going down to mid power

kzimmerman said:

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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Don't trash 'em, save 'em for me!

But seriously, I love the 18mm D's; haven't had trouble w/ completely stock first fire he's.

I fly D through I for the most part. Occasionally some 18mm motors. Will get around to my level 2, likely next year. I cound see flying 2-4 J to K motors a year after that.

I think I motors are a nice compromise between cost and performance. Nearly 100% Aerotech for me.

dhbarr said:

Don't trash 'em, save 'em for me!

But seriously, I love the 18mm D's; haven't had trouble w/ completely stock first fire he's.

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Tried em. Wouldn't light. No kidding I've tried just about every ignitor out there from estes to quest to copperheads. I've even used a few homebrew (this is quaranteed to light it!) from my ex friends. They just won't go. Even augmenting the ignitor with with a short piece of thermite didn't do the trick. I don't know what the problem is, but I'm tossing em. Unless somebody from MDRA launches wan'ts em next month, they are going in the trash.

kzimmerman said:

Tried em. Wouldn't light. No kidding I've tried just about every ignitor out there from estes to quest to copperheads. I've even used a few homebrew (this is quaranteed to light it!) from my ex friends. They just won't go. Even augmenting the ignitor with with a short piece of thermite didn't do the trick. I don't know what the problem is, but I'm tossing em. Unless somebody from MDRA launches wan'ts em next month, they are going in the trash.

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Sound oxidized. Try sanding the slot/core (realize that could be a trick)

https://dbmccann.wordpress.com/motors-fired/

I tend to average around 20 flights a year....big or small.... so if I can do one big one here and there, and fill in with smaller... all the cooler.

I don't look at it as stepping back. There's no reason to be locked in at any level once you get there. I fly A-J so far and have fun with everything. Having the L2 just gives me more options and flexibility on building and flying.

Rocket86 said:

I don't look at it as stepping back. There's no reason to be locked in at any level once you get there. I fly A-J so far and have fun with everything. Having the L2 just gives me more options and flexibility on building and flying.

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I wasn't suggesting that you should be locked in at anly level. I could go fly an L motor if I wanted, and I might someday, I was more wondering if anybody else noticed a move away from high power to midpower in their flying. I don't really have much interest in highpower anymore, except maybe for EX motors. Still probably gonna build a lot of 3 grain 29's though.

DavidMcCann said:

Sound oxidized. Try sanding the slot/core (realize that could be a trick)

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Yep. I could not get mine to ignite either. I got a jewelers saw blade and use it to scrape the slot. That plus First Fire Minis worked great for me this past weekend.

Strange. I've flown quite a few 18mm D's since I found out about them and never had an issue with one. Apparently, I have something to be watchful for....huh!. I love those little motors. Makes whatever smaller LPR rocket I have haul a$$!

Never had any interest in HPR for a lot of the already mentioned reasons. I prefer flying something I designed better than anything. And so, I stick mainly with LPR. I dabble with MPR some, and fly composites at nearly every launch I go to. But I can still be creative with these designs and use the MPR motors. Plenty of fun to be had on that note. I don't see me ever stepping up to HPR at all.

One possible reason to go to level one is to broaden your range of MPR motors. Sounds counterintuitive, but I think that any motor with over 80 newtons of average thrust, or a sparky motor, is considered high power. I could be wrong, as I didn't launch to much MPR until after my L! cert, but I think that I read it somewhere once. Maybe only NAR.

So I checked. NAR lists any motor over 80 newtons average thrust and all sparky motors as HPR motors. So cert, sparkies are awesome motors! The CTI F-50sk is one of our favorite motors of all time, bar none. We've loaded them up into a lot of big daddy flights, Mega mosquitos, little nukes, and probably more than I can remember. Actually have a couple in my motor supply right now, considerable considering that there's only 4 motor reloads.....

kzimmerman said:

One possible reason to go to level one is to broaden your range of MPR motors. Sounds counterintuitive, but I think that any motor with over 80 newtons of average thrust, or a sparky motor, is considered high power. I could be wrong, as I didn't launch to much MPR until after my L! cert, but I think that I read it somewhere once. Maybe only NAR.

