Dang it, Luke! You Were Supposed to Use the Force!

[Tuckerfan]

Okay, so some uber-dorks thought that not only would it be cool to build a near full-size model of an X-Wing from Star Wars, but it'd be just the cat's whiskers to slap some rocket engines on it, and some remote control units as well.

Andy Woerner and his crazy rocketeer friends have built a 21-foot long X-Wing model that can actually fly. Yes, this is a real X-Wing powered by four solid-fuel rocket engines complete with radio-controlled moving wings. It blasts off in California next week, and we talked with Andy about the project, and how they expect it will do. All the details and a full construction gallery after the jump.

I gotta say, it really does look good in the photos (large gallery of them on the linked page).

So, how'd the maiden voyage go? Well, let's just say that apparently Luke wasn't the only guy on Tatooine who was good at blasting whomp rats. (Note, audio on video probably NSFW, since it has a rather loud expletive shouted.)

There's some controversy over what happened, however, with this being touted as the official story of the events. I'm not sure if I'm buying it.

While they're lifting up the model and attaching the wings, Mike Scarpati, one of their sponsors and owner of RMS Lasers, finds me. "I did pro-bono for all the laser routing and cutting: the internal structure, motor tubes, wings... Actually, my wife's a co-owner too, but she's not here, so I'm taking all the credit." He looks at me and whispers, "I also make drones for the government" in a creepy way.

There was also a 1/4 Y-Wing launched at the same event.

The X-Wing fighter at Plaster Blaster 6 this weekend got all the glory. But the model rocket with the biggest heart/size ratio goes to the underdog of a space bomber based on the Y-Wing fighter.

********SPOILERS BELOW****************





I'm disappointed that they were miserable failures, but I gotta say, it must have been pretty danged cool to watch them blow apart like that.

[KaiYeves]

They should team up with the sayer of your first quote and maybe then we'll get somewhere!

[Doodler]

Actually, this newly released footage reveals what really happened.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgF9hBL-CuA

Safe for work, for those concerned.

[NEOWatcher]

Actually, this newly released footage reveals what really happened.

Did you even look at the links in Tuckerfan's post?

[SeanF]

Actually, this newly released footage reveals what really happened.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgF9hBL-CuA

Safe for work, for those concerned.

I'm impressed, that's very well done.

[publiusr]

The USAF was jealous of Rutan's new craft and sent in the new T.I.E. design from Area 51 to do clean up.

Sadly it crashed too (no landing gear) but the commanding officer just shrugged his shoulders.

"He was an OSPREY pilot, he was going to die anyway."

[KaiYeves]

Clean up of what?

[Romanus]

Failure or not, that was amazing footage, and a job well-done. Getting all four motors to go off together is an acheivement in itself.

As one person in the link commented, the stress on the airframe was way too high for the flimsy material. In fact, it reminds me a lot of this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuCFOf3tAHQ

In any event, a detailed study of the stability and aerodynamics of an X-wing would be fascinating, IMO.

[Noclevername]

Clean up of what?

Mafia-style "clean up", where they "take out" the competition.

[cjl]

Failure or not, that was amazing footage, and a job well-done. Getting all four motors to go off together is an acheivement in itself.

As one person in the link commented, the stress on the airframe was way too high for the flimsy material. In fact, it reminds me a lot of this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuCFOf3tAHQ

In any event, a detailed study of the stability and aerodynamics of an X-wing would be fascinating, IMO.

Actually, the problem was more in the stability of the design than in the materials choice. The materials were more than strong enough for the axial loading, but when it began to turn sideways, the horizontal loads were too much.

[KaiYeves]

The USAF was jealous of Rutan's new craft and sent in the new T.I.E. design from Area 51 to do clean up.

Mafia-style "clean up", where they "take out" the competition.

Ironically, I'm working on a comic book story where Virgin Galactic is attacked by compeditiors and saved by Iron Man and BA as we speak.

[PhantomWolf]

Actually, the problem was more in the stability of the design than in the materials choice. The materials were more than strong enough for the axial loading, but when it began to turn sideways, the horizontal loads were too much.

I think the worst damage happened after one of the rockets separated from the airframe. It would certainly be interesting to see how it would have gone had they been about the stabilise the flight and prevent it from going off course. If you had the money to do it, aerodynamically it should be no worse than getting the shuttle to fly.

[cjl]

Part of the problem is that the shuttle has active stabilization in the form of gimballs on the engines. In the case of these rockets, it is purely passive aerodynamic stabilization. That same person has made a flying shuttle model, quite a feat IMO, as shuttles are a nightmare to get to work in passively stabilized models (I've tried). He's also done a 1/16 N1 with 3 working stages (which was amazing to see).