Hey Guys,
It's Randy from ARR. Carey Huff from Huff performance made me aware of the issue at Southern Thunder, and while bad news generally flies a lot faster than good news, I continually get many positive comments about the product. Yes I can confirm the warping issue at Southern Thunder. The rocket in question was a very long aspect ratio rocket 8+ feet x 4 inch diameter and the unreinforced area of tube between the top of the electronics bay and the bottom of the nose cone warped under high heat and high humidity. It will return to it's shape after it cools, kinda bizzare! I've made the issue known to the manufacturer and we have a solution in place for the next factory run which should hopefully be by the end of next week. The issue will only make itself known on the parts of the rocket that don't have any motor mount tube / centering rings e-bays, etc only while under extreme heat and humidity. Many Blue Tube based rockets have been built and fly all the time. This was an example of a very long skinny rocket in the worst environment possible. But should it have done that? Absolutely not.
The easiest way to fix it instantly is to just epoxy plain old cheap phenolic couplers on the unreinforced areas of the tube. That's all. This will do the trick until we continue to improve the product and you will have an incredibly strong, straight airframe w/o having to glass.
Mike Fisher from Binder Design took this product to MACH 3 last month and it didn't shred or fly weird. A fin ripped off and the tube started to delaminate, but the engine paint was bubbling off too.. He was able to recover the rocket and collect flight data. The rocket wasn't flyable again, but try that with anything other than carbon fiber...
Blue Tube is based on vulcanized fiber and the copycat product that was at LDRS is too, and they are going to have the same problems as I am. Phenix is committed to turning out the ultimate airframe for all of us. We must remember that this was the first time in history this material has been used for rocketry. Once we get this tweaked enough to eliminate this issue, there will be nothing stronger for the money.
It's not stopping me from building my own rockets at all either. I'm doing a 6 inch Blue Phenix right now and can't wait to fly it.
Please feel free to direct your comments and questions towards me and I will be happy to assist.
Sincerely,
Randy
Always Ready Rocketry
[email protected]
813-484-1298