Well that didn't work... Failure Gallery

FastCargo said:

Not as bad as you might think.

Though the chute didn't deploy before ground impact, it hit the ground sideways. The first stage 'flare' got dented on one side. But no parts came off...heck, you could display it with the dented side facing away and you'd never think anything was wrong. Anyway, it's a relatively minor repair...hopefully just a matter of pulling out the dent, putty and paint.

After analysis and post mortem, what we think happened is that the N-1 model is a 'drag stable' rocket. The big, flared bottom acts like a huge suction cup, always trying to pull to the center, like saucers, Stealths, wedge, etc do. But because the drag area is smaller in relation to the length of the rocket, we think it needs more speed before it can become completely effective against side forces like a crossbreeze.

We think that is why it could pass a swing test, yet not fly correctly...it simply didn't have enough speed when it left the rod. It didn't help that A) it's heavy - 10.4 oz with a D12-3 and B) the launch rod goes through the body...there is a launch lug that extends from the base all the way to the nose shroud. Both factors resulting in slower takeoffs.

I'm not sure if I'm going to attempt another flight after it's repaired.

FC

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Grid fins didn't help, huh?

Don't worry, I'm going to post one. Just need to fetch the pics out of the fixer tray and let them dry...

stickershock23 said:

M3000 purple EX motor.... Photos Courtesy or Ray Lapnse..

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Mark,
Did you make that motor or fly it? or both?



Braden

this is my eight motor (38mm core and 7 29mm outboard)cluster a Vaughn brothers WILD THING 5.56 inch diameter from LDRS 21 in texas. only 3 of 8 lit. the core and two outboards on the same side...


View attachment 54063





it has since been rebuilt and flown a couple of times....

This is my FSI Viking 5 clone at NARAM 53 last week. Not sure if this still counts as a first flight or not. Motor was an Estes E9-6. Now it's a hollow tube.



Glamour shot.



Ignition.



Doing the Sgt. Hulka imitation. ("BLOWED UP, SIR!")



Continuing to blow up.

My buddy Gary's near-prang experience

https://s343.photobucket.com/albums...lights/?action=view&current=Sorcerercrash.mp4

LW Bercini said:

My buddy Gary's near-prang experience

https://s343.photobucket.com/albums/o464/glbyrum/Rocket%20Flights/?action=view&current=Sorcerercrash.mp4

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I have no videos of it, of course, but that flight almost exactly mimics my first-ever model rocket launch in 1967. It was with my just-built Astron Alpha. My friend and I brought my Electro-Launch over and very carefully set it up in what would eventually become "our" rocket range. We picked a location based upon prevailing wind patterns and to maximize the recovery area so that we would not overfly the field. We did it just as we were supposed to do, which I suppose was not bad for a pair of 13 year olds who had never even heard of the hobby three months earlier and who were proceeding in the total absence of adult guidance. We just went with our guts, supplemented with a little bit of common sense. After elaborate preparations, mounting anticipation and a full 10-second countdown, I pressed the button for the very first launch of a model rocket that either one of us had ever seen. Instead of woosh-pop, it was woosh-plop. My Alpha didn't lawn dart, thankfully; it landed on its side, breaking a fin fillet. My rocket fully ejected its recovery system while it was moving at a speed of 0 fps, right at perigee.

The motor that I used for that flight was the 1/2A.8-2 from my Deluxe Starter Set. In the aftermath I sent Estes an immediate order for some B6-4s, and I launched all of my rockets except my Sprite on nothing but B6 motors (and one C6) from then until the end of my first active period in the hobby. (It took me 34 years to launch my second-ever C. :lol: )

From this very auspicious start, a 44-year infatuation was created.

... it is the first launch of the year,

... you haven't launched a rocket in over 6 months,

... so you're a little rusty,

... and consequently, without thinking it through, you stuff 4 sheets of wadding into your cardstock rocket?

MarkII said:

The motor that I used for that flight was the 1/2A.8-2 from my Deluxe Starter Set. In the aftermath I sent Estes an immediate order for some B6-4s, and I launched all of my rockets except my Sprite on nothing but B6 motors (and one C6) from then until the end of my first active period in the hobby. (It took me 34 years to launch my second-ever C. :lol: )

From this very auspicious start, a 44-year infatuation was created.

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It was my bad call on proper motor size for this near disaster. Having a small field and it being a maiden launch played a part in it as well. In the video, it looks like it all hits the ground but what really happened is the ejection charge went off probably 1/2 inch from impact and blew the airframe section away from the nose. There was absolutely no damage to the rocket and the nose had a little dirt on it.

SteveF said:

stickershock - is that jean NV?

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yep LDRS 23?

UPscaler said:

Mark,
Did you make that motor or fly it? or both?



Braden

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I built the rocket, my partner built the motor. we tested 5 or 6 small ones they all worked good. We believe the AP we got was bad stuff.
the particle size was way smaller than it was supposed to be so it over pressurized..

Lawn darts count!
Have no fear, the rocket is okay.
[YOUTUBE]GFUGkCYhNIA&feature=plcp&context=C3b0874bUDOEgsToPDskLFf70yKP0zrbIpt3OJwg6M[/YOUTUBE]

Aksrockets said:

Lawn darts count!
Have no fear, the rocket is okay.

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...3....2....1.....

rrrrRRROOOAAAaaaaarrrrrr..................................Doink!

