Hello All,

Many of you remember the Estes foam Space Shuttle boost-glider (not always with affection, although mine always flew perfectly; monoceran luck, I guess :-) ). Guillow's makes a catapult-launched foam Space Shuttle glider that isn't much smaller (it has a 10" wing span, see: http://www.rudystoys.com/Products/S...r__03-2650.aspx ) than the Estes one. Instead of boring or melting a hole for the rear-ejection motor pod into this glider, the motor pod could be mounted to the underside of the glider, with a ventral fin on it to "balance" the glider's vertical stabilizer during ascent. (This would enable the booster pod to use "maple seed" recovery.) Also:

A dowel-and-balsa-strip hook on the glider could be used, which would engage a length of launch lug on the booster pod (or vice-versa). To avoid melting or marring the underside of the glider, the ejection charge orifice at the front end of the booster pod could either be angled slightly away from the glider's underside, or it could issue from an off-center hole in a forward closure disc (on the side of the disc that is farthest from the glider's underside).

I hope this information will be helpful.

__________________
Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see:
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