What did you do rocket wise today?

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Wayco said:
Flew four rockets at NSL. Started with my Apogee Aspire on an E9-8, first flight of the launch! Followed it with my Dual deploy Argent on an H115 Dark Matter. Great flight to 2304 ft. Next was my Blackstar Junior on an I364 Fast Jack to 4361 ft. Easy recovery about 100 yards from the pad. Last flight was Jughead, my 5"Jart with an L900 Dark matter. Wowed the crowd, but had a separation of the fincan when the main came out at 1100 feet. We had to drive a bit to recover it, but got both pieces back. The N/C and avbay came down under the main chute with the Eggfinder. After a 3 mile drive around to Alamatero road, we walked right to it in about 1/4 mile. Then we drove down to the end of the road and picked up the signal from the CSI tracker that was taped to the drouge shock cord. It broke right at the knot for the 12" drogue. About 8 lbs. of fincan and motor casing landed in soft dirt under a tiny drogue and sustained a small crack at the base of a fin.
We still hope to fly Sharon's saucers and Warp Core Breach at the night launch this evening, but the wind might be a factor.
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BEC said:
Eight flights (two at night) at the first day of NSL. It was kinda windy here today - should be better starting late morning tomorrow (or so says the NWS).

Glad you are having fun at FITS, Ryan.
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Drove up to the NSL for the day. Great time inviting with people.
The winds in the SW this time of year so unpredictable.

Mike
 
Worked on my Mega Der Red Max:

- Sanded and painted nose cone
- Assembled fins and setting up tools to do a double-diamond fin profile.
- Rounding up Hole Saws to make new Centering Rings (54mm motor mount).
 
I had a good time at NSL, Saturday and Sunday. Kudos to local John and sons, Chris and crew from ABQ, Becky and Jim from CA, all the guys from SARA, Faith and family, (found my rocket)! Tim and family from Apogee, John from NAR, the list goes on. Here's a couple of family photos from my Estes Partizon on an H128 DMS, 10 second delay, with Jolly Logic Chute Release. I had three great flights with the Chute Release this trip. Thanks all!
partizon on h128 family photo and shadow of smoke.jpgpartizon on h128 last good family photo before apogee.jpg
 
Started repairing this owie on my BBIII.

Also decided that I must get my hands on a K2045 some time in the near future.

20170527_171853.jpg
 
It's been my week to work and with the holiday today, that meant 3 full days without interruption in my office to build some models, and assemble new parachutes. 😉

In about three weeks I'll be attending my first contest in over 30 years, so I've been busy the last two months getting models built, and I decided to make a few extras this weekend. I wasn't real sure what to use for Random Duration, so I decided to create something. I used a Mini Fat Boy kit for the MMT, BT, and NC; and balsa scraps to make new fins. My thought is by using different motors and parachute combinations, I can create a base line for flight times prior to the event. By moving the MMT aft and surrounding it with a boat tail cone, I made more room in the BT for bigger chutes.
ImageUploadedByRocketry Forum1496079561.219056.jpg
ImageUploadedByRocketry Forum1496079577.064726.jpg
ImageUploadedByRocketry Forum1496079850.848398.jpg

I also put together an Estes Bullpup. The centering rings must have been mis-cut, and I didn't notice it in time, so it may only fly once before becoming a shelf display.
ImageUploadedByRocketry Forum1496079795.453445.jpg
ImageUploadedByRocketry Forum1496079811.873053.jpg
ImageUploadedByRocketry Forum1496079825.729944.jpg
 
TangoJuliet said:
It's been my week to work and with the holiday today, that meant 3 full days without interruption in my office to build some models, and assemble new parachutes. 😉

In about three weeks I'll be attending my first contest in over 30 years, so I've been busy the last two months getting models built, and I decided to make a few extras this weekend. I wasn't real sure what to use for Random Duration, so I decided to create something. I used a Mini Fat Boy kit for the MMT, BT, and NC; and balsa scraps to make new fins. My thought is by using different motors and parachute combinations, I can create a base line for flight times prior to the event. By moving the MMT aft and surrounding it with a boat tail cone, I made more room in the BT for bigger chutes.
View attachment 320928
View attachment 320929
View attachment 320933

I also put together an Estes Bullpup. The centering rings must have been mis-cut, and I didn't notice it in time, so it may only fly once before becoming a shelf display.
View attachment 320930
View attachment 320931
View attachment 320932
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Ooh.... yeah that might be interesting. What motor were you thinking?
 