Counting from where I thought burnout was... yup... about a 10. :eyeroll:

Over Pressure

No pics, but my Custom Rockets SAM-X taught me how masking tape motor retention works. The tape around the booster motor was not tight enough, so when the booster motor ignited, it slid up and out of the booster stage, still taped to the sustainer motor.

:y:This is apparently not a stable configuration for a rocket. It turned 90 degrees in midair and flew horizontally, directly toward the woods on the edge of the field. It staged nicely, still flying horizontally. In the far distance, I saw the chute pop, and it dropped somewhere in the woods.

I did a nice airbrushed camo paint job on it, I wish I would have gotten a picture first.

My 1st attempt at TRA Level III on a HyperTEK M960, circa Summer 2005:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cko...DvjVQa1PpcFMEQwjeVMIwPLkC0TYBeG4IsCQQywsTREM=

I build good fincans... This was a Rocket Dynamic Systems Quasar... Charges were too weak as I used Pyrodex mixed with BP... a formula for failure. Classic Wal Mart Bag recovery.

This is what remained of my first attempt at dual deploy recovery. Was also my L1 certification rocket, a LOC Lil' Diter. Everything above the transition-turned-AV bay is still firmly planted at Bong State Rec. Area. A poor choice for securing the battery caused loss of power = lawn dart. Has since been rebuilt from the fins up, didn't even scratch that paint!

Geez, here I go again.......

Saturday's excitement from the TORC Launch in South Charleston, Ohio. My first launch of the day is my USS America clone. Over five years in the making with Moldin' Oldies nose cone and an assortment of Quest, Semroc and BMS parts spread throughout the rest of the bird. This was supposed to be the first of three flights for the USS America on the day, a C11-3, followed by a D12-3, finishing up with an E9-4.





This is what I get for planning:









The only things left in the body tube were the adapter and engine block, along with a charred 1 1/2 inch length of the motor tube and a delaminated, twisted and charred centering ring. If you hold it up and look through the body tube in the sunlight, you can see the sun shining in.:shock:

For the last flight of the day, I decided on a test flight of my 75% finished Centuri Design Contest X-Wing Fighter.



Heavy sigh....







Scorched the primer and broke off a cannon tube, but no internal damage.
So much for clean living.

Fishhead said:

For the last flight of the day, I decided on a test flight of my 75% finished Centuri Design Contest X-Wing Fighter.

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Were those both C11s? :y: :surprised: :jaw:
So sorry for your loss. Those are/were fine birds

I want to build this again bigger and better... someday.

First flight - motor block fail - motor exits by flying up through the airframe.

[YOUTUBE]oVSkCxDhHtY[/YOUTUBE]


Last flight - weak ejection balistic re-entry

[YOUTUBE]443TVgwtRdI[/YOUTUBE]

gdjsky01 said:

Were those both C11s? :y: :surprised: :jaw:
So sorry for your loss. Those are/were fine birds

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No, the USS America was a C11. The X-Wing was the tried and true C6-3. The X-Wing will definitely fly again, and would have today if I hadn't put off fixing the wing cannon. The USS America might just be toast. Things must have gotten pretty hot inside that body tube. Not a great pic, but it will give you the idea of what's left inside the main tube.



This is all that was left to pull out of the body tube, and it about six inches in. There were some scraps of one centering ring, but those were so scorched that they fell apart when I tried to straighten them out.

The remains of a Vaughn Bros Javelin and a 480 case after an I-300 cato..I didn't bother cleaning the liner out.

Well, this isn't the biggest failure, but perhaps the most amusing LPR mishap we've had: Estes Alpha 3 gets hung up on the launch rod, attempts to burn a hole in the blast deflector, then ejects the parachute up and snags it on the top of the launch rod like it's a grappling hook and the rocket wants to climb up and make an escape. It's just determined to reach the sky somehow, I guess.

Photo by KennB, taken at MMMSC launch last year.

View attachment 87935

My "Orange crush" 2"mailer tube on a D12-5,ejection burnt the shock cord came in ballistic and hit the aluminum bleachers the nc and chute came in nice and slow,after repair it was more stable and flew better..those mailer tubes are tough...flew it yesterday as a matter of fact on a E18-4w

2 Days before my first Dual Deployment Attempt, and I'm playing with Pyrodex Ejection charges (I'm 19, so I can't get BP. Curses...) and I made the discovery that containment helps it burn. So I decided to contain in CPVC pipe hot-glued in both ends...

Needless to say my brand new, never flown hot rod Buffalo DD Suffered 99 problems, and a breach was one.



Of course this is the attempt I had my parents watch. The nosecone didn't even budge....

awseiger said:

Of course this is the attempt I had my parents watch. The nosecone didn't even budge....

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Nice... talk about a double whammy!
Having your parents watch is not a good idea until proven otherwise...
(Can you tell I have cats and not kids?)

New Ocean said:

Phantom 4000. Loved that kit, many good flights on F101, G55, and clusters. A few 5x D12 flights, to date still my most complex clusters. This last flight was on a G55, and the nosecone was too tight. Should have continued to sand it. Ballistic from 500 feet, nosecone stuck about 2 feet down into sod. Looked like one of those cartoon cannons that got plugged and blew up in daffy duck's face.

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It looks like elmer fudds gun.