Valhalla

My Valhalla design is a three-motor cluster with a V-2 core motor and two V-1 side motors. This is not a parallel-staged design; the side motors stay attached to the core.

The core nose is a Vashon styrofoam cone. The side motor cones are custom turned balsa. The parachute compartment is made from a Vashon 4-inch aluminum tube and uses the same spring-loaded ejection I use in my Valkyrie-2b. The side motors also release parachutes. The white tube at the top of the model is a payload section made from Centuri-sized ST-9 tube (available from Semroc — it's a good replacement size for the Vashon payload tubes). The side motor parachute compartments are also ST-9 tubes.

Vashon recommend launching clustered models using electrical ignition, but I don't have enough of the special pyrofuze igniter wire Vashon used to do this. Also, I am wary of using electrical ignition with R-152a propellant. So, I'll be using a manual method with the three nozzle safety pins mounted on a carrier to pull them all simultaneously. With three motors thrusting, this bird should really move.

This model can also be used as a booster for an upper stage, but may need additional fins attached to the tips of the existing fins to be stable with a sustainer mounted on top. RockSim 8 can't properly calculate the stability of a model with side pods, so I'll have to figure out a way to swing test the model (which will be difficult because it's not practical to swing test a fueled model) before using it with an upper stage.

In Norse mythology, Valhalla is the hall to which Valkyries escort warriors who were slain gloriously in battle.

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