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CMASS, Amesbury launch coming Saturday, 11/7/15.
Wrapping up with a night launch.

Let the slaughter of D11-P engines commence...

Oooooo night launch? I was already going, now I'm staying for the night part too. What's the impulse limit at night?
 
Oooooo night launch? I was already going, now I'm staying for the night part too. What's the impulse limit at night?

The night launches (both after the 7th and 21st of November dates) are limited to model rocket specs and an altitude of 1000 ft. Your rocket must have lights to be allowed to launch (glow sticks are not visible at any significant distance) for appearance during the flight and recovery on the ground. If you haven't flown with us at night, it might be best to observe this first one and prepare for the second one.
 
Built the 3 motor tube assembly specified for the Tres kit....

But the motor tubes looked lonely....And the build was getting heavier, with an expected flight weight of about 20oz...

So I added three more motor tubes...:dark:

Does that make it a Seis?
 
The night launches (both after the 7th and 21st of November dates) are limited to model rocket specs and an altitude of 1000 ft. Your rocket must have lights to be allowed to launch (glow sticks are not visible at any significant distance) for appearance during the flight and recovery on the ground. If you haven't flown with us at night, it might be best to observe this first one and prepare for the second one.

Ok, I was there for the LDRS night launch which I believe flew under the same rules. But if I can figure out how to stick some LED strips and a battery pack on my SPAD by the 21st, you can expect to see that.
 
Does that make it a Seis?

Yes it does.
Seis (6 in French / correction: Spanish) is the name I am leaning towards.

Ok, I was there for the LDRS night launch which I believe flew under the same rules. But if I can figure out how to stick some LED strips and a battery pack on my SPAD by the 21st, you can expect to see that.

1) Some of the LDRS night flights were well prepped and well lighted.
2) Others flew like they were built and prepped in the dark....with poor lighting and ballistic recoveries....
I'm pretty sure what Ken is getting at is that we want 1) and not 2)
 
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Um, tres and seis are Spanish...I figured by now the Seis would have grown to the Nueve.
 
Yes it does.
Seis (6 in French) is the name I am leaning towards.



1) Some of the LDRS night flights were well prepped and well lighted.
2) Others flew like they were built and prepped in the dark....with poor lighting and ballistic recoveries....
I'm pretty sure what Ken is getting at is that we want 1) and not 2)

Yes I'm aware. That's why I won't fly at night on Saturday. That's why I said I was going to see if I could stick some lights on one of my existing rockets before the 21st
 
Um, tres and seis are Spanish...I figured by now the Seis would have grown to the Nueve.

Si, senor es absolutamente correcto

French is trois and six which are pronounced somewhat similarly to the Spanish equivalents.

My foreign language co-processor was not properly engaged while thinking happy thoughts about rocketry....:wink:

Six 24mm motors is plenty for this project, will get off the pad fast, and with the right selection of motors, can be flown at LP only launches as well.
 
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The possible confusion is that everyone that I have heard utter the name of the Tres pronounces it wrong. Unless that is how Jim wants it ;)
 
After bonding motor tube assembly to airframe, applied the usual 2x layers 1oz fiberglass to the motor tubes and their immediate area.

Primed using some old cans of Kilz primer. Very fast coverage.
Then yellow on rocket extremities.
Next day orange and red finish the job.

Also repainted HellBoy NC and top of Canadian Arrow airframe while set up for painting.

Spent four hours prepping 52 igniters - Rocketflite ClusterFire

One bag has 11 sets of two igniters each wired in series. To fire Bowmark, Seis and Turbine Rocket Saucer.

Other bag is for Toginator with:
3 single igniters for the AP G engines
2 longer pairs in series for the upper motors
7 sets of three igniters in series plus one more set of 2 for remaining motors

Resistance checked for all wire sets.

On the field igniters will be installed and each series set will be wired in parallel. Then fired by LiPo powered cluster box.

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Ok, I was there for the LDRS night launch which I believe flew under the same rules. But if I can figure out how to stick some LED strips and a battery pack on my SPAD by the 21st, you can expect to see that.
Put a bright led light inside an unpainted NC.

Bob
 
The Seis (6 in Spanish :smile:) view from the floor and looking twice its size.

Rocket is 58.5 inches tall.
Airframe+chute weight = 23 oz.
+3x D11-P and 3x D12-5 gets to 2.0 lbs liftoff weight.

Got the Canadian Arrow set up with its original LOC nose cone wrapped with a red LED strip painted several times with clear, thin West Systems epoxy.
Powered by a (3s) 12V LiPo 460ah battery. About the same size and total power storage as a 9V battery, but able to deliver much higher current and rechargeable.

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CMASS Launch - Amesbury, MA - 11/7/2015

Skies were overcast, temperature was mild at about 60F but winds were not.
In the morning and early afternoon winds were in the teens, making flying and even prep challenging.
So I launched heavier rockets first, and lighter rockets later when winds had decreased.

The TOGinator went up on a big column of fire and smoke on:
3x AT G64 and 27x D11-P engines
a low J impulse 30x motor cluster.

Rocket weathercocked moderately and hit 1034 ft.
Recovered on the very edge of the field, downwind, on a 7ft chute.

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Then the Bomarc went up for its second flight on:
4x D12-5 and 6x D11-P
for good liftoff.

For this flight switched from a 3ft chute to 4ft, which provided a nice slow descent.

Weathercocked and gave the impression of gliding into the oncoming wind.

Chute deployed while rocket was moving fairly quickly into the wind, as a result there was a tiny 1/8" start of a zipper.
Little bit of epoxy and sanding will fix this easily.

