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Estes Black Brant II holds a special place in my heart, I've built a number of them over the years they were produced, but this was before my skills really developed. Now I feel it's time to tackle this one again... This time, my style... A BT-60 upscale.
Some History:
You may have read my title (Seagulls Beware...) and wondered what that's all about. Well, I D**N near shot one down once with my last BBII launch. I was living in Klamath (pronounced: clam muth) Falls Oregon (pronounced: "Or uh gun") at the time. As anyone who lives there can tell you, they've got seagulls. In the mornings they fly from their resting areas to the local dump, and feed. Then in the evening they fly back to the lake for the night. Some buddies and I were out launching one evening, just as a flock of them was flying over, I hit the pickle button, and the rocket flew straight for them. I wasn't trying to hit them, we honestly didn't even know they were there until the rocket was on its way up. I truly wish that I had a video camera, because the results were AFV winning type Funny (no crotch hit though).
We all watched as the rocket streaked upwards and all said something to the effect of "Say, would it be funny if...." just as the rocket crossed in front of one of the birds. The startled gull did its impersonation of Jonathan Livingston Seagull (an amazing barrel roll) and squawked its surprise at the missile that just missed it by the narrowest of margins. We spent several minutes trying to catch our breath long enough to capture the rocket as it floated down we were laughing so hard.
Estes Black Brant II dimensions:
Length: Catalog has it as 24.875" My measurements come out to ~25" even
Nose Cone:
6.5" (PNC-55BB Conical )
BT-55 Body tube
0.75" plastic conic Boat Tail (BT-55 to BT-50)
Fins make up the remaining ~1.25" of the length.
Upscaled to BT-60 (123%)
Length: ~30.75"
7.995" (Semroc BNC-60SM 8" Conical)
BT-60 Body Tube:
0.9225" Boat Tail
Fin will make up the remaining ~1.54" of the length.
I'm trying to find a nice Mylar balloon for the parachute (18" round Canadian Maple Leaf).
I'm planning on photographs as soon as I can (got the body tubes cut down, need the centering rings, and nosecone before I can really get started).
Some History:
You may have read my title (Seagulls Beware...) and wondered what that's all about. Well, I D**N near shot one down once with my last BBII launch. I was living in Klamath (pronounced: clam muth) Falls Oregon (pronounced: "Or uh gun") at the time. As anyone who lives there can tell you, they've got seagulls. In the mornings they fly from their resting areas to the local dump, and feed. Then in the evening they fly back to the lake for the night. Some buddies and I were out launching one evening, just as a flock of them was flying over, I hit the pickle button, and the rocket flew straight for them. I wasn't trying to hit them, we honestly didn't even know they were there until the rocket was on its way up. I truly wish that I had a video camera, because the results were AFV winning type Funny (no crotch hit though).
We all watched as the rocket streaked upwards and all said something to the effect of "Say, would it be funny if...." just as the rocket crossed in front of one of the birds. The startled gull did its impersonation of Jonathan Livingston Seagull (an amazing barrel roll) and squawked its surprise at the missile that just missed it by the narrowest of margins. We spent several minutes trying to catch our breath long enough to capture the rocket as it floated down we were laughing so hard.
Estes Black Brant II dimensions:
Length: Catalog has it as 24.875" My measurements come out to ~25" even
Nose Cone:
6.5" (PNC-55BB Conical )
BT-55 Body tube
1.875" Payload Section
13.5" Main Body
0.875" Motor
0.25" plastic custom Coupler Section0.75" plastic conic Boat Tail (BT-55 to BT-50)
Fins make up the remaining ~1.25" of the length.
Upscaled to BT-60 (123%)
Length: ~30.75"
7.995" (Semroc BNC-60SM 8" Conical)
BT-60 Body Tube:
2.3" Payload Section
16.605" Main Body
1.076" Motor
0.3075" Coupler Section0.9225" Boat Tail
Fin will make up the remaining ~1.54" of the length.
I'm trying to find a nice Mylar balloon for the parachute (18" round Canadian Maple Leaf).
I'm planning on photographs as soon as I can (got the body tubes cut down, need the centering rings, and nosecone before I can really get started).
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