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Rocket-Powered 21-Foot Long X-Wing Actually Flies

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the fly-me-to-the-moon dept.

An anonymous reader writes to tell us that some crazy California enthusiasts have built a 21-foot long model of an X-Wing. While this might be impressive in its own right, this model actually flies. Powered by four solid-fuel rocket engines the group has high hopes for their launch next week. Let's hope the built-in R2 unit makes it out ok.

33 of 310 comments (clear)

  1. I am going to take a guess by darkmayo · · Score: 5, Funny

    and that this x-wing will end up as a recreation of Porkins last flight.

    --
    "I am a kernel in the linux army"
    1. Re:I am going to take a guess by Daniel+Dvorkin · · Score: 5, Insightful

      This is what happens when people with too much money and creativity decide to do something completely useless. How about they strip off the rockets and find a way to make a house for homeless people?

      So why are you anonymously trolling on Slashdot instead of out there feeding the poor, curing cancer, or rescuing lost puppies?

      --
      The correlation between ignorance of statistics and using "correlation is not causation" as an argument is close to 1.
    2. Re:I am going to take a guess by disasm · · Score: 5, Insightful

      We are called to serve with humility, not arrogance. By coming on a public board and making a rant about not helping the homeless, you only hurt yourself. Be humble, and serve those that need your service. It isn't your position to attack others for not being as much of a humanitarian as you. If you brag about your own works they will burn as straw, but if you humbly serve wanting nothing in return they will be eternal.

    3. Re:I am going to take a guess by Chris+Burke · · Score: 5, Funny

      How about they strip off the rockets and find a way to make a house for homeless people?

      I say why strip off the rockets?

      --

      The enemies of Democracy are
    4. Re:I am going to take a guess by Cecil · · Score: 4, Funny

      Did a rocket model enthusiast shit on your face recently?

      One can only hope so.

      --
      Random and weird software I've written.
    5. Re:I am going to take a guess by ultranova · · Score: 4, Insightful

      How about the homeless build their own damn house? Why do people with jobs, and houses, have to support every one that does not.

      Because a society without such safety nets will accumulate large amounts of disenfranchised people who have nothing to lose but their chains, and the choices at that point are brutal oppression to keep them down or a bloody revolution. And once the homeless are under the iron heel, what's stopping those higher up in the social ladder than yourself from putting you under it too ?

      I, for one, prefer to live in a relatively peaceful and free society. And the only way to achieve those qualities simultaneously is to have social justice, at least enough that people have more to lose than gain by making trouble. Humans are predators, and a hungry predator is a dangerous predator, especially if it also hates your guts for the perceived injustice of being hungry and homeless while you have a job and house and refuse to share any of your resources.

      "Every man for himself" might seem good on paper, but it's good to remember that when Social Darwinism rules, "cutthroat competition" stops being a metaphor.

      --

      Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.

  2. Does it fly? by tulmad · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I keep seeing this story in various places. They all say "this model actually flies." The thing is, afaict, it's only ever "flown" in simulation. I don't mean to be mean, but you can't really say an aircraft flies until it actually gets up off the ground.

    --
    "In case of emergency, break glass. Scream. Bleed to death."
    1. Re:Does it fly? by ch-chuck · · Score: 5, Funny

      I used to hang out with model airplane enthusiasts and after watching flying snoopy doghouses, flying witches on brooms, flying lawn mowers, flying pizza pans, carpets, flags, picnic baskets, etc, people would just say, "You can make a brick fly if you put a big enough engine on it".

      --
      try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
    2. Re:Does it fly? by $RANDOMLUSER · · Score: 4, Funny

      "The Vogon ships hung in the air in exactly the same way that bricks don't"

      --
      No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
    3. Re:Does it fly? by cthulu_mt · · Score: 3, Funny

      Does it run Linux?
      Will it blend?

      --
      Virginia is for lovers. EVE is for griefers.
  3. "Actually Flies" ? by MDMurphy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The headline is the same from Gizmodo. It's really an X-wing model he PLANS to fly. Check back next week for the success or failure.

