Tempest in a Teacup...
Valued Customers:
Based on requests from dealers and customers, I'm just going to take a few minutes to explain the nature of VF and to try to address any questions you may have. The reality is that most rocketry enthusiasts will never need to be concerned with this, either due to rocket design or geographic location, but this is good info anyway.
Vulcanized fiber is an incredibly strong form of paper, but it is hygroscopic, period. There is NOTHING you can do to make VF not. However, a properly constructed tube with the right adhesive will greatly minimize the effects of warping. Blue Tube 1.0 actually is still a superior product to anything in it's class, and it is obviously far less prone to warping compared to regular fish paper tubing of the copycat products out there, but the issue was exacerbated by a very long skinny rocket in a wet hot climate. That being said, vulcanized fiber in any of it's forms from ANYONE is probably not the best choice if you wish to make a 2x upscale Estes Mean Machine. However, for most all practical normal aspect ratio rockets, there's nothing I'd rather build a rocket out of. Build it well, paint it well and you'll have a mach capable rocket that can take the abuse and hard landings without the price tag! What else can you buy that can do this w/o glassing in this price range? NOTHING.
Ergo, my 6 inch 10 foot tall "Blackbird II" is Blue Tube 1.0 (see home page for links), it hangs from the ceiling in the garage at our home in Tampa, FL, suspended at both ends with no support in the middle. It's 90 degrees every day in there. The rocket is straight, flies straight and has stayed straight.
I'm proud to say that there's been no other spiral wound airframe that has gone past mach 2 without reinforcement, period. Thanx to Mike Fisher from Binder Design for that!
The diagram shown below shows the area of a rocket that if made of VF, would be the most likely area susceptible to humidity. Everywhere else is fine. I generally like to keep the area labeled "Potential Warp Area" to less then 24" for 4 inch and below and 30 inch for 5.5 and above. Alternative solutions would be to double wall the potential affected areas w/ an inexpensive phenolic coupler or just keep that area as short as possible. Personally, I think the issue has been completely overblown by the competition, but, nonetheless, I still want to be responsible and educate the consumer, even though none of the Blue Tube kits I offer have any issues.. Everyone should know by now how strong this stuff is for being "paper".. Try hitting a piece of phenolic or kraft with a golf club...
OK nuff said. Go buy some Blue Tube!! Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions!
Sincerely,
Randy