rockets that are night flight capible

[ScrapDaddy]

Does anyone know any LPR or MPR that are equiped to fly at night in stock condition? Thanks :)

[blackjack2564]

Here ya go. 4 of them. Enjoy

http://www.leadingedgerocketry.com/catalog/Night-Flight-Kits.html

[ScrapDaddy]

Oooooo I saw their website last night but I forgot about them is there anyone else?:D

[luke strawwalker]

Well, there's the Estes Astrobeam, which is actually a VERY cool looking kit for night launches...

Then of course there's the 'scratchie' night flyers, which are the faves at our (Challenger 498) night launches...

I've actually got several of the night flyers currently sitting on my shelf, as they started drifting towards the end of the evening and I spent an extra half hour or so on the golf cart with my daughter in the back pasture (which had just been cut for hay right before our last night launch) and we recovered a couple wayward night flyers that went AWOL.

Mine is a sorta Big Bertha clone using 24 mm BP motors, either D12-3 or E9-4's... it has one of those children's "whirlygig" spinning ring with LED's inside a clear plastic globe type toys, which I pick up for like $3 each at TSC, among other places. They're powered by AA batteries so they last a pretty long time, but they're kinda heavy (but fine for a "D" or "E" powered rocket). It recovers under a 24-32 inch parachute. The rocket has a large standoff one one side and the launch lug is halfway out one fin, to clear the ~3 inch globe of the whirlygig toy. It's made from paper towel tubes covered with typing paper. She's rough but she went together cheap and dirty and flies great and looks awesome in the air... I call her the "Warp Drive". The whirlygig toy's "press and hold for on" button is held "on" by wrapping some electric tape around the handle with a bit of balsa strategically placed to hold the button down, yet can be wiggled off the button after recovery for reloading, to preserve the batteries.

Mikus's bird this year for the night launch was a Baby Bertha, equipped with a small push-button LED light taped under the nosecone in the hole left from the blow-molding process used to make the cone. The cone is painted flourescent pink and the LED light shining into it causes it to glow brightly. The LED can also be set to flashing mode, which is cool. It looks really good and flew well, but beware of weak springs under the batteries and shim the batteries up tight!

I've got another rocket here that looks to be a Stormcaster or something similar. It has a small LED lit "probe" sticking out of the nose-- a clear plastic rod with a few odd bubbles in it lit from the base of it (inside the tip of the nosecone) so the whole rod glows bright blue. He also painted the rocket with some of the washable glow-in-the-dark paint from Hobby Lobby-- you couldn't really see the glow in the dark paint flying at night-- it's far too faint, but it looks awfully ghostly sitting on my rocket shelf happily glowing eerily at night in the living room!! Also beware, because after the dew falls, you will find your hands glowing after handling the rocket because the paint will come off on you wherever you touch the rocket.

After year before last's night launch, we had two MIA rockets-- Mikus's Blue Ninja with several glow sticks taped to the outside, and Dave's "Hi-Jax" with a simple flashing red LED "beer bottle" lapel pin turned on and crammed into the clear payload tube with a bit of foam to keep it from rattling around too much. The wind had kicked up a bit and carried them off, but I found the LED powered Hi-Jax within about ten minutes of everyone leaving. Despite searching the pastures for about an hour or so, I never could find the Blue Ninja, well, not until a couple months later when I was out feeding cows and happened upon it out in the pasture in an unanticipated area-- it had suffered some from the wet winter weather and had a couple broken fins, the tube had seen better days but was intact, and the prismatic tube wraps were faded out completely on the top skyward side from sitting in the sun, and the shock cord turned to crumbles... but otherwise it was amazingly intact, LED lightsticks and all... I'd recommend against the LED lightsticks-- the light intensity is just too low to see these rockets in flight or even on the ground after recovery...

