CzTeacherMan
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Aug 8, 2014
- Messages
- 2,982
- Reaction score
- 171
How's that for a start?
I can't figure out the picture thing at the moment, but here's the video:How's what? I did exchange an email with Mike and he said "If you blinked you missed it. Stable as can be it was." I think Yoda may have written the last part for him.
Yeah, great flight. Everyone asks how high, but I don't know. No room for an Altimeter. I could've put in a Jolly Logic, but I forgot to charge it, LoL! I had a Recon 20, JLCR, and an RF tracker (taped to shock cord). Loaded the tracker in the tip of the NC with antenna pointing down, bundled the chute and JLCR in a Nomex and pushed that into the nosecone. Had 25' OBH harness z-wrapped around the motor, and I definitely had a couple inches so I could've gotten a 6XL in there, no problem. I think a white motor would be better for tracking because the blue has so little smoke, I didn't see the trail until it slowed down enough for the smoke grain to be dense enough to see. I'd guess that was at about 3500'... I probably got about 4500-5000' total.How's what? I did exchange an email with Mike and he said "If you blinked you missed it. Stable as can be it was." I think Yoda may have written the last part for him.
Yeah, great flight. Everyone asks how high, but I don't know. No room for an Altimeter. I could've put in a Jolly Logic, but I forgot to charge it, LoL! I had a Recon 20, JLCR, and an RF tracker (taped to shock cord). Loaded the tracker in the tip of the NC with antenna pointing down, bundled the chute and JLCR in a Nomex and pushed that into the nosecone. Had 25' OBH harness z-wrapped around the motor, and I definitely had a couple inches so I could've gotten a 6XL in there, no problem. I think a white motor would be better for tracking because the blue has so little smoke, I didn't see the trail until it slowed down enough for the smoke grain to be dense enough to see. I'd guess that was at about 3500'... I probably got about 4500-5000' total.
Love that little rocket. It's my new go-to shoot-pop rocket. $10 fun or $20 thrills. Sport flying has become my bread and butter since our finances slowed a bit, so the Black Fly is a great rocket for everyday fun going.
I love it so much, I've been talking to Mike about getting a 4"... Hmmmmmmmmm...
.
Michael, Erik -
I usually fly long skinny rockets and I'm not used to this cocking off the rail behavior. Would love some input to correct it. Dry weight was 833g, ~1.4 cal stability. More thrust? G250 Vmax? Don't launch at venues with "Lake" in the name? :boat:
My Black Fly flew today on a G126. Michael, my abbreviated tail cone paint showed no signs of bubbling, but...
This flight simmed to about 1600' (no electronics on board). Sounded great, looked great. Then it cocked over a little bit leaving the rail, unfortunately in the direction of the nearby reservoir. After the minor course change it continued up straight as a laser nearly out of sight. Main at apogee as planned, and then the wind drifted it over the reservoir. I ran after it in time to see the splash. Cool thing about foamed fin cans and O-ring sealed ebay nose cones is that they float forever! Somehow even the 30" spherachute stayed on top of the water.
Winds were pretty calm at launch, if any thing it cocked over with the wind (not into it like a normal weather cock).
45 minutes later I had a towel in hand and was preparing for a November swim when the only boat on the lake rounded the corner. Got it back and it's good to go again. Gotta love a little luck and water resistant canvas phenolic!
Figured luck must be on my side so for my other flight of the day I sent my beefed up DD Star Orbiter to 3,856' on a AeroTech H128W. Maiden flight for my Missile Works T3 tracker and it worked great.
Michael, Erik -
I usually fly long skinny rockets and I'm not used to this cocking off the rail behavior. Would love some input to correct it. Dry weight was 833g, ~1.4 cal stability. More thrust? G250 Vmax? Don't launch at venues with "Lake" in the name? :boat:
Thanks!
https://youtu.be/uzINeDwmvuU
Don't know why it would angle off the rail. More thrust cures many ills, though... But your 833g at G126 is 15-1 thrust ratio. If anything, you're overstable going that fast. Go even faster and it won't matter. LoL!
Hi gfunk,
That is a good story. Of course you know that a low thrust motor off a rail combined with a bit of wind could weather cock but that motor sims great and a memeber of URRG flew that config a couple of weeks ago and reported that it was a nice straight flight. I suppose it is possible that you had a larger gust of wind just off the ground when you launched. This happened to me and it looked just like your video. Mine was on a long skinny 54mm MD carbon fiber Madcow Tomach. It was on a 2 grain CTI J which had a 12:1 thrust ratio. As you can see by the pics as soon as they hit the go button a ground wind picked up and it did what it did. You can even see the yellow caution tape in the foreground start to move more intensely in the second picture.
The only mitigation for weathercocking that I know of is to increase thrust.
This rocket is such a blast, launched it several times over the holiday from my new 1010 rail and jaw stand. Super straight flights on 3G H163 and G118s. Don't blink. That Missile Works T3 tracker in the nose was good idea. A little weathercocking on a G80 SK with some 5-10mph winds, but still acceptable. Regular Rustoleum metallic paint on my shortened tail cone still looks fine.
DO IT!!Time to figure out how to cram a 6 or 6XL into this puppy!
DO IT!!
Very nice. No cramming... LoL, just careful planning on the packing.
Good luck, and post videos
The more I see this thread the more I want one. I love the short, tiny stumpy look. Be perfect on F52's...
I may be asking you for pics to inspire me
So, is there any interest in a 38mm motor/3" diameter upscale for the Black Fly? I went ahead and made my display stand for such a thing this weekend...
Hoping the upscale could fly class 1 on a AT H130, which is the coolest class 1 / no-hazmat motor I've seen yet (and no I haven't tried Loki...). Best $25 I've spent in a while!
Put me down for 1, if there's a minimum order from MAC...
Here's my Goblin upscale on an H130W:
[video=youtube;Vj3bBPz6JhQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vj3bBPz6JhQ[/video]
Add the AT H128W to fun motors for the Black Fly! Was pretty happy with these 2 telephoto launch pictures of it. Sims around 2800', just out of sight, glad for T3 GPS tracker. I've changed from a 30" to a 24" spherachute to get it down quicker (still main at apogee with no JLCR).
Official announcement coming very soon on the 3" upscale!!!
Add the AT H128W to fun motors for the Black Fly! Was pretty happy with these 2 telephoto launch pictures of it. Sims around 2800', just out of sight, glad for T3 GPS tracker. I've changed from a 30" to a 24" spherachute to get it down quicker (still main at apogee with no JLCR).
Official announcement coming very soon on the 3" upscale!!!
First off, Thank you to gfunk for doing the poll on the upscale and placing the order for the first one. It only made sense to make a small batch of them to offer up on TRF. These are 3" diameter and have a 38mm motor mount. They also have the printed tailcone and kevlar booster bridal. The kit sells for $99.00. This offer will not be available on the website and there are only 5 kits available. If there is enough interest I will run another batch. Send me a PM to reserve yours.
First off, Thank you to gfunk for doing the poll on the upscale and placing the order for the first one. It only made sense to make a small batch of them to offer up on TRF. These are 3" diameter and have a 38mm motor mount. They also have the printed tailcone and kevlar booster bridal. The kit sells for $99.00. This offer will not be available on the website and there are only 5 kits available. If there is enough interest I will run another batch. Send me a PM to reserve yours.
View attachment 335765
Enter your email address to join: