Who's flying a 6" Stinger?

Sharon just finished putting the recovery into her new 6" Stinger and we are getting ready to do ejection charge tests. Her's weighs in at 17 lbs. as best we can tell without taking it over to her parents to weigh it on their triple beam. We will probably do that tomorrow.
Just curious what other Stingers weigh and what size ejection charges you are using. Also would like to know what your favorite motor is for this beast. We have an L910 and L995 on order right now, so one of those will be for the first flight.


Here she is, flying it naked to earn a paint job.

Looks great !

I like a cStar ! So L910 then buy another cert special so she can pass on the hardware to ME after her cert . I don't care AT or CTI I need 75mm something for my Hawk Mtn project.

Kenny

That is a great looking rocket!

I get the feeling that you're getting angry about this. Why?

Wayco said:

Once again, we are building a Rocketry Warehouse kit designed by Gary Tortora and apparently nobody has any info. on it.

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Name dropping in a really negative light.

Wayco said:

No instructions, no build threads and no help.

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Make a build thread!

Wayco said:

Wonder why most of my rockets are Wildman kits?

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Apart from a rocketeer that is willing to create an ad nauseum pictorial for you, Wildman kits are literally no different than any of these other kits. They are even the same source of materials!

Wayco said:

I know, at this level I'm supposed to know what I'm doing, and for the most part I do, but this is supposed to be fun, right? A little advice would be handy, some tips from the pro's would make it safer to fly.....

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Yes, yes you are. It's a 6" rocket with a 76mm motor mount. If you want to make it safe to fly, you apply the fundamentals that you have learned leading up to this build. Stability calculation, thrust to weight calculations, etc. etc.

patelldp said:

I get the feeling that you're getting angry about this. Why?



Name dropping in a really negative light.



Make a build thread!



Apart from a rocketeer that is willing to create an ad nauseum pictorial for you, Wildman kits are literally no different than any of these other kits. They are even the same source of materials!



Yes, yes you are. It's a 6" rocket with a 76mm motor mount. If you want to make it safe to fly, you apply the fundamentals that you have learned leading up to this build. Stability calculation, thrust to weight calculations, etc. etc.

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Not really angry, just frustrated.

My comments are no more negative than yours, why did you post up?

I want to fly rockets, not document every step of every rocket I build. Do a search if you want to see my build threads. Plenty to choose from.

I have applied all those calculations, Sharon has done the same. All we are looking for is tips and advice relevant to this rocket. If you don't have anything, what is the purpose of this post?

Wayco said:

Not really angry, just frustrated.

My comments are no more negative than yours, why did you post up?

I want to fly rockets, not document every step of every rocket I build. Do a search if you want to see my build threads. Plenty to choose from.

I have applied all those calculations, Sharon has done the same. All we are looking for is tips and advice relevant to this rocket. If you don't have anything, what is the purpose of this post?

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Because I think you are expecting more from people you are specifically calling out than is advertised by those people. If it weren't for Jim, you'd be making the same posts about Wildman. Really the only manufacturer that provides kit specific "instructions," ala Estes, is Madcow.

Didn't Gary post some pictures of his electronics bay? Did you email him about it?

Wayco said:

Sharon just finished putting the recovery into her new 6" Stinger and we are getting ready to do ejection charge tests. Her's weighs in at 17 lbs.
Just curious what other Stingers weigh and what size ejection charges you are using. Also would like to know what your favorite motor is for this beast. We have an L910 and L995 on order right now, so one of those will be for the first flight.

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Since it is my rocket and I am the one who built it, let me be perfectly clear what I hoped would be accomplished with this thread. I would like real world feedback about this particular rocket. Yes, I've done the calculations. Yes, I searched the forum for other posts. Yes, I have reviewed those very few posts. I found Gary Tortora's post about the electronics bay and took all the information into account during the build process. But there is only so much you can obtain by doing calculations, real world experience is invaluable and I would be foolish to not learn from other people. But you have the ask the question.

As is the case for many people on this forum, my time is at a premium - I run a business. Wayne is retired. So, I asked Wayne to post up the question for me. I was surprised by the lack of pertinent responses (although the nice comments about the rocket were very much appreciated).

If you have an issue with the way the question was posted or other opinions, I would prefer they be addressed via PM instead of being posted on this thread.

