The MicroMaxx Ah Ha Moment...

WizardOfAZ said:

Sounds good. I'm sure wind is a huge role. Especially in retrieval from several feet in the air! If there are micros going to heights of 100-200 feet, wind could certainly blow it, say, into a nearby house/yard/car/child/rock garden/pool...

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Drift during recovery isn't the issue; that is rarely ever a problem. Anything more than a very light breeze can make some MicroMaxx rockets unstable and cause them to prang while they are still under thrust. This is especially true with some of the LPBs.

If you want to see a 5 foot AGL flight, then the UFO little plastic brick is just the ticket!

Here are a couple of interesting MMX conversions:

https://www.rocketryforum.com/showpost.php?p=159864&postcount=1
https://www.rocketreviews.com/semro...ion-triton-micromaxx-cluster-clive-davis.html

The first one is by me, and the second is by fellow ASTREoid Clive Davis.

rocketreviews.com is a gold mine for MicroMaxx articles.

The site will not allow me to pull out a url for the Search results page that I got so that I can paste it here. So just go to the search page and enter "MicroMaxx" in the Search RocketReviews.com box.

https://www.rocketreviews.com/search-3134.html

El Cheapo said:

Yeah, but its all freeway :wink: It's a but of a drive bit you can safely launch almost anything at coyote basin. It is designated for model rocketry and electric rc. The rc guys I have run Into were very friendly and cooperative.

I may be mistaken but I believe it Is not permissable to use rainbow valley unless It is a scheduled launch or ! board member is present.

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Yeah, that's what frustrates me. Yes I realize I am not covered by the insurance policy if it's not an official SSS event. Yes,,, I understand the landowner has allowed us for events only. Yes,,,,,,, I understand we need to respect the rules since it (for the guys with big rockets) is a wonderful place to launch. I can work with all that. The problem is, I want to go out, any time I like, by myself, with my family, and safely launch smaller rockets as I please, with no goofy limitations. That is why I need something like Coyote Basin. Honestly, if it has been designated as a rocket launch site, I'm all for it. It's not that far of a drive, and I'd rather sit in grass with a lawn chair, where my kids can play, then out in the dusty desert, watching roadrunners and tumble weed go by... If there are fellow rocketeers at Coyote Basin, you will probably see me there. On days there are not, I'll be down the street at my neighborhood park...

On to the fun stuff!

I was working on the Quark. I decided to take some parts and make a clone. I had this fancy little clear plastic tube that my new x-acto blades came in, so I got to thinking, and here's what I came up with :

I made a payload Quark. Then, I found a keychain my girls have been carrying around that has a single LED and little batteries. I rigged them up so they fit nicely into the payload section of the Quark. I turned the light on, loaded it in the rocket, and I call it,,, the Quarkstar... :smile:

Quark & Quarkstar in daylight :


Quark & Quarkstar in darkness :

WizardOfAZ said:

Yeah, that's what frustrates me. Yes I realize I am not covered by the insurance policy if it's not an official SSS event.

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If you are a member of NAR, you are covered by the insurance policy whenever you launch, even as an individual at the local park, as long as you are doing so in compliance with the Safety Code.

I cannot imagine anymore what it must be like to live in an urban area or in the suburbs. I cannot imagine not having fields nearby that I can go to and launch rockets in, especially MicroMaxx rockets!, whenever I wish. I can launch micro rockets in my backyard and front yard without any problem. I could go to the parking lot at the shopping center on a Sunday morning and launch them there. I can go to one of the school athletic fields anytime that it isn't being used by the school (and I have never seen all of them in use at the same time--there aren't enough people here for that!) and launch there. I cannot imagine living in an area that is so built up and so restrictive that I cannot find even an eighth of an acre somewhere in which to launch some MicroMaxx rockets.

MarkII said:

If you are a member of NAR, you are covered by the insurance policy whenever you launch, even as an individual at the local park, as long as you are doing so in compliance with the Safety Code.

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Noted...

I think I'm going to take a crack at that Genie idea in micro scale. I don't plan on doing much research or taking much time to think about it. I'm just going to try and build it by looking at photos. Maybe after a few attempts I'll have a decent looking rocket...

