Indiana Rocketry - Dec 13/14 Ash Grove Launch

I checked WLIF, weather.com and acuweather.com
None look like a washout (yeah!!!)
Mr. Bob

Bob. sent you an email. I know it's late, but....

Dwatkins said:

Sense I have an extreme Wildman looking for 21,000' and I do not think we will get skies for that this weekend. I hope they use the rain dates to try again. Built this motor for the last launch on this field

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SICK flight. Will you be out tomorrow? I spent the rest of the day looking for my rocket. If you think you can make it, can you send a PM?

I only came back to my car because I couldn't see 5 feet in front of me. I couldn't make the drive after spending that much time in the field looking. I hope to go out early and look some more.

mrwalsh85 said:

SICK flight. Will you be out tomorrow? I spent the rest of the day looking for my rocket. If you think you can make it, can you send a PM?

I only came back to my car because I couldn't see 5 feet in front of me. I couldn't make the drive after spending that much time in the field looking. I hope to go out early and look some more.

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Sorry you have not found it yet! PM sent, but I will be back tomorrow with my radio and arrow antenna. Will take a shot at trying to find your rocket in the morning. Hope you have a good night and get recovered some before tomorrow. Nice to meet you

Dennis

Dec. 20 & 21?

Did anyone fly today? I never received anything that said it was cancelled, but when I checked weather, I kept getting that the ceiling was 500 feet to 600 feet. Which means it was probably bright with clear skies and I missed everything.

Today? There were flights, but just a handful.

Dennis was able to find my rocket today. I walked by the same spot, but it was already o'dark something, I was working with a flashlight and had enough after 3-4 hours in the muddy cornfields. Can't thank him enough! I owe you one, Dennis!

Oh yeah... Got video of his flight yesterday too!

[video=youtube;5d0WL2OHImE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5d0WL2OHImE[/video]

I want to thank whoever found my red and orange dark star booster that came in ballistic back in November and pulled the 75mm case. The booster was lost, but I recovered the nose cone and gps. PM me if you get a chance, as I'd like to personally thank you.

Grandpa$ said:

Dec. 20 & 21?

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Sorry Grandpa$, early weather forecast for next weekend look terrible. A quick poll of possible setup/teardown crews revealed few who could commit to the last weekend before christmas.

Looks like the last flight at Ash Grove was a saucer on 'G' that came all the way from Cincinnati.

Dennis's flight on Saturday was awesome, 21,739' right up through a blue hole in the sky. And then in true Dennis style the recovery was memorable. The owners of the Wolf Park 1.6 miles to the south, recovered the top half inside the park fence.

Mike

rockdoc said:

I want to thank whoever found my red and orange dark star booster that came in ballistic back in November and pulled the 75mm case. The booster was lost, but I recovered the nose cone and gps. PM me if you get a chance, as I'd like to personally thank you.

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Mike Walsh is the man, Curtis helped identify the owner, Now I have your case hostage when I see you again. Good luck on your booster salvage mission Friday.
Mr. Bob
Countyline Hobbies
Grovertown, IN.
574-540-1123
[email protected]
www.countylinehobbies.com

I'm sorry I missed the last launch , I have been so sick this last week . Hope to have launches soon

Great Launch yesterday, a thanks to Bob @ County line for hooking me up on all my Christmas shopping!

The was a guy there that had a Rocket Wharehouse 38 special and was also flying a Madcow Solar Express - if you know who he is or if you read this can you reply or PM me, I have a question on the shock cord you are using, also if you had anymore 38 specials

Nick

Had another great Saturday! Weather cleared up and I bagged my level 1 Second flight of the Painkiller got a little unstable but recovered fine. Thanks to everyone from Indiana Rocketry!

I want to thank each and, everyone of you who not only was there this weekend, but....supported us over the last many years at "The Grove".

Yesterday was a very bitter sweet day for me...I had the opportunity three weeks ago to not only request a Friday night off from work but, actually get it penciled into my schedule. Up at 4:30 am on Saturday morning and, down the road to collect "The Dad" for a weekend of debauchary with a Madcow Frenzy Massive, Madcow Bomarc and, the *new* County Line Hobbies HELLFIRE...along with enough H thru N power to cause ALOT of trouble in "Trusty Rusty the Rocket Retriever".