In the meantime, I still would like to request real world information that folks out there on the Rockety Forum have experienced with this rocket. I'm specifically interested in the ejection charges, but would welcome shared pictures of builds, launches, what you would do differently or what you are really happy you did with your 6" Stinger.

patelldp said:

Because I think you are expecting more from people you are specifically calling out than is advertised by those people. If it weren't for Jim, you'd be making the same posts about Wildman. Really the only manufacturer that provides kit specific "instructions," ala Estes, is Madcow.

Didn't Gary post some pictures of his electronics bay? Did you email him about it?

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PML has excellent instructions, aside from the fact that they tell you the wrong way to mount pistons.

CarVac said:

PML has excellent instructions, aside from the fact that they tell you the wrong way to mount pistons.

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I missed the operative word for that sentence..."the only fiberglass kit manufacturer"

Hardline said:

In the meantime, I still would like to request real world information that folks out there on the Rockety Forum have experienced with this rocket. I'm specifically interested in the ejection charges, but would welcome shared pictures of builds, launches, what you would do differently or what you are really happy you did with your 6" Stinger.

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Nice looking rocket. There may not be anyone out there with any info on your rocket. You may be the very first to build a Stinger. Please keep us posted with your real world info, I might like to get one

Dan just gave voice to something a lot of experienced rocket fliers feel. That is someone builds a bruiser of a rocket with a big honking motor mount and then begins asking very basic questions. It is also common knowledge (or should be) that in the realm of fiberglass rockets documentation is for the most part very scarce. Almost every rocket I have bought along those lines has been a bag o' parts and somewhere in there is the assumption you should know what you are doing. Sadly, the FG kits are getting smaller and smaller which opens the appeal to less experienced enthusiasts who then are frustrated by the lack of documentation. Yes, there are exceptions (MadCow) however, for the most part, if you buy a FG rocket, you are on your own.

It's a fairly new kit. Gary's the only one I've seen fly it.

To go off like that because no one come in here right away and replied is a bit excessive. It's not like there's 100 people out there flying this thing.

Sweet looking design!

Great job, can't wait to see launch pics!

CarVac said:

PML has excellent instructions, aside from the fact that they tell you the wrong way to mount pistons.

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Unrelated, but I really agree about the bass-awkward way PML would have you install the pistons.


Sent from my Mobile Leash using the handy dandy Rocketry Forum app-thingy.

AHansom said:

Nice looking rocket. There may not be anyone out there with any info on your rocket. You may be the very first to build a Stinger. Please keep us posted with your real world info, I might like to get one

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Well, it's a really nice kit. I would think others have been built (beside Gary T's of course).

The Stinger seemed like a good "next progression" Rocket between what I have been flying and the Gizmo XL DD sitting in the corner waiting to built as my L-3 cert rocket. So that made me want to put this in it:

''

To have enough room I decided to modify it into a donut avbay. I lifted the concept of the stop bands from Gary T's post #3 here:

https://www.rocketryforum.com/showt...New-from-Rocketry-Warehouse&highlight=stinger

He posted this:
The Av-bay is in the NC coupler, Shear pins hold the coupler into the NC & BT. I was concerned with one, the drogue charge jamming the coupler in the NC and two, the thrust breaking the shear pins and having the coupler slide down into the BT, I'm flying a 98mm CTI K4000VM at Red Glare so yes this could happen. Both issues I solved by used a 3/8" piece of coupler in the NC and a 1" piece in the BT.

Here was my plan:

Okay, you can stop laughing now.

https://www.rocketryforum.com/showt...w-from-Rocketry-Warehouse&p=630704#post630704

What more do you want, CAD drawings?

The Wildman idea of a vent band works very well for the nose cone coupler/av-bay works very well.

Internal stop bands and a donut... Pretty nifty.

I'll post more data tonight guys! and thanks for likening the kit, its one of my favorites as well.

I agree with what Wayco is trying to say. If a good rocket designer goes and designs a rocket, weather to sell as a kit or just as his own scratch build, he has probably thought about how to put the pieces together when the time comes to assemble them. Haven't you sat in front of Rocsim while making a new design and think about how you're going to get it put together properly? What I think Wayco is saying, is that it would be nice if the person who understands the design better than us, shares with us what he thinks is the best way to assemble his design. After all, if a lot of their customers screw it up, it reflects poorly on the kit maker.

