Things I Learned at ROCStock 46 (w/photos)

(1) I'm very glad CTI is mostly back in production. So's Jacob.


(2) Cris showed that J800Ts make good booster motors.


(3) Wildman Ultimate Interceptors look really good on blue motors. Plus, Brian picked a great paint color for his.


(4) The 98mm DMS motors exist! Allen said it was really easy to glue together.


(5) Neal's M650W worked, and was 👌🏻 in an Extreme Wildman


(6) The M1850W is a really good choice for a L3. Jens did a great job on his Wildman Competitor 5, congrats!


(7) Ken Finwall still flies rockets!


(8) Allen and Kurt are constantly scheming.


(9) Kurt CAN, in fact, pull off the X-15 form factor. She was BEAUTIFUL!


(10) Flake aluminum is a bad thing in a thermite igniter.



(DO IT AGAIN)

(11) Wayco can, in fact, fly rockets--all this time I thought Sharon was the brains of the operation :wink:


(12) A standard 54mm x 4" Wildman Drago with 1/8" fins can, in fact, handle a 5 grain M motor, and goes exactly to the top of ROC's waiver.

(but Tim still owes me a nose cone--that one's off my Demon!)

Great weekend, everyone. Perfect weather, awesome flights, good beer, and warm campfires. Can't wait to do it again next month!

daveyfire said:

(4) The 98mm DMS motors exist! Allen said it was really easy to glue together.

Click to expand...

Is that graffiti on the mountainside, left of the rocket? Subliminal messages...hmmm?!?!

daveyfire said:

(6) The M1850W is a really good choice for a L3. Jens did a great job on his Wildman Competitor 5, congrats!

Click to expand...

Beautiful! Great looking combo. Shoot, now I want one!

daveyfire said:

(7) Ken Finwall still flies rockets!

Click to expand...

Whoa, cool! Big Blue Thunda; go Ken!

daveyfire said:

(10) Flake aluminum is a bad thing in a thermite igniter.



(DO IT AGAIN)

Click to expand...

All in the eye of the beholder. Tis' a beautiful display, IMO!

daveyfire said:

(12) A standard 54mm x 4" Wildman Drago with 1/8" fins can, in fact, handle a 5 grain M motor, and goes exactly to the top of ROC's waiver.

(but Tim still owes me a nose cone--that one's off my Demon!)

Click to expand...

Ooh, nice! Motor of choice here?

From the album....

-What is the motor in the red/orange Magnum? That is an awesome looking sparky!
-Dave Allen's L3, love the scheme! Looks very Triano-esque!
-The ol' Anaconda takes flight! Nice!!!!

Many thanks for posting, David! It's nice to see what's going on the West Coast at the legendary Lucerne!

Wow, I haven't seen Ken Finwall in years. It's good to hear he's back at it.

Nice pictures David.

Thanks guys! Eric, the mountain graffiti is some high voltage power lines that are off to the north of the lakebed. Every so often we see the guys come by in helicopters and check them--freaky job, flying a chopper 100' off the ground against the side of a mountain

Motors of choice:
Ken flew an L2500ST (cool motor, glad I still have one to fly!)
Brian blew up an L1250DM
I flew an M1670BS
Chris flew an L900DM in his Magnum. (He's one of several coworkers who fly at ROC--I think we're starting a little club at our office!)
Dave Allen flew an M1297W and that rocket was IMPECCABLE
The Anaconda had an M1550R. I have an L952W for it next month if the weather's nice!

I'm still working on videos, but while we wait... we had a GREAT Wildman drag race, too! (Technically it was a sequenced launch to meet the new rules, but close enough.)

Thank you to Tim for the SMOKIN deal on 4" Dragos and thank you to Charlie (ATGM) for the bonus bucks on K850 Dark Matter motors! I had ten on special-- five flew and the other five were gone minutes after the race was over, so we might see a rematch in the near future

I was busy LCOing and flying in the race, so photos by Wimmer and my dad:


Pad prep during the ROC member's meeting (prime time before sunset)


Ready to go! Thanks to Mike, Neal, Wayne and Chris for racing!

And awaaaaaayyyyyyyy we go:




I came out the highest by 60', but I kinda cheated since I had my version made with a 75mm mount (plus Cris said trying to beat me in a drag race is like "trying to outpray the pope" :lol so Wayco won the race at a little over 7600'. He took home a $50 Wildman West gift certificate as his prize. Congrats, Wayne!

It was SO CALM, look at how that smoke is hanging around! What a great weekend to fly.

daveyfire said:

Click to expand...

This is probably my favorite HPR photo maybe ever.

Amazing shots!

Thanks for sharing


Nate

Got a few vids done too. I bought my dad a camera a while back and this was one of his first outings with it. (I "borrowed" it for AIRFest )

Wildman Drago Drag Race, Aerotech K850DM DMS:
[video=youtube;I_PYd8ATb9Y]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_PYd8ATb9Y[/video]

Kurt G's fabulous X15:
[video=youtube;pZKq2nVfYPQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZKq2nVfYPQ[/video]

Solo Drago, M1670BS:
[video=youtube;3ZHGC66CGTw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZHGC66CGTw[/video]

Jens G's Wildman Competitor 5, L1040DM:
[video=youtube;9wwf-_d_FmY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wwf-_d_FmY[/video]

Anyone else got some pics to share? The ROC FB page is covered in 'em!

Great pics and vids!

Thanks for sharing the photos and videos. Good to see what is flown on the west coast. Love the K850DM's. Missed you at Midwest Power. Have a good Thanksgiving. Greg Olson