What did you do rocket wise today?

Drove 90 miles had 3 different 38 motor mount rockets with me ..... none with a retainer ring ....... FFS

spent most of the day sanding my rocket....a little work when you go down to 400 grit on a jumbo dark star.......

Sanded down the Mega Der Red Max back to primer. Put the first color coat on the Frenzy. Set it aside to dry until I can sand out the wrinkled paint... 😠

There was a scheduling mix-up w/Scouts, so I let my oldest pick out a bt55 arf + booster. While he was building that I rescued the fincan from his crashed red Rider. Should be some fun staging the next time we launch.

Decal'd my replacement Goblin, then noticed I hadn't painted the one black fin! Dope! Decal'd my second Sprint XL. Masked and painted the red fins on my Nike Apache... Got heavy-handed with the paint and got some bleed under.

Helped out as a pad manager at the WSGC/First nations launch at Bong. Saw a few other TRF'ers, although most of them will probably not admit that they were seen with me.

I tested another motor, which came out to be a J437. And, as usual, I made no progress on something to fly it in.

[video=youtube;_Ul7Ofgtcos]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ul7Ofgtcos[/video]

BeerorKid said:

A 4 foot rail showed up at lunch. The Rockwell Jaw Stand will be here Friday.

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I am taking a JawStand to NSL 2017 to hold a 20mm rail, and a MakerBeam rail. I have gone to mini and micro rail buttons on almost all low and mid power builds.

This picture shows a simple 2X4 block to mount the 20 mm rail to. My MakerBeam rail will have its own mount for the JawStand. I put a 3/16" rod in to the bottom so it could be used in a regular launch pad, but I do not want to be swapping out rods at the NSL pads for my rail -- I'll just take my own stand.

The JawStand is unbelievably robust and stable. You'll like it if you have not used one before.

Trident, do you think the rail buttons are better on low power than 1/8" or 3/16" launch lugs?
I know you get whip with the rods, but I picket up 3- 1/4" x 6' rods on clearance couple years back.
And I've been putting on 1/4" launch lugs on some of my bigger rockets. But I don't plan on launching in any wind.
When I priced 10/10 rail I had to change my underwear. Since I don't launch with clubs, I can't see spending the money.

Trident said:

The JawStand is unbelievably robust and stable. You'll like it if you have not used one before.
View attachment 318269

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... especially if you spike the feet.

I flew with the Michiana Rocketry people at their MidwestBlast2 launch today. (4/22) I flew a Loc Wolverine on a I140W to 1300'. I then flew a Wildman 4" V-2 on a J250W to 3362'. Last I flew a BSD Thor on a I170G to 1700'. Easy recovery of all three rockets. Temps in the mid 50's. winds of 12-18 mph. Greg Olson

Video of charge testing the Mini Frenzy.

[video=youtube;APNxgf1lU00]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APNxgf1lU00[/video]

Had a mixed-bag rocket day yesterday.
The good: First time announcing flights, which was fun.
It was a HUGE event for kids in the area who all built rockets* and it was so great watching these young minds catch the rocketry bug. Literally hundreds of great flights.
First flight of the Trajector (utterly textbook on an F15-6)
Got some good flights in.
Fell in love with the Applewhite Cinco. It's SO MUCH FUN and charming. I got as many oohs and aahs with a 3 inch flying saucer as some of the big HPR launches.
The Jolly Logic Altimeter 3 is GREAT!!!
The not-great:
My HPR winter project failed. ABS transitions cracked like cheap china before launch. Better to happen under the ez-up than 400 feet in the air with an I motor underneath.
3g CTI 29mm case has a spacer stuck in it so I couldn't fly my 3g skidmark motor Open to ideas on how to get it out.



*-shoutout to the BMS School Rocket. It's cheap and goes together really well. Shiny mylar streamer is EXCELLENT for visibility. So good that I think I'm going to tape an empty potato chip bag to my next HPR shock cord. I'm not even kidding.

Primed the newly sanded MDRM. Looked at the wrinkled paint on the 4" Frenzy...

Took the boys to the park at the lake. Flying Colors, Spirit, Sizzler, Satellite Silver, Code Red all great... but the Athena took a drink.

I was able to cobble together a retrieval out of my field tools and launch pad parts ; all in all, they seemed to have a great time.

Drunk me just bought sober me some Madcow 4" goodies to start work on an Estes upscale.

3d printed some parts for a launch tower. Here's one in progress...

Played with rockets yesterday. Edited rocket videos today.
LOC Expediter/CTI I150 BS
https://youtu.be/lT2RknQJ6xQ
Bomb Pop drag race with AT I140W DMS
https://youtu.be/R2ahUnKXBrc
Last but not least, my girlfriend had a successful L1 flight with her Madcow 4" Super Batray with an AT H178 DM.
https://youtu.be/4syncSYpapo

Congrats on your GF's level 1 flight! Did your Expediter's paint get smacked from the collision after the parachute opened?

Flyfalcons said:

Congrats on your GF's level 1 flight! Did your Expediter's paint get smacked from the collision after the parachute opened?

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Thank you! The Expediter looks like brand new. Didn't realize how violent that was until I seen the video. All is well and that's how I'll fly it every time.

Launched! 19 up, 19 down safely. Most E-G powered.

Finally got a chance to sit down and edit my club's launch video. Some cool saucers made an appearance this month including a depron upscale Quinstar, a Turbo Vortico, and a Stealth.

[video=youtube;xlXIYvuYwpk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlXIYvuYwpk[/video]

Flyfalcons said:

Finally got a chance to sit down and edit my club's launch video. Some cool saucers made an appearance this month including a depron upscale Quinstar, a Turbo Vortico, and a Stealth.

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Wow! You guys had perfect launch weather, and clearly a good time! I'm still waiting for calmer winds here!

A friend 3D printed a pair of vanes. Just taped them on to see how they would look. They need a little more sanding before I permanently bond them.

I know Coop & Layne will know what they are for. Anyone else????

Worked on the L3 packet some more while the boy was at swim practice, and did some decals on the Estes MIRV this evening. Undoubtedly the worse decal set I've seen in an Estes kit. The multiples of each decal make absolutely no sense. Extras of some, multiples short in others, just kinda what would fit on the sheet I guess. You definitely can't get to the face card with what is in the kit...not even if you exclude 1 of the sustainers do you have everything you need to match the face card.

All that said, a very different, and fun kit. You can tell a lot of thought went into it, which is what makes the decal sheet so confusing. Oh well, I'm sure it will be a fun flight regardless.

Ordered some birch plywood for my upscale SW project last night. I don't have fin dimensions yet and was concerned that the 6"X12" sheets wouldn't be big enough for the major dimension of the fins, so had to order a pack of six sheets that are 12"x24". So that should pretty much cover the next million rocket projects that I can think of.

posted a video of my 2-stage bertha's 2nd flight, https://youtu.be/JwV81WpPX_I looks like I need to change my motor choice, C6 to A8-3 and a 12g reduction in chute mass should improve matters .
Rex

Bought some parts for a 29mm min diameter rocket launch tower.

Rex R said:

posted a video of my 2-stage bertha's 2nd flight, https://youtu.be/JwV81WpPX_I looks like I need to change my motor choice, C6 to A8-3 and a 12g reduction in chute mass should improve matters .
Rex

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Rex, them there Bertha's always lean over after booster/before sustainer. I use to use pieces of bt to make em 2 stage, especially the Super BB. It's the nature of the beast. Booster doesn't get it going fast enough, and the slightest little puff of breeze will tip the thing over in a split second.

Worked on the "scraps fleet"......
BT50 with 5 fins. I questioned my sanity when I glued the fins on, but it is starting to grow on me....


BT60 Viking with only 3 fins. Unfortunately, due to their size and shape, that is all I could get out of the scraps from the MDRM planks...