Centuri
Two-Bitz
Back in January of 1998, I had found JimZ's rocket plans site, had
downloaded
the plans for this little rocket, printed out the instructions and the
patterns, and started building it. This rocket predates Pi.
Two-Bitz was produced by Centuri from 1974 to
1979.
The Two-Bitz kit actually consisted of two little tiny rockets of the
same
design, on being pre-decorated, the other you were to decorate
yourself.
I built the pre-decorated one.
The design of Two-Bitz is quite unique. The
fins, the body tube, and the launch lug are printed out on a piece of
thick
paper and the individual components are cut out and glued
together.
I think that method of construction is quite innovative, and I haven't
seen it duplicated anywhere else.
Construction of Two-Bitz wasn't very hard, because
I seem to remember having it completed by the end of January. The
nose cone was just carved out of a little chunk of balsa, and Two-Bitz
was almost ready to fly.
Then, for some reason I put it in a drawer and
forgot
about it for quite some time. It was only in June of 2000 that I
finally remembered that it existed and took it out of its drawer to
make
it launchworthy.
Before forgetting about it entirely I had apparently
put a bulkhead inside the square body tube to accomadate the shorter
Estes
engines and had also cut off the original nose cone. I made a new
nose cone, glued it in place, and sprayed the whole rocket with clear
spray
paint.
The final thing I had to do before flying it was
swing-test it. I whirled it around my head with a 1/2A3-4T engine
inside, and it was stable.
On June 14, 2000, I went to the park and launched
Two-Bitz. Its flight was perfect, with it coming down well within
the confines of the launch field (which doesn't happen very often
anymore).
It was the first flight of a clone rocket of mine, and it wasn't the
last.
Two-Bitz flew again a week later, on an A3-4T engine. Now I want
my Mini-Bomarc and Orbital Transport to fly...
Download Two-Bitz
plans from JimZ Rocket Plans