First stop was QCRS in Princeton to see all my Chicago Rocket Mafia Brothers. Low ceilings and, *No Claude* keep us out and, about helping some of our friends instead of flying. After goodbyes and, a two hour trip to Clinton Illinois to the largest volume Dodge Ram dealer in Illinois....
It was determined that replacing "Rusty" with its new counterpart (which will have 1 more window than my house does, 2 more doors than my house does, an Air Ride suspension-which my house doesn't....and, COST more than my house did new.....)

Is going to hurt!:surprised:

Well, we headed over to Champaign and, missed the flying window by 4 minutes and, then just had a quiet night at the local Pizza place with some of our friends from the CIA group.

Sunday brought more gloomy skies and, cool temps but, the hour drive up to Ash Grove was filled with alot of optimism and, thoughts of the past.

I grabbed the equipment trailer from Tom Mcfee and, trucked down the road and, started setting up....Then you guys came...alot of young and, new faces too! What a day it was, so much fun to end an era surrounded by friends.

If i didn't get a chance to meet you, i apologize... I spent most of the day working "The Turntables" and, pressing the button on alot of nice stuff. It sure was great to see Randy Milliken, Brian Perry and, Doug Jackson (the other guys who started this along with me and, Vic...many years back) there on the last day.

Thank-you...:sigh:

Yes, i did fly something. I flew the only thing i really had to offer to the Cloud Gods....The new Hellfire Dual Deploy prototype to 1812' on a small H....THATS RIGHT....i flew an H...:jaw:

A very humble way to bow out...:sigh:

Somethings that really are worth noting.

1. Mark Crumpacker, his father and, Eric Merrill made the long trip from down south to see us on the last day and, fly some awesome stuff!
(Eric scratched SOME paint!):lol:
2. Dennis Watkins came out to say goodbye!
Thank-you ALWAYS Dennis for not only your support but, ALL the Fort Wayne crew for what you've done over the years!
3. "Team Bissonette" drove all the way from Cincinnati Ohio and, managed to amaze us with some awesome flights.
That's like 5 WELL BEHAVED, VERY MATURE brothers stuffed into a Subaru Outback along with a pile of Rocket parts/pieces...

My parents couldn't put me and, my sister in the back seat of a 1977 Plymouth Volare for 5 minutes WITHOUT: Mud, Blood, Pi$$ and, $#!@ hitting the headliner....:gavel: no kidding. :hot:

4. Our humble friend and, owner of County Line Hobbies made the trip both days to sell anything someone might need to add to their collection of Rockets and, last minute motors/parts/stuffage were flying out of the boxes!
Thank you AGAIN Bob for choosing me to build and, fly the first County Line Hellfire Rocket...I promise that i will put some Newtons to it and, really let it eat somewhere in the near future when the skies permit!

5. To everyone who made the trip from St. Louis and, around: Thank-you...i made some new contacts yesterday that will only turn into good friends in the near future!
That's what this sport is all about...the people.

I was the last to leave the field on Sunday evening and, all i could think of after the post flight celebration at Wendy's was...

PHHHOOOOOOOOOFFFFFFF!

Who DID THAT?:surprised:

Hey! I'm the ONLY one in the truck....:surprised:

Eject!...EJECT!!.....EJECT!!!

(Never combine: Wendy's Chili, a Ranch Salad and, a large Frosty before an hours ride home....)

All i could think of was, thank you Lorraine for the chance to do what we did, to make the memories we did....to bring the people...ALL the great people together that we did....

In a humble field with your permission.

Whether we relocate to the end of the field, or find a new home i can guarantee you that we as a club are not ready to take the equipment and, head to the scrap yard yet.

We WILL find a new home....

Time will tell in the next few months....

And, so as it began, it ends with a shower of sparks raining down from a paper plate saucer on an Aerotech G75 Metalstorm....

Thank-you Ash Grove for ALL the memories....:sigh:

Gus, you choke me up... Well all but the Wendy's part (that made me throw up).

We should commission Sather to write "The Ode to Ash Grove" so we can sing it around propellant bonfires for years to come ;{.

Gus,

It has been my great pleasure to have come over and fly with this great group! Made a lot of new friends and learned a great deal. Enough to do the motor I flew on Saturday. No where else close as this to push my ex habbit as far as I have. Thank you all for the hard work that let this happen.