I put the finishing touches on my 7.5" diameter, 6' tall, 6 fin, 7 motor (1-75mm 6-38mm) "Widow Maker" I'm calling it done, finally.

I had a beautiful body wrap for this project from stickershock23 that I ended up destroying so I just went with some vinyl lettering from Mark and decided to keep the paint simple for now.

The maiden flight will be at Airfest on a single M1297W.

20170529_145942.jpg 20170529_150250.jpg
 
PokerJones said:
I put the finishing touches on my 7.5" diameter, 6' tall, 6 fin, 7 motor (1-75mm 6-38mm) "Widow Maker" I'm calling it done, finally.

I had a beautiful body wrap for this project from stickershock23 that I ended up destroying so I just went with some vinyl lettering from Mark and decided to keep the paint simple for now.

The maiden flight will be at Airfest on a single M1297W.

View attachment 320936 View attachment 320937
Click to expand...

Even without the wrap it still looks great.
 
Sat down last night and read a National Geographic magazine I picked up at a local Op-shop a few years back. Only just got around to reading it now. May 1969 edition, with article on the Apollo 8 mission around the moon.

I would have been 7 at the time of the flight, and remember some of the Apollo events. I remember the Apollo 8 mission and seeing lots of news in the papers about it.

I remember my whole class coming up from the school (we lived close and were lucky enough to have a TV) to watch the Apollo 11 moon landing with everyone (students and teacher) sitting on the floor around the TV.

I also remember the Apollo 13 mission and hoping that they got the astronauts back safely.
 
Did something that I absolutely dreaded rocketwise today. Turned a solid (at the moment) basswood 3" diameter Nike Hercules nose cone, what I dread about turning specific rocket type nose cones is that wood is very easy to remove and not so easy to put back (same as metal machining, take off too much and its either start over or buildup via welding and turn back down). The Nike Herc Nose cone is so long and thin and of a specific profile that it took about 2.5-3 hours to turn. First time I have worked with basswood but it is so much better than working with balsa. Still a few little blems to work out, but here are the pictures...

Nose cone currently weighs 493.4 grams (17.4 ozs).
Length including 3" long shoulder is 17.5" OAL.

NikeHerc1.jpgNikeHerc2.jpgNikeHerc3.jpgNikeHerc6.jpgNikeHerc10.jpgNikeHerc12.jpg
 
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Began preparations for ground testing the electric Ventris (Vertigo II).
Decided to test out one of the Chinese e-matches, just to see if my launch E-launch controller would trigger it (pretty sure it would work, but I really wanted to see what it looked like)

Wow those things have a pop! Glad I had it in a "container" instead of just dangling over my balcony railing.
 
Cleaned motor casings from all the rockets we flew at NSL. All but one 38mm 6XL casing....
It is with great regret that I report the loss of Warp Core Breach. Last seen drifting toward Alamogordo from an altitude of 2200 ft. An extensive search was conducted, with several people participating, covering the area, but it was not found. It may show up in the future, possibly at a local barber shop, boosting sales, or at the White Sands missile range, being returned by a local resident who thought it came from there. We left contact info. with the local club, and spread the word around at the launch, but after Sharon and I logged over 20 miles gridding the area, I'm pretty sure it will not be found. The good news is that Sharon has donated her unbuilt 5" Jart to my next night rocket project! It's made with the old natural green fiberglass, which is translucent.

In other news, we flew a bunch of rockets, not sure yet how many, but I have wrinkled fingers from washing cases. I know I flew 10, not sure how many Sharon got off, will check with her later. Only other issue was Jughead, my 5" Jart. It flew on an L900 Dark matter to 10,332 ft. and snapped the drogue shock cord when the main opened. We recovered it about a mile Southeast of the launch area. The N/C, payload and avbay landed under the main, and the Eggfinder allowed us to walk right to it. The fincan had a CSI tracker attached to the shock cord, and we tracked it down after recovering the top half. It landed under a 12" drogue, with minor cosmetic damage.
Now I need to start cleaning up avbays, and get ready for the next launch....



 
We have been remodeling our kitchen and while contractors are doing the work, it's been a big strain to keep the house in order and our two and four legged kids in check. So I have not done any work on the big Solar Warrior, sadly.

However, today I did get a chance to ogle my big BBII kit, checking that the parts are in good shape. I also kicked the BBIII out of my doctor's office with a repaired owie and a note telling it to get some rest while the paint dries because it has a date with a J420R in a couple weeks.

20170531_142155.jpg
 
Started work on the scratch Nike Hercules Sustainer today, spent almost all of it working on the sustainers rear transition with its associated battery and electronics bays, transition shroud, and interstage coupler. I also started hollowing out the NC to create space for the nose Av-Bay. The picture on the right is a dry run of the sustainer airframe with a trial transition shroud in place, the final shroud is made of poster board stock and will be CA'd.

Build thread is located at : https://tricitiesrocketeers.freeforums.net/thread/360/nike-hercules-stage-build-thread
NikeHerc21.jpgNikeHerc23.jpgNikeHerc24.jpg
 
Been picking up packs of motors from Hobby Lobby for the past week or so since the store is right across from my hotel. Pack a day with the coupon. I'm hoping they will get in a Blast Off Pack before I head back to the homestead.
 
I launched rockets with sixth graders.

My son's elementary school does a rocket launch with the sixth graders at the end of the year. (For those kids that have finished/turned in all their work.)

I ran a couple of build workshops with them during class a couple of weeks ago, and today was the scheduled launch day.

I got to field test my brand new multi-pad launch controller which is based on the one LUNAR uses for their club and TARC launches. After a small false start, everything went pretty smoothly. The students had a blast, especially when the teachers had "secretly" swapped a couple of their A motors for B motors.

I even got the teachers to press the big red button on a couple of rockets I brought for demo flights.

The younger grades and faculty were all out in attendance. Pictures (and perhaps some video)to come.
 
rharshberger said:
Did something that I absolutely dreaded rocketwise today. Turned a solid (at the moment) basswood 3" diameter Nike Hercules nose cone, what I dread about turning specific rocket type nose cones is that wood is very easy to remove and not so easy to put back (same as metal machining, take off too much and its either start over or buildup via welding and turn back down).
[...]
Click to expand...

Rich,
I started using a collet chuck on my lathe. This is a large upscale of the Estes Saros nose cone. I used a 3/4" dowel glued into balsa, and a 3/4" collet. I happened to have a number of 2" balsa blocks, so that is what I used. I have turned basswood for a couple of nose cones, and it does turn nicely.

I took the nose cone out a number of times. Perfect registration. Another option is to use a longer dowel, and allow room to put a short piece of body tube on the dowel, so you can check fit. Then side it onto the nose cone to sand the final shape even with the tube.

For smaller cones I'd like use my 1/4" or 1/2" collet, but there are so many sizes, it could be sized for many dowels.

IMG_1034.jpg
 
Trident said:
Rich,
I started using a collet chuck on my lathe. This is a large upscale of the Estes Saros nose cone. I used a 3/4" dowel glued into balsa, and a 3/4" collet. I happened to have a number of 2" balsa blocks, so that is what I used. I have turned basswood for a couple of nose cones, and it does turn nicely.

I took the nose cone out a number of times. Perfect registration. Another option is to use a longer dowel, and allow room to put a short piece of body tube on the dowel, so you can check fit. Then side it onto the nose cone to sand the final shape even with the tube.

For smaller cones I'd like use my 1/4" or 1/2" collet, but there are so many sizes, it could be sized for many dowels.

View attachment 321197
Click to expand...

My lathe is an older Craftsman single tube way bed, while chucks are available it has so many short comings I refuse to spend money on it for things that I wont be able to use on another machine. Looking forward to purchasing a new modern flat way bed wood lathe with the proper accessories for turning nose cones next year. Until that time I limp along with this one, it just takes longer.
BTW I like the setup you have there, is it one of the JET wood lathes?
 
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