I've got two projects in the works for this year's night launch-- I got some neat LED lights at Academy that have built in flashlights in one end, and a semi-clear tube on the other, with an LED shining up into it... Some are red, some green, some blue. The clear tube has a cap on the end, and if you take the cap off, the end of the tube has a whistle built into it. All of that is clear so the whistle and cap glow the same color as the tube. It should fit in a BT-50. Here's the link: http://www.lifegearcompany.com/glowsticks.html
I'm thinking of either using them as a nosecone for a BT-50 size rocket, or using them as outriggers or "warp nacelles" for some kind of night rocket...

The other project I'm working on is top secret...

Later! OL JR :)

[luke strawwalker]

Few more pics... including the Warp Drive... though she lost two fins in storage that need to be glued back on... :)

later! OL JR :)

[kullas]

For our last night launch I went to the dollar store and picked up a led lighted necklace and wraped it around a Estes Blue ninja and used some black tape to tape it on. was well light up and could see very well. after the launch was over i removed the lights and was back to stock :)

[dixontj93060]

I second this. I took an LED necklace purchased on eBay and wrapped around a Public Enemy Fat Boy (screwed in with plastic wiring clamp) and added a strobe under the parachute. This worked great for the MWP7 night launch.


For our last night launch I went to the dollar store and picked up a led lighted necklace and wraped it around a Estes Blue ninja and used some black tape to tape it on. was well light up and could see very well. after the launch was over i removed the lights and was back to stock :)

[Gillard]

Similiar to the above, i have used a dozen or so small chemlumes that are about 3cm long and 5 mm in diameter and put them loose in a parachute.
when launched at night the lumes simply fall out back to earth and the launch area gets rained on with light, which is pretty cool.

[MarkII]

BSD made a night launch version of their popular Diablo kit, called the Diab-Glo (http://www.rocketreviews.com/reviews/all/bsd_diab_glo.shtml).

http://www.rocketryforumarchive.com/showthread.php?t=34885&highlight=BSD+Diab-glo

MarkII

[ScrapDaddy]

oh wow these designs are really cool:cool:

[MarkII]

oh wow these designs are really cool:cool:They sure are; the designs that people come up with just blow me away. :)

MarkII

[ScrapDaddy]

Yes maybe they should mar:roll:ket them......

[MarkII]

Individual creativity and inspiration cannot be manufactured.

MarkII

[ScrapDaddy]

....... or can they???:dark:

[Fred22]

The astrobeam is a great rocket for what it does and I can personally vouch for the fact the the lighting system works at -40C.
Cheers
fred

[UPscaler]

Here ya go. 4 of them. Enjoy

http://www.leadingedgerocketry.com/catalog/Night-Flight-Kits.html

THANK YOU.


I would have never known of that mosquito.

thank you...thank you.

i'll have to get one.
i'm a mosquito nut.:D

To answer the question...
There are obviously a few kits that have lights on them. However, LED's are not too hard to wire up.

Also, there is this "light tube" that my local hobbytown sells for use on model planes, why not rockets?

you get a few feet for like $11.95 and it runs on button cells batteries I believe.

[luke strawwalker]

I second this. I took an LED necklace purchased on eBay and wrapped around a Public Enemy Fat Boy (screwed in with plastic wiring clamp) and added a strobe under the parachute. This worked great for the MWP7 night launch.

Where'd you get your strobe?? I'm looking for one for my top secret project... :) OL JR :)

[luke strawwalker]

THANK YOU.


I would have never known of that mosquito.

thank you...thank you.

i'll have to get one.
i'm a mosquito nut.:D

To answer the question...
There are obviously a few kits that have lights on them. However, LED's are not too hard to wire up.

Also, there is this "light tube" that my local hobbytown sells for use on model planes, why not rockets?

you get a few feet for like $11.95 and it runs on button cells batteries I believe.

Sounds like a great idea... got a link?? :D

Later! OL JR :)

[RoyAtl]

Does anyone know any LPR or MPR that are equiped to fly at night in stock condition? Thanks :)


I got a Quest Magnum a few weeks ago that, for some reason, came with a clear nose cone/transition for its payload section. I don't know how many were made like that, but if you get one, just build it stock, then drop a cracked light stick into it!

