Giant Leap Rocketrys new Mariah 38 kit review

[BearMan]

Question...... are you guys glassing these or flying them stock at Mach+ speeds? . I am building a M54 and love the kit.... VERY CLEVER. Roomy too..... deciding on whether to glass or not.

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[cmcain]

No, my Mariah 38 and Jays are both pretty much stock, a few mods here and there,but no glass anywhere and tower launched. We both used JB Weld for the root attachment of the fins and then fillet them with Aeropoxy and chopped carbon fiber and it holds up extreamely well. Im still going back and forth, but I think that I am going to tip to tip the fins on my mariah 54, maybe down the road ill feel alittle crazy and build one unglassed and see what happens. It all comes down to your building skills, how much you trust your building skills and what you feel comfortable with doing.

 

[cmcain]

One thing i did forget to mention, On the prototype Mariah 38, the rocket was unfinished in rough primer and had the rail guides on it which probably attributed to the lower than expected altitude on the J570. Either way it MOVES when it leaves the pad, the only pictures weve captured have been a smoke trail and thats with the motor drive on the camera as fast as itll go.

 

[BearMan]

okay.... thanks for the help. Yes I was planning on doing tip to tip glass on the fins. was not sure on the tube.... guess it will be fine.....

 

[cmcain]

Your welcome. I wouldnt worry about the airframe, the magnaframe can take a beating like you wouldnt believe!

 

[BearMan]

Well Guys,

Flew my Mariah 54 yesterday. Flew great..... pretty much.

First flight was on a H110 White CTI. Had a little wobble in the first few hundred ft..... assume it was a thermal it flew through. Apogee went fine but main chute never deployed. It fell flat and when the fins would catch it would fly like a glider! Drifted down wind quite a ways. Ended up in a field of corn. No damage what so ever because this thing is bullet proof. My buddy was shocked. Went to 2622ft.

Second flight was on a H100 White... older reload. Flew straight as an arrow. This time the main chute came out right at 600 ft as planned. I had gone up to a 1gram charge main and had no issues other than some charred spots and a burned shroud line. I had added a knot behind the shotgun tube end cap and solved my shock cord slippage that had stuck the chute on the first flight.

QUESTIONS>>>>

How do you guys keep the chute from burning? What size charges are you finding work best? What size chute is fitting in there on a 54mm?

I started ground testing with a 2" plug of barf as Kent suggested. I packed it well and had just enough room for a chute. First shot and it burned a hole in my chute. Yesterday at the launch I bought a 6x6 Nomex cloth and wadded it over the charge then the shock cord and then the chute. This time burned the chute pretty good and lost a shroud line. Dang.... how is this prevented?

Now I know some people use pistons but I have racked my brain on how to pack this better...... cant come up with any thing. With the booster shock cord coming out the same whole I dont know if a piston would work.

Any suggestions?

 

[crossfire]

Is there enough room to wrap the chute in the protector than put it in the tube. Wrapping chute really should give it very good protection.

 

[BearMan]

Not at this point...... I have a 36" flat chute going in a 38mm tube. It is a really tight fit. It is a 3lb rocket and my 24" seems to small. I may sew a new one and see if I can get a smaller chute.

Would like the chute wrapped... but haven't found a way yet. What are people doing on the 38mm Mariah? It has been out longer and maybe that would help me....


Barry

 

[stealth6]

Yep. It's nearly identical to Adrian's deployment system, except that from what I can tell, it looks like it might be backwards compared to the system Adrian uses.

It's already been done. It's essentially the same thing as Adrian's rockets. It's a good, proven design. That's what's bothering me about this. It's nothing new, why the secrecy?

Can you direct me to a thread/post/etc. where this system is shown or explained? I've been interested in ideas concerning dual-deploy-with-single-seperation-point. I'm fairly new to the forum and don't know about Adrian's work. I've tried some searching around and have come up empty.

Other ideas/examples along these lines would be nice as well, but I don't want to hijack this thread too much.

Thanks, s6

 

[Adrian A]

Here's a recent discussion, with a photo:

https://www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?t=6611

Here's the original build thread, with the updated deployment partway through:

https://www.rocketryplanet.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2808&page=18

 

[stealth6]

Adrian, thanks so much. Looks very slick - nice work.

Off to study..............s6

 

[BearMan]

Adrian,

Thanks for the help on that thread. I have managed to update my rocket with your suggestions and it seems to be working very very well now. I have changed the shock cord layout, the cap, and added a piston for deployment. I can now deploy with a 2grain charge and absolutely no chute or shock cord damage.

I can post some pictures and explainations if anyone is interested.

Barry

 

[stealth6]

I can post some pictures and explainations if anyone is interested.

Barry

Please do. I'm definately interested in how others are going about this way of doing things.

thanks, s6

 

[BearMan]

Please do. I'm definately interested in how others are going about this way of doing things.

thanks, s6

Posted my setup here.... https://www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?p=227868#post227868

 

[Adrian A]

Adrian,

Thanks for the help on that thread. I have managed to update my rocket with your suggestions and it seems to be working very very well now. I have changed the shock cord layout, the cap, and added a piston for deployment. I can now deploy with a 2grain charge and absolutely no chute or shock cord damage.

I can post some pictures and explainations if anyone is interested.

Barry

Thanks. Glad that helped.

-Adrian