BattlePark Spring Launch March 24, 25, & 26

Today was definitely colder then yesterday, although my sunburn was still warm to the touch so that kind of helped. The low ceiling 1000 ft. +-300 ft depending on time of day put a crimp on big rockets. We know the forecast so I brought along my LPR collection and Estes motors. I haven't had those to a launch in years. It was fun to fly some of the different LPR again. The Estes Twister helicopter recovery and Art Applewhite's Double Helix are always fun. Chad staged a B6-0 to a A10-3 in a 5" saucer for a great flight. My only APCP flight was a F12-5J in a Estes Renegade D. The motor was old and chuffed a lot then corkscrewed all the way up, which that rocket had never done before. Still, it turned out to be a good flight.

Got to watch a shovel recovery of Ben's Jart. That was, shall we say, interesting?

All in all, I think Sunday turned out much better then most folks expected, which is always good.

Nuts. Ok Jeff. You brought up the larn dart. So here it is!! if anything I learned from this incident is I NEED TO LEARN from Ben. His attitude was amazing. I'd probably be ticked beyond belief...I could definately learn a thing or two from him!

My boy loved launching his Storm Trooper and his Red Flare. Odd the shuttle took such a weather cocked flight and broke one side. It's in the epoxy bay drying now for yet another flight. Great seeing you all today; yet sure sorry I missed Saturday!

On Sunday I launched, and recovered an estes Mosquito. Now with two flights, it has doubled the typical life expectancy of a Mosquito. I also flew my Mega Mosquito on an e9-4. I probably should have flown more, but I was too busy talking.

Dave A said:

WHAT ABOUT THE HYBRID STATIC TEST? It's killing me!

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Here's the video . . .
[video]https://youtu.be/G3JSWpO56l0[/video]

Thanks Nathan!

The fill lines burned through releasing the nitrous before the preheater got everything hot enough. So we had a cold flow start (dumps nitrous about twice as fast as it otherwise would have been burned), that transitioned to hot flow (nitrous as a monopropellant) and then the fuel finally lit when it was about out of nitrous.

The motor is in fine shape after the burn from what I've seen so far. It is not fully disassembled yet though. I had to catch up on sleep!

I'll be adjusting the preheater and startup sequence for the next test. It will be prepped for LDRS just in case there ends up being any opportunity to test there.

Gerald

Handeman said:

Got to watch a shovel recovery of Ben's Jart. That was, shall we say, interesting?

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My recovery "skills" rubbing off on other people?:grin:

kcobbva said:

Nuts. Ok Jeff. You brought up the larn dart. So here it is!! if anything I learned from this incident is I NEED TO LEARN from Ben. His attitude was amazing. I'd probably be ticked beyond belief...I could definately learn a thing or two from him!

My boy loved launching his Storm Trooper and his Red Flare. Odd the shuttle took such a weather cocked flight and broke one side. It's in the epoxy bay drying now for yet another flight. Great seeing you all today; yet sure sorry I missed Saturday!

View attachment 315708

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What goes up, must come down, sometimes faster then you want. It's kind of like the old saying, if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. Rockets will crash and/or burn. You build another and go on. If you get too attached to one, you probably shouldn't be flying rockets.

Ben has been flying for a long time. He's crashed a lot of rockets over the years and he has a good perspective on rockets. The kitchen is certainly not too hot for him.

Handeman said:

What goes up, must come down, sometimes faster then you want. It's kind of like the old saying, if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. Rockets will crash and/or burn. You build another and go on. If you get too attached to one, you probably shouldn't be flying rockets.

Ben has been flying for a long time. He's crashed a lot of rockets over the years and he has a good perspective on rockets. The kitchen is certainly not too hot for him.

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What was the post op?
Did you all figure out what happened?

MaxQ said:

What was the post op?
Did you all figure out what happened?

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Motor ejection. Wasn't strong enough. At least that was the discussion we had when I was still there.

Didn't boost the motor ejection charge even thou CTI 38mm have 1.4g of 4F. Been talking with another flyer who had the same problem. Looks like the chute release survived. The Altimeter 3 which was in the nose cone didn’t. Will rebuilt and ground test.

Like Jeff said what goes up must come down. Sometimes not the way we planned it.

Ben

ben said:

Didn't boost the motor ejection charge even thou CTI 38mm have 1.4g of 4F. Been talking with another flyer who had the same problem. Looks like the chute release survived. The Altimeter 3 which was in the nose cone didn’t. Will rebuilt and ground test.

Like Jeff said what goes up must come down. Sometimes not the way we planned it.

Ben

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I learned the hard way a long time ago the 38mm doesn't have enough ejection umph as we sometimes need. If you plan to use motor eject, here's what you do.
Get a stick of Estes BT-20, cutoff a 1/2" piece. Set your delay time with the CTI tool. Assemble the motor.
Remove the paper cap holding the CTI charge. Pour out the powder in a temp container. 5 min epoxy that slice of tube that fits inside the recess of the delay. When epoxy dry pour back the powder, tapping the whole time getting enough down in the hole. Add more powder as needed. Roll masking tape around the piece of tube sticking out the delay cavity and fold over. Adding more tape, fold over again to hold the charge.
You can blow any av bay off the rocket, need more, cut a longer piece.

Dave A said:

I learned the hard way a long time ago the 38mm doesn't have enough ejection umph as we sometimes need. If you plan to use motor eject, here's what you do.
Get a stick of Estes BT-20, cutoff a 1/2" piece. Set your delay time with the CTI tool. Assemble the motor.
Remove the paper cap holding the CTI charge. Pour out the powder in a temp container. 5 min epoxy that slice of tube that fits inside the recess of the delay. When epoxy dry pour back the powder, tapping the whole time getting enough down in the hole. Add more powder as needed. Roll masking tape around the piece of tube sticking out the delay cavity and fold over. Adding more tape, fold over again to hold the charge.
You can blow any av bay off the rocket, need more, cut a longer piece.

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And this sir, is getting tagged into my "How-to" Rocketry OneNote! Thanks for the advice.

Ben,

Did you use a hacksaw to get it apart? What about the 54 to 38 adapter? I guess the Altimeter 3 sheared off the board and hit the top of the nose cone?

It's really a B1+(# when you hit rock bottom!









Sorry, I couldn't resist. Blame Steve!

Picture from part of the burn where the EX hybrid was actually burning. This is right at the end of the liquid phase of the burn, before the tailoff.

Again, thanks everyone for letting me do the static test!

Gerald

Handeman said:

Ben,

Did you use a hacksaw to get it apart? What about the 54 to 38 adapter? I guess the Altimeter 3 sheared off the board and hit the top of the nose cone?

It's really a B1+(# when you hit rock bottom!









Sorry, I couldn't resist. Blame Steve!

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The Altimeter 3 was in many pieces from I assume breaking loose. The 54 to 38 mm adapter looks suspect.

Hack saw surgery performed. Chute and recovery harness are ok.

The coupler went further into the body tube then we originally thought. The fin can is good. Well replace upper section.

Ben