[UPscaler]

Sounds like a great idea... got a link?? :D

Later! OL JR :)

Not sure if you have ever heard of daft punk, but they use the same lighting on their suits.

The stuff is called EL wire, the packets at HT are 4 feet i think, i didn't realize their was a cheaper way to buy it Here (http://www.vibelights.com/elwirebyfoot.html).



Not badly priced, and it is VERY bright.

[georgegassaway]

FWIW, you may want to see this thread about night models that were being prepared for flying at NARAM-51 last August.

http://www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?t=4680

I just added to that thread a badly needed update about the model I flew.
(it is in the photo below).

What I flew in no way falls into the category of “stock”. But the thread has a lot of idea by others of some things that could be done, or added to some existing models. And I posted something else for an LED “flasher” unit that is pretty easy to do.

The Estes Astrobeam.... nice idea, but the LED’s are sorta wimpy. Most of the ones on my model (and the "flasher") were 20,000 mcd's of brightness.

- George Gassaway

[dlb]

Diab-Glo was a higher end , High powered rocket. As Jim pointed out Leading Edge Rocketry and one Estes kit are the only ready made kits out there.

Diab-Glo will return, but this time a few changes will be made. One of them will be, no Soldering will be required, large chute area and last but not least , " Larger Motors" up to a 38/720 case, yes a J350 will fit. this will happen later this year.

DIY is the best way, Estes and other LP and MP rocket nose cones are easely modified due to their translucent properties. Battery powering LEDs are one of the best ways and LEDS are getting VERY bright, but watch out for what I call "powervamps" like 3watt Star type, they use 750ma to run. But now I just seen some that are 200,000mcd LEDs that only use 20ma, less bright but run for hours and still WAY Bright.

I still like fast changing( flashing ) colors on LEDS with NO off time, so something is alway on and easy to see.

Below is a Booster section of a 4" Thor-Glo I just finished

[dragon_rider10]

These are shots of my unfinished helicopter recovery rocket. The spring-loaded, clear blades were designed to hold 3 dollar-store light sticks each. It worked well but was lost on the night launch. I painted it with glow in the dark paint, but this was a mistake. The paint did not glow, even after being charged for an hour or so under light, and even if it had, would not have been visible enough.

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_49kk28Xn-Ho/SudrVlrkXgI/AAAAAAAACM4/_S35AFtcy4o/s400/100_2058.JPG

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_49kk28Xn-Ho/SudraKjGJ0I/AAAAAAAACM8/vsfvLFicNmQ/s400/100_2059.JPG

[luke strawwalker]

I got a Quest Magnum a few weeks ago that, for some reason, came with a clear nose cone/transition for its payload section. I don't know how many were made like that, but if you get one, just build it stock, then drop a cracked light stick into it!

Light sticks are WEAK!!! One of our guys lost his Blue Ninja that had a half dozen light sticks taped all along it on the outside of the rocket.

It may look good in your hand, it may look good on the pad, but YOU WILL LOSE SIGHT OF IT THE INSTANT IT LIFTS OFF! You are VERY unlikely to regain sight of it at altitude or on the recovery... even laying on the ground, you have to be within a few feet of a glowstick equipped rocket to see it. It has to do with the way our eyes adapt to the light. The bright 'dazzling' light of the engine totally washes out the glowstick light and even after your eyes adapt back (several minutes at a minimum) glowstick rockets are VERY hard to see on the ground... Basically you have to KNOW where to look to ever see it, and if you KNEW where to look EXACTLY you could find it in the dark with NO light... :)

My advice-- use active lighting. LED's are cheap and easy to wire up and don't need a massive power source to work well. You can ADD lightsticks for the 'coolness factor' but don't rely on them as your only source of light. Leave em for the kids to play with... :) OL JR :)

[ScrapDaddy]

I WONDER IF ANYONE SELLS LASERS.......

