Buccaneer Blast III Tampa Tripoli (TTRA) 9/18/10

[eugenefl]

I'll be dusting off some old rockets for a visit to this weekend's TTRA Buccaneer Blast III event. (https://www.ttra.ws/) I am long overdue to participate in any rocketry activities (at least 5 years now). I'll mostly be there to photo rockets and hopefully see a few old faces. I've never been to this particular event, but hopefully there will be great weather and a good turn out.

 

[brianc]

I'll be there! It'll be good to see you again after all these years.

 

[AstronMike]

I will be there too, although I cannot afford to fly anything decent sized. Still will do plenty of lower end/midpower gliders if the weather holds.

Hope you get your rocket back, Brian!

 

[eugenefl]

Any idea if there will be a vendor at the field? I'd love to fly my 29mm Deuce but need something other than copperheads for igniters.

 

[AstronMike]

Any idea if there will be a vendor at the field? I'd love to fly my 29mm Deuce but need something other than copperheads for igniters.

Yes, Randy from Always Ready Rocketry is there selling pretty much anything above Estes. He, or someone else for sure, would have the proper igniters in all likelihood.

What else you planning to fly?

 

[eugenefl]

Yes, Randy from Always Ready Rocketry is there selling pretty much anything above Estes. He, or someone else for sure, would have the proper igniters in all likelihood.

What else you planning to fly?

Nothing major. The Deuces Wild is a 2.6" dia upscale with 29mm mounts that I'll probably fly with either F20s or F40s depending on conditions. I also have a 3" dia upscale Estes Bullpup that I'd like to fly on a G64. I'll probably spend most of my time taking pictures. I'm looking forward to tomorrow especially after all of these years not flying anything. See you tomorrow.

 

[shreadvector]

You realize that Sunday, September 19 is TLAPD, don't you?

 

[eugenefl]

You realize that Sunday, September 19 is TLAPD, don't you?

What is TLAPD?

 

[brianc]

What is TLAPD?

Talk Like a Pirate Day! (actually since it falls on Sunday, it's TLAPW!)

https://www.talklikeapirate.com/piratehome.html

I'll be sportin' me new TTRA shirt-

to celebrate!


Eugene- If Randy doesn't have igniters for you, I'm sure we
can find a few in my ammo box.

Mike- I'll bring my Triple Eagle- we can have a 'last to the ground' race.

But first order of the day is to retrieve my upscale MaxterMind from the Rocket Eatin' Trees!!

 

[brianc]

But first order of the day is to retrieve my upscale MaxterMind from the Rocket Eatin' Trees!!

Whoo-who!

I got my MaxterMind out of the Rocket Eatin' Trees today!!

There were some migrant workers on the field pulling Spanish
Moss from the trees. I paid'em $20 to retrieve my rocket.
The guy put a 40 foot ladder up the tree, then climbed
another 20 feet like he was born in the tree tops!

The on board camera has video! The Raven works
and said the flight was 2745'. The MaWD is beeping the
continuous error tone on power up. But the video captured
beeps for 2706 while it was laying across the canopy.

The motor case has to soak for a while. The o-rings. nozzle
and seal disk all came out OK, but the liner is cooked on
pretty good.

The Spherachute hardly looks used or abused. I had managed
to get a line on the recovery harness last month and pulled the
nose cone and chute down below the leaves. I guess the sun
couldn't reach in enough to even fade the colors.

The main body tube has a good zipper - from trying to yank
it outta the tree, not the flight. The Av-Bay is in good
shape, and the payload is just slightly out of round.
Dang good stuff that Blue Tube! Especially for being in the
weather for a month.

This can easily be rebuilt.

Overall a great day at TTRA!

Off to try and edit down an hour of video to just the
flight... Then head back tomorrow for day two!

 

[eugenefl]

I had a great time at the TTRA launch yesterday. I believe they are out there again today doing EX stuff. I look forward to next month and hope I can make the launch. The weather is getting great. Anyhow, I am hopefully back into rocketry pending my current living situation and job stability. I was grateful to marry my photography and rocketry hobbies at the field. Enjoy the photos.

 

[eugenefl]

Attached are my only 2 logged flights of the day. My 29mm upscale Deuce flew great on F20's. Nice altitude, but not a long walk. Winds were heavy otherwise I'll be stuffing G40s or some other neck snapping motors. In due time! My other flight was a long slender BT-55 scratch build that I flew on an E9-6. This combination made for some high altitude and a very long walk on a breezy day. I'm already look forward to next month!

 

[eugenefl]

Our very own "roadkill" was on site flying a beautifully scratch built Phoenix sport scale on a sparky motors. Attached is also a scratch LPR bird. I wish I had more time to capture photos of all of her rockets!

