going down to mid power

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kzimmerman

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I'm a level 2 flier, been flying highpower for a few years now. I've noticed a trend in my flying, I've completely stepped back from high power. So, I was just curious about the way people that frequent this board came to mid power. Do you fly all sizes? Mid and low? High and low? Just mid? Personally, I'm tired of 3fnc rockets, and mid and low power afford more opportunities for oddball designs. I also like the challenge of stuffing electronics and recovery into 38mm rockets, or putting altimeter bays into nosecones. That stuff is much easier to do on 4" rockets, not so much the smaller you go. I can also fly a G motor rocket up over 3k for a whole lot less then a J! So how many stepped back? I can't be the only one........
 
I'm Level 3, but the average Ns of the motors I fly works out to about an I motor. I don't fly much past J impulse in the summer, because our field doesn't support it well. I will be flying an M at LDRS, and occasionally I get the itch to launch a K or an L in the winter at our bigger field. But mostly I launch G, H and I impulse. Cheaper, easier to recover, not likely to wreck someone's vehicle.
 
I too am a L2 and like to build low and mid power for the same reasons. There is a whole lot more designs that can be built and played around with, up-scale,, down scaled.
For the cost of one of those HP motors I can build quite a few neat small rockets.
 
Batmite, a vehicle got the windshield smashed on our last launch. it was a midpower too, I believe. Also, H's and I's are highpowered, If I remember correctly! ;)
JJSR, my sentiments exactly.
 
I used to be L1 but am nor a REBAR that is having a riot with 18-29 mm motors.i have a couple staged 18 and 24 mm rockets, a couple clustered ones, and just some single engine ones. I am have a scratch built THOY nighthawk- 7- 29mm cluter- im workin on ( actually, its collecting dust. think its time to get it back out). im going to be building a pyramid and a UFO of some variety as its pretty cool to see the effects of aerodynamic drag on them.
something that really got me geeked- going to the sunward aerospace website and seeing the different cluster configurations and even canted mmt's.
one I came across recently is apogee hi test 3100. very interesting.
and this winter im going to scratch build a nike Hercules.

BUT

ive been reeeally thinkin getting back L1. I still have my 38mm cases and they plead with me every time I open my range box.
 
I try to keep my options open by keeping a motor stash of some Class 1 , non-hazmat aerotech motors .

Can still fly if waiver issues (or NO night launch waiver !) and can replace a few mail order , no HAZ fee very reasonably .

Looking forward to the new 24/60s loads .. will rock in by BlackOps 38 , and will update the avbay with a Quark !

Kenny
 
Batmite, a vehicle got the windshield smashed on our last launch. it was a midpower too, I believe. Also, H's and I's are highpowered, If I remember correctly! ;)
JJSR, my sentiments exactly.

Yeah, I was there. My reply probably wasn't appropriate for the mid-power forum. Apologies.
 
I am level 3 and I fly all levels. I have not flown an M or higher in about a year. I plan to fly some soon.

I fly mostly low power to I motors.
 
I plan to fly some MPR once we get back to Higgs farm. I've lost too many of them to the trees at the sod farm. The lighter the rocket, the more it drifts. I have a 29mm minimum diameter that I built 3 years ago which has never flown. Should go 4200 ft and just over mach 1 on a G250 Vmax.
 
I'm a J thru L kind of guy with the occasional M and I. Although I do have an N and O to burn when the builds are ready.
 
I started low power, quit, started low power with my son, got one mid-power (NCR Big Brute, pre-Estes), quit again, started mid-power, got my L1, got my L2. Then the regression started as I built low thru LPR, including MicroMaxx, alongside L1/L2 rockets. It continued and I now haven't flown a J for many years. Then I's dropped off. This year I have flown nothing over a G, although many of my G's are technically HPR due to the avg impulse and their sparkiness.

The reason...$$$. I found I can do most of what I want with no more than G's and an occasional baby H.
 
