NSL 2015

It is hot. 55 minutes and counting.

240 miles to go. Traffic south of DC on I95 really rotted.

Brent, I want the X15.

Brent said:

I will have a few kits and rockets that I don't fly anymore for sale. There is a built and flown 4" X15 and an unbuilt Estes Saturn V form the very first year they were produced before the fancy color box. Look for the white trailer with the V2 on the sides.

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Like I needed any additional temptation to buy more kits...I'm set up right next to you, Brent. I guess I know what I'll be doing first thing this morning!

Cheers,
Michael

Saturday morning

Let the games begin!

Tempting for sure.

At NSL ....

I took a lot of ground shots and got some of the vendors. I'm sure some of you will recognize a few of them.

THE VENDORS

GROUND SHOTS

Here's a few that Bob Koenn took of some of my rockets. And I don't recognize that guy that looks like me holding them.

Gary, did you have nose weight in that rocket? I still do not understand why it fell nose first.

cwbullet said:

Gary, did you have nose weight in that rocket? I still do not understand why it fell nose first.

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I'm not sure that matters. The Estes Cosmic Cobra's nose cone, which uses a rotor for recovery, sometimes comes down point first and other times comes down with the base first. I think that once a rotor like that is spinning fast enough, the gyroscope effect can keep it from flipping over.

-- Roger

We just got back from NSL. Thanks to all that organized and supported the event. Everything went smoothly and we had a terrific time. The launch site is incredible and the weather wasn't bad. Even the infamous Days Inn turned out to be okay.

After I recover somewhat, I'll start working on the videos I took of some of the NSL 2015 launches from my quadcopter. It takes a while to clean up and edit them, so please be patient. I'll post the video here and on the NSL 2015 Facebook page when it's ready.

-- Roger

cwbullet said:

Gary, did you have nose weight in that rocket? I still do not understand why it fell nose first.

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Roger has it pretty well summed up, but that all depends. If the props open after apogee, it's likely to come back upside down. If they open before, you have a better chance of the normal recovery. Jim H and I both agree, that since the props opened before apogee, that the wind assisted in turning it upside down. I'll bring it to the next O'burg event since you missed it. And there wasn't any additional nose weight.

Choppter Koppter........definitely my favorite.


Coolsville...Daddio..coolsville... "click" z'click "click"

Maynard G. Krebs

Here's a video I made of the NSL 2015 launches:

[YOUTUBE]yihViW3qdRc[/YOUTUBE]


The still photos that Bracha and I took are at:

https://www.rocketreviews.com/nsl-2015.html

-- Roger

I've built and flown dozens and dozens of Helicopter Duration models as well as most of the Estes products with helicopter recovery.

Basic rocket and airplane stability rules apply. If the blades have little or no "dihedral" (or whatever we are supposed to call it for a helicopter - I need to look that up....) the model may not know which side is "up". Also, if the fins on the bottom of the rocket are very large, they will act like rocket fins and try to move that end of the model aft with respect to the relative wind as the model descends.

On models that I built with quite a bit of 'dihedral' I got very consistent orientation during descent. Even if the blades opened a bit late (nose pointed down), the model would right itself.

Make a few versions and try it out or you can make one with blades in a flat disc and try it, then fly it again after whittling the stops away to increase the angle a bit until you get the kind of flight you desire.

jadebox said:

I'm not sure that matters. The Estes Cosmic Cobra's nose cone, which uses a rotor for recovery, sometimes comes down point first and other times comes down with the base first. I think that once a rotor like that is spinning fast enough, the gyroscope effect can keep it from flipping over.

-- Roger

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Gary,

Aren't you glad there are people here who so very earnestly want to edumacate you, even when you don't even ask?

LW Bercini said:

Gary,

Aren't you glad there are people here who so very earnestly want to edumacate you, even when you don't even ask?

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What would life be without them..........

Roger, thanks for posting the video and pictures. It was a pleasure meeting you.