Low Altitude, Big Show, Crowd Pleaser

[jqavins]

I've flown mine many times. It's a crowd pleaser.

Be careful in building it. The root edge on a canted fin should be slightly concave, but the fins in the kit are not. For surface mounting, one can generally make up the difference with generous fillets, but this has TTW fins, so I found it impossible to get them solidly attached. If I had it to do again, I'd sand the needed concavity in. Mine has popped a fin out or loose on just about every other flight. I put it back and fly it again, over and over. The up part is always good, the down part is almost always good, and "check which fin is loose" is a routine part of retrieval. I got sick of making the repairs look good, so I quite bothering and just gave the whole rocket a deliberately ugly paint job.

 

[86mustang408w]

This will be one of those. 38mm MDRM.

 

[John Taylor]

Good Morning,

Our High School Rocket Club has a great opportunity to participate in this years Homecoming weekend. The Club has a multi pad launch rail and a fiver launch system and would like to create some "safe fun" and grab some "attention" during the weekend.

The Club is discussing what standard B,C, and D rockets will give them the best "bang for attention", will look "big" but that they can keep at a low altitude for a safe recovery. Anyone have any suggestions?

As always thanks for sharing your past experiences and wisdom.

Use Thrustcurve.org.
Put in rocket specs and it will tell you which motors will work and which will not work as well as delay times, altitude, velocity and a lot of other useful information.
Free, fun easy, and quick.

 

[Azamiryou]

Mine has popped a fin out or loose on just about every other flight. I put it back and fly it again, over and over.

Here I thought it was just me! I solved the fin-shedding problem by making a new chute, 2" larger than stock. Haven't popped a fin since! The downside is that it drifts farther... I wish there was a Jolly Logic Chute Release that would fit it.

 

[smstachwick]

A bit of new activity here…

Let’s see what I’ve got on my flown/to-fly list in these sizes.

Boosted Bertha on any B? Fun to say!

Tazz on a C5-3? Autogyro recovery, that’s neat!

Hi-Flier XL on a C11-3? 24mm-sized spectacle, big tube, looks aerodynamic (although it actually isn’t, not all that much).

Apogee Slo-mo on a D16-4FJ? Lots of smoke. Beware of fin snappage!

Mean Machine on a D12-3? Easy ignition, reliable performance, big airframe.

Apogee Atomizer on a D24-4T reload? Ring base, lots of drag. Look for it to zip off the pad and basically screech to a halt at burnout. Apogee predicts you won’t break 700 ft.

Dynastar Rising Star on a D9-4W reload? White Lightning is very good at catching attention with noise and the flame looks great in photos. Just be sure to scuff up the grain next to the igniter tip, you don’t want it chuffing.

 

[John Taylor]

Here I thought it was just me! I solved the fin-shedding problem by making a new chute, 2" larger than stock. Haven't popped a fin since! The downside is that it drifts farther... I wish there was a Jolly Logic Chute Release that would fit it.

What is the ID of the airframe? Have you tried fitting a JLCR inside?

 

[BRS Hobbies]

Estes Big Daddy, Green Eggs and Super Big Bertha are all good candidates.

 

[86mustang408w]

Estes Big Daddy, Green Eggs and Super Big Bertha are all good candidates.

I'll agree with that!

 

[86mustang408w]

This was fun this past Saturday, 29mm Super Big Bertha on a F23-4FJ. Did my Levaithan too on the same motor.

 

[Azamiryou]

What is the ID of the airframe? Have you tried fitting a JLCR inside?

1.14"/29mm ... not even close to fitting. (Yes I tried.)