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Late in the afternoon winds dropped enough to launch the Seis (Tres+3 motors)

on 3x D12-5 and 3x D11-P engines.

Instead of weathercocking, the rocket turned downwind during boost.
While the rocket separated at apogee, the chute never unfurled.
This turned out to be very fortunate, as the rocket did a slow flat tumble into deep grass at the very edge of the field.

The was the second time a flight landed 1000ft downwind, just a few feet before a stand of 50ft+ tall pine trees.

Seis is in great shape.
Will add some nose weight for its next flight.
The extra motors made the rocket tail-heavy in the cross winds.

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After the daytime flights, CMASS ran a small but fun night launch.

The sunset was beautiful. Got a picture at Ken's request

Shot only video for the night launch.

The new camera shoulder-mount worked well to stabilize handheld video and stills over the course of the day.

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Launch video edited

Thanks Tom for 240fps night video

[video=youtube;agatOEDf0-U]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agatOEDf0-U[/video]
 
Just an awesome thread. And an inspiration for future builds... great work!
 
Awesome!!! Boris -- are you using CFs by themselves in the G64Ws or do you paint the top of the grain with pyrogen as well? I know you had been doing that. Thanks!
 
Well done, sir. I really look forward to your builds...and the results!
 
Very Cool! Wish I could send some of our calm weather your way. Awesome rockets and launch system! Love the Bomarc with all those pods giving perfectly aligned thrust! Hopefully others will be inspired to do the same!
 
Thanks all.
Had reservations about posting an 8 minute long video, pleased to see folks enjoyed it.

With pad and onboard video cameras started at flight setup and stopped at recovery, this one started with 90 minutes of video content.
Edited tightly in keeping with my sometimes impatient nature: most video immediately before action < 1 second, setup clips mostly x64 speed.

The stabilization mount you rigged up seems to work very well. Videos aren't shaky anymore.

Yes, handheld video stability was much improved. Also allowed me to aim cameras more accurately too.
The shoulder mount handled well and was not cumbersome to use.
Will try to position pad camera closer, frame handheld video a little more tightly on the action going forward.

Awesome!!! Boris -- are you using CFs by themselves in the G64Ws or do you paint the top of the grain with pyrogen as well? I know you had been doing that. Thanks!

Yes, definitely. Anytime clustering AT G64 and similar motors, I put some Rocketflite ML pyrogen at the top of the propellant slot.
Usually gets these AP motors up to pressure in the same 0.1-0.2 seconds as the BP motors.
Most smaller CTI motors do not need this due to the BP plug many come with to serve the same instant-on purpose.
 
Yes, definitely. Anytime clustering AT G64 and similar motors, I put some Rocketflite ML pyrogen at the top of the propellant slot.
Usually gets these AP motors up to pressure in the same 0.1-0.2 seconds as the BP motors.
Most smaller CTI motors do not need this due to the BP plug many come with to serve the same instant-on purpose.

Cool, that's what I figured, it wasn't mentioned so I didn't know if the CF igniters alone were sufficing. Going on your slot/core painting principle I have airstarted G64s, 79s and F20s with CF-dipped Q2G2s and it worked GREAT -- instant on.
 
Yes, handheld video stability was much improved. Also allowed me to aim cameras more accurately too.
The shoulder mount handled well and was not cumbersome to use.
Will try to position pad camera closer, frame handheld video a little more tightly on the action going forward.

If you want I can also try to get in more slow-mo for you. I like getting it for all of my flights, although I don't ever end up posting it anywhere.
 
Not long ago at a launch, I was admiring the lovely Rocketry Warehouse Adventurer 3 kit among AMW's many rocketry goodies.
Then in an act of rocketry magic, it traveled home with me.

pic 1:
> black fiberglass
> 7.3 feet tall
> 3.1 inch diameter
> 54mm motor mount
> airframe weight about 7 lbs
> ready for dual deploy

It's one of those cool rockets that looks fast even when standing still.

Like most larger kits, the flier supplies recovery, motor retention and other hardware.
With very minimal sanding of the fin slots, all parts fit together perfectly.

pic 2: Altimeter bay covers have a nice double-cut perimeter for what should be a good seal.
Fins come with sharp, clean bevels.

pic 3:
It's very close to a 2x upscale of my Carbon Weasel, which uses fins and NC from the LOC Weasel.
Prepped airframe weights (+recovery -motor) also scale proportionately.
CW 1.0lb / A3 about 8lbs
4ft ruler shown for scale

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Not long ago at a launch, I was admiring the lovely Rocketry Warehouse Adventurer 3 kit among AMW's many rocketry goodies.
Then in an act of rocketry magic, it traveled home with me.

pic 1:
> black fiberglass
> 7.3 feet tall
> 3.1 inch diameter
> 54mm motor mount
> airframe weight about 7 lbs
> ready for dual deploy

It's one of those cool rockets that looks fast even when standing still.

Like most larger kits, the flier supplies recovery, motor retention and other hardware.
With very minimal sanding of the fin slots, all parts fit together perfectly.

pic 2: Altimeter bay covers have a nice double-cut perimeter for what should be a good seal.
Fins come with sharp, clean bevels.

pic 3:
It's very close to a 2x upscale of my Carbon Weasel, which uses fins and NC from the LOC Weasel.
Prepped airframe weights (+recovery -motor) also scale proportionately.
CW 1.0lb / A3 about 8lbs
4ft ruler shown for scale

Nice! My dad picked one of these up at LDRS to get his L2 with. He'll be doing that sometime next year. He loves how well everything had fit together and how it looks like a big version of his Blackhawk 29.

But is this an indication that you'll be flying more motor of the J-L impulse range?
 
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