Mike,

Were even with that great video you took. Were is your on board from Saturday? Everybody loves a good on board

Dennis

Nick@JET said:

Great Launch yesterday, a thanks to Bob @ County line for hooking me up on all my Christmas shopping!

The was a guy there that had a Rocket Wharehouse 38 special and was also flying a Madcow Solar Express - if you know who he is or if you read this can you reply or PM me, I have a question on the shock cord you are using, also if you had anymore 38 specials

Nick

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The man your looking for is Bryan Stroud. I do't know what he go's by if he comes to this forum. Speaking of Brian a few more NS you would have made the mile club with the Hell Hammer. Only a few feet shy.
Sunday I thought the Earth was going to stop as I burned a bigger motor than Mr. Gus.(first and probably last time!!) nice first flight with the Hell Fire. now on to a j skidmark!!!
I won't rehash (to much) the part of the great times seeing old and not so old friends and meeting new folks. Thanks to new friends I have Gary's 75mm case hostage . You have to buy a lot of stuff to get it back (just kidding). Not many hobbies have the quantity of good folks we have. Loaning high dollar
cases and trackers ect. to people you hardly know (yet) Stumbling on someones rocket while looking for yours and bringing it back to the right full owner. Or putting a little Polish Thunder up on a full I and have the main open around 4,000 and Brandon the recovery dog willingly go's into the mud for you. Thanks Gross clan for the Use of the tracker and Brandon the wonder dog.
Andrew let me know how tha altitude attempr with the 24mm Ellis G37 turns ourt?
Till the next launch...
Mr. Bob
Countyline Hobbies
Grovertown, IN.
574-540-1123
[email protected]
www.countylinehobbies.com

Alrighty time for my Sunday report with pics...

As Gus mentioned, 4 brothers and I headed out in search for one last hoorah in Indiana(for now). It was raining off and on for much of the drive and not looking too promising. When we arrived the ceiling was a whopping 400ft. Not exactly a good sign, but my youngest bro was going to fly no matter what so he loaded up his Estes Crossfire with a D12. Right when he placed it on the pad the clouds began to break and the sun tried to poke out. The whole flight was visible so there was still hope...



The skies increasingly looked better so more people began prepping their rockets. I don't have pics of most of the flights or even know what I took so if you know what they are feel free to let me know...

A Polecat V2 on a G115



An Estes Renegade upscale. A nice boost followed by a shovel recovery.



Estes Argent on a G76.



Gus's flight. He flew Bob's new kit on a CTI H226



Bob flew his trusty Little Polish Thunder rocket on an I and wanted to rub in the fact that he was flying a larger motor than Gus for once. I'm sorry I hit the shutter a tad early. My fingers were going a bit numb with the wind and apparently they pressed down early.



My brothers purchased a DS 4 with headend deployment back during the Wildman April sale. We hadn't built it until less than 2 weeks ago. The project was completed by all of us. Not exactly the prettiest build on the field, but you can't tell from further than 50ft away. We wanted to bid Ash Grove our final farewell with something a bit larger. We chose the high power version of the A8-3 for the first flight. The new Aerotech L1000 of course. Bob had a price that just could not be passed up. We waited for skies to clear a bit and although not exactly super blue it was good enough. Thanks Gus for all the help and for lending us the use of your cheap insurance. I'm always learning new tricks from you. Also, thanks to whoever lent their drill for the additional shear pin holes.

Group shot.



Check out that flame! The L1000 quickly took the Darkstar to 8780'.



A couple pops later and the main was out...a long distance away.



All laid out.



My youngest brother had planned on flying his scratchbuild on an E20, but the igniter wouldn't fit. Being short on time we loaded the mystery G in our trusty paper plate saucer instead. It ended up being a G64.



Just before the G64 flight, Bob handed me a G75 and told me to fly it. Of course I just had to burn it . So in typical Midwestern fashion, sparks rained down over a muddy corn field. Sadly this was the last flight of Ash Grove. A decent way to end it though. Thanks again, Bob, for the G75 and for the sale price on the L1000




So there it is. The final launch of Ash Grove and final launch of the year for us. We had 5 flights and there were a number more from other folks. I ended up burning a little over 12,000 newtons this year which isn't too shabby for my first year back into HPR since 2009. Next year will see more including my L3 shot. Gus has agreed to be one of my TAPs so I'm pretty excited to get things underway.

