"College Funds" Yet another scratch build.- Up in flames at Hellfire 18

[kenstarr]

Saturday! I357T. Will you be going?
What is this scratch build you speak of?

Alex

Won't be at that launch
As for the build, don't want to hijack your thread. I'll do an "executive summary" build thread shortly. I may do a build thread for my newly acquired Ventris! The CF cloth just arrived today!....
-Ken

 

[Aksrockets]

I just had some successful Ejection Charge tests! I'll have a video up shortly.

Would anyone at the launch mind being my "mentor"?
Stealth6? Aerostadt? Thobin? Lawndartman?

Alex

 

[Aksrockets]

[YOUTUBE]S4J98pQJF54[/YOUTUBE]

Yayyyy! Successful tests. I think I'm going to use 1.1g for both the main and the drouge. Both have the same area that needs to be pressurized.

Alex

 

[dixontj93060]

Surprised you can cause that kind of ruckus in such a nice neighborhood?!

 

[Aksrockets]

Surprised you can cause that kind of ruckus in such a nice neighborhood?!

It was hardly a ruckus! I expected there to be a loud "bang" like in a firework. Instead, it was a nice, gentle "pop".

Alex

 

[Aksrockets]

She flies tomorrow! We have everything all lined up and the launch is a go.

I wanted to have a picture of me with the rocket before I fly it tomorrow. I'll get one at the pad too.



Wish me luck. This will be my first Dual Deploy flight!

Alex

 

[MasonH]

GOOD LUCK ALEX.

 

[awseiger]

Good luck!

 

[kenstarr]

Hope it flies well! (hope there is a waiver!) I presume you will have a video of the launch?
-Ken

 

[qquake2k]

She flies tomorrow! We have everything all lined up and the launch is a go.

I wanted to have a picture of me with the rocket before I fly it tomorrow. I'll get one at the pad too.

View attachment 121955

Wish me luck. This will be my first Dual Deploy flight!

Alex

It's bigger than it looks by itself. It looks awesome! Good luck tomorrow!

 

[jus_rockets]

Good luck!

 

[Aksrockets]

Well, she flew today.

I prepped the night before and showed up at the UROC launch ready to fly with the exception of the ejection charges. Thobin (TA) kindly agreed to be my mentor and put his TRA# on the flight card. I was the first HPR flight that day (not that impressive considering there were only 5 or so).

Here is the BP in a glove finger and a Q2G2 igniter.


At the pads.


Altimeter wires twisted togeather.


Taped to the airframe:


Saying goodbye:

Flight was beautiful! Straight boost to 2178 feet (or something like that). Main seemed to deploy a bit higher the the 600' I set it at. I'm going to look into that.

Here is the video of the flight:
[YOUTUBE]m_0yfOb0ZvY[/YOUTUBE]

Alex

 

[kenstarr]

Man if I didn't have to work there would have at least three more HP flights today!
Ken

 

[aerostadt]

Good Flight, Alex!

 

[stealth6]

Sweet! Congrats on your first dd flight.
I like the rocket hugging picture.

So......what's next?

s6

 

[MasonH]

Not bad, Lawaray!

 

[qquake2k]

Saying goodbye:

I love this shot!

 

[grouch]

Nice job, great looking flight. Now you just have to stick a bigger motor in there.

 

[Aksrockets]

Im hopefully going to put this thing up again next saturday at the UROC tripoli research launch. This time on some 38/720 load. I was thinking either the I600R or the J500G. Thoughts?

Alex

 

[blackjack2564]

Outstanding sir!

J-500-G!

 

[qquake2k]

Im hopefully going to put this thing up again next saturday at the UROC tripoli research launch. This time on some 38/720 load. I was thinking either the I600R or the J500G. Thoughts?

Alex

I'm a slightly bigger fan of Redlines over Mojave Greens. What are the altitude sims?

 

[CarVac]

J420R. Awesome motor; it hangs around a little longer than the J500G does and the flame is more clearly colored.

 

[qquake2k]

J420R. Awesome motor; it hangs around a little longer than the J500G does and the flame is more clearly colored.

Another vote for the J420R!

 

[Aksrockets]

Most 720 motors hit around 3400-3700 feet, perfect for a good stress test. Im going to check with my vendor to see what reloads he has for Saturday. I'm almost positive he has I600s and J350s. The others I'm not sure about. I LLLLOOOOVVVVEEEEE both the I600 and the J500. Both of them have some of the prettiest flames I've seen!

Alex

 

[Jmhepworth]

Alex, we plan to be there on Saturday as well. Do you still want help with a tracker?

Joe

 

[Aksrockets]

Alex, we plan to be there on Saturday as well. Do you still want help with a tracker?

Joe

Joe,
Thanks for remembering! I'll talk to you about the tracker, but my project that would need it (this rocket) is currently on hold until September this year. It might be awhile till I would need to borrow the receiver.

See you saturday. Are you flying anything fun?

Alex

 

[Jmhepworth]

2.6" fiberglass DX3. I extended it for dual deploy, and for practice put carbon fiber on the fins. I won't get a chance to paint it, but unpainted rockets still fly. We may put a tracker in it for practice. I just bought a Yaesu VX-8GR, but it doesn't look like it will come before Saturday. So we will have to settle for my son's FT-60R to track a 70cm Big Red Bee. We won't need the tracker, but we haven't ever used it, so I want to practice when we can still find the rocket if we are inept with the tracker.

Joe

 

[Aksrockets]

Bad news guys! I just found out that my great grandpa is very close to passing away (age 99), and probably will in the next few days. So instead of going to the launch on saturday, My family and I are driving 12 hours to Sacramento, CA to be with him. Family is more important then rockets. I'll just fly the College Funds at LDRS.

Alex

 

[Jmhepworth]

Family is more important than rockets. Travel safe.

 

[Aksrockets]

She "flew" at Hellfire. The first flight was beautiful. Ryan (Flynfrog) had an EX I200 (or something like that) wimpy red in a 38/480 case. Despite being one of his first EX motors, she worked beautifully! Nice red flame and a long burn time.

Great boost and perfect dual deploy. It was my 3rd dual deploy flight and my first time not using motor ejection.


Photo credit: Flynfrog.

Thanks for letting me fly your motor!

The second flight was a lot less pretty. I loaded her up with an AT I600 Redline (one of my favorite motors up until yesterday) I got her loaded on the pad, armed the altims and walked back.

The boost was NOT pretty. At about 60% of the burn the top half of the rocket separated and I could see flame coming out BOTH sides of the booster.
Classic burn-through. It was pretty embarrassing to have that happen in front of a big crowd. I might have lost some trust and respect in the club.

I showed the motor to Jack Garabaldi, who verified that it was assembled correctly. I have no idea what happened to cause the burn through. Maybe I got a bad delay grain or something. I'll be contacting Aerotech tomorrow. I'm fairly certain that it will be covered.

I'm afraid that the booster is toast. The good news is that my upper section and my altimeters were untouched. Burn-through occurred at 447 feet, or so my Adept 22 reports.

Video and pictures to come tomorrow!

Alex