EMRR Rocket Reviews has a page for the Firestorm 54 including a .rkt file.
https://www.rocketreviews.com/unknown-firestorm-54---giant-leap.html
Oh perfect i was browsing on there but didn’t see any of the newer FG kits under the review area. Thanks a ton for the link
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My pleasure. I'm a big fan of the Firestorm 54. I did my L2 on one years ago now and then promptly trashed it the next day as I flew a J1999N in it. It was two weeks before the recall.
I have a second one that I flew heaps of times until a couple years ago when it separated under boost and left a 6 inch zipper on the lower airframe. Only recently I cut that airframe section out (sadly below the super mount) so I've got a squished Firestorm 54 now!
I have the 38mm Tbolt, and it's an awesome rocket. The 29mm adapter is a good investment. Only virtually any 38mm motor or reload that thing will get out of sight in a hurry. It's a very small rocket too. I built mine using the Ape-RC.com nose cone payload bay. This allows me to fly a tracker pretty easily--it's tight but everything fits. See this thread:
https://www.rocketryforum.com/showt...er-Bay-System-for-Wildman-CTI-38mm-Nose-Cones
The airframe is a bit too snug for my JLCR--so I agree on the use of a smaller chute. The descent rate may be faster than you like, but the fin can and airframe can handle high speed landings.
The rocksim file for it is here:
https://www.rocketreviews.com/unknown-thunderbolt-38.html
I purchased the Wildman nose cone, but didn't care for the way it looked on the airframe. Used a Olfa knife to trim the GLR nose cone, and drilled a hole. It fit snug, but works great. I ended up having to sand the interior of the airframe just a bit because the APE altimeter expanded the base of the GLR nose cone slightly. A bit of sanding, and now everything fits as it should.
BTW, if you haven't flown any of Chris at APE-RC's products before, they are top notch. Really well made.
Now you've got me wanting to look at a Firestorm 54 for a dual deploy project. My wife may be looking for you. Watch your back!
That sounds awesome! Smaller dual deployment birds always look so rad. I am pretty excited to be getting both of them. I ran some sims last night on both and am pretty jazzed to get them going. I am planning to get a 24 chute for the t-bolt to help it come back closer. Seems like most 38mm motors will put it close to/above 2k. I am getting a 29mm adapter with it as well. I just need to figure out where/how to get a Altimeter and possibly gps tracking into it. I will probably do review/build for both as there doesnt seem to be a lot of info on the newer FG versions.
I had a quick dig around, here's a photo from 2010 of my first Firestorm on a J1999 milliseconds from CATOing. Here's hoping you have better luck with yours!
I have always thought the T Bolt with the bell retainer is one of the coolest looking rockets. One day Ill get around to building one.
I haven't seen either one in FG, but the Magna-Frame T-Bolt was my L1 kit, first flight on a H148R was perfect, second flight on an I280DM was unfortunately its last, I blame only using half of the BP charge in the motor (as per AT's instructions for smaller-diameter airframes) as the cause, rocket never separated. My next kit was a Firestorm 54 (also Magna-Frame), it's still the rocket I've flown the most (17 HPR flights of 63 total). It had a rough life though, as noted in this post. FG would have worked much better I think, but I opted to replace it with a modified Go Devil 54 instead.
Didn't have a good zoom camera at the time, so the T-bolt launch shots are not great.
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One day a while back, my buddy Dave and I built a Tbolt in 40 min (no paint) and went with a J350. 10,260 ft. I still have it. It had a little rough go with a Loki I540, Flight was fine , landed in a pond. After a few months went by, the pond went dry and we brough her home. I should get it ready for another Loki....The Tbolt was made for that I540! BTW I did paint it, red ,white and blue.
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