Firestorm 54

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sixx

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Anybody here built and flown a Firestorm 54 Minimum Diameter kit from Giant Leap? I was considering this setup with the Pro54 4 grain K445. Any thoughts?
 
didnt build one but saw a similiar rocket fly. It was CF and flew on a Pro54 J. I think it was a long burn motor. The thing took off super fast and went extremely high. Fun to whatch but I didnt want to be involved in recovery;)
 
They launched it right after that intense thunderstorm rolled through... I was half expecting it to be struck by lightning... but it didn't. Maybe that is a plus side to their wireless launch system... THE only plus side :(. Sorry... I did not like their launch system...
 
The recovery aspect is the only part that is bugging me. 9K-10K feet and deploy the chute at that height. HMMMMM. Don't know about that. At this point I don't want the expense of electronics and dual deployment, etc. Mabey I'll just wait and figure something else out. But Mach 1.1 or better sure is cool!
 
Funny you should ask about the Firestorm 54mm. This is a great rocket.Becuase of there minimum diameters, these rockets are very fast but you can really get some very high altitudes with those long burn motors. In fact a J90 with that nice long 7 sec. burn can pump this bad boy up to almost 7300 feet! Of course an altimeter becomes a must when your launching that high and it has a roomy payload section to accomadate it. I have both the Firestorm and the Thunderbolt of which each rocket took me about 2 hours to build and I have flown all kinds of motors in these. Giant Leap also provides components for upgrading the Firestorm.......... I think so much of the Firestorm that I built a scaled scratch version. I'll try to throw some pics up of the scratchbuilt real soon.................... :cool:

Giant Leap!!..................Good choice ;)
 
In the east I think one of those electronic tracking devices would be a must
 
I just flew the Firestorm 54 for the first time last month. I will have a review in EMRR later this month.

It is a nice rocket, pretty basic and could easily be bult from parts but the discount from GL for buying it as one kit makes it worthwhile.

I changed mine a bit, I extended mine added a electronics bay and went with the slimline and kevlar add ons.

I flew it on a Pro-38 I-285 and it went to 4000 feet. I had some damage on landing because the chute did not deploy correctly and it came down on a streamer only. The damage was only to the extend payload section so I just bought a new tube and it will ge ready to fly again next month.

I would not fly this rocket without either a tracking device and or a LOUD beeper, I painted mine floresent orange and landed it in a plowed field with a beeper and still spend a hour looking for it. I am going with the tracker and the beeper next time.

Scott
 
Here is the pic of my scaled scratchbuilt "Firestorm 54mm".This is the rocket that I have unfortunately crashed on 2 L1 attempts(delay problems) All I can say about that is Aerotech RDK-Plus delays are without a doubt, thee most undependable delays on the market. Sorry I have such a critical opinion of these delays but then again I'm not to excited about having to REBUILD this rocket for the 2nd time now.(i.e Ejection on 1st attempt was at 3 seconds,2nd attempt was at about 5 seconds.) Both times a long delay(RDK-15) was used and both times I launched an H123.
Besides that I was quite impressed on how straight and fast she was.Slightly oversized the fins for better stability. If I ever get certified( and it will happen with this rocket if I have to rebuild it 100 times :mad: ) I'm gonna stick a K1100 in it, give it to my bro-in-law cause he's a L2, no altimeter, and put it up to 12,000 feet. I hope it comes down as a jigsaw puzzle.:kill:

Will let ya know aaaaallll about it..........:D
 
Bump. Anyone else have a review of this kit. I am thinking of picking up their new dyna wrapped version.

Thanks
 
I sold one to a guy at a launch and he built it that night at the hotel at a launch. He flew it the next day on a J Redline motor. Very fast, very straight, very high boost. Tracking will be your friend with this one. Watch the waivers! hehe It's really easy to build, and get a good straight flying rocket.

Is there anything in particular you would like to know about it?
 