When I buy a kit, I am paying for the materials, the design AND their instructions.

CZ Brat said:

When I buy a kit, I am paying for the materials, the design AND their instructions.

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I think the reason instructions don't come with kits like this, is we're all going to build them to suit us, which can be VERY different. We all know that going in.

Wayco said:

Regardless of the bad form I used to elicit a response, the results have been impressive. I apologize to those that took offense to my comments regarding Gary T. and RW. Gary designs some great rockets, and the parts and service I have received from Rocketry Warehouse have always been top notch. I really wasn't aware of the 75mm line drawn on sharing information about builds. Apparently Sharon and Gary are unique with their ownership of a 6" Stinger. If I had known that, a more direct form of communication would have been used.
Several comments on this thread today were quite a surprise to me. But I'm not gonna dilute my apology with a bunch of comments now.
I truly did not intend to "go off" on Gary or RW, it's just frustrating to post something up and not get anything relevant to the questions I asked.

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Frustration is certainly understandable, but sometimes the info just isn't out there. Oddly it seems the bigger the build, the less likely people are to be posting or sharing about it. Not sure the reasons for it, in a small hobby like this I'd figure everyone would network online....but the bigger projects seem to work in solitude. (personally I'll post a photo and jabber about a build anyplace on the interwebs that'll let me)

I don't take offence to anything that was said here, everyone is entitled to their own option. Needless to say if anyone has a question on a kit I've designed alls they need do is shoot me an email, I've answered hundreds and will continue to do so when ever asked. I don't like or use switch bands which is why there not included in my kits as it with instructions. Reason being is I think most everything! has been covered a 100 times over and only find them to be redundant at this point. But hey that's just me LOL

Now onto something more interesting! Stay Tuned for the PAINKILLER MAX! 4.5" Dia, 3/16'' Fins, 75mm MM, 7.5 Feet Tall and ready for your next M flight. Painkiller Max Coming soon by "Gary T. Designs"

Wayco,
Feel free to shoot me an email with any questions you might have regarding the Stinger, I've flown both the CTI L910CS and the CTI L995RL in mine, both great motors.

I have two flights on mine, K675 Skid with a 54mm adapter to 3,100' & K1085 White Thunder to 3,900'
1.75 grams in the aft & 3.25 grams in the fore
I cut 1/4" off a 6" coupler to make a stop band in the nose & cut 3/4" off the main air frame to make a switch band
3" BP in nose with eye bolt double nutted on BP and into aluminum tip
Three 4-40 pins hold the nose on, dual Stratologgers, 24" Skyangle drogue, & 84" Fruity Chute main
All assembled with West Systems, except for the external fin fillets which are Proline
I think this is the type of info you were looking for, it's a great flier and will go up on an L1720 White Thunder next month

Forgot two things.

1. Your weight is probably pretty close, mine's 17.25lbs.

2. I don't see anything wrong with expecting some minimal instructions when you spend several hundred dollars for a rocket kit. I do agree that you should know what your doing when taking on a kit of this magnitude, but there are no instructions included with the smaller kits either.

The forum may even be a hinderance to documentation . There is so much info here the mfg may say why bother..even the motor mfg agreed the users were quicker and more complete getting the info in to rocksim.

Even a single page info sheet , exploded view with a bill of materials would help to identify is something is missing or wrong . Better to catch when open then have a disgruntled customer having to stop in the middle of the build. Works both ways too..if someone calls up and says I am missing something 6 monthes after receipt the mfg should not be bad mouthed because the customer didnt check when received.

cp and aproximate built weight and cg documentation could help too.. not everyone is a guru with rocksim or open rocket. Aproximate Minimum average thrust to maintain a 5:1 thrust to weight ratio would help the owner and mfg out of the gate too.

Recommended for this product: epoxy, retainer , bridal, harness', chute and protector could help sales by giving the customer a BOM of the building materials with skus/part numbers .

Kenny

Blastcap Rocketry said:

I don't like or use switch bands which is why there not included in my kits...

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Yeah, switch bands are for wimps!!!

I have a fetish for switch bands, use them in almost all my builds and consider them very manly.