Saturday morning the ROCK website said launch was a "GO". Club president Brian said to bring your boots. I put on some old tennis shoes.
My usual first flight is the near indestructible Estes CURVILINEAR with an A8-3.
Textbook flight and recovery. Altitude was probably 175'.
Lou Mertus joined us today with an old Estes V-2 Maxi-Brute.
Loaded with an E30-4 it had a great boost.
The ejection broke the shock cord. The body came down close but the nose cone and parachute was lost high in the trees!
Here's two of my B6-4 launches.
On the left is the Quest STRIKER AGM with the Enertek decor. Altitude was 325'. One cracked fin root edge at touchdown.
The Estes VANGUARD EAGLE is finished, the build continues on the blog tomorrow. It ended up heavy at 3.3 oz. The B6-4 delay was alright, a 3 second delay would be perfect. Estimated altitude - 280'.
Brian Coyle is usually busy handling RSO duties and rarely launches a rocket. I gave him a new, finished Spaced Needle. This new version breaks at the center for easier transportation.
Boost was actually pretty high for a A8-3. A strong ejection broke the shock cord. The long, lower end fell horizontally with no damage.
This'll give you an idea of the wet launch field.
My Semroc MMX BLUE BIRD ZERO landed too close to a large puddle.
The Micro Maxx engine probably got 65' in the air.
On the left is my Estes SUPER ALPHA launched today with a B6-4 to 325'.
To the right is Gary Dahlke's original Centuri Nike Smoke. The Nike Smoke flew with a B6-2 engine.
The Nike Smoke drifted back to the flight line allowing Gary to catch it!
(I know we're not supposed to catch models, but us "old-schoolers" still do when the opportunity presents itself.
Kirby is always on call to retrieve rockets from the trees that surround the field. He's holding whats left of his "Spinner" rocket.
The body is the plastic tail unit from a Fourth of July firework. The fins are canted, normally spinning fast on the way up. Kirby has launched it many times before.
Today the Quest D16 Q-Jet was too much for the brittle plastic. Centrifugal force sent the canted fins everywhere. The engine casing continued up, spinning fast.
Kirby found all the pieces and will attempt a rebuild.
By the way - Kirby's beard doesn't grow to the side, that's just the wind.
What should have been a windy washout turned into a pretty good launch day. I launched six, the only damage was one cracked fin root edge.
I was wavering on launching today - your post tipped the scale. 8 up 8 down, couple of long walks and a slightly crumpled body tube on the Super Alpha after the chute melted from the ejection charge - coulda hit the soft snow or melted pasture mud, nope right onto the ice pack in a low spot! Most interesting flight was the Phase 2/MPC/Sky Duck Dodgers Star Traveler - weathercocked big time, then looooong delay, late chute, and just missed the pond.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the inspiration Chris!
Chris:
ReplyDeleteLeave it to Kirby to do a launch that will be remembered for many years to come. His Spinner was the most unique launch I have seen in 44 years of flying rockets.