I sold one to a guy at a launch and he built it that night at the hotel at a launch. He flew it the next day on a J Redline motor. Very fast, very straight, very high boost. Tracking will be your friend with this one. Watch the waivers! hehe It's really easy to build, and get a good straight flying rocket.

Is there anything in particular you would like to know about it?

No not really. I was just looking for more guys that have flown it an their experience with it. I have read most reviews out there, just looking for something new :)
 
:D I have a Firestorm 54 in glass, as does my friend Jason. We have flown them many times at NCR events. I have used as small as I motors and as big as K,s. The rocket is fast and will get out of sight in a flash. If you want to keep yours, put it together with DD. I use a MW unit. I have used mine for commercial as well as Ex. and have put a Hybrid motor in it. The flights have one thing in common. They go HIGH, Very HIGH. My flights have ranged from 4,200ft. to 13,780ft. My buddy Jason added a section for a Marston tracker and at NCR Oktoberfest launch 2 weeks ago, on a Cesaroni Pro54 K660 went 19,000 ft. and change! I have never seen a rocket leave the pad like it did! It was just gone!!! That Pro54 Bad Boy was still burning HARD, as it went out of sight! He recovered it a couple of miles down range without a mark. He turned it around the next day and put it up on a new Aero popcan I. I don't use a Droge, just a long shockcord (20ft). Just make sure that you glue the recovery attachment far enough up the bottom so you can get a long motor case in. Kent, from Giant Leap was at the launch on Friday and had a tube with the Dyna-wine, very nice, really smooth... I would look into that. :cool:
 
:D I have a Firestorm 54 in glass, as does my friend Jason. We have flown them many times at NCR events. I have used as small as I motors and as big as K,s. The rocket is fast and will get out of sight in a flash. If you want to keep yours, put it together with DD. I use a MW unit. I have used mine for commercial as well as Ex. and have put a Hybrid motor in it. The flights have one thing in common. They go HIGH, Very HIGH. My flights have ranged from 4,200ft. to 13,780ft. My buddy Jason added a section for a Marston tracker and at NCR Oktoberfest launch 2 weeks ago, on a Cesaroni Pro54 K660 went 19,000 ft. and change! I have never seen a rocket leave the pad like it did! It was just gone!!! That Pro54 Bad Boy was still burning HARD, as it went out of sight! He recovered it a couple of miles down range without a mark. He turned it around the next day and put it up on a new Aero popcan I. I don't use a Droge, just a long shockcord (20ft). Just make sure that you glue the recovery attachment far enough up the bottom so you can get a long motor case in. Kent, from Giant Leap was at the launch on Friday and had a tube with the Dyna-wine, very nice, really smooth... I would look into that. :cool:

That is right what I was looking for. Thank you. Ed told me about that flight to 19k, very cool and Ken told me to wait about 1-2 weeks for the dyna version. They are also coming out with a few new birds as well as a cool new ejection canister for the top of a case with a accelerometer in it:surprised: I can't wait to get this bird in the air, lots of use us beelines already so tracking should not be an issue:D Again thanks for the info.
 
It's a good rocket Rexor. Dual Deploy and tracking will be a good setup with it. It's one of those "WOW! What was that?" rockets. hehe At least that's what I heard from the pits when I was watching that firestorm go up at Orangeburg. It's just like he said. It leaves hard. It goes very high.

That dyna-wrap version is nice. That's good stuff.

That was probably Kent with a "t" you talked to BTW. hehe :)
 
It's a good rocket Rexor. Dual Deploy and tracking will be a good setup with it. It's one of those "WOW! What was that?" rockets. hehe At least that's what I heard from the pits when I was watching that firestorm go up at Orangeburg. It's just like he said. It leaves hard. It goes very high.

That dyna-wrap version is nice. That's good stuff.

That was probably Kent with a "t" you talked to BTW. hehe :)

Yeah I have a Perfectflite mawd with a 45k backup and a beeline that will be in it. Cant wait till report back, gunna have to wait till April for that though.
 
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