N.E.F.A.R. Bunnell, FL Launch, July 13, 2013

What was left of tropical storm Chantal threatened today's N.E.F.A.R. launch.
Six of us headed up in Roger Smith's van. July days are usually hotter and the winds were low. The rains started after we left for the drive home.

First up was the rebuilt Quest RAPTOR with an Estes C6-5.
There was a little wiggle during the coast phase.
Estimated altitude was around 500'.

On landing, one of the landing pod fins had torn away from the body tube at the root edge.

Here's Mike Oleski with his "Coke To Go!"
He had a very stable launch with an Estes C6-3 engine.

Mike painted the interior with Krylon black.
The model was slowly rotated on a rod turner as the interior paint coat dried. It looked like a full bottle of Coke.

Mark Birbaum has really mastered black powder clustering.
This is the Jupiter with two E9-6 engines.
The engines were parallel but had 4" between the nozzles.










I finally flew my Quest ESCORT with something larger than an A engine.
A Quest B6-4 got it to above 400'.
Still some drift under a small parachute with a spill hole.

In addition to his Micro models, Mike Orpi brought the "Wy Vern".

He found the plans on the FlisKits website.
Check out the interlocking tubes in the inset picture.
Mike is a real craftsman putting plenty of time into all his builds.

I hadn't flown my Centuri design FINLESS since it's last unstable launch with a C6-5, not a recommended engine.
Today it boosted fine with an Estes B6-2 to an estimated 250'. just a little coning after the boost. The shock cord broke and both sections were found without damage.
The cropped Quest VIPER had it's second flight with an Quest B6-4. A textbook flight to about 400'. Launch pics by Roger Smith.

Also flown:
Quest TOMAHAWK on a Estes C6-5 to and estimated 600'. Perfect flight, no damage on recovery.


Roger Smith took plenty of great pictures. They are at:
http://www.rocketreviews.com/july-2013-launch.html