Thank you Indiana Rocketry for the great times this year. I wish you the best in finding a new field as quickly as possible and we will make the drive to your next field. In the mean time come on out to OAMC and show Ohio what you got

bob jablonski said:

The man your looking for is Bryan Stroud. I do't know what he go's by if he comes to this forum. Speaking of Brian a few more NS you would have made the mile club with the Hell Hammer. Only a few feet shy.
Sunday I thought the Earth was going to stop as I burned a bigger motor than Mr. Gus.(first and probably last time!!) nice first flight with the Hell Fire. now on to a j skidmark!!!
I won't rehash (to much) the part of the great times seeing old and not so old friends and meeting new folks. Thanks to new friends I have Gary's 75mm case hostage . You have to buy a lot of stuff to get it back (just kidding). Not many hobbies have the quantity of good folks we have. Loaning high dollar
cases and trackers ect. to people you hardly know (yet) Stumbling on someones rocket while looking for yours and bringing it back to the right full owner. Or putting a little Polish Thunder up on a full I and have the main open around 4,000 and Brandon the recovery dog willingly go's into the mud for you. Thanks Gross clan for the Use of the tracker and Brandon the wonder dog.
Andrew let me know how tha altitude attempr with the 24mm Ellis G37 turns ourt?
Till the next launch...
Mr. Bob
Countyline Hobbies
Grovertown, IN.
574-540-1123
[email protected]
www.countylinehobbies.com

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It's good folks like these that keeps it exciting and the many old friends you run into at each launch and the new friends that you always make. I can only say for me it has been a great experience being associated with Indiana Rocketry and everyone that I had the chance to meet and see at different launches. I'll miss this field, but it's not an ending, just a new beginning. I'll come out to the Purdy site and fly with you guys anytime.

Bob, you should see something pretty extraordinary at your doorstep one day for me.

SS/EA 6BBL 71 Cuda said:

...Somethings that really are worth noting.

1. Mark Crumpacker, his father and, Eric Merrill made the long trip from down south to see us on the last day and, fly some awesome stuff!
(Eric scratched SOME paint!):lol:

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I suppose I have that coming. Fortunately, my last launch at Ash Grove was a success. After destroying every Red Max I tried to launch there, my final attempt was perfect.

Yes Mark, they do look different under chute.

Gus, it was an event that I wouldn't want to miss, and luckily Mark reminded me of it or I probably would have. It was great to see everyone again. Perhaps we can get things arranged for some class 1 stuff locally.

Rocketry nut said:

Alrighty time for my Sunday report with pics...

An Estes upscale, but I can't remember what it was. A nice boost followed by a shovel recovery.

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That is a 3 inch upscale of the Estes renegade. Amazingly the the quantum airframe was undamaged, but the nose cone will need a repaint.

Here's my onboard.

I just threw this together to get it online to show folks. I might try to pretty it up another time, but really no need...

[video=youtube;r1v-TqXjPG4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1v-TqXjPG4[/video]

Great time at Ash Grove. I did find that the tracker is working and my VX-3 picked up the one that I used Saturday, as well as my other one (brand new) on another frequency no problem. Kind of interesting. The Big Red Bee software showed no issues. I might give 'em a call to see if it needs to be sent in.

Renegade defies standard recovery...

Rocketry nut said:

A Polecat V2 on a G?



Unkown

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Yes that was a Polecat V2 on a G115. It was low and slow for sure, but the overcast required it.

Unknown is an Estes Argent flying on a G76. Has an Easy-Mini stuffed into the transition. Flew to 1400' and easy recovery. Both mine and Gus' landed within spitting distance of each other maybe 75yards from table. Couldn't do that again if we tried😜!

Thanks for the info guys. Everything is updated.

Gary how did the case cleaning turn out?
Mr. Bob
Countyline Hobbies
Grovertown, IN.
574-540-1123
[email protected]
www.countylinehobbies.com

Hello any updates on launching and thunder struck ?

I too hope we get some god news on a new site. Time to make plans for up coming flying season.

chris m said:

Hello any updates on launching and thunder struck ?

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Even if land is found and the club finds a new home, I really doubt there will be an event like Thunderstruck on that new soil that soon. I can guarantee, as soon as the club finds a new site, we will all read about it here. You are a club member aren't you? Your signature says so???

That reminds me, it also says you are a QCRS member. You might want to update your signature or send in your dues.

Wow I forgot to send my dues