29mm MD rocket "The Minute Man" (Build Thread)

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F10? Jeez.... I hope you put that thing as far away from the flight line as possible. Not sure why you can't test with an Estes motor -- I think that if you have any flight stability problems, the Estes motor will be the safest because it is low(er) thrust and will burn out quicker. If you do fly on the F10, better be ready to dodge a skywriter... Cause I think that might happen.
 
rockets said:
Oh, Yeah! But, as they say the longer the motor burns the higher the rocket will go!!
Thanks,
Click to expand...

All other things (i.e. total impulse) being equal, yes. Your rocket has to be light enough so that it's not laboring against the reduced thrust, though... you need a minimum 3:1 thrust/weight ratio for safety, 5:1 is better. Your velocity will be lower, but the drag will be too; drag is a product of the square of the velocity, so a lower velocity for a proportionately longer time will get you more altitude because there will be much less drag acting against the rocket. If you haven't downloaded Open Rocket yet, you should... you can learn a lot of things by playing around with the weight and motor selection. I wish they had tools like this when I was 13... we had to learn the hard way back then.
 
rockets said:
GOOD NEWS!
It appears I have a tracker that I can borrow! And, it appears I can fly it THIS WEEKEND! It should fly on an Apogee F10! RockSim sims it at going to just a tad over 6200'. The only problem with the tracker is where am I going to put it? I don't have any room in the nose cone, I have a lot of room in the BT, though. Should I build a sort of E-bay inside the BT? If so, where should I put it? I can't block the ejection charge, and I don't want the tracker to be burnt. I'm borrowing it, it should cost $125 if I lose it or if it breaks. The other question is what delay do you guys recommend for the F10?
And, the pad is ready to rock & roll! I keep forgetting to post pics. And I don't want to because it takes a while to upload pictures from my camera to my computer.
So all in all, I am really excited to fly!

This rocket should be flying at
Tripoli Mid-Ohio "Phil Prior Memorial Launch" Saturday 22nd & Sunday the 23rd. But, the weather looks really rainy tomorrow, so it will most likely fly on Sunday. If you guys want to check out TMO's website it's here: https://www.tripolimidohio.com/ They have a great field, you can fly up to "O" motors! And a nice, big recovery space. And I have heard via their Facebook page that there are some "M" flights planned and possibly a CTI O3400. Their Facebook page is here: https://www.facebook.com/Tripolimidohio/
So this sounds like a good rocket launch!
Thanks,
Click to expand...


Good luck to you Andrew! That sounds like a great club to fly with - night launch Saturday night :cool: Night launches are one of my favorite things!! :dark:

I'm looking forward to a full launch report from you. And pictures - lots of pictures :)
 
mrwalsh85 said:
F10? Jeez.... I hope you put that thing as far away from the flight line as possible. Not sure why you can't test with an Estes motor -- I think that if you have any flight stability problems, the Estes motor will be the safest because it is low(er) thrust and will burn out quicker. If you do fly on the F10, better be ready to dodge a skywriter... Cause I think that might happen.
Click to expand...

BTW, I will test on a D12, or a E9. What do you guys most recommend?
Thanks,
 
cerving said:
All other things (i.e. total impulse) being equal, yes. Your rocket has to be light enough so that it's not laboring against the reduced thrust, though... you need a minimum 3:1 thrust/weight ratio for safety, 5:1 is better. Your velocity will be lower, but the drag will be too; drag is a product of the square of the velocity, so a lower velocity for a proportionately longer time will get you more altitude because there will be much less drag acting against the rocket. If you haven't downloaded Open Rocket yet, you should... you can learn a lot of things by playing around with the weight and motor selection. I wish they had tools like this when I was 13... we had to learn the hard way back then.
Click to expand...

Thank you! I'll try my best!
Thanks,
 
Sabrina said:
Good luck to you Andrew! That sounds like a great club to fly with - night launch Saturday night :cool: Night launches are one of my favorite things!! :dark:

I'm looking forward to a full launch report from you. And pictures - lots of pictures :)
Click to expand...

I'll try to get a video. My brother will hopefully get some pictures.
Thanks,
 
I think the rocket will be flying tomorrow. (Conditions Pending) The weather looks good, there will be some wind, though. What I mean by that is 10-15 MPH winds. Now, supposedly the wind should calm down to 5-10 MPH at around 1-4 PM. So that's my launch window! There is no guarantee that I can make it to the launch, as I may be busy with other things. But, Hopefully I can get it off the ground and see a nice flight!
Thanks,
 
rockets said:
I think the rocket will be flying tomorrow. (Conditions Pending) The weather looks good, there will be some wind, though. What I mean by that is 10-15 MPH winds. Now, supposedly the wind should calm down to 5-10 MPH at around 1-4 PM. So that's my launch window! There is no guarantee that I can make it to the launch, as I may be busy with other things. But, Hopefully I can get it off the ground and see a nice flight!
Thanks,
Click to expand...
Go for it.
 
D12 sounds like a good start. I agree on the E9 cato issues.

F10 should be a nice fight, should be high enough where a tracker will be needed. We flew Estes Pathfinders with F10s. I think we got 1 or 2 back, but lost at least one (no trackers). It is a nice 8 sec burn motor - you will probably hear it for longer than you will see it.

TRA Mid Ohio is a great bunch of people. They should be able to help you a good bit. Take a look at their rockets and learn what you can from them. I did my L1 flight at their club's launch. LOC Caliber ISP with an H128-10.