Well, here's a really blind approach to an AIR-2 Genie. I only care about this rocket because a good friend of the family worked on them. I figured some day I'd build him one to go on his desk (after a launch or two of course). The more I got to researching them, the more interesting they became. Pretty amazing rocket. Anyway. I had some rough sketches and info online. I shrunk down the image I had, and was going to print it out and just kind of build a rocket over that image. Well as it turns out, I've stretched my printer ink as far as it will go. Nothing but a blank sheet of paper came out. So I taped the paper to my computer screen and carefully traced the image. Crude huh? Then I took the ink pen lousy drawing to my rocket workbench. I just started measuring and shaping. I still have a little more sanding to do on the nose cone, but it's come a long way. I'm not happy with the fins, but they're so difficult to work with when they're so small. I'm just going to leave this one sloppy I think. I'll throw some white paint on it, mark it up with a black fine tip, and call it good. The next one(s) will be better quality.

Here she is!

WizardOfAZ said:

Yeah, that's what frustrates me. Yes I realize I am not covered by the insurance policy if it's not an official SSS event. Yes,,, I understand the landowner has allowed us for events only. Yes,,,,,,, I understand we need to respect the rules since it (for the guys with big rockets) is a wonderful place to launch. I can work with all that. The problem is, I want to go out, any time I like, by myself, with my family, and safely launch smaller rockets as I please, with no goofy limitations. That is why I need something like Coyote Basin. Honestly, if it has been designated as a rocket launch site, I'm all for it. It's not that far of a drive, and I'd rather sit in grass with a lawn chair, where my kids can play, then out in the dusty desert, watching roadrunners and tumble weed go by... If there are fellow rocketeers at Coyote Basin, you will probably see me there. On days there are not, I'll be down the street at my neighborhood park...

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Josh:
I live in far southwest WASHINGTON DC. Directly under the inbound glidepath for National Airport easy/west landing strip. I regularly fly micro in the very small National park across the street from my Townhouse. it's about 75feet wide and more then 2 miles long along the crest of the old Potomac river bank overlooking Rt 295,Bolling AFB and the Naval Research Lab.
While the Park Rangers I've spoken with say Model Rocket flying is "Generally" not allowed in ANY National Park, they don't see any harm in what I'm flying using MMX motors. I've had the crew over to watch a few test flights of PD, SD and micro Helicopter models with a lot of WOW's for these guys. Most City and County parks have similar restrictions written into their Charters. It's a very good Idea to Check first before flying and be prepared to give them a show of what your talking about. Even then if the supervisor is involved the answer may be no.

That said:
Even testing HP PD and Streamer/D models I haven't had any problem flying micro there (even have the local city Police sit and watch every so often). As Long as you fly Safely using standard Model Rocket Safety Code procedures you shouldn't have much of a problem flying micors... 1/4A might be a bit more of a concern as they can be a bit more noticable. I've flown Up to B's from the little park across the street as long as I don't mind loosing them to the huge Trees or House tops lining the North and South respective landing areas lining the park.

Micro Can easily be flown in just about any decent size yard. MMX LPB 3" saucers routinely get 15-25feet on MMX-II motors, not all that much but well over 5feet in mid flight each in the photos below.

Not bad on the Genie Josh:
Should be a fun little flyer.
it's a Micro scale model on my build list also, have the base dwg done but haven't gotten around to building it yet

I think my little park down the street will be just fine then. It's probably plenty big for micros. So I took a look at your launch pad. It's obviously a camera tripod, and then what did you do on the top? I'd love to use something like that I think, so I'm not always squatting in the dirt.

If I buy bulk MMX motors, where is the best place to do it? I'd be very interested in buying $50-100 at a crack if I could get the cost per unit very low. Plus, it will be fun to see the look on my wife's face when I open the box. She's always curious about my inbound shipments.

WizardOfAZ said:

I think my little park down the street will be just fine then. It's probably plenty big for micros. So I took a look at your launch pad. It's obviously a camera tripod, and then what did you do on the top? I'd love to use something like that I think, so I'm not always squatting in the dirt.

If I buy bulk MMX motors, where is the best place to do it? I'd be very interested in buying $50-100 at a crack if I could get the cost per unit very low. Plus, it will be fun to see the look on my wife's face when I open the box. She's always curious about my inbound shipments. I'll get a good laugh when she says, "What the hell are those?"

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My Best advice would be to do one of three things:
1) Take a pack with you to your favorite "local" Hobby shop. Speak with the owner to see if he will contact his distributor with a multi CASE order from Quest aerospace inc. Each case of MMX-II Cat no 5663 contains 12-6-motor packs. I've purchased from a couple different shops this way with anywhere between 4 and 12 cases. (the 12case order was a buld club order that got us the best price! IIRC including shipping was got them for .485cent each. If you don't have this as an option:

2) Call Quest Aerospace directly. Ask for the order service desk. order in case quantities that well fit your pocketbook..I'd really suggest at least 3 cases to offset the shipping

3) Once you have a base inventory LOL.. keep an eye out for Quest SVSS (Super Value Start Sets) around the Christmas season. These usually contain 30-50 motors, a complete Quest launchset with very nice hand controller (easily no-tool converted to 12V external power) and a set of the current LPB's. These sets range in price so I won't even guess at what they'll be this year??? but it's usually low enough to warrent the purchase of a couple SVSS's for the motors alone.

