Haliburton Maurauder

A while back when I was building a number of fiberglass molds for nose cones and tail cones, I mused that it would be possible to build a small fleet of bulbous vehicles without a lot of trouble — but I never followed up to make any of those rockets until recently.

But before this goes any further, I'm going to answer the inevitable question:

Haliburton?

Here's my response:

1. Yes, I misspelled it intentionally
2. No, I don't think Halliburton is evil.
3. Yes, I've met current and former Halliburton employees, and they are first-rate individuals.
4. The name is a tribute to a recurring conversation I've had with several irrationally deranged Cheney-haters (you know who you are) who have no idea what Halliburton is or does or why they despise it, but they know that they should because it represents everything that is wrong with those fascist pigs running corporate AmeriKKKa so hating companies like this in particular and hating capitalism in general and swearing off fossil fuels and being vegan and wearing scratchy shirts made from hemp is just a start to creating a communal protest that shouts with one voice that we're tired of being oppressed and we're tired of the lies of Chimpy McBushitler and we're tired of having our rights violated by the unconstitutional and illegal and intrusive regulations of the BATFE and we're tired of using punctuation because it's just another enslaving tool of the MAN, man, because the more we show this kind of hate to the rethuglicans the more love we'll have for the true believers because we're the ones speaking truth to power, dude.
5. Everyone should own at least one rocket that has a politically ambiguous name.

My son Stefan and I spent part of his Spring Break building a nifty high-power rocket using the nose and tail cones from the 4-inch diameter SS1. While I was putting those molds away I found another set of unused molds that set my imagination off on a bulbous tangent.

The mold I'm using for this airframe is the one I created to make the pods on this ill-fated beauty, Darmok and Jilad at Tenagra. That shape is kind of a recurring theme on this particular design, so don't get confused with the main airframe. The Haliburton Marauder will be less than 20 inches tall.

I thought it might be kind of fun to build a mid to high power rocket with a 29mm motor mount. I'd been getting my share of truly high, high power flights in recent days, and a rocket or two that didn't require days of prep sounded very appealing.

This photo is of the very first pod to come out of one of these molds, not the one I used in this rocket. I forgot to take a photo this time — but it is good to recycle. The only difference between this one and that one I just made is that I didn't use the grey sandable topcoat this time around because I didn't have any.

There is a photo of the part after I chopped off the tip. The opening is just large enough for a 54mm tube. I have special plans for that little tip later on, so remember that it is there.

I decided to make this a rear-ejection design. I'm not a big fan of rear-deployment rockets, but if I'm going to keep making the cigar-shaped rockets I don't want to get in a rut.

That tip that I removed in the photo above has been trimmed again and has been installed on the end of the ejectable motor mount. That's a 29mm motor tube. I don't know how large a chute I will be able to stuff in there — it might end up as a desk ornament if there isn't enough space.

The fins are 3mm birch plywood.

The nose looks black is because it is filled solid with resin and 8 ounces of lead shot. It also anchors the shock cord mount.

Here it is standing upright with the motor mount installed.

I wasn't sure I would like the narrow ending to the rocket, but it really grew on me. It's a different look from any of the others I've made, which to me is a really good thing.

With the various size molds I've made, I have the option of making a variety of sizes of the sci-fi rockets I've already built, such as 4-inch, 5.5-inch, and/or 15-inch diameter versions of TRFKAB or DAJAT or the Blowfish Avenger. I have some good friends who really enjoy creating a menagarie of the same rocket in different sizes. I can see how it would be fun to fly them all at the same event. But once I prove a design, I guess I prefer to move on — so don't expect me to build another version of this same design, either bigger or smaller.

These two photos, taken while the primer was drying, show the holes in the fuselage for the the luanch rod. There is a launch lug epoxied to the outside of 54mm stuffer tube. I made the opening at the back of the fuselage before I installed the stuffer tuber with the launch lug attached. The semit-transparent airframe made it easy to mark the opening from the inside; I inserted a long ¼-inch drill bit through the launch lug and up to the point where the front opening should be. I used a Dremel to make the opening, then used the long ¼-inch drill bit from the inside. It came out looking nice.

Here it is with just primer. It already looks pretty nice. What I need for this model is a paint that looks different and alien. I think it will call for a special trip to Home Depot to prowl around the paint aisles until I find something suitable.

So I went to several hardware, building supply, and auto supply stores looking for something really different and found a Krylon spray paint that looked awesome — as depicted on the plastic cap. The paint was cryptically named 'Blonde Shimmer' and the cap looked as though it was made of Opal or pearl. It had the luminscent quality that I was looking for, almost like there was a light emanating from beneath the surface.

The paint itself was a real disappointment. The color was nothing like the plastic cap. Instead of being the color of an opal it is closer to a light gold, and there is no pearlesque quality to the paint at all.

So this is what it looks like at the moment. I will probably keep looking for a different paint or effect because this current look is not what I wanted at all, and I'm pretty irritated that the packaging was so misleading.

In retrospect, I guess I should have seen this coming. In my experience, the more shimmery the blonde the more likely your are to find that the reality is a lot less than the promise. But in my defense, this was a lesson learned in my now very distant youth. A lot of years have passed since any dalliance with those phoney blondes