V-2 (ish) Paper Towel Model Rockets

thingiverse

I wanted to create motor cans for 13 and 18mm model rocket motors and decided to actually make rockets in the process using some paper towel tubes I had laying around. The parts for the 13mm rockets are "squished" to conserve weight, as plastic tends to be heavier than the same parts made in balsa or other traditional model rocket materials. Note these are just V-2-ish in style and are NOT intended to be an actual scale model of the actual V-2. If you make these, please take note of the following... 1) Know how to swing test a rocket for stability. All these examples needed weight added to the nose. I did this by drilling a hole in the nose cone base and putting BB's inside, but clay would work too. 2) Not all paper towel tubes are created equal. I cannot guarantee these will work with all brands. I used Viva "Choose a sheet" paper towels from Super 1. 3) Print the nosecones at 1.2 wall and top/bottom thickness and ZERO infill. Print the fins with support at 20% or so. Print the retainers however you want, but at a 45 degree angle or on edge is probably a bad idea. I printed them flat with a raft, but without a raft would be fine too. 4) Paint them better than I painted mine. I was in a hurry and it's cold outside and really, I wasn't too worried how these rockets turned out. 5) There is a loop on the top of the fin unit to tie a shock cord too. I used Kevlar line as it's burn resistant going up to a loop just shy of the top of the body tube, where I then tied elastic. The "Lady Bug" just uses kevlar line, though. 6) You'll have to provide your own recovery method. I used a mix starting with "just the nose popping off and tumbling" for the Lady Bug, a streamer for the black and white one, and a 12" chute (with a generous spill hole) for the yellow and black. 7) 18mm nose cone is very tall. It was too tall for my main printer so I reduced the Z height to 80 percent in Cura. Looks fine that way to me. Launched the 18mm one today. Lost it in the weeds, unfortunately, but the launch itself was good. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJC434Aifys