Majestic Nike Hercules two stage flight

I don't believe Kevin Trueblood posts on TRF, but I just wanted to congratulate him on a beautiful maiden voyage for his Nike Hercules this weekend. We flew at the Tuscola Airport with the Tripoli Central Illinois club. Kevin is a superb builder with much attention to detail. A pic of his rocket is below:



He used a J540R in the booster which resulted in a nice slow lift off for the 20lb, 7ft+ rocket. Smooth separation and lighting of the I161 sustainer. Perfect recovery with dual, rear deployed chutes for the booster and a dual deploy with dual mains on the sustainer.

Take a look at the pictures here (started on #13) and sequence through at the oversize mode and it gives you a good feel for the flight (pictures only available for 14 days).

Again, congrats Kevin.

WOW!!!! thanks for that post Tim,
I am blown away on so many levels.. Teh rocket is beyond amazing, the flight was picture perfect, and the pictures are beyond amazing!!! Kudos to the photographer!!

Just incredible!!!

Brent

Originally posted by mach66
Kudos to the photographer!!

Click to expand...

Oh, I didn't mention, Kevin Trueblood was also the photographer (talented individual). But then again, he has such a nice camera, I don't know whether to credit the photographer or the camera.

A master piece sitting on the porch and in the air, really great.

Great pictures!!! Thanx for sharing.

Incredible! Good thing the rocket did not land in a gondola car.

Great sequence shots, caught all the glory details...

Beautiful ship as well.

Thank you for sharing

Johnnie

Wow. Thanks!

Originally posted by dixontj93060
Oh, I didn't mention, Kevin Trueblood was also the photographer (talented individual). But then again, he has such a nice camera, I don't know whether to credit the photographer or the camera.

Click to expand...

Always credit the photographer.

<a href="https://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/notcamera.htm">Why Your Camera Does Not Matter</a>

Your camera may not matter if you only want 2 or 3 shots of the ascent. However, if you want to take 5 frames per second at 8.2 MP, you will need something a little more expensive than the average point & shoot.

I didn't post the other 20 frames of it going up. Believe me I am no photography expert, but my Canon 20D makes it too easy to capture the money shot.

https://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=ModelInfoAct&fcategoryid=139&modelid=10464

Enough camera talk. Next flight of the Nike will be on a K700 staging to a J350.

Kevin T.

Kevin,
Don't forget to credit the lense too. Looks like a Canon f2.8 IS 70-200mm Anyway, nice sequence!

Very nice shots of the launch, especially the separation. I would like to see more detail of that rocket. It does look like it is well detailed. I have never seen any detail how rear deploy is done. Nice looking rocket

sandmantoy,

My rear ejection tubes used mailing tube end caps reinforced with 3/16 plywood. The ejection charge holders were nylon fittings mounted in the booster transition section. A really energetic booster motor may require a more positive retention system to keep the end caps in place???

A few more pics for you.







Kevin T.

Here is one more pic of the booster with the end caps. A 3 foot piece of tubular Kevlar is permanently attached to the transition bulk plate in each of the parachute tubes. This pic also shows the twin outboard 29mm canted motor mount tubes (I doubt they'll ever get used).



Kevin T.

Very nice and one of my favorite rockets too Out standing! Redundant charges also. Do you have a shot of your electronics bay and is that a removable hatch. Sorry to go on so much lol. I like to see nice craftsmanship and I am a fan of realist art which you have shared. I am a machinist and building my level 2 rocket, a 5.5 Army Hawk. There is information out there on this rocket but no close up detail or info like that can be found for the Hercules. I am still deciding the paint scheme for mine. Nice to get to see your work

My God!

That is one SEXY rocket!

Wish I had finishing skills that good.....

Ethan

sandmantoy

Here are a couple pics of the sustainer staging e-bay. Sorry I forgot you asked to see it. Yes, it is a removable hatch held on by four No. 4 panhead bolts.



And here is a close up showing the G-Wiz and two 9 volts.



And here is one more showing the booster e-bay and the sustainer staging e-bay. The staging e-bay has a clear lexan "peep" hole to view the G-Wiz LEDs. There is one more e-bay in the sustainer nose cone to control parachute ejection and for redundancy.




Kevin T.

Sweet I want to put a hatch on one of my next rockets and you did a fine job of the detail around yours. I like the complex electronics, works great for that rocket too. I finally got a paint scheme for mine and managed to get my level 2 with it at Nerrf III since last posting here It was kind of nerve racking going with a K550 on a rockets first flight as well as a certification flight but Murphy must have been bothering somebody else when I got to launch lol! Here is some of my work on my Polecat 5.5 Hawk.

All I have to say is that is freakin' AWESOME!!!:surprised::adore::congrats:

Awww man....ya gotta use the 29mm's! :alberteinstein:
Seriously though...absolutely beautiful Kevin.
-Chris

Wow,
Your rocket building skills ROCK !!!
I have a new standard to live up to now

Ron