Battle of the Rockets
held at Battle Park in Culpeper Virginia hosted by Tripoli Central Virgina #25.
held at Battle Park in Culpeper Virginia hosted by Tripoli Central Virgina #25.
Battle of the Rockets Contest
- Thread starter Handeman
- Start date
Help Support The Rocketry Forum:
MaxQ
Tripoli 2747
What do you got up your sleeve for this one...? : )
I've been thinking............... 
I've been spending some time down in the lab and have been scrounging up some parts! Time will tell!
I've been spending some time down in the lab and have been scrounging up some parts! Time will tell!
MaxQ
Tripoli 2747
I got some parts together...Rocksimmed a few designs...
Bought a Perfectflite altimeter as required....
Will have to hurry up this build.
Bought a Perfectflite altimeter as required....
Will have to hurry up this build.
MaxQ
Tripoli 2747
BTW: I was going to get that same altimeter you have...(Perfectflie Hi AltK )to do dual deployment as well as recording altitude ...but when I reread the rules again, it clearly says you must use a "Perfectflite A15K Rev. 2" as the designated altimeter.
Too bad, since that model has NO events, ....and for a mere $5 more you can get the Hi Alt 45k - which does.
Per the rules:
-------------------------------------------------------------------
#12. Only the Perfectflite A15K Rev. 2 recording Altimeter is accepted for contest results. (.....another) can be a "back up in case the designated unit has a failure".
Too bad, since that model has NO events, ....and for a mere $5 more you can get the Hi Alt 45k - which does.
Per the rules:
-------------------------------------------------------------------
#12. Only the Perfectflite A15K Rev. 2 recording Altimeter is accepted for contest results. (.....another) can be a "back up in case the designated unit has a failure".
W
WillMarchant
This weekend... The weather forecast at https://www.weather.com/weather/weekend/USVA0200?locid=USVA0200 looks good!
Research day day was great weather. Not a lot of rockets but I got my G-Alt up on a G64 for the first flight. The streamer tangled so it fell from 3100 ft. but no damage.
Saturday was even better. This was one of the best launch days I can ever remember. Not too hot, not to cold, calm winds, blue skies. It was just about perfect.
Max, hope you didn't think I ran off on you when you were asking about the altimeter. I promised Mike I would LCO the LPR pads. Hope the manual helped. Did you get what you needed from it?
I'm a little suprised I won the G-Alt contest. I was a little disappointed with the flight. It was 3390' but I had sims upto 5400 and figure low 4000's would be closer. I didn't think it would be low 3000's. But what the hey, I won it anyways and promptly spent the prize money with the local vendors. I figure that's why the vendors help sponser the contests anyways. Don't want to disappoint them.
I think a good time was had by all.
Saturday was even better. This was one of the best launch days I can ever remember. Not too hot, not to cold, calm winds, blue skies. It was just about perfect.
Max, hope you didn't think I ran off on you when you were asking about the altimeter. I promised Mike I would LCO the LPR pads. Hope the manual helped. Did you get what you needed from it?
I'm a little suprised I won the G-Alt contest. I was a little disappointed with the flight. It was 3390' but I had sims upto 5400 and figure low 4000's would be closer. I didn't think it would be low 3000's. But what the hey, I won it anyways and promptly spent the prize money with the local vendors. I figure that's why the vendors help sponser the contests anyways. Don't want to disappoint them.
I think a good time was had by all.
skycopp
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jan 18, 2009
- Messages
- 1,306
- Reaction score
- 0
I think a good time was had by all.
You couldn't be more correct. The weather was perfect. The only thing bad about this day was the Saturn 5 diassembly on impact.
- Joined
- Jan 17, 2009
- Messages
- 15,470
- Reaction score
- 238
MaxQ
Tripoli 2747
Max, hope you didn't think I ran off on you when you were asking about the altimeter. I promised Mike I would LCO the LPR pads. Hope the manual helped. Did you get what you needed from it?
I'm a little suprised I won the G-Alt contest. I was a little disappointed with the flight. It was 3390' but I had sims upto 5400 and figure low 4000's would be closer. I didn't think it would be low 3000's.
No problem...I got there late Saturday and ended up having to choose between getting this altitude flight off - or getting the Little "Big" Joe II ready to go up before it got too dark...so I threw in the towel on the G Altitude flight...(bet I could've given you some competition on that G Alt. flight...LOL...well, maybe next time).
What motor did you use for the 3390 feet?
Wish I had taken the time to take a closer look at your rocket too.
Here is mine....
View attachment Strato Star 2.JPG
I didn't know the Little Joe was yours! I missed the annoucement of who was flying it. I didn't miss the flight though.
I'm thinking you might have been better off giving me a run on the G-alt then flying the Little Joe! Then again, it sure was an "interesting/entertaining" flight!
Not sure I would have wanted to miss that!Anyway, my G-alt was no where's near as pretty as your's. Here's a pic.
Hope Kenny likes the banner in the background.