Good luck!
 
rockets said:
I think the rocket will be flying tomorrow. (Conditions Pending) The weather looks good, there will be some wind, though. What I mean by that is 10-15 MPH winds. Now, supposedly the wind should calm down to 5-10 MPH at around 1-4 PM. So that's my launch window! There is no guarantee that I can make it to the launch, as I may be busy with other things. But, Hopefully I can get it off the ground and see a nice flight!
Thanks,
Click to expand...
Remember to check your altitude winds.... 15 miles on the ground can be 50+ at a mile.
 
THE LAUNCH OF THE MINUTE MAN IS GO!! Yep, that's right! The launch of my MD rocket, "The Minute Man" will fly on a F10. The weather is:
68 degrees, mostly sunny, and about 10-13 MPH winds. One last question before launch, What size parachute should I put on it? I currently have a 18 inch LOC BRIGHT Orange parachute on the rocket. I have 3 ft. long Kelvar® 200LB test shock cord mounted on the rocket with 30 minute epoxy. A fellow rocketeer at my local rocket club has agreed to let me borrow his RDF transmitter. The other electronics in the rocket is a PerfectFlite APRA altimeter. And the weight is about 3 OZ.
So, What do you guys think?

Thanks,
 
I'd probably reef the Chute halfway, let it come down fairly fast as high as it will be going.

Hope your flight goes well, I did my L2 with that gang, hope to fly with them again!
 
rockets said:
THE LAUNCH OF THE MINUTE MAN IS GO!! Yep, that's right! The launch of my MD rocket, "The Minute Man" will fly on a F10. The weather is:
68 degrees, mostly sunny, and about 10-13 MPH winds. One last question before launch, What size parachute should I put on it? I currently have a 18 inch LOC BRIGHT Orange parachute on the rocket. I have 3 ft. long Kelvar® 200LB test shock cord mounted on the rocket with 30 minute epoxy. A fellow rocketeer at my local rocket club has agreed to let me borrow his RDF transmitter. The other electronics in the rocket is a PerfectFlite APRA altimeter. And the weight is about 3 OZ.
So, What do you guys think?

Thanks,
Click to expand...

i would ditch the chute all together, and go with a silver Mylar streamer. You can make them from a "Space Blanket" or a "Happy Birthday" banner from the party store. Cheap and very effective and easy to see in sunny conditions.
 
Nick@JET said:
I'd probably reef the Chute halfway, let it come down fairly fast as high as it will be going.

Hope your flight goes well, I did my L2 with that gang, hope to fly with them again!
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's what I did!
I'll launch it this afternoon! :)
Thanks,
 
rockets said:
THE LAUNCH OF THE MINUTE MAN IS GO!! Yep, that's right! The launch of my MD rocket, "The Minute Man" will fly on a F10. The weather is:
68 degrees, mostly sunny, and about 10-13 MPH winds. One last question before launch, What size parachute should I put on it? I currently have a 18 inch LOC BRIGHT Orange parachute on the rocket. I have 3 ft. long Kelvar® 200LB test shock cord mounted on the rocket with 30 minute epoxy. A fellow rocketeer at my local rocket club has agreed to let me borrow his RDF transmitter. The other electronics in the rocket is a PerfectFlite APRA altimeter. And the weight is about 3 OZ.
So, What do you guys think?

Thanks,
Click to expand...

Despite the shock cord being Kelvar® 200LB test - three foot mounted on the rocket with 30 minute epoxy sounds a little iffy to me.
Tell us how it goes.
 
MaxQ said:
Despite the shock cord being Kelvar® 200LB test - three foot mounted on the rocket with 30 minute epoxy sounds a little iffy to me.
Tell us how it goes.
Click to expand...

It should probably be at least twice that, probably longer... the ejection charge on those 29mm AP motors is pretty strong. I've built similar rockets and had a coupler "stiffy" running all the way through them, and still had the ejection charge split the tube.
 
cerving said:
It should probably be at least twice that, probably longer... the ejection charge on those 29mm AP motors is pretty strong. I've built similar rockets and had a coupler "stiffy" running all the way through them, and still had the ejection charge split the tube.
Click to expand...

Yep...my thoughts exactly.

If he gets it back that's one of several mods to consider.
 
Well, I didn't get to launch it today due to strong winds. They were at about 15 MPH. So, maybe some othertime I can try it.
Sorry for the bad news. :(
Thanks,
 
Harness sounds a bit short. It might want to floss a slot down the side of the BT at deployment :(

Try doing some Z-folds (with masking tape) on what you have, to reduce the chances of that happening. Something like this:
ZFold.jpg

The tape helps dissipate the energy as it tears during deployment. You might need to scale this down a little (it is 0.75" tubular nylon), but you get the idea.
 
rockets said:
Well, I didn't get to launch it today due to strong winds. They were at about 15 MPH. So, maybe some othertime I can try it.
Sorry for the bad news. :(
Thanks,
Click to expand...

that's a bummer, but not bad news, Andrew. 15mph with that rocket, you might have needed to take a train or bus to get it! :)
this can give you time to think about some things- mainly the recovery setup. I strongly encourage you to think about what Sabrina said about the mylar streamer. I picked up a survival blanket off of amazon for something like $3 and have a LOT of mylar streamers I can make. the ones I have for my 29 MD are pretty big- about 14 or so inches wide and about 5 or so feet long and pack into the bt pretty nicely. they help spotting greatly. a pretty good video from apogee on YT on making them
 
Good job controlling your go fever! Smart choice , wait until conditions are right, in the mean time build a couple fun rockets that you can launch when conditions are not perfect and you can let the 29mm stay in the car but still not feel your day was wasted. I had to do that yesterday as well, couldn't fly my 54MD
 
rockets said:
Well, I didn't get to launch it today due to strong winds. They were at about 15 MPH. So, maybe some othertime I can try it.
Sorry for the bad news. :(
Thanks,
Click to expand...
Hopefully you can fly it next time!
 

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