  4. Good thing for R2 by Billosaur · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Even with the aluminum rods, however, there's the possibility of structural damage. We asked Andy about how he expected the flight to go: "it's likely we will have a structural failure in the wings, but we are hoping it will hold."

    "R2, that stabilizer has broken free again... see if you can't lock it down...

    While I applaud the effort, I have a bad feeling about this. If one of the four solid rocket motors fails to ignite or ignites early/late, you're going to have a 22 foot (or more) long pile of scrap wood and aluminum.

    --
    GetOuttaMySpace - The Anti-Social Network
    1. Re:Good thing for R2 by ILongForDarkness · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I wonder if they will try to "rail" launch it? The rails will guide if for the first 10 ft or so, giving all engines time to kick in. One would presume with a project this size, there is a bunch of amateur rocketeers in the mix to pick apart the launch. Either it flies which would be pretty cool, or it blows up, or crashes into the ground. Either way a pretty cool You-Tube video (I'm hoping for the fire ball, more entertaining :)

  5. Re:Except that by Nyago · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I always assumed the wings were for mounting weapons.

    --
    Reality is fluffy!
  6. Re:Except that by Gregb05 · · Score: 4, Informative

    The wings were for mounting weapons and maneuverability. There's no atmosphere to push on, but the engines are mounted such that it could turn pretty easily.

    Plus it looks kinda neat.

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    --
  7. Re:With enough thrust.... by flaming+error · · Score: 4, Funny

    If I weld four rockets to it, I wonder if my '67 Impala could fly...

  8. Re:Except that by Billosaur · · Score: 3, Informative

    Except that we have seen them fly in an atmosphere (Yavin, Hoth, Dagobah, etc.). You could chalk that up to having sufficient thrust to overcoming the need for wings, but even if the wings weren't actually aerodynamic, they would still be affected by aerodynamic forces. Even a sheet of plywood can fly, just not far and not well.

    --
    GetOuttaMySpace - The Anti-Social Network
  9. Strap enough propellant on! by codepunk · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Hey if you strap enough propellant on a pig it will fly. Nice work but the word "flies" is a real stretch
    of the imagination.

    --


    Got Code?
    1. Re:Strap enough propellant on! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      It's just a little airborne, it's still good, it's still good!

  10. Re:Except that by meringuoid · · Score: 5, Funny
    they wouldn't need wings

    That's why they don't have wings. They have S-foils.

    And anyway, X-wings are quite capable of atmospheric flight. Just as long as you aren't damn fool enough to land one in a swamp; you'd never get it out.

    --
    Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
  11. Won't this attract unwanted imperial attention? by EvilSpudBoy · · Score: 5, Funny

    All we need is for the empire to think there is a rebel base here, and they will send the death star to blow up Earth. In which case that thing better fly and it better have one hell of a pilot.

  12. Re:With enough thrust.... by Carnildo · · Score: 3, Funny

    You'd probably wind up embedded halfway up a cliff in Arizona after you miss a turn. Do you have a bumper sticker saying "How's my driving? Call 1-800-EAT-SHIT"?

    --
    "They redundantly repeated themselves over and over again incessantly without end ad infinitum" -- ibid.
  13. Re:Except that by Billosaur · · Score: 5, Funny

    Always with you it cannot be done...

    --
    GetOuttaMySpace - The Anti-Social Network
  14. Update by Diginosis · · Score: 3, Funny

    "We are greatly saddened today when we learned that while testing the rocket powered X-Wing fighter, a rocket powered bionic arm developed by the US military came out of nowhere and punched a hole through the engine compartment. Jek Porkins Jr., the pilot of the craft was quoted as last saying, 'NO, I'm all ri-- Aah!' as the plane plummeted to an unknown location."

    -X-Wing fighter engineering staff

  15. this will end badly. by Lumpy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    From my extensive model rocketry background getting multiple rockets to fire all at once is incredibly hard. getting 4 of them to fire at once spread out that far apart will be a nightmare. clustered together one misfire or late fire will not affect the trajectory too much, that far apart it will affect the trajectory dramatically, one not firing on one side will spin it out of control as soon as it leaves the launch rod. one late firing will turn it really hard at the end of the burn.

