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Monday, November 16, 2020

L.A.S.E.R. Club Launch, November 15, 2020, Groveland, FL



The Groveland Club continues to grow!

We had some spectators today.








I wanted to get my bigger engines in the air before the winds picked up.

My Quest FUTURE LAUNCH VEHICLE was probably the best launch of the day with a C12-4 Q-Jet.
I really have no idea of the altitude, I would guess 700 feet. A five second delay would have been ideal.
Full 14" parachute deploy and a long walk to pick it up. The winds were rolling above ground level.








Aston Mike joined us today.
Here's the recovery of one of his large helicopter rockets.






I rarely launch the Estes SR-71 BLACKBIRD.
Today's flight used a C6-5 to about 600'.

I don't know why, but two shroud lines were broken at ejection. Still it fell slow enough with no damage at pick up.






Here's Lonnie launching his Super Alpha with a C6-5.
Sometimes Lonnie's models go up with engines from in the 1970s.








Club President Mike Meridith launched this Estes Honest John with a D12-5.







Check out David Hofmann's prep table.

His whole morning was Goblin launches! Nine in total, all got air time.






My camera takes seven pictures per second in "burst" mode. Sometimes you get lucky and a near perfect shot!

By now the winds were picking up a bit, but not too bad. I figured: "It's prepped with a D12, what the heck!

My Quest STILLETTO was built with a 24mm engine mount. The D12-5 got it to an estimated 750'. 
The 14" Quest chute was partially taped closed for a faster descent.  






Here's another of Astron Mike's pop-pod boost gliders.
Mike gets great glide durations through experience and light foamboard.







Jan Meridith launched her Estes Big Daddy.
Here version should be called a Glitzy Mama with the rhinestone detailing  and Pink paint! 





My also launched: 
Wasted engine of the day: Estes MINI HONEST JOHN with an Estes A3-4t. It was unstable! I've heard these can sky write, some recommend nose weight.
Estes GAUCHITO with an Estes A10-3t. Textbook launch and recovery, estimated altitude was 225'.
Downscale 3/4 size Centuri UFO SAUCER with a C6-0 engine. 150' up.    
Centuri/Semroc LASER X with an Estes B6-4 to a guessed 300' high. No damage, no lost toothpick details on the fins.
Seven launched, seven recovered with just one cracked fin on the Stiletto.

5 comments:

  1. Re: Mini Honest John, the current kit includes 6g clay as nose weight. I flew mine on an A10-3T in August, no issues (apart from having forgotten to put in wadding... that 'chute was shot).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Bob,
      I was surprised my Mini Honest John went unstable. I did add some clay nose weight after reading about unstable flights on the forums. This might be the reason so many have picked them up cheap from Walmart.com

      Delete
  2. Chris, that launch site looks amazing! So jealous! My flight tally so far this year is 2 MMX scratch builds from my garden :-(

    ReplyDelete
  3. Replies
    1. Thanks David -
      I don't know what I was thinking! I'll fix the post. At least I spelled your name right!

      Delete