Full Size Comanchee III

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Woody's Workshop

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Has any of you that have been around awhile ever bought and flew the Original Comanchee III, and flew all stages on the max size motors?
This is one I really wanted when I was a kid, but couldn't afford. And if I could, I'd never a field large enough to launch it.
I'm thinking on building one upscale slightly to accomodate D/E engines and send it to my bud in CA whom will fly it in AZ for me.
Thanks Everyone.
Wood?-Why! :bangpan:
 
You won't need to up-scale it. The original was in a BT-50 and the first stage motor was a D1-0.

The usual problem was getting the second stage to light since it transitioned from 24mm to 18mm, but once you got past that little hurdle it was a great high flying rocket.

Best wishes on hour project.

Pat
 
I love mine- great flights on c6 to b6. I flew it once on D12 to b6 to b6, but never found the first stage. I've been wanting to try it single stage on a d13. They discontinued it, but with the fin dimensions it should be pretty easy to cone.

Nate
 
I have one that I have flown in the 1,2 and 3 stage configurations, although not on a "full stack"( D12-0, C6-0, C6-7).

The largest I dared to go was D12--0, B6-0, B6-6 and by the time the sustainer lit I could barely see it. I didn't even see the ejection event, so I wrote it off as lost.
At the end of the day, as I was packing up to leave the range, a fellow club member walked by trailing two orange streamers. After a short conversation, I discovered that he had found
my Comanche 3.(the kids found the two boosters).

The Comanche 3 flies good in all the various stage configurations, but it tends to weathercock in 3 stage mode.

I say go for it, it's a fun build and more fun to fly. I imagine there are still some kits available if you look around.
 
Has any of you that have been around awhile ever bought and flew the Original Comanchee III, and flew all stages on the max size motors?
I flew mine on a full stack (D12-C6-C6) at LDRS in 2006. I think there were 5 of us trying to track and recover all the pieces, which we successfully retrieved. I got lots of kudos that day from guys flying a lot bigger stuff than mine :)

I think I've also flown it on the minimum (3-stage) stack using a C11-A10-A8 combo. (The A10-0T would have been in an adapter.) I still needed extra eyes for that one, too!

Doug

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The usual problem was getting the second stage to light since it transitioned from 24mm to 18mm, but once you got past that little hurdle it was a great high flying rocket.
I added vents to mine to aid the 1st-to-2nd staging event. Also, I make sure the coupler is tight into the 2nd stage by adding bits of tape around the coupler.

Here are some pics of mine.

Doug

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I love mine- great flights on c6 to b6. I flew it once on D12 to b6 to b6, but never found the first stage. I've been wanting to try it single stage on a d13. They discontinued it, but with the fin dimensions it should be pretty easy to cone.

Nate

ive flown mine on a D21...It was really fast!! cracked a fin on landing but other then that it was really cool.
 
Most can't stage a D21.

Heck go with the current mini Comanche. Often folks loose a stage or 2 without a D motor.
 
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I thought about buying one a couple times throughout the years. Never flown a multistage rocket yet.
 
The Comanche-3 is a fantastic flying machine!
Have flown mine single, 2 & 3 staged several times. First two stage launch C6-0/C6-7 I lost the booster in high weeds. So Cloned the second stage and re-Painted the whole rocket. Fluorescent Yellow & Green. It's first re-flight D12/C6-0/C6-7 was WAY out of sight for over a full minute recovering on two 1" x 72" Yellow & Orange Surveyors tape streamers. With the help of a couple other club members I managed to get all three stages back. Since then it's only flown a few more times mostly two staged B6-0-B6-6 and 3 staged D12-0/B6-0/B6-6 and that one was a very exciting nearly out of sight flight.

Personally I see no value in converting to D's and E's as it'll be out of sight after the booster stage burns.
If anything you might want to do what I did Downscaling to 13mm BT-5 Mini-Manche-3 using A10-0 boosters and as long a delay 13mm A as you can find It's Really a Scream! You will still need a couple extra pair of eyes flying the 13mm version as it Really gets up there also:)

067-b1c-sm_Comanche-3 2-Stage flt 2 pic_02-19-92.jpg
 
Had one as a kid, flew it nearly fully loaded. I remember the walk to retrieve it more than the flight.
 