    I hope they are completely ok with it pinwheeling out of control along the ground as the chances of that happening are higher than most suspect.

    --
    Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
  16. swamp landing by icebones · · Score: 3, Funny

    Fromm the ammount of wood they used, I wonder if this one might actually float if it landed in a swamp

    --
    Life is pain. Anyone who says differently is selling something.
  17. But does it have by MeditationSensation · · Score: 3, Funny

    laser weapons that make sound in the vacuum of space?

  18. Re:With enough thrust.... by An+ominous+Cow+art · · Score: 3, Funny

    Cut the chatter, Red 414242.

  19. Re:Except that by meringuoid · · Score: 5, Funny
    My impression from the movies was that they have some form of anti-gravity for taxiing, which could also make up for lack of lift during atmospheric flight.

    Ah. That explains a lot.

    'Hmm. Disconnected in the rough landing the main cable to the antigravity device was. No wonder it is, that get this ship out of the swamp he cannot. Reconnect it I will, before to lift it through Force powers I attempt. Impressed will young Skywalker be, and respectful!'

    --
    Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
  20. Re:Except that by WrongMonkey · · Score: 3, Insightful

    To sell more toys.

  21. Re:Except that by Chris+Burke · · Score: 3, Funny

    What makes you think Yoda was averse to a little swamp dive? That little sucker could live on any remote and abandoned planet in the galaxy, and he chose a swamp planet, because he loves swamps so much. Well, that and it's a great excuse for not cleaning up his hovel. Any place not waist-deep in muck is considered clean on Degobah.

    --

    The enemies of Democracy are
  22. Re:Except that by idontgno · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I'm pretty sure we've seen X-Wing fighters do atmospheric maneuvering.

    Sheesh, we've seen X-Wing fighters do atmospheric maneuvers in hard vacuum. And face it, that's just silly.

    That's why I prefer the other "X-Foil" spaceship in pop SF TV canon. At least Babylon 5 came up with apparently realistic physics for spacecraft movement and a feasible rational for the X-style "wings": maximizing rotational moment available from the thrust of the engines for maximum slew rate.

    Hmmm... I've got a fever, and the only prescription, is a flying scale model of a Starfury Thunderbolt. Yah. Definitely.

    --
    Welcome to the Panopticon. Used to be a prison, now it's your home.
  23. Who What Where by SaksRussel · · Score: 4, Informative

    The X-Wing fighter will be launched (weather permitting) on Sat. October 6 at Plaster City, CA near El Centro. The rocket will be powered by 4 "M" class solid rocket motors. Each year Tripoli San Diego and DART rocket clubs hold their annual 4-day event called Plaster Blaster. This year it is titled Plaster Wars in honor of the 30th anniversary of the original Star Wars movie. Andy Woerner of What's Up Hobbies usually builds a wild and outrageous project for the event. With this years theme, he decided to build the X-Wing fighter. Another group is bringing a 9-10' (estimated from the picture) Y-Wing fighter and other attendees are encouraged to bring other Star Wars inspired rockets. If you are in or near southern California and want to come see this, visit plasterblaster.com for information, directions and saftey notices. There is no cost to come and watch. If you would like to launch your own rockets (A-M class), there is a flyers fee to cover the cost of permits and porta-potties. Several vendors will also be on site for all of your rocket buying impulses. You must have a certification card to buy H class and above propellent kits. This is really a fun event for all ages and the price is right. Chances are good that local news teams will be on hand to cover the event. Tech: Getting all of the motors to light is one of Andy's specialties and I've never seen him fail in it. It could happen, but the chances are small. There is no guidance system on hobby rockets as it is against the law. The X-Wing will be launched a fair distance from the flight line for safety and announcements will be made well in advance of the launch so everybody will pay attention. I have never seen anybody injured at a rocket launch in over 5 years that I have been back in the hobby. It is very safe.