Launch! Schoolyard, March 10, 2018

I should be driving to the NEFAR launch in Bunnell, FL -
The club launch was cancelled, there is some maintenance work being done on the field. So, swap out some engines to lower power and head over to the schoolyard.
It was cold, probably the last cold week in a warmer than normal Florida winter.
Clear skies, no wind and B6-4 engines!

First up is my go-to to test the controller and check for drift. The Estes CURVILINEAR with an A8-3 to 150'.
Straight and true with a full 12" chute.



My battered Quest STRIKER AGM was next with an Estes B6-4.
Textbook flight to 300' and a full parachute. A small drift brought it closer to the basketball courts. I should have angled the launcher to the east.

The balsa fins continually crack off the plastic boat tail at landing. If I were to build it again, the plastic boat tail would be replaced with a card stock one. Card stock flexes and the balsa fins would adhere better. After this 14th launch it's ready to be retired.

I had one spectator, I didn't get his name. He was walking a very well behaved bulldog.
I answered some rocket questions and gave him a card.







My last launch of the Dr. Zooch SATURN V was squirrelly. It had flown stable many times before. When I picked it up last time it was missing a fin and fairing. I rebuilt it for the launch today.

Today with a Estes B6-4 it wanted to be stable. At 50' up it wiggled and peaked at about 250'.  The Zooch trash bag chute set it down easy. I may retire this one.



Here's the first launch of the New Way FIRECAT 4. This is the same one being built on the blog now.

It got much higher than I thought it could with an Estes B6-4. I would guess close to 300'. A light wind was starting and the model drifted over the basketball court.
Landing was on the asphalt. No damage at the back with the up-swept fins, but the nose cone got some small gravel dents.

Only four launches today. I brought a FlisKit MMX rocket but found a broken fin when I got to the field.
Four up, four recovered. Two models to retire and a dinged nose cone.