Destroyer HVY-PD
Here's a design that stretches the aerodynamics of odd-roc building...
at least in my mind. It's loosely based on artwork by Pablo Dominguez,
titled "Desert Run".
I've moved the motor downward to align with the CG, and for stability it has horizontal fins, as well as tube fins.
The actual as built rocket will have a nose made from a sculpted pair of glued up 2 x 6's, while the body will be a mix of C-204 tubing and BT-52HMF tubing. The main fins are 1 piece, and fabricated from 1/4" plywood, while the upper fin is made from 1/8" basswood.
Parachute is 30" Nylon and deploys from the rear of the rocket.
I'll knock out some preliminary CAD study drawings. Looks like a fun build.
I've moved the motor downward to align with the CG, and for stability it has horizontal fins, as well as tube fins.
The actual as built rocket will have a nose made from a sculpted pair of glued up 2 x 6's, while the body will be a mix of C-204 tubing and BT-52HMF tubing. The main fins are 1 piece, and fabricated from 1/4" plywood, while the upper fin is made from 1/8" basswood.
Parachute is 30" Nylon and deploys from the rear of the rocket.
I'll knock out some preliminary CAD study drawings. Looks like a fun build.
2025-08-03
Here's the preliminary CAD Drawing... needs some refinement.... and lots of greebles and panelizing.
2025-08-05
Did a bit more work on the cad model and created a drawing of the nose
cone. I figure that'll be the 1st thing to build, then go from there.
I cut some 2 x 6's into 3-1/2" x 5-1/2" blocks for the Nose Cone and glued them together. They'll serve as the basis to start building it from.
Check out how tight the wood grain is, I picked some scrap boards left over from our pole barn build. They're really good.
2025-08-06 Nose Cone Day 02
Took the Glued Up Block and cut it to size on my table saw. Then turned the (2) Shoulders on my wood lathe from a pine 4x4.
Used Gorilla Wood Glue to glue the Shoulders to the Nose Cone.
Updated the Open Rocket Simulation.
2025-08-08 Nose Cone Day 03
Drilled the holes using a 1" dia. Forstner bit, then used my Table Saw and Chop Saw to finish up the cuts.
I'm thinking of leaving it as is and not sanding the radi... kind of looks sinister.

2025-08-09 Drawing Set, Rev 02
2025-08-11 Lags Screw Install
This was kind of cool. I cut a 1" dia.
dowel at 2-1/2" long and then bored a hole on my wood lathe in the
center of the dowel. The Lag Screw has a 3" long shank, that means
it'll penetrate into the nose cone 1/2".
Placed
glue into the lower 1" hole in the nose cone, injected it into the hole
in the center of the dowle and then applied glue to the o.d. of the
dowel and slid it into place. I then screwed the Lag into the Dowel.
I
let that sit for half an hour and then screwed the Lag Screw the last
1/2" into the Nose Cone. You can see where the Lag actually is pushing
the wood glue out between the grains of the wood.
2025-08-12 Gluing C-204's to Nose Cone
2025-08-19 Slicing the C-204's & 1st Gluing of Wing
2025-08-20 Gluing C-204 to Wing and Motor Mount - Cutting Side Plate
2025-08-21 Installing Side Plates
Started gluing the side plates to the C-204's, just external glue at this time, just the longitudinal seams, not the front.
The
wetting and subsequent clamping of the side plates helped the warping,
but they are still warped inward a bit. That's not such a bad thing,
should help them to contain the ejection charge... but I'll try to add
an internal cross brace to straighten them back out.
2025-08-22 Front Cross Plate, Side Plates
2025-08-28 Upper Wing Segments and Leading Edge
2025-08-29
I took a stab at re-designing the rocket to use single oval C-80 tube
fins on each fin in Open Rocket. That would make the rocket look much
more like the Pablo Dominguez artwork. Stability goes from 16.2% down
to 13.2%. Still on the fence... might have to just build a fixture and
try it.. see if it passes a swing test.
Performing internal Wing glue fillets and installed the rear gusset Filler Panels.
Performing internal Wing glue fillets and installed the rear gusset Filler Panels.
C-80 Oval Tube Fins and Wing Gusset Filler Plates
2025-08-31
The rectangular Tube Fin came out great..... But if it's mounted
forward on the wing itself, where it looks good, the stability of the
rocket drops dramatically.
2025-09-01 Tube Fin Nacelles & Rectangular Tube Fin Mystery Solved
Cut the Tube Fin Nacelles and glued them to the wings.
I
discovered that the the Rectangular Tube Fins I had previously made
were different sizes? (1) was a C-80 and (1) was a C-300. So I set
about making another Rectangular Fin out of each size. I'll likely use
the C-300's... their size just seems to be better for this rocket.
2025-09-02 White Washing The Tube Fin Bores
I decided to go ahead and white wash the
bores of the Fin Tubes with Wood Glue. Should give some rigidity to the
tubes.... we'll see how this turns out.
Wow... the wood glue white washing of the tube i.d.'s did the trick!
Here's the tube fins installed. Time for glue fillets.
2025-09-03 Sealing the Rear Motor Bay and Building The Rear Parachute Door
2025-09-04 Installing Ejection Bay Door and Parachute Ramp
I used a Dremel to route a rounded area
on both sides of the Body / Gussets for the 5/16" Dia. Poplar Dowel.
Wood Glue was used to retain it.
To
help prevent the Parachute from getting hung up on the hinge I then
installed a small Parachute Ramp inside the Ejection Bay.
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