Boris Katan flights 2016 -> Clusters + 3D Printing Fun <-

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My friend and fellow flier, Howard drove to the launch in his new car.
The top of the line Tesla P90D.
He set it to Ludicrous mode - yes it's a real thing, if you hold the button down extra long the very large dash display even shows stars coming at you quickly just like the scene in Space Balls.

And then let me take it for a drive.
A 762hp 4wd electric car is literally mind-bending. 1.1 G forward acceleration. 0-60 in 2.8 sec.
The first couple times I floored it, I had to take my foot off the accelerator and just wrap my head around what it feels like to get shoved back in the seat that hard.
Then I adapted and we found ourselves on a delightfully empty piece of highway...:dark:

The car also has the ability to drive itself autonomously.

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Also at the field a gentleman flew a classic control line gas powered model plane.
He got the OK from LCO first.
Asked me to help by holding and releasing the plane at the start of a couple flights.

Fun stuff and a thing I remember seeing as a child.

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Video from the launch:

[video=youtube;ZMjJAj3wqCo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMjJAj3wqCo[/video]
 
Weather was predicted to be excellent for the MMMSC Launch 8/27.
Low winds called for bigger motors.

Prepped the Flaming Patriot for its first flight.
The J530 Imax is CTI's highest impulse 38mm motor by a wide margin at 1115N.

3D printed a camera mount in white to blend in with the rocket.
Cut the ends off the 3 wood screws that secure the camera mount so they would not protrude too much into the recovery bay (Kevlar line only, drogueless).
Then lay tape over the screw stubs/ends to avoid any snagging.

As previously noted, the top and inside of the ebay is also 3D printed.

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:dark:The other flight was a white whale of mine:
To fly a light, minimum diameter 38mm rocket on CTI's I 540 White Thunder.

Did this flight 3 times years ago at NERRFs. Shredded the first two at about 1000mph. The third used this carbon airframe, but had no electronics, and was recovered because my name and number were on the fin and sheer luck.

This time the Carbon Weasel was properly prepared with a tracker, onboard 808 camera fiberglassed into the nose cone, and a raven dual deploy alt bay.
Rocket is 16 oz without motor.
Motor adds another 21 oz, and averages 121 Pounds of thrust...:dark:

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MMMSC launch - 8/27/2016 - Berwick, ME

Beautiful weather as predicted: Sunny, 80's with very low winds.

The Flaming Patriot chuffed a few times and then soared into the sky quickly on the CTI J530 Imax.

The Raven reported peaks: 23Gs, 520mph and 4930ft apogee.

Clean dual deploy for a great first flight.

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Curtis Heisey and his son set up their fun upscale Deuces Wild on 2x CTI H133 Blue Streak engines.

Always a very cool liftoff.

Rocket separated, but chute did not deploy. Ground was soft enough that damage was minor.

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The Carbon Weasel shot into the sky like it was fired from a gun.

2.3lbs with CTI I 540 White thunder motor.
Carbon fiber body tube with nose cone and fins from the LOC Weasel kit.

Acceleration and speed with this was extreme. Even more than predicted, because the warm conditions caused the motor to complete its burn in 0.9 seconds instead of the nominal 1.2 seconds...

Raven reported peaks: 85Gs, 1484mph, 8205ft apogee.
As fast as a bullet and just under Mach 2.

Only got one picture from my DSLR that included the rocket as the rest were just smoke trails...

pic 3 at 1 sec into flight, ~1200ft / 1450mph
pic 4 at 2 sec into flight, ~2900ft / 900mph
pic 5 at 3 sec into flight, ~4000ft / 670mph

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Several stills from the onboard video around 8200ft apogee...

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I followed the tracking signal about 2000ft from the launch area, off the lovely flat sod field, and into some very tall pine trees.
Spotted the orange chute about 70ft up at the top of one of the taller trees.

Best I could do Saturday was to mark the location on my phone.

Then returned Sunday (another 5-6 hour round trip drive) having borrowed Howard's monster slingshot rocket recovery kit. (pic 3)

pic 1: view of rocket from the ground
pic 2: view from the rocket
pic 4: 5th shot with the heaviest bag (14oz) got the line over the rocket.
Lowered the end to the ground and swapped in lighter weight + hook.
Then pulled line back over rocket and snagged it for a successful recovery.

Carbon Weasel is in great shape and will fly again.
Even in very light winds it drifted much further than any other flight that day due to the high altitude and light weight of the rocket.

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Flight video:

[video=youtube;cN0VV1CKyXc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cN0VV1CKyXc[/video]
 
Yeah, man, we're one blood type. Flights ,&#1086;nboard video. The other is not important :)
 
Yes, thanks, agree completely with both comments.

The MMMSC field is beautiful, with thousands of feet of flat sod in every direction around the launch area. The tall, mostly pine trees that surround the field are also gorgeous, but potentially challenging for drifting rockets.

I was as glad to get the flight data and video from the rocket as I was to get the physical rocket back.

Have done a couple flights that were a little faster, but one (LDRS, 54mm MD, SkyHook, K1440) was never recovered, and the other was this same airframe a few years back with no electronics.
Both were straight clean liftoffs that were likely in the Mach 2.1-2.2 range.
But it's not the same without actual flight data and video...

So I got the white whale.
This is the fastest and highest flight I have done for which I have flight data and video. :smile:
 
Great flights Boris. Wish I could have been there but a CAP fund raising activity was scheduled on the same day. I was even in Ogunquit the night before for a Paula Poundstone comedy show and stayed at my brother-in-laws house in Wells which is only about 30 minutes from the field! Had to leave Wells at 6 AM to get to KBVY by 7:15.

