A day at the lake bed - Carnage 08-10-13

[AfterBurners]

My day started at 4:30 and two cups of coffee later I was on the road to hopefully have a successful launch. I arrived at Rabbit Dry Lake near Lucerne at around 7:00 am. And I was unloading my stuff I was approached by a guy (Jacob) and his nephew (Nathan) asking directions to Lucerne. They wanted to watch the launch that was going on. I invited to stay and launch rockets with me and they did and I made some new friends. Nathan who was probably around 13 or so couldn't wait to launch the rockets and it was nice because I didn't have to chase any and while they were fetching the rockets I was prepping the ones for the next flight.

So I started with 10 and came home with 4 and 2 of the rockets I gave to Jacob and Nathan because they had some bad luck as well. I also gave them some chutes and other goodies. Nathan ended up prepping the rockets and launching them. Each time they were very successful flights so with that lets get into the rockets that were a success and that I enjoyed watching the most.

First up the Red and White "E" powered rocket. Nothing fancy and just a BT-60. I gave this rocket to Nathan. We flew it with both 18" and 24" plastic chutes and both chutes blossomed in the blue sky. Absolutely outstanding flights. The rocket went to about 1800' just guessing.



Next up was a BT-60 just like the one above but flew on an 18mm rocket. Estimated at 800' I also gave Nathan this rocket too. You are going to have to pick it out in this group picture because I didn't get a picture of it, but I'm sure Jacob did. If he did I'll post it later.



One of my favorites was my red, white and blue with canted fins. Flying high on a C6-7. I had a few successful flights with this rocket until we ran out of the smaller engines. It was really cool to watch it spin into the sky. I'll have to build more of these. This one went around 700' and perfectly straight.



Next one up was the BT-60 Cluster of C6-7. This rocket screamed off the pad and I know it was at least 1200' or more before the chute open. I flew it a couple times and each flight was perfect



The last one that I was able to bring home or should I say was very successful was my Red and White BT-60. Flew really well on C6-5 and 7. Went around 700' and prefect deployment of the chute. Just awesome to watch the chute open. Keep in mind Nathan prepped and packed all these rockets. I showed him how and to be liberal with the baby powder. Great results.



Next post the carnage.....stay tuned...

 

[AfterBurners]

Well what would a day be like launching if you didn't have carnage and you guys know me well enough that I'll never disappoint you. Let's just say the Van Halen paint scheme rockets didn't do so well.

First up the Big Daddy. Now why do I bother making them look so damn pretty :lol::lol: I did get video on both flights. The first flight was nice. I loaded it up with an "E" motor boosted really nice and great deployment. The chute opened at apogee and came down nicely all by itself. Duh! I forgot to attach it to the rocket. I was distracted. It fell all the way down and surprisingly there was absolutely no damage. OK whatever it happens right? Next flight. Loaded an E12 in it and hit the button and it went up about 50' got sideways and squirrelly and came hard into ground. Not sure why, but the engine was still burning and it didn't even eject the nose cone. I ended up not only damaging the rocket beyond repair, but charred my chute and burned up the Nomex blanket.

 

[AfterBurners]

for carnage was my Van Halen BT-70 "5150" rocket. First flight was very nice on "E" black powder motor, not sure which one because I wasn't really keeping track. It boosted nicely and the chute deployed at apogee. At first it looked like it got tangled up, but then later it opened fully. I taped the Kevlar shock cord to make it easier to pack, but as the chute opened it broke the tape just as planned. Yay one good flight!!

Let the carnage begin. So I thought it would be cool to stuff an F32-8T in it and see how it does? I was going to use it in the Big Daddy, but we know the story now. At first using the copper igniter was difficult. I try a few times and was determine to get it to light..well it did and...it ripped off the pad fast it was a blur!!! I mean I lost it immediately and by the time I tracked it it was blowing the chute out. Little did know of the damage until later. In addition to putting bigger holes in the chute ... the force and power of the motor peeled back one fin. I papered the fins on this rocket and guess what? Not anymore. Here's what's left of the chute and the rocket.



BTW - I did capture video of both the flights of this rocket and also the Big Daddy.