[NjCo]

I WONDER IF ANYONE SELLS LASERS.......

You can get pen size laser pointers in red, green and blue but I'm not sure the light is intense enough to see at a distance and you would likely have to rig up a way to make sure the laser pointer landed pointing straight up if you hope to recover your rocket.

[NjCo]

Not sure if you have ever heard of daft punk, but they use the same lighting on their suits.

The stuff is called EL wire, the packets at HT are 4 feet i think, i didn't realize their was a cheaper way to buy it Here (http://www.vibelights.com/elwirebyfoot.html).

Not badly priced, and it is VERY bright.

You can get EL tape in different sizes that is easier to see due to the surface area. Here's a link for an example:

http://www.glowhut.com/5-ft-electroluminescent-stripel-tape-with-connecto5.html

[ScrapDaddy]

I was messing around when I said lasers :D

[MarkII]

No, lasers are meant to be strapped onto the heads of sharks...

MarkII

[bobkrech]

Lasers are horrible illumination sources because while they are very bright, they are very directional. You can be charged with a felony if you point a laser at an aircraft because it can cause temporary blindness and disorientation to a pilot. Since you have no control over the direction of a rocket mounted pointer, you could be in some serious trouble with the FAA and DHS should you accidently paint an aircraft.

It's just not a smart thing to do.

Bob

[luke strawwalker]

I was messing around when I said lasers :D

Glad to hear that... Lasers are bad for the aforementioned reasons...

Later! OL JR :)

[cwbullet]

There goes my idea for a rocket powered goldfinger inspired laser weapon.

[Mikus]

Mikus's bird this year for the night launch was a Baby Bertha, equipped with a small push-button LED light taped under the nosecone in the hole left from the blow-molding process used to make the cone. The cone is painted flourescent pink and the LED light shining into it causes it to glow brightly. The LED can also be set to flashing mode, which is cool. It looks really good and flew well, but beware of weak springs under the batteries and shim the batteries up tight!

Yep that's my 3B, the Blinking Baby Bertha. I had forgotten you still had that. :) Yah I gotta examine the fingerlight that illuminates it, that didn't work too good last year. The Quest C6 motor was a good choice for that bird though, I'll have to get some more for this year.

One of the problems with the BN was that we chad-staged a D12-0 to an E9 and out-drove the glowsticks. I had an Eliminator ready to go with a couple of downward shining LEDs last year but chickened out when the wind came up. :(

[Mikus]

Light sticks are WEAK!!! One of our guys lost his Blue Ninja that had a half dozen light sticks taped all along it on the outside of the rocket.

Just to clarify, the BN was mine. The glow sticks were Jesse's idea. I think basically we just wanted to see that puppy chad-stage at night. :jaw:

Yah, sometimes I'm too easily influenced. :o

[terryg]

You can get EL tape in different sizes that is easier to see due to the surface area. Here's a link for an example:

http://www.glowhut.com/5-ft-electroluminescent-stripel-tape-with-connecto5.html

Any sources for longer lengths? This looks cool! I guess I could mix and match colors to get a longer length!

[terryg]

I have a green astronomy pen laser that I use to try to illuminate parachutes on night launches (with no planes in the area of course). If there is dust in the air to scatter the beam it looks very cool.

[MarkII]

I have a green astronomy pen laser that I use to try to illuminate parachutes on night launches (with no planes in the area of course). If there is dust in the air to scatter the beam it looks very cool.I completely understand Bob's concern; it is quite valid. But if you are following the Safety Code, there shouldn't be any aircraft overhead anyway. And Scraddy has said that his comment was not serious.






But my reference to sharks with lasers on their heads was totally serious ... :dark:

MarkII

[ScrapDaddy]

How bout a laser powered rocket........:dark:

[UPscaler]

No, lasers are meant to be strapped onto the heads of sharks...