I have owned 3 over the last 20ish years, and I love em. Make sure your fins are on tightly, as they have been known to shed fins. Be prepared to loose the upper stage if launched on a D12-0 to C6-0 to C6-7, but its a way cool show. Also have lots of room to fly.
 
I added vents to mine to aid the 1st-to-2nd staging event. Also, I make sure the coupler is tight into the 2nd stage by adding bits of tape around the coupler.

.

Make the coupler tight? Usually the sustainer and second booster motors are taped together with scotch tape, and both are friction fitted into their respective locations so both motors are held tightly, the coupler between booster and sustainer should be barely snug, as long as the motors are held tightly they wont seperate until burnout/ignition. Adding ports to the 24mm booster might be a good idea, it sounds good anyway.

I failed once to get the second stage motor tightly held into the motor mount and the coupler held the sustainer and second stage together when the sustainer lit the second booster motor was ejected and the exhaust torched the second stage, destroying it.
 
I have owned 3 over the last 20ish years, and I love em. Make sure your fins are on tightly, as they have been known to shed fins. Be prepared to loose the upper stage if launched on a D12-0 to C6-0 to C6-7, but its a way cool show. Also have lots of room to fly.

After reading many posts, I'm sure ol' Vern designed this for wide open flat desert terrain.
Not for me, in lumpy forestry, rock & weed riden mid lower Michigan.
With this post noted, I may just design my own using TWF design, at least on the sustainer.

Everyone Thank You So Much for your input.
I always wondered, and scared to, buy and fly the Comanchee III.
But no longer. I WILL make it to the desert someday, and when I do.... woosh, Woosh WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOsh...
NASA, you got that on your Zoom cam for entering earths orbit?
 
After reading many posts, I'm sure ol' Vern designed this for wide open flat desert terrain.



Amen to that, of course with the wind we get here in SE Washington even flying a full stack can be a losing proposition. We have a wonderful flying field thats about 2 square miles of wide open lawn (4 squares of sod farm) but there is also a rocket eating corn field for anything with a parachute just beyond (its been a sad day several time for the L1, L2 guys not using dual deploy).
 
My brother lives in Marysville, works at Boening as a proving engineer.
My 1st son lives on Mt. Hood, I think. Gotta make sure.
Lotsa forestry out there, Mud slides lately.
Lahars is my concern along with Mt's blowing their tops.
Can't say I want to be in Kansas with the big one in National Park with the guisers.
But the desert...Either it will be, or it will sink once again into the ocean.
Good Luck to everyone. The Glaciers will take me over once again.
 
My brother lives in Marysville, works at Boening as a proving engineer.
My 1st son lives on Mt. Hood, I think. Gotta make sure.
Lotsa forestry out there, Mud slides lately.
Lahars is my concern along with Mt's blowing their tops.
Can't say I want to be in Kansas with the big one in National Park with the guisers.
But the desert...Either it will be, or it will sink once again into the ocean.
Good Luck to everyone. The Glaciers will take me over once again.

yep that pretty much describes WA state west of the Cascades, the east side is nothing but desert and irrigated farm land. Check out my post on the SA-3 Goa i just finished and flew on OCT 18th, 2014 the picture of it on the pad pretty much is representative of the area for miles around our launch site.
 
When everything is perfect ill put mine in the air-- but only on a "D" and two Bs (photo above, I forgot to add commit) Great Rocket!
 
that's actually the rocket of mine that has the most launchers ever. Probably gone up 35 times or so. Unfortunately- earlier this summer was the final flight, after 30 years. Stage one dropped off correctly. Stage two stuck on, but the engine ejected. Stage one then went, with stage two still on, scorching stage 2 beyond repair, and then worse- the ejection charge didn't work (or I put in too much wadding, or something or other) and she dove straight down from probably 2000 feet. Bent at about a 30 degree angle in the middle of her. The final launch was d-12 -0, C-6-0, and B-6-4 I think.