 

[AfterBurners]

my first custom CHAD design, which I built 4-5 years ago. The first flight was awesome, but the second flight not so much. It seemed as though the upper motor didn't light or it partially did, but whatever happened it got a coil sample. Jacob has some pictures and videos that he took on his phone that is going to email me. I'll post them under profile and you can view them later. I'm gonna miss this rocket. It was my first attempt at CHAD staging...

 

[AfterBurners]

Another rocket I built about the same time I built the CHAD 18mm rocket. The Stars and Stripes flew on (2) C6-7 and always very successfully. After I hit the button I knew something was wrong? It left the pad about 100; up and went sideways. It's repairable, but I'll probably just build another. Reason for the sideways flight... only one motor ignited. I think for now I'll use the Quest ignitors since they work a lot better than the ESTES. Anyway it is what it is.

 

[AfterBurners]

I had a great time today! I launched a lot of rockets and had some great flights and best of all I made some new friends. You know like I said early I went out today to burn up some black powder motors and now I want to focus on launching some composites and also my Level 1. I plan on joining ROC in the next few months and meet more people and make more friends. This is an awesome hobby to be a part. Nathan and Jacob are both new to the hobby and are looking to launch more often, but they lack the better equipment. I ended up selling my Interlock controller and launch pad to Jacob for $100 w/ a 1/8 and 3/16" rods 3 feet long. I had plan to sell it awhile back and it makes more sense now since I'll be joining ROC and not having to worry about bringing my own equipment. Just staying focus on my builds and buying motors. So it was a good day. Both Jacob and Nathan live in Victorville, which is maybe 20 minutes from the lake bed so I'm sure they would get a lot more use out of it than me. I get out there maybe 3-4x a year, but when I do it's always a kick in the pants. Below are some miscellaneous pictures of the day. Thanks for stopping by.

Check back later and I'll have the videos posted.

 

[ThirstyBarbarian]

Wow! That's some carnage! But is also sounds like a great fun day. Glad you enjoyed yourself and met some fun people. And good job encouraging a young rocketeer!

You had mentioned you were bringing a rocket to fly on a cluster of Es. Did you not get a chance to fly it? Or had you had enough carnage...?

 

[AfterBurners]

Wow! That's some carnage! But is also sounds like a great fun day. Glad you enjoyed yourself and met some fun people. And good job encouraging a young rocketeer!

You had mentioned you were bringing a rocket to fly on a cluster of Es. Did you not get a chance to fly it? Or had you had enough carnage...?

I was going to fly it, but the day was getting hot and we didn't have any type of shade / cover so I didn't fly it. Maybe next time I will. Jacob actually has a canopy so it will be much better next time. I hadn't planned on staying til noon, but it worked out. So the cluster escaped any damage.

BTW - Here is a couple extra pictures:

 

[Cl(VII)]

What happened to the Mongoose?! That os avstrange place to burn threw, unless the second stage motor was in backwards that is.

 

[AfterBurners]

What happened to the Mongoose?! That os avstrange place to burn threw, unless the second stage motor was in backwards that is.

That was Jake's rocket

 

[AfterBurners]

I'm just going to post the 1st flight of the big Daddy and from the camera looking downward. There's not much to see on the other videos

[video=youtube;4_lACtr10C4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_lACtr10C4[/video]

 

[AfterBurners]

This video is the "E" black powder video. I know mentioned what I used in the video. Also I didn't cut anything on the video so the rocket may not launch right away so you can always advance the video.

[video=youtube;AoyDbwyYL7I]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoyDbwyYL7I[/video]

Now here is the F32-8T we had issues with the alligator clips getting attached properly so that's why the delay. Also this is where the chute got pretty burnt, but it was charred from the flight with the Big Daddy

[video=youtube;uALJa7DXECU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uALJa7DXECU[/video]

 

[AfterBurners]

[video]https://www.dropbox.com/sh/vrfmlcqdsfbppoc/CzCX5-v1Gw#lh:null-2013-08-10_10-55-43_572.mp4[/video]

There's more pictures and video on this site.