MarkII

Are those friggin sharks...with friggin lasers attached to their friggin heads?:eek:
:roll:

[terryg]

This is part of our night flying fleet:

http://www.youtube.com/user/glowlightexpress?feature=mhw4

Others are in the works. With both the NSL and LDRS in driving distance from Arizona and our own regional launches upcoming there are a whole bunch of night launches we want to fly at. It is fun to watch all the big flights during the day and then light up the night with your own!

[MarkII]

Are those friggin sharks...with friggin lasers attached to their friggin heads?:eek:
:roll:
http://content.ytmnd.com/content/0/d/2/0d2eb42e634e8b6d722bed641651f370.jpg

MarkII

[bobkrech]

How bout a laser powered rocket........:dark:
Been there, done that, patented and published.

Worked on both pulsed and cw laser propulsion thruster concepts in the 70's and 80'. Demonstrated 3000 second specific impulse performance with H2 propellant in pulsed laser powered thruster, and developed a propellant to produce 1000 second specific impulse in a cw laser powered thruster.

While the physics is well understood and the thruster technology is develioped, the major technical hurtle that has not been overcome is the inability of the laser jocks to build multi-megawatt average power lasers, and this will not change in the foreseable future.

I patented a LEO simulation system based on pulsed laser rocket thruster technology in the late 80's that is still the international ground-based gold test standard for determining atomic oxygen effects on spacecraft materials.

Bob

[MarkII]

Been there, done that, patented and published.

Worked on both pulsed and cw laser propulsion thruster concepts in the 70's and 80'. Demonstrated 3000 second specific impulse performance with H2 propellant in pulsed laser powered thruster, and developed a propellant to produce 1000 second specific impulse in a cw laser powered thruster.

While the physics is well understood and the thruster technology is develioped, the major technical hurtle that has not been overcome is the inability of the laser jocks to build multi-megawatt average power lasers, and this will not change in the foreseable future.

I patented a LEO simulation system based on pulsed laser rocket thruster technology in the late 80's that is still the international ground-based gold test standard for determining atomic oxygen effects on spacecraft materials.

BobSo there! :neener:

MarkII

[ScrapDaddy]

Inthought of that when I saw aspecial on nat geo about laser space travel

[MarkII]

Inthought of that when I saw aspecial on nat geo about laser space travelWell, you're right - it's an intriguing idea.

MarkII

[ScrapDaddy]

think laser powered rockets are a whole other thread..... I call dibs :D but it is a interesting idea.... Maybe I'll borrow the laser and pop some popcorn:eek:

[luke strawwalker]

Yep that's my 3B, the Blinking Baby Bertha. I had forgotten you still had that. :) Yah I gotta examine the fingerlight that illuminates it, that didn't work too good last year. The Quest C6 motor was a good choice for that bird though, I'll have to get some more for this year.

One of the problems with the BN was that we chad-staged a D12-0 to an E9 and out-drove the glowsticks. I had an Eliminator ready to go with a couple of downward shining LEDs last year but chickened out when the wind came up. :(


Looking at the thing I'd recommend shimming under the batteries in the LED lights... looks to me that under acceleration the batteries lose contact and once it loses power, the "electronic relay" on the PCB unlatches and the light goes out until the button is pressed again after it's found on the ground. Physical switches are much better for this application but most of the LED stuff only has the push-button switches with multiple 'modes' available (solid, flashing, etc)...

I'm going to have to look at this issue myself on some stuff I have for the night launch...

Later! OL JR :)

[luke strawwalker]

Just to clarify, the BN was mine. The glow sticks were Jesse's idea. I think basically we just wanted to see that puppy chad-stage at night. :jaw:

Yah, sometimes I'm too easily influenced. :o

It was worth a shot... but I'd just advise folks to use brighter, "active" lighting on the next ones... no need to reinvent the wheel and lose rockets needlessly...