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g81+, 3x g clusters, sparkies, hybrids, big fat heavy oddrocs ; L1 is pretty straightforward to unlock so much mid-to-high goodness

I just found a 7-18mm motor mount available. think I have a new scratch built happening soon.

tomsteve said:

I just found a 7-18mm motor mount available. think I have a new scratch built happening soon.

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3x d21, 3x d10, 1x d2.3 in a bt80.

You know you want to

I fly a lot of MPR and 29mm Hs.

Most of the bigger stuff is DD w/ research motors. I like APCP and the simplicity of top poppers (many somewhat disposable rockets - not electronics or motor hardware) for a low stress launch. Usually I get them back, it I lose a few no biggie. They are often found later in the year.

rstaff3 said:

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.

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I can identify with that.
After I got my L2 I thought I'd stay on the mo power is better train, but my involvement with other hobbies ( I fly a variety RC and like to fish the OBX) the money doesn't go as far when I start burning larger quantities of AP at a faster rate.
I may get into Ex if it saves money when going big - I took a course and it looked tempting but that initial $ outlay was daunting.

My interest has been more scale/scratch design/build and there are a lot of challenges in the mid power strata to keep me busy....

Started with B & C motors as a kid, got back in as an adult, flew lots of D, E, F and a few Gs. Dabbled with Micromaxx. Now there's two sides of me. The one side is planning for my L1 cert, and plans to get involved with Tripoli MN and see where it leads; while the other side of me builds custom 24 & 29mm models. I find them to be a simple, cheap and yet still relatively powerful niche.

Essentially, I want complex experience under my belt but appreciate simplicity.

MaxQ said:

I can identify with that.
After I got my L2 I thought I'd stay on the mo power is better train, but my involvement with other hobbies ( I fly a variety RC and like to fish the OBX) the money doesn't go as far when I start burning larger quantities of AP at a faster rate.
I may get into Ex if it saves money when going big - I took a course and it looked tempting but that initial $ outlay was daunting.

My interest has been more scale/scratch design/build and there are a lot of challenges in the mid power strata to keep me busy....

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I hear what you are saying about the $$. I got my L3 and the only commercial L3 motor I've flown is the cert flight. You are also right about the cost of starting research. It is a lot, but if you are only looking for simple propellant formulas and not worried about performance or how it looks, then there are several formulas you can use that help reduce your initial cost. Look me up at BattlePark this weekend and we'll talk about it more.

As far as interesting challenges, I think you can find them at any level from LPR to L3. There are so many things you can do and try in this hobby that I don't think there is any reason for someone to move up for the "challenge". All of my experimenting is going on at the MPR, L1 and L2 levels. It is all about what trips your trigger and the level has nothing to do with that.

My only motivation for HPR is technical aspects. I am very interested in electronics, data, mechanisms, and "pulling off" a successful launch. I love the idea of launching a HPR and watching it disappear and being able to say to myself, "Ok, this is the test to see from start to finish if it all came together." I really know nothing about HPR at this point, but I'm very interested in learning and working to be successful, regardless of cost. I mean,,, don't get me wrong, I certainly have a budget, but I think the cost of a HPR project per year is probably reasonable.

What I need IS A MENTOR IN MN!!!

Anybody? Anybody?

Josh

joshismycaptain said:

don't get me wrong, I certainly have a budget, but I think the cost of a HPR project per year is probably reasonable.

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Oh I remember when I thought this!!!! op:op:


Starting with nothing, to sitting on the pad, probably looking around a grand to 1500. It's not terrible.... but when you realize it's over in about a second and you may never see it again, or worse see it on fire...well I'm glad I don't have to hit the button.

Post questions in the HPR forum here and you'll get enough mentoring for a lifetime lol....and there should be a club within a few hours drive I'd imagine.