Unibody staging kit?
 

Hello All,

I have an idea for a new Semroc "after-market rocket add-on kit" whose parts Semroc already makes, which would work with several of Semroc's existing rocket kits! It would be as follows:

This issue of "Enerjet News" (see: www.spacemodeling.org/jimz/enerjet/ejn01.pdf ) contains an interesting article/tech report called "TIR-10 Unibody Staging" (see pages 2 and 3 of the above-linked article). The article describes what superficially appears to be CHAD staging (CHeap And Dirty staging, where a booster motor is simply taped onto the rear end of the motor in a long & stable single-stage rocket), but unibody staging goes considerably beyond this. Unibody staging can also be used with clustering, since each unibody "motor stack" operates independently of the other (or others), so differences in booster motor propellant burn-through times do not prevent any of the clustered upper stage motors from igniting. Now, regarding the unibody booster add-on kit and which existing Semroc rocket kits it could be used with (please see below):

The unibody booster "module" consists of only three parts: A 3" length of ST-7 tubing (ST-73), a TR-7 Thrust Ring (glued into the rear end of the 3" ST-7 booster body tube), and an HTC-7CDH vented external "Pass-Port Staging" tube coupler (glued onto the front end of the ST-7 booster body tube). These are Centuri's part numbers; Semroc's part numbers for these components are ST-730 (booster body tube), TB-7 (Thrust Block [Thrust Ring]), and HTC-7B (vented "Pass-Port Staging" tube coupler). The Centuri rocket kits (most have been re-issued by Semroc, and some were re-issued by Estes) which the unibody booster "module" can be used with are:

Semroc "Retro-Repro" Orion
Semroc "Retro-Repro" Centurion
"Estes" Long Tom (can be made 3 stages, or a unibody booster can be substituted for the finned unit [finned booster])
"Estes" Payloader II (weight should be added to the payload section until the CG returns to the same point as with a single motor in place)
Semroc "Retro-Repro" Taurus (Also--please see below)

The RX-16 rocket from the Centuri "Power System Outfit" (whose parts Semroc makes) would also lend itself to two-stage conversion using the unibody booster "module."

I hope this information will be helpful.