A similar three-cluster attempt by another rocketeer later in the day ended in a single motor flight, and I reused the igniter out of the unburnt A10 to light a different motor, so I'm certain it was the twin 6V lantern batteries that caused this failure. Motorcycle batteries or better next time.
Her next flight on a B4-4/½A3-2 combo was flawless, all three motors lighting at the same time, and the two outboards ejecting within a half a second of each other. Deployment was darn near at apogee, and recovery was perfect. The one after that was on the lightest load she can carry, the A10 and two ½A3s. The A10 ejected the 'chute early, but the two side pods ejected almost simultaneously. Recovery was perfect.
Her next flight was on one of the odder motor mixes in her matrix, the B4/¼A3. One of the quarter As lit late, and after a very brief hang on the rod, she flew fine to an ejection past apogee a bit. No damage, and recovery was flawless. She's starting to grow on me again; her wide range of motors and durable behavior means it'll be awhile before this old bird gets retired.
Her next flight was on the A8/½A3 load and was perfect, with ejection right at apogee. One of the ½A3s lit just a tad late, and their ejection was staggered a bit. That close to the ground its quite loud, too; I announced the flight, pressed the button and after deployment, one rocketeer added "with report" to my announcement.
The next time she went on a more medium-power load, a B4-4 and two A10-0s. Deployment was early, but she returned without damage. As I'd flown her on her lightest load, I thought I'd try the most powerful. Her C6/A3/A3 combo flew fairly well; one of the A3s lit a tad late and the outboard ejections were staggered. Deployment was a bit early, but not enough to cause any damage and she recovered fine. She got to a nice altitude on that motor set, I'll be rounding out her C6 loads directly if I can.
I flew the C6/½A/½A and Bx/A10/A10 loads twice to get a full brace on two separate occasions, and all four flights went great, the first load being a bit late and the second being just about perfect. I flew her on an B6-4/A3-4 (2) load to an early ejection, and though the charges all went off with in a second of one another, the motor spits caused no trouble.
| Statistic | Claimed | Bash |
|---|---|---|
| Length | 21.5" | 227/8" |
| Diameter | 0.98" | 1.433" (effective) |
| Weight | 3.4 oz. | 2.5 oz. |
| Recovery | 12" (2) | 12" |
| Engine(s) | AGL (ft.) | Speed (ft./sec.) | Accel (Gs) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13 mm | |||
| A10-3 ½A3-2 (2) | 220 | 115 | 26.6 |
| A10-3 (3) | 340 | 170 | 40.1 |
| A3-4 A10-3 (2) | 360 | 170 | 31.9 |
| A10-3 A3-4 (2) | 360 | 175 | 23.9 |
| A3-4 (3) | 380 | 185 | 17.6 |
| 18/13 mm | |||
| A6-4 ½A3-2 (2) | 210 | 130 | 22.3 |
| A6-4 A10-0 (2) | 335 | 160 | 34.5 |
| A8-3 ½A3-2 (2) | 215 | 120 | 29.5 |
| A8-3 A10-0 (2) | 335 | 165 | 31.4 |
| B4-4 ¼A3-3 (2) | 285 | 135 | 21.4 |
| B4-4 ½A3-2 (2) | 350 | 155 | 26.8 |
| B4-4 A10-0 (2) | 460 | 200 | 33.7 |
| B6-4 ¼A3-3 (2) | 285 | 145 | 20.0 |
| B6-4 ½A3-2 (2) | 350 | 165 | 23.2 |
| B6-4 A10-0 (2) | 455 | 215 | 35.2 |
| C6-5 A3-4 (2) | 720 | 240 | 20.6 |
| C6-5 A10-3 (2) | 710 | 235 | 34.7 |
| 18 mm | |||
| B6-4 | 240 | 130 | 13.2 |
| C6-3 | 525 | 205 | 14.7 |