The main difficulty I've seen is finding them ON THE GROUND-- even active lighting usually requires you to get within 30 yards of the rocket to see it. Flashing helps versus steady illumination, as does omnidirectional lighting versus beam-like 'flashlight' type lights (LED's shining in a single direction, undiffused). That's part of the reason why lasers would REALLY suck for this purpose (extremely focused unidirectional beam, not flashing). The low light intensity of glow sticks makes them VERY hard to see on the ground at night-- even with my eyes adjusted the dim glow of glowsticks is drowned out in 'random reflections' on the ground-- everything from surrounding sodium lights on neighboring farms reflecting off dewdrops on blades of grass on the recovery field, to reflections off bits of paper or gum wrappers and other bits of refuse laying here and there on the field (including recovery wadding) to the stray light cast by cars making turns off the highway and shining across the field surface as they turn on the side roads... I don't know how many times I thought I'd found that rocket only to find I was reaching for some random trash instead...

OH well, live and learn... even Goddard and Von Braun crashed a few before they got it right... LOL :) OL JR :)

[shreadvector]

http://content.ytmnd.com/content/0/d/2/0d2eb42e634e8b6d722bed641651f370.jpg

MarkII



http://www.hulu.com/watch/1437/saturday-night-live-snl-digital-short-laser-cats-2

http://www.hulu.com/watch/16387/saturday-night-live-digital-short-laser-cats-3

http://www.hulu.com/watch/55597/saturday-night-live-digital-short-laser-cats-4

http://www.hulu.com/watch/121061/saturday-night-live-digital-short-laser-cats-5

[ScrapDaddy]

OH well, live and learn... even Goddard and Von Braun crashed a few before they got it right... LOL :) OL JR :)

I Know Why They Didnt Have TRF or Rocksim :D

[MattieShoes]

Here ya go. 4 of them. Enjoy

http://www.leadingedgerocketry.com/catalog/Night-Flight-Kits.html

I can't speak for all of them, but I have the Phoenix and the kit wasn't very good... There were lots of little things like, a wire was too short so I actually had to solder on an extension, they forgot to include the decals (and never sent them despite saying they would), and one of the LEDs didn't work (I replaced it), and the instructions were clearly copied from the night skeeter, which is similar but not exactly the same, so a couple of the directions were flat out wrong, and it showed parts in the illustrations that didn't come with the Phoenix... In the end, I did get it put together and the LEDs behave correctly, but it wasn't a very fun kit to put together. It hasn't flown yet -- Maiden flight should be at Desert Heat (http://www.rocketryplanet.com/content/view/3189/30/) next weekend.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4072/4299217644_631d30faa1.jpg

[kgrimm]

Here's a night-flight rocket I've been working on. The center section of the body is a BT-50-sized clear plastic tube, and the brown tube up the center is a BT-5, used to duct the ejection gases through the clear section (so to not scorch anything inside the clear tube) into the parachute compartment at the top. I plan on installing an LED array powered by watch batteries in the space between the clear tube and the duct and illuminate the nose cone (from an Estes Alpha III) with another battery and LED. By removing four tiny screws (at the top of the clear tube), the entire rocket can be disassembled for access to the electronics. After a few test flights (to verify the thing will work), I plan on upsizing it. This version has a 18mm motor mount and will fly on a C motor. It's still in primer, but I hope to fly it without the lights in a couple weeks.-Kevin :cyclops:

[luke strawwalker]

There goes my idea for a rocket powered goldfinger inspired laser weapon.

"Do you expect me to talk??"

"NO, Mr. Bond... I expect you to DIE!!!"

:D:clap::roll: OL JR :)

[BEC]

Kevin, you've built essentially the idea I've been thinking about (but only thinking about). Looks good. I am thinking about EL wire coming down and outlining fins as well, but none of the drivers are very compact, which will drive the body diameter up.

I'll be interested to see how it works for real.

In the meantime I got an Astrobeam from A2Z Hobbies to experiment with.....