Gotta love the I540. My 8 pound 7.5" LOC Warlock flies great with it, but it's insane in your 2.3 pound MD Weasel! :wink:
 
After the last two J/K powered flights, found that the bottom (standard) rail buttons took heavy wear.

A normal round rail button only uses a tiny area of plastic to hold the rocket to the rail.

So I designed and 3D printed an ABS rail guide that mounts to the same T mount that many of my rail buttons use.
Hopefully, these will be more durable with a larger area of plastic to secure the rocket to the rail.
And can make more as needed.

First pic is part as printed. Bottom is a pedestal to facilitate printing, with thin attachment points to the desired part.

Second pic is rail guide trimmed, sanded, drilled and mounted.

Went through about 6 designs and prints before getting a part I was satisfied with.
Achieving precise size match from designed part to printed part, to a fraction of a millimeter, appears to be pushing the limits of this software and 3D printer.
However, making more of the same parts is now repeatable.

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CMASS / MMMSC Launch - 9/17/16 - Berwick, ME

The CMASS launch originally scheduled for Amesbury, MA was moved to Berwick, ME due to the very dry condition of the Amesbury field.
Weather was beautiful, sunny and about 70. There were moderate winds, but that is common this close to the seacoast.

My first flight was the Golden Arrow on a CTI K740 C-Star.
(Rocketry Warehouse, Adventurer 3 fiberglass rocket 3in x 7ft)
Launched the same time as another Adventurer 3 that was powered by a longburn motor.

Mine shot off the pad immediately, as the C-Star is a delightfully energetic propellant. Similar formulation to Space Shuttle's boosters.
Bright white flame and fast trail of smoke.
Hit Mach 1 on its way to 9000ft.

The Second Adventurer 3 took a second to come up to pressure and then its longburn motor just kept firing way up into the sky.
Both flights were very cool.
Got thrown off by the very different timing of the two flights and didn't get good pics of the second flight. Did get video which I will post shortly.

Pic1-3: Both Adventurer 3s ready and Golden Arrow lifting off fast
Pic4: Golden Arrow recovering in the distance, but still on the field
Pic5: Raven reported data, maximums: 21Gs, 764mph, 8984ft

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Used two of the 3D printed ABS rail guides (described in post #79) on the Golden Arrow and they worked like a charm.
Showed no sign of wear after a fast K powered liftoff from a 1010 rail.
I will definitely use these more going forward, particularly for hard thrusting flights.

There is likely still a benefit to using conventional round rail buttons for F to H impulse, and maybe slower I impulse flights.
If a round rail button is secured so that the screw is secure, but the rail button has just enough slack to rotate, this will reduce drag on the rail.
 
The Second Adventurer 3 took a second to come up to pressure and then its longburn motor just kept firing way up into the sky.
Both flights were very cool.
Got thrown off by the very different timing of the two flights and didn't get good pics of the second flight. Did get video which I will post shortly.
I believe I'm to blame for the mis-timing of the launches. The momentary switches for arming the pads were stiffer on the controller we used this time compared to the other equipment both clubs have. I didn't find a good position for both fingers to hold these down while I tripped the launch switch and may not have had contact on both at the same time. Once I was back to just needing to hold one down, I was able to fire the second just a little bit late.
 
Ahh, that makes sense. Two high impulse flights must require high impulse launch switch pressure :wink:
 
Pics 1-4:
Al Gloer launched his monstrous upscale of the LOC Viper 3.
Looked to be 5.5in x 8ft+.
Fired by 3x CTI 38mm I 175 White motors.
Great liftoff and recovery.

Pic 5: another flier's fun flight

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My second and last flight for the day was the Naked Finn's Canadian Arrow.
Based on a LOC 4in V2 with slightly stretched body and longer nose cone.
Has flown on G engines until now.

Took off fast and straight on a CTI H143 Smokey Sam, with a lovely thick black smoke trail.
Rocksim predicted 1400ft, but based on how long it was up and how far it drifted, I suspect it went much higher.
No altimeter onboard, but flight video shows 10 sec to apogee and 85 sec coming down on chute.

Assuming 20fps descent rate under chute x 85 sec = 1700ft
Adjusting Cd in Rocksim model until the H143 takes 10 sec to apogee also predicts 1700ft apogee.

That plus some crosswinds put the rocket 40-50ft up in a tree.
An hour to find the rocket.
A dozen shots with the same slingshot used previously removed a bunch of branches that were in the way.
Then snagged the top of the tree about 60 ft up and pulled hard to bend the tree to my will and get my rocket back.
Took a couple hours in all. Small easily fixable zipper due to my tugging, otherwise rocket in good condition.

Picked up a Jolly Logic chute release upon returning to the field.
Also resolved (one more time) to put trackers in more flights.

This motor and rocket combination was similar to what I flew for my L1 back in 2007 at NERRF.

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"Picked up a Jolly Logic chute release upon returning to the field.":)

Funny how it works that way......

I love your cluster stuff. It is great. Really like "Hellboy". Keep up the great work!!
 
I even asked Jason, the excellent AMW vendor, if he could sell it to me going back in time so I could have installed it for this flight.
Apparently time travel is still not possible even at rocket launches.

Thanks.
Now that you mention it, the HellBoy has been waiting patiently to fly for some time....
 
Excellent flights Boris. Glad you got your Golden arrow and Canadian Arrow back. My dad and I are going up again to spend a day in the woods looking for his adventurer.
 
Flight video:

[video=youtube;WBM9FoCeO-I]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBM9FoCeO-I[/video]
 
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