My Springfest 2023

[kelltym88]

Made it out to Springfest this year. First time I've been there in over 10 years or so, and this was only the second launch I've been to in last 6 years....The weather...ooohhh it was cold and a bit windy at times, but really not too bad. I've been out there before when it was 117°.

I got there Friday early afternoon, set up and decided to launch my Mega Mosquito before the range closed down. I used an F22J because I wanted a nice low and slow fight. But, I had also added nose weight. So, wrong motor choice. It ripped all the fins off and zippered the BT. But, the fins and NC are undamaged, so, I guess I rebuild it, again. Spent the evening hanging out with Mark of Stickershock and his friends and family. I slept in my Tahoe, but I was warm enough, even it got down to about 39°.

On to Saturday. Again, cold in the morning, but once the sun came up it was fine. It was calm until about 10 a.m. My first launch of the day was my 2x Yellow Jacket. I got this off of ebay from Bad Boy Rocketry. Flew it on an AT F67. Nice straight flight.

Next up was