 

[eugenefl]

AstronMike was onsite to entertain with his various scratch built glider designs. I personally think his creations offer the biggest bang-for-the-buck on rocketry expenses. He builds very light, very inexpensively from light materials, and is able to lift these large scale gliders on BP motors! The flights are fun to watch and the glide times certainly entertain. Nice job!

 

[eugenefl]

BrianC was also in attendance. Brian is a good ol TRF buddy I hadn't seen in ages. It was good seeing you out there.

 

[eugenefl]

We were treated to a few HPR flights. This one is called "Purple Haze" and flew nicely on a K.

 

[eugenefl]

Here's LOC kit the owner calls "BFN." Hmm... Attached is also a Lil' Nuke someone flew earlier in the day.

 

[eugenefl]

This particular rocket flew on a sparky M if I'm not mistaken. It was a super high flight.

 

[eugenefl]

Here are 2 static EX motor test fires. I also put together a panoramic stitch of the field and included a picture of some of the asses we get to share the field with.

If you were in attendance and have a specific photo request, drop me a line. I may have photographed your rocket. There's a Level1 flight that I photographed from the field that the owner may have an interest in seeing.

Thanks again for the hospitality and for making HPR rocketry possible in Tampa.

 

[AstronMike]

Eugene,

Thanks for coming out Saturday and taking pictures! I *think* we met years back at an old THOR launch but do not recall....

The wind, coupled with some rather wimpy ejection charges, dampened what might have been a great day otherwise. Cardstock/Depron owns in calm conditions but might be too light for its size with the wind like it was. Glad that site is so looooooong rearward!

BTW, that 4th photo you posted here in the 'AstronMike row' was actually that foam based copter you saw. Might have to get back into more sport copter stuff for such windy days....

Hope you can make these launches all the time, you never know what I might drag out next...:eyepop:

 

[rsynoski]

Glad to have you at the launch. I didn't realize that was you until the BBQ when someone mentioned you name.

 

[MartinVrstal]

Hey Eugene...Did you get to launch off that 3" Bullpup? I don't think I saw it in the photos.

 

[eugenefl]

Hey Eugene...Did you get to launch off that 3" Bullpup? I don't think I saw it in the photos.

Nah, it sat in the rear hatch of my car. I only had two flights - a long slender BT55 scratchbuild and the upscale 29mm Deuce. I bought a G75 Metalstorm to fly in the Bullpup, but I guess was pretty beat down from the wind, walking, heat, etc. and didn't quite have the energy to prep and fly it. I don't recall ever being that exhausted in previous all-day launches! Not only that, but for some reason I was really gun shy to fly rockets. It was nice to observe and take some photos. It'll definitely fly next month along with my upscale BT80 Gyroc.

BTW, it's yellowed over time. Do you still have access to create another set of decals for it? It looks battle damaged and could use a restoration.

Also attached in this post:

• My long performance scratch build BT55 based rocket boosting on an E9-6.
• BrianC's FarScape ready to fire on the pad.
• BrianC's FarScape boosting (heavily sharpened from a cropped image)
• and a LOC Graduator boosting on a Metalstorm motor (I believe)

 

[eugenefl]

Glad to have you at the launch. I didn't realize that was you until the BBQ when someone mentioned you name.

Hey, I must be famous or something. Either that or people were cussing that guy that won 4 of the auction items. It was good to be out flying rockets again. I'll be out next month (life permitting) probably to flew a few rockets and snap a lot of photos. I wish I could have stayed for the BBQ. I was already an hour late for a commitment I made earlier in the day. Ah well, it was worth it. Great field by the way!

 

[Buckeyegator]

Great photos, Eugene. I would like to figure out a way to get these for my computer and also for Robert to post on the Website. Got any ideas??


Terry
BTW...PM sent to you earlier.
T

 

[eugenefl]

Great photos, Eugene. I would like to figure out a way to get these for my computer and also for Robert to post on the Website. Got any ideas??


Terry
BTW...PM sent to you earlier.
T

Send me an Email address where I can send the whole batch in low resolution "web ready" 100dpi quality (like the ones embedded in each thread post). Each file is about 200-300k and small enough to send in one large ZIP file. Otherwise someone will have to manually save each image off each thread.

 

[Buckeyegator]

Eugene:

PM sent!

Thanks,
Terry

 

[brianc]

Off to try and edit down an hour of video to just the
flight... Then head back tomorrow for day two!

Finally had a chance to edit the video-

[youtube]umlZRmqHUIs[/youtube]

Take your Dramamine before clicking play!

 

[eugenefl]

Take your Dramamine before clicking play!

Um, too late. Wow....(just got back from the tavern.)

 

[brianc]

Take your Dramamine before clicking play!

Um, too late. Wow....(just got back from the tavern.)

I went thru the video frame-by-frame and pulled some of the more
interesting shots-

https://our.rocketryplanet.com/photo/photo/slideshow?albumId=1014531:Album:65166

This slide show is a bit easier on the eyes/stomach.