thobin
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Nov 9, 2009
- Messages
- 2,238
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I should have stayed in bed today all of my flights today ended in increasing catastrophe!
First the wind was not kind but still doable 10 to 13 with gusts to 18 mph, Only a few fliers were there at first so I had my pick of pads. First up was my Das Kommie Magg riding a Loki J-396, PUFF! The igniter burned, just not enough heat to light the J powerhouse. After a quick walk of shame and a much mo betta igniter from my new friend Mitch It was ready to go.
People jumped and babes cried as the Loki Spitfire thundered to life and reached 3124 feet.:headbang: I was to busy watching so I don't have any flight pics. But to make a long story short UP was perfect, the down part not so much. Both motor ejection and back up eject worked as planned but the cable cutter dual deploy did not. Now the rocket was separated and still came in pretty hard but amazingly enough it only suffered scratches and a small 1 inch crack on a fin joint, nothing loose smashed or broken. Whew!
Upon further inspection I am to blame for the cable cutter not working. The Duffas (me) forgot to add the BP charge to the cable cutter!
Rocket survived so I can live with this one.
Next my new Estes upscale Patriot, it is built like an anti tank round 1/4' fins, glassed tube, slimline retainer, kevlar shock cord , the works. Once again the up part was great with a Loki G-80. I did need to drill out the delay a bit more but it was still with in reason and I had the backup eject at apogee so I was not worried.... WOOAA ya should have thought that through a bit more!
The problem was however, my kevlar shock cord some how tied its self in a knot on the way up because I sure the hell didn't put it in there that way. So it was a whole whopping 2 feet long.
For reasons unknown to me at this time the apogee eject did not fire!?!?! SO the rocket arced over at 718 feet and headed back to earth two seconds longer than it should have been, then the motor ejection fired and SNAP! The two foot shock cord is torn in half and the body plummeted to the ground.
It being built like an anti tank round it survived the fall quite well, and the only damage seems to be a attempted zipper damage that the kevlar shock cord tried to exact on my rocket. A second into the fall the cable cutter fired and returned the nose cone to earth a few hundred thousand feet to the east.
If it had been the 18 feet of shock cord that it was given instead of the two it might have survived the late deploy. Did it snap the cord form the ejection charge being to hot for two feet or the extra speed at deployment or both who knows? :confused2: All I know is that it sucked!
In all the rocket can be repaired with only a little bit of work, I can live through this.
Next is another scratch build five fins, four inch dia, three feet tall and 29mm. I load up an Aerotech H-128 every thing is in order. 3 2 1 launch, 100 feet then POP and sputter sputter, and flying crazy all of the sky.
It plummets back to earth and KER-SPLODS all over the west desert floor. AAAARRRGRGRG!!!!!:rant: As you can see from the picture there was a burn through just above the nozzle! Oh and it burst into flames. Not sure what to do about this one this or what happen the motor it was built right, all the parts were where they should be. :confused2:
This is the first CATO or what ever this is called that I have had. I have a 29mm hobby line case that is 17 years old and has tons of firings and this one has 3, and now its dead and so is the rocket! :cry: This one is a total loss.
Wind, Rain and Fire sums up this launch season. Id be pissed if I dint love this so much.
TA
First the wind was not kind but still doable 10 to 13 with gusts to 18 mph, Only a few fliers were there at first so I had my pick of pads. First up was my Das Kommie Magg riding a Loki J-396, PUFF! The igniter burned, just not enough heat to light the J powerhouse. After a quick walk of shame and a much mo betta igniter from my new friend Mitch It was ready to go.
People jumped and babes cried as the Loki Spitfire thundered to life and reached 3124 feet.:headbang: I was to busy watching so I don't have any flight pics. But to make a long story short UP was perfect, the down part not so much. Both motor ejection and back up eject worked as planned but the cable cutter dual deploy did not. Now the rocket was separated and still came in pretty hard but amazingly enough it only suffered scratches and a small 1 inch crack on a fin joint, nothing loose smashed or broken. Whew!
Upon further inspection I am to blame for the cable cutter not working. The Duffas (me) forgot to add the BP charge to the cable cutter!
Rocket survived so I can live with this one.Next my new Estes upscale Patriot, it is built like an anti tank round 1/4' fins, glassed tube, slimline retainer, kevlar shock cord , the works. Once again the up part was great with a Loki G-80. I did need to drill out the delay a bit more but it was still with in reason and I had the backup eject at apogee so I was not worried.... WOOAA ya should have thought that through a bit more!
The problem was however, my kevlar shock cord some how tied its self in a knot on the way up because I sure the hell didn't put it in there that way. So it was a whole whopping 2 feet long.
For reasons unknown to me at this time the apogee eject did not fire!?!?! SO the rocket arced over at 718 feet and headed back to earth two seconds longer than it should have been, then the motor ejection fired and SNAP! The two foot shock cord is torn in half and the body plummeted to the ground.
It being built like an anti tank round it survived the fall quite well, and the only damage seems to be a attempted zipper damage that the kevlar shock cord tried to exact on my rocket. A second into the fall the cable cutter fired and returned the nose cone to earth a few hundred thousand feet to the east.
If it had been the 18 feet of shock cord that it was given instead of the two it might have survived the late deploy. Did it snap the cord form the ejection charge being to hot for two feet or the extra speed at deployment or both who knows? :confused2: All I know is that it sucked!
In all the rocket can be repaired with only a little bit of work, I can live through this.
Next is another scratch build five fins, four inch dia, three feet tall and 29mm. I load up an Aerotech H-128 every thing is in order. 3 2 1 launch, 100 feet then POP and sputter sputter, and flying crazy all of the sky.
It plummets back to earth and KER-SPLODS all over the west desert floor. AAAARRRGRGRG!!!!!:rant: As you can see from the picture there was a burn through just above the nozzle! Oh and it burst into flames. Not sure what to do about this one this or what happen the motor it was built right, all the parts were where they should be. :confused2:
This is the first CATO or what ever this is called that I have had. I have a 29mm hobby line case that is 17 years old and has tons of firings and this one has 3, and now its dead and so is the rocket! :cry: This one is a total loss.
Wind, Rain and Fire sums up this launch season. Id be pissed if I dint love this so much.
TA