View attachment G Alt 001.JPG
MaxQ
Tripoli 2747
Yeah...that was mine...the subject of a lot of my build time last winter and spring....
On that maiden flight of this Little Big Joe - II, the video that Paul shot was hilarious...the "airstarted" D12's lit alright - but ridiculously late...like "under canopy" late - while it was touching down...kinda like a Soyuz landing with retro rockets....then I got some more airtime off them...a two in one flight.
I do not want to do that again.
Minor damage..it will be at Red Glare this weekend if I can put some time in this week...I have other projects I'd like to finish for this next event.
...I really needed those D12's earlier - given how the G79 performed on this draggy rocket design...(Rocksim predicted 580 feet minimum...)
I was told the GWiz could not arm the accelerometer based airstart program given the flight speed off the rail...(if that was true...I don't know why they lit when they did...?).
I'll either I'll give up the central G motor and switch to a long burn H, or figure out if a pull pin timer would work on the outboards...and get them going earlier...
On that G flight of yours......looks aren't as important when you win...just my opinion.
Did you get some prize money?
So...what was the motor?
View attachment LBJ-II.JPG
On that maiden flight of this Little Big Joe - II, the video that Paul shot was hilarious...the "airstarted" D12's lit alright - but ridiculously late...like "under canopy" late - while it was touching down...kinda like a Soyuz landing with retro rockets....then I got some more airtime off them...a two in one flight.
I do not want to do that again.
Minor damage..it will be at Red Glare this weekend if I can put some time in this week...I have other projects I'd like to finish for this next event.
...I really needed those D12's earlier - given how the G79 performed on this draggy rocket design...(Rocksim predicted 580 feet minimum...)
I was told the GWiz could not arm the accelerometer based airstart program given the flight speed off the rail...(if that was true...I don't know why they lit when they did...?).
I'll either I'll give up the central G motor and switch to a long burn H, or figure out if a pull pin timer would work on the outboards...and get them going earlier...
On that G flight of yours......looks aren't as important when you win...just my opinion.
Did you get some prize money?
So...what was the motor?
View attachment LBJ-II.JPG
The motor that won the contest was a G75J-M and got 3390 ft. I flew it on a G64-10W on Friday and got 3169 ft. I had to add a little clay to the nose cone for the G75 flight just to satisfy myself on the swing test.
BTW, Chuck told me he thought the reason the GWiz didn't' arm was because there wasn't enough Gs at lift off. He said he got a video the showed the outboards firing when the G forces hit the rocket when the chute snapped opened. If you're going to try it again, I would suggest a high thrust short burn G or H motor to make sure you get enough G forces from just the central motor to trip the GWiz and light the outboards.
He also told me he thought that was why the Saturn outboards didn't light, not enough Gs from the central sparky. It was a pretty slow lift off, pretty, but slow.
BTW, Chuck told me he thought the reason the GWiz didn't' arm was because there wasn't enough Gs at lift off. He said he got a video the showed the outboards firing when the G forces hit the rocket when the chute snapped opened. If you're going to try it again, I would suggest a high thrust short burn G or H motor to make sure you get enough G forces from just the central motor to trip the GWiz and light the outboards.
He also told me he thought that was why the Saturn outboards didn't light, not enough Gs from the central sparky. It was a pretty slow lift off, pretty, but slow.
MaxQ
Tripoli 2747
Well...Chuck knows his stuff....
I looked at Paul's video a dozen times...it appeared the chute opened and then it drifted before the motors lit...
I looked at Paul's video a dozen times...it appeared the chute opened and then it drifted before the motors lit...
I haven't seen any video, but it seemed like it fired inches off the ground and only a split second after the chute opened. Did the video show it touching the ground before the outboards lit? If so, it might have been the G's of impact that set them off. I know there was a good sized spot of gray on the ground where they fired.
Chuck said he had video of it too. You might want to ask him to send it to you. You're right about Chuck knowing his stuff. He's got eagle eyes too. He amazes me at least once every launch with what he sees that no one else seems to catch. I know on my L1 cert launch he was the only person that could see my rocket up at 4,200 ft. I didn't pick it up until he was able to point it out to me at about 3,000 ft.
BTW: The prize for the altitude contest was $100.oo. Mike said the contests in the spring would only be open to high school and college sudents but they might get another contest together that would be open to everyone. I'm not sure that was accurate, I need to check the web site and talk to Ivan.
Chuck said he had video of it too. You might want to ask him to send it to you. You're right about Chuck knowing his stuff. He's got eagle eyes too. He amazes me at least once every launch with what he sees that no one else seems to catch. I know on my L1 cert launch he was the only person that could see my rocket up at 4,200 ft. I didn't pick it up until he was able to point it out to me at about 3,000 ft.
BTW: The prize for the altitude contest was $100.oo. Mike said the contests in the spring would only be open to high school and college sudents but they might get another contest together that would be open to everyone. I'm not sure that was accurate, I need to check the web site and talk to Ivan.
Similar threads