I generally flew it as two stages, c-6-0 and B-6-4, and it was always a crowd pleaser. I actually had 3 of the kits- but used the other two to kitbash into other rockets as a kid. It was one of the kits that estes would give away for free if you ordered x amount of stuff back in the mid eighties. That's how I got them.
 
that's actually the rocket of mine that has the most launchers ever. Probably gone up 35 times or so. Unfortunately- earlier this summer was the final flight, after 30 years. Stage one dropped off correctly. Stage two stuck on, but the engine ejected. Stage one then went, with stage two still on, scorching stage 2 beyond repair, and then worse- the ejection charge didn't work (or I put in too much wadding, or something or other) and she dove straight down from probably 2000 feet. Bent at about a 30 degree angle in the middle of her. The final launch was d-12 -0, C-6-0, and B-6-4 I think.


I had the same second stage sticking issue with one of mine years ago, burned a hole through the side of the second stage. As long as your tube isnt totally destroyed, I have used pieces of the full length BT-50 coupler stock from Balsa Machining Service (https://www.balsamachining.com) to replace about 6 inches on both sides of the of where i cut the tube at the bend. And it lives to fly again stronger than ever.
 
Make the coupler tight?
The bottom one, yes (S1 to S2).


I failed once to get the second stage motor tightly held into the motor mount and the coupler held the sustainer and second stage together when the sustainer lit the second booster motor was ejected and the exhaust torched the second stage, destroying it.
That's not uncommon with boosters, and hence why I always add positive motor retention to each stage when possible. On the Comanche, a tape thrust ring at the top of the 2nd stage motor will keep it from sliding out of the 2nd stage - it forces the stage to separate. Here's a write-up on that topic using a similar rocket, a Farside-X clone. The key is to shorten the 2nd stage motor mount such that it's recessed on the forward end to make space for the tape ring.

HTH.
Doug


s2-v2-3p.jpg


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The bottom one, yes (S1 to S2).


That's not uncommon with boosters, and hence why I always add positive motor retention to each stage when possible. On the Comanche, a tape thrust ring at the top of the 2nd stage motor will keep it from sliding out of the 2nd stage - it forces the stage to separate. Here's a write-up on that topic using a similar rocket, a Farside-X clone. The key is to shorten the 2nd stage motor mount such that it's recessed on the forward end to make space for the tape ring.

HTH.
Doug


s2-v2-3p.jpg


.

Never had a problem as long as the two 18mm motors were tightly friction fit and the two motors were taped together (per instructions), then the only purpose of the Sustainer and middle booster coupler is alignment(since drag seperation wont occur with motors installed properly), the 24mm stage on the other hand the motor needs to be tight and the coupler fit well, but not to snug since drag separation wont have a chance to occur with the instantaneous ignition of stage 2. Im not sure drag seperation can occur with a Commanche unless something fails to ignite and is not installed properly.
 
Ive flown a full stack comanche 4. D 12, D 12, c 6 , c 6 very COOL FLIGHT.
 
The original Comanche-3 was my favorite rocket I ever built. I lost it on a two-stage flight... D12-0 to C6-7. When we picked it up we kept walking... and walking... and walking... it was still drifting (on the streamer!)... we gave up when we hit (Ohio) RT22/3.
 
The original Comanche-3 was my favorite rocket I ever built. I lost it on a two-stage flight... D12-0 to C6-7. When we picked it up we kept walking... and walking... and walking... it was still drifting (on the streamer!)... we gave up when we hit (Ohio) RT22/3.

I just found another one on Ebay tonight.
find it here;

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Estes-Comanche-3-1382-Model-Rocket-OOP-/281523526872?pt=Model_Kit_US&hash=item418c1c1cd8#ht_309wt_1153

If wouldn't have blown my wade on the SS victum, I'd be after it.
Anyone want to buy a Bosctich Framing Nailer with 3 boxes of nails?
 
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