I usually fly more D12s and I's than anything, but have been having a blast with the 24mm G's, and lately, a lot of 29mm H's as well. Part of that has been trying to get some parachute testing done, for which 29mm 3 and 4 grain H's are superb--and part of it is that two of my I-eaters (my 4" Red Max, Minnie Magg) have not been in flyable condition due to repairs. Next year should see more I and J's with regularity. If I had the means to fly a couple of M's every month, I certainly would!


Later!

--Coop
 
L2, but there is nothing like an AT 24/40 F24 or an AT 29/40-120 G64 in a 3-4' home grown rocket! Got an H and an I AT DMS motor in the box looking for a rocket right now. Mid power is the gateway high to high power. But you don't have to lock yourself into not being able to go the other direction.
 
12 bucks for a G64 load on my Patriot is pretty darn good bang for the buck. Flying single use AT E20s in my 24mm Estes stuff is a real kick too.
 
I find myself flying at the ends of my personal scale. Lots of G's, a few J/K's Lots of fun in fast prepped easy to fly, low stress rockets.
 
another possible reason for migrating back to low and mid power is, you get to push the button :). I like to see my creations come to life...it seems more satisfying to be able to be the one that enable that.
Rex
 
That's true. The most satisfying day of launching for me in the last year and a half was launching mosquitos at the school. My son and I have a competition going to see who can fly theirs the most before loosing it. Must be flown on A's of course. I'm ahead one flight. We painted them chrome so that there is high visibility. Anybody ever tried to paint anything chrome? total PITA.
 
another possible reason for migrating back to low and mid power is, you get to push the button :). I like to see my creations come to life...it seems more satisfying to be able to be the one that enable that.
Rex

That's true. My kids are way more interested in launching on our own when they get to count down and push the button than they are at a club launch where there are mighty L3 motors roaring into the stratosphere.
 
Personally, I'm tired of 3fnc rockets, and mid and low power afford more opportunities for oddball designs... So how many stepped back? I can't be the only one........

There is a whole lot more designs that can be built and played around with, up-scale,, down scaled. For the cost of one of those HP motors I can build quite a few neat small rockets.


Yeah, that is where I am too. Although with me, I never stepped "up". I realized that "stepping up" meant giving up what I love most about my hobby: building creative designs. I gave up 3FNC a long, long time ago (except for scale subjects).

I tend to fly D through G with the occasional H. As somebody mentioned before, this seems to be the "sweet spot" in terms of affordability and field availability. But the relatively lower impulses allow me to get far more creative with the designs. and I get to watch them from much closer!
 
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I have flown a buttload of 18, 24, 29 and small 38's. D's to I's. then a J and an L this year. lots of smaller stuff is a ton of fun, every once and a while I go big.
 
Same here. I'm L2, yet I fly more low and mid power than I can count. Fits the field, and budget, better.
 
And I thought I was alone. L2s turning back to mid-power is a thing. Who knew?
 
Like others I am a L2 that has stepped back a bit too. I enjoy flying 29mm motors most so that keeps me in the G-I range, perfect for what I like to fly. Even though I am not flying my 38mm cases anymore, I'm not sure I want to part with them just yet.
 
Like others I am a L2 that has stepped back a bit too. I enjoy flying 29mm motors most so that keeps me in the G-I range, perfect for what I like to fly. Even though I am not flying my 38mm cases anymore, I'm not sure I want to part with them just yet.

But I'm sure when you're ready you will post them as "free" :>
 
I've got a few L2 birds and a slew of L1's, but our local fields and travel time to the big ones prevent the "big" launched on a regular basis. The local club has a field that can handle up to baby H's, but also has a 2500 foot ceiling, so I've really grown to like the Estes PSII kits. Plus as mentioned above, you can get a lot of launches in on the same budget as a single J-motor flight. Last local meet I had 10 launches all E-G. I can't turn around the big motors like that.
 
Why would you want too? That just seems like a horrible way to spend money. 10 j motor flights is about $700 or so, 10 g's about 250? Give me the G's anyday.......
We tend to only launch 1 or 2 midpower rockets a launch nowaday's, last launch the highest we went was an aerotech 18mm d10. Worst motors in the world, We only managed to get one lite. We've augmented igniters, used quest first fires, etc. but only one success. I'm tossing them in the trash and going back to CTI.
 
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