It's really a very simple assembly: I used same scrap aluminum I had laying around in the basement. Heres the Plan and a few photos of the launcher base.
It can just as easily be made entirely of wood, Plastic or just about any combination of things as long as at some point you can either drill & tap the baseplate 1/4-20 to match the camera attachment screw on whatever tripod you pickup or install a T-nut, Threaded insert or what have you to match the tripod threaded thumbscrew. Everything above that can be altered or adjusted to taste
I can't tell you have much I LOVE my little 10 segment digital camera tripod for getting the micro launch pad to whatever convenient Height I like. NO more kneeling on the ground to adjust and Hook up igniters or models with this set-up. Rarely do I even need to bend over, which is Great for my Bad Back & Knee LOL!!!!
Hope this helps

The Flis Kits have arrived! :wave:

Jim must have sent everything on the same day, I got my order as well. If this is your first order from Fliskits you will be amazed at the quality of the items he sells. I buy 90% of my stuff from him. Jim is also actively on this forum and with rocketry in general. A number one guy.




If your read this Jim, don"t let it go to your head!!

Mr. Larry said:

Jim must have sent everything on the same day, I got my order as well. If this is your first order from Fliskits you will be amazed at the quality of the items he sells. I buy 90% of my stuff from him. Jim is also actively on this forum and with rocketry in general. A number one guy.

If your read this Jim, don"t let it go to your head!!

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I've been told over and over about the quality of Flis kits. I'm very happy to have my first round, and excited to build them! I can tell already the parts are carefully crafted, and for that I am thankful. Nobody likes to pay for junk, and this is certainly not the case.

I am somewhat disappointed there were no decals when I opened up the Honest John, but only to the extent that I am very interested in doing a good job scale wise, and it will be more challenging now to get the decals done right. I'm open to any suggestions on where/how to do the decals.

All in all though, I am satisfied without a doubt. Thank you!

We had received a lot of feedback about the decals. They were top notch but added a bit of excess cost to the kit and the feedback we got from a lot of customers is that they did other paint schemes on the HJ other than the basic US ARMY design so the decals were going to waste.

Add to that the problems in getting decals printed in white and it all added up to we were better off removing the decals.

At some point I will be getting another batch of silk screening done and *may* make these decals available as an option

The hojo is really hard to find if you paint it the od green another reason to go with the test round white/red scheme. The test round pictures and data ive found have no lettering that i have been able to find.

jflis said:

We had received a lot of feedback about the decals. They were top notch but added a bit of excess cost to the kit and the feedback we got from a lot of customers is that they did other paint schemes on the HJ other than the basic US ARMY design so the decals were going to waste.

Add to that the problems in getting decals printed in white and it all added up to we were better off removing the decals.

At some point I will be getting another batch of silk screening done and *may* make these decals available as an option

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Understandable completely. Thanks for the explanation (since I hadn't had a chance to read on your site). It's not that big of a deal. I'll still do the ARMY green (since the first one has GOT to look like the original). Even if I don't get "ARMY" on the side, it's no biggy. If I was daring, I'd try my own hand at painting. I'm not. Come to think of it,,, I'll probably just do some careful marking with a black gel pen or similar tool. I'm sure I can get some kind of "ARMY" on there that looks just fine.

WizardOfAZ said:

Understandable completely. Thanks for the explanation (since I hadn't had a chance to read on your site). It's not that big of a deal. I'll still do the ARMY green (since the first one has GOT to look like the original). Even if I don't get "ARMY" on the side, it's no biggy. If I was daring, I'd try my own hand at painting. I'm not. Come to think of it,,, I'll probably just do some careful marking with a black gel pen or similar tool. I'm sure I can get some kind of "ARMY" on there that looks just fine.

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Or perhaps someone could sell or donate their unused HoJo decal to you?

