John Mack's Cluster Igniter Tip

At the Tampa TTRA launch, I asked John Mack what the small drawn dots meant on the Estes igniter paper tabs.
He explained those were tested and matched igniters.

When John pics igniters for use in clusters, they are tested using a small multimeter.
All three of these igniters had 0.8 ohms resistance.
Matched igniters are more likely to give simultaneous ignition on all three of these parallel clustered engines.
From left to right, a B6-4, C6-0, B6-4.
In the stretch Super Alpha engine mount is a C6-5.

I know - the epoxy glued CHAD booster engines don't follow the NAR safety Code guidelines.
But it sure looked cool going up!
That had to be one of the higher booster separations I've ever seen!

Tampa TTRA Launch, February 18, 2012

I almost didn't make the drive to the Tampa TTRA launch on Saturday.
Back in Orlando there was low cloud cover and a 50% chance of rain predicted for the afternoon. I had visions of my car stuck being stuck in the mud.
Arriving at the Plant City launch site, the cloud cover looked to be much higher.

The launch shots are a little fuzzy, overcast skies don't help much with automatic exposures.



One of the funnier and successful flights of the day was L.B.'s EVIL BERT knock-off with a D12-5.
When Bert turned over at Apogee it looked like his arms were flailing.
Beautiful work and a very stable flight!







The SCAVENGER had it's maiden flight on a D12-5.
This engine seems to be a perfect "low end" match with an estimated altitude of 650'.






Mike Nipper flew his big EASTER EGG with a Road Runner F45.
The plan was to load it with smaller prize filled eggs on streamers that would eject at apogee. The kids could hunt for eggs when the field was given the "all clear".

At 25 feet up it went unstable and landed with no damage.
Mike planned to add more nose weight and fly it again.




Lonnie had his ANGRY BIRD in the air with a C6-5.
This is a perfect subject for a GooneyBird, both topical and funny.
All the decor is printed paper, cut and glued in place. It's applied so well, you'd think they were water slide decals!





I rarely fly gliders, I've lost too many over the years.
Today the winds were low and the Sky CONDOR was prepped with an A8-3.
While an A6-4 is a recommended engine, that delay is too long.
I pulled a Raise Spring from my range box to hold the pod at the right height.

The Chinese tung wood model had a 31 second duration. It was a fast glide with a tighter circle than I would have liked. I'll take off a little clay from the right wing tip and it'll have a final trim.

My also flowns:
Dr. Zooch TITAN IIIC with a C6-5. Big altitude under flame fins.
Odd'l Rockets BREAKAWAY with a C6-5. Open Rocket gave it an estimated altitude of 972 feet. At ejection, the 135 lb. Kevlar broke between the two lowest sections! This was a prototype with many, many flights on it. As we've seen before, Kevlar isn't flame proof and can break after exposure to numerous ejection charges. No damage on recovery.
Custom NOMAD with an Estes C6-5. Very stable and surprisingly good height considering the blunt, draggy nose cone.
Downscale carded MMX CLOUD HOPPER. For the first time, this one went unstable! No damage after nose-blow recovery. I'll be checking the nose weight to see what went wrong, it's always flown straight before.

Mini Honest John Finished

The model is still due for a coat of dullcoat.

If you haven't tried the blackboard Contact Paper yet, it is a great trim material.
The six foot roll was about $6.00 at Michael's crafts.

I'll tie in the 12" parachute and add .25 oz. of clay weight inside the nose cone.
About one half of the flights I've read about have gone unstable.

Mini Honest John Build Part 20 Body Roll Pattern

For a reference, two copies of the HoJo body decal were printed on 20 lb. paper, not decal stock.
One was used to keep track of the roll pattern. The top third of the second sheet was cut off and wrapped around the body for a spacing guide.



This took more time than I thought it would.
The cut upper third of the print was taped around the body tube. The lower bands were applied first.

Going back and forth from the Alway drawings, most all of the vertical stripes on the lower half were placed. The wrap guide was taken on and off as needed to apply the longer pieces.
After the lower pieces were in place, the upper pieces were set down by sighting up the body tube from the rear.
The black Contact paper allows for initial placement, lifting and replacement until everything is lined up.

Mini Honest John Build Part 19 Body Roll Pattern

John Boren from Estes R&D posted the original proposed decal pattern for the Mini Honest John on YORF a while back.
You can see the PDF HERE
All the bars are right at .25" wide.
A copy was printed and used for placement of the stripe pattern.



I used my favorite black trim material, Contact Paper for blackboards.
It's been used in the past with great results and is much easier than masking.
Thinner than electrical tape trim and cheaper than trim Monokote.
You can reposition it easily and it locks down after it's been sitting on the surface for a few days.
First up, I cut a few long strips .25" wide.

Mini Honest John Build Part 18 Nose Cone Masking

As this mask was closer to the tip, the masking strip of tape wasn't very wide.
Even though the mask strip was cut in a smaller tighter curve, I had to cut it to about 1/8" wide to conform to the nose cone.

I used grey primer for the light grey.
The picture shows the tape being pulled down and away from the masked line.




The finished nose cone, except for a shot of dullcoat.
Whew!

Mini Honest John Build Part 17 Nose Cone Masking

The mask for the black band around the nose cone was a little more complicated, it has a masked on both curved sides.

The Scotch tape was cut on the window as before and marked with a wide permanent marker.
Those strips were cut to around 3/16" wide and place on either side of the recessed bands molded into the nose cone. Masking tape and grocery bag pieces finished up the mask.


This is after the masks were removed.
The lines came out well because I set the masking edge just to the sides of the molded lines. If the tape were right on the recessed lines, the paint could bleed and look ragged.

The Testor's Spray Enamel is great paint - expensive for a 3 oz. can, but a great spray paint.
The Testor's Olive Drab came out very smooth.