Launch - Schoolyard, December 3, 2013

For the past week there have been early winds from a cold front. Every morning I'd get up at 7:00 a.m. just to go back to sleep again.
This morning it was clear and calm.

This is a wasted launch shot - 
My downscale HORNET was too fast off the pad!
With a 1/2A6-4t engine it got to an estimated 325'.
The streamer broke loose during descent and came down on it's own.



My ORANGE (stretched Quest Cobalt) left the rod and flew 45 degrees to the east! The engine, a Quest A6-4 - the wasted engine of the day.

Who knows what went wrong. It was nose down and only 50 feet up when the party balloon parachute ejected. With that angle, altitude was only 150'.
No damage on recovery.

Here's a new one - the Estes GBU-24 PAVEWAY III.
The build will be on the blog later.

With a Estes B6-4 engine it maxed out at an estimated 300' altitude.
During the delay stage coast there was some tail wiggle. A little hard to understand with the large fin area.
At ejection it looked like something flew off the model. I thought I'd lost a nose cone or the engine but everything was good when I picked it up.
No damage.

Here's a close up of the Paveway fins.

I usually put a wrap of masking tape over the exposed engine and engine hook as extra insurance so the engine won't eject.
Some engine hooks aren't really spring steel or can bend when inserting the engine. The tape is just a "fail-safe".

Finally, an indestructable Quest VIPER.
There is something to be said for plastic nose cones and fin cans. You never have to worry about them, they keep coming back for more.

Another Quest A6-4 gave a vertical boost to 300'.
The parachute did eject but the wadding stayed inside the body tube.
TIP: After a flight, check to be sure the wadding has ejected. Get any stuck wadding out of the body tube, you don't want it smoldering in there. I carry a long dowel in my launch box to push out any remaining wadding.

TIP: Pull and remove engines right after the flight.
Try it, the engines (especially friction-fit engines) will come out easily while they are still warm. This engine was HOT!

This engine had a tape wrap around the engine and engine hook.
You can see the ejection blow-back from the top. I think the tape stopped the ejection from going out the back.
These Chinese engines are loose (slightly smaller diameter than the Estes 18mm engines) in the engine mount tube.

Also flown:
The FlisKits HONEST JOHN with a MicroMaxx engine.
BIG altitude (well, it looks like big altitude, the model is so small) and streamer ejection.
125 feet? 18 flights so far on this one.