Rocketry Planet

PLASTER CITY, California USA — This weekend saw the 8th annual Plaster Blaster hobby rocketry launch descend on the desert surrounding Plaster City, California, a small community located halfway between San Diego and Yuma, Arizona.

Photo gallery: Standing left to right are Punk Rocket Science team members Todd Mullin, Larry Frelke, Jim DeVeau, Rick Frelke, Joe Conway, Jim McKinley and Scott Lawson. The X-15 stands majestically awaiting launch.

MORE ON THE STORY:
• Plaster Blaster website
• Punk Rockets website

Plaster Blaster is a nationally recognized and popular event sanctioned by both the National Association of Rocketry (NAR) and Tripoli Rocketry Association (TRA). The event has become synonymous with large rockets that test the limits of high power rocketry construction techniques, and this year was no different.

Two years ago, spectators were treated to a huge 23 foot Star Wars X-Wing Fighter built by Tripoli San Diego and lead by Andy Woerner, the previous owner of Polecat Aerospace and What's Up Hobbies. The behemoth, sporting a wingspan of 19 feet and weighing over 500 pounds, crashed into the desert floor in a very spectacular manner when it self-destructed shortly off the pad.

This year saw another enthusiastic project following the space-plane-inspired theme, a 1/3 scale X-15 project built by a group of individuals who label themselves the Punk Rocket Science build team. Coming off the successful launch of last year's Interceptor M project, the team, made up of members Todd Mullin, Larry Frelke, Jim DeVeau, Joe Conway, Jim McKinley and Scott Lawson, was ready to try it again.

Built around an 18" concrete form tube, the X-15 would end up around 16.5 feet tall and around 200 pounds.  Utilizing light-weight foam insulation for construction of the nose and other scale features, and then covered with fiberglass, the rocket, or plane if you will, created a striking profile.  The use of foam allowed the team to keep scale features realistic, like the thick tail fin, without adding a lot of extra weight.

Propulsion was provided by the way of two Cesaroni M2505's to handle the up part, while the down part was picked up by large surplus parachutes.  Painted in the traditional black matte finish of the real bird, it's appearance was enhanced even more by the application of vinyl graphics provided by StickerShock23.

The X-15 flew yesterday at Plaster Blaster, and the results would leave the team with a check mark in the loss column.  Rising on the flame of the two CTI M motors, the rocket appeared to run out of steam at a point that didn't appear to be that high.  At apogee, the recovery devices were deployed, only to see the main chute tangle and never deploy.  The results were immediate, and while spectacular, they spelled the end of a great team project.