I haven't flown one, but a quick sim has me intrigued. A Pro54 L935 at + Mach2 and 25 - 30K ft. Sound like fun!
Chris, I built mine with the Binder Design Max-Q aluminum fins, but haven't flown it yet. It was supposed to be my Balls project, but unfortunately I cannot be there this year. Perhaps at October Skies?
On the CTI L265 Mellow motor is sims out at 17.6k feet.
re-inforcing the fin can with fibreglas or carbon fibre wrapped from fin tip to fin tip to stiffen the fin, helping to reduce flutter. Think of an extended fillet.I'm curious, what does "tip to tip mean"?
I'm reviving this thread in the hope that it will develop some interest in the Blackhawk 54. I purchased the limited edition of this rocket last year and built it last summer. First flight was at Airfest last August on a CTI J430. Results of that flight are in my thread "Reflections on Airfest XX":
https://www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?69259-Reflections-on-Airfest-XX
I like this rocket so much that I contacted Tim at Wildmans and queried him about a new version using the thin wall tubing and new 54mm nosecone. He asked me to build the prototype and sent me materials for this build, so look for a build thread on a new lighter version of this rocket in the near future...
... haven't decided if I will do a test flight to a lower altitude first. Stay tuned for updates, next launch is Feb. 28th.
I'm reviving this thread in the hope that it will develop some interest in the Blackhawk 54. I purchased the limited edition of this rocket last year and built it last summer. First flight was at Airfest last August on a CTI J430. Results of that flight are in my thread "Reflections on Airfest XX":
https://www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?69259-Reflections-on-Airfest-XX
I am sorry about your flight.
This flight had some issues when the ematch failed to fire the apogee drogue charge and the rocket returned ballistically to 700 ft. where the main was deployed.
Any more thoughts on the ematch failure? Did you check the ematch for continuity before flight? Altimeter usually beeps this anyway. No firing at all, or fired and did not separate?
After the rebuild and the addition of the redundant altimeter, my old rocket now weighs in at 4.8 lbs. with two 9v batteries, a CSI tracker in the drogue compartment and an Eggfinder in the nosecone.
So I stuffed two altimeters, two magnetic switches and two 9v batteries into the avbay. It's a hassle to prep, but worth it.
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So I ordered the Blackhawk 54 from Widman early this April. Just got it earlier this week. It does look like the new thin walled version noted above. The nose cone also seems to differ from the current image on the wildman site. I plan on building it over the course of the next few months and flying it on a J360 for my level 2 certification flight.
View attachment 261026
I plan on launching from the MARS site in arizona. They can go to 14k. Id reckon that there there would be a few differences between the rocksim file posted vs what it should be. Do you by any chance have the rocksim for new version?
I just finished mine, I'm waiting to post up a build thread until after I have finished writing the instructions. Wildman sent me the kit a couple of months ago and asked me to write it up. I also built the earlier version with the FWFG Nosecone.
You better have a big field with a waiver over 10k, a J360 will probably do at least that much.
I never got around to doing a build thread on the second thin wall Blackhawk 54, but both of mine have been flown since my last post. My older, heavier "Silver Streak" flew on an L935 to 23,230 ft. and was recovered with some minor burn marks on the holographic decals near the nosecone.
First flight with the new thin wall Blackhawk was with a J250 Skidmark. I watched the entire flight to 6321 ft. and everything worked perfectly. I'm taking both of these rockets to Hellfire, and plan to fly them with a couple of dual thrust motors, the K590 and the L640.
Interesting that both of these motors sim higher with the heavier Silver Streak. Mass and momentum at work.
I just flew mine yesterday on a CTI J355 3-grain motor. Nothing too terribly crazy. I was a bit surprised as it flew just past 10k feet (recorded by the on board GPS); on this it had simmed to be closer to 8700-9k. I suspect par of this was the extra effort in polishing out the paint job - however it still seems too far off. I am going to re-build the sim design file to see if something might be strange inside of it..
Now i am thinking about a nice long burn 6 grain in there would really get up there
Here's a simple mod I did to convert the polycarb cone so it can do head end deployment.
Cut shoulder down to 1 in. glue on short section of airframe, to act as receiver for coupler.
Do vent band thing on coupler.
Shear pin modified cone to av-bay/shoulder.
Glue recovery loop in tip.
Voila DD out of the NC.
View attachment 268049
Working on a ...........
Could you upload your sim file? I'd like to check it against mine.I just flew mine yesterday on a CTI J355 3-grain motor. Nothing too terribly crazy. I was a bit surprised as it flew just past 10k feet (recorded by the on board GPS); on this it had simmed to be closer to 8700-9k. I suspect par of this was the extra effort in polishing out the paint job - however it still seems too far off. I am going to re-build the sim design file to see if something might be strange inside of it..
Now i am thinking about a nice long burn 6 grain in there would really get up there
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