WizardOfAZ said:

Understandable completely. Thanks for the explanation (since I hadn't had a chance to read on your site). It's not that big of a deal. I'll still do the ARMY green (since the first one has GOT to look like the original). Even if I don't get "ARMY" on the side, it's no biggy. If I was daring, I'd try my own hand at painting. I'm not. Come to think of it,,, I'll probably just do some careful marking with a black gel pen or similar tool. I'm sure I can get some kind of "ARMY" on there that looks just fine.

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Josh:
Perhaps you need to do a little more research on the HO-JO before making statements like it has to look like the original. The RED/White HOJO is the orignal TEST round colors. OD green is the yuckie operational field colors LOL!

If you want to make decals the problem is printing white. there are only a few systems that have this capability other then original Silkscreened mass produced decals. One being an Alps printer as used by Sandman, Tango Papa and a few other independents until the white tape runs out. or go with tiny vinyl letters for U S ARMY and forget the other lableing. If you decide to try hand knifing your own vinyl decal letters, I'd suggest the thinnest .010" thick white vinyl by Avery. On most micros the .015" and .020" 3m vinyl films have to thick an edge.

Personally I went with the much more interesting test round colors Red/white/black and added a few details.
Sorry Josh! ment to include these Scale data photos but got distracted by work..Doh! Red/white/Black and another varient Fluorescent Orange/White/Black...See the Army does not live by OD Green alone :roll:

Micromeister said:

Josh:
Perhaps you need to do a little more research on the HO-JO before making statements like it has to look like the original. The RED/White HOJO is the orignal TEST round colors. OD green is the yuckie operational field colors LOL!

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Well I'll be the first to admit I haven't done a lot of research. I guess out flying rockets, I've only ever seen the Honest John in green. Thanks for the heads up on the other colors.

WizardOfAZ said:

Well I'll be the first to admit I haven't done a lot of research. I guess out flying rockets, I've only ever seen the Honest John in green. Thanks for the heads up on the other colors.

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No prob! Sorry I forgot to add the Full Size Data Photos Doh! I was just kidding about the yucky OD green by the way... it's just a bit harder to work with in Standard size models making it even more of challange in micro. Generally it's best to use a gloss OD Green or Olive drab. Apply whatever decals in white with a good decal set and sol to prevent silvering and do away with as much of the backer clear as practical. When dry spray the entire model with a UV resistant Matte clear to get the dull finish.

Hope this helps.

I do have some green paint that I thought was the right color. I put it on a Flis Tartar and it looked kind of slimy. Maybe it was too glossy. I need to try the top coat you mentioned. Even still, the stuff I have might be off just a little.

not to threadjack but the flourescent orange hojo is gorgeous... I searched and searched when i was doing my micro and end up red/white/black... time for a new one, and a larger scale one as well. one of my favorite rockets, that nose just makes me happy.

WizardOfAZ said:

I do have some green paint that I thought was the right color. I put it on a Flis Tartar and it looked kind of slimy. Maybe it was too glossy. I need to try the top coat you mentioned. Even still, the stuff I have might be off just a little.

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Over Dark colors the UV additive isn't as important as over white or light colors where clearcoat Yellowing shouldn't really matter. Testors classic Dull coat could be used over Green, OD Green an Amry Olive Drab.

Krylon in the last few years released UV resistant Clears #1305 Gloss and #1309 Matte. Both have been in harsh forced age sun and natural sunlight testing since 2005 with very near 0% yellowing observed. The Lab forced Age testing supposedly adds about 20years to the time in the tank. Still both came out over white paint with 96% of the original clarity. NO visible yellowing only slight chalking of the matte product. Both I've found to be on the expensive side (Up to 8.50 a can). that said I still highly recommend both for clear coating Decal sheets (before they are applied).

I still don't recommend clear coating entire models as like all clears these also get brittle and chip with age. Future or Pledge floor polish with Future is a much better Over paint and decal coating.

gagreen:
Have to agree the Ho-Jo nosecone is a very good shape. Please Note those Orange/white/black test rounds are the later M50 Small fin varient introduced in the 1960-61 time frame. Pretty Nifty color combo tho
Here are 3 more pic form that ear ya might find interesting and maybe a bit scary

Here are 3 more pic form that ear ya might find interesting and maybe a bit scary

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Have been following this thread with interest being on the 'low and slow' side of rockets.

One minor point, somewhat unrelated...the mushroom cloud pic isn't a HJ test, but the test of the M65 Atomic Cannon...basically an artillery round.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M65_Atomic_Cannon

And a better pic earlier in the sequence:



FC

Good Catch Fastcargo. It was a small dark pic grouped in with a bunch of other HO-JO photo data but sure looks like the same locations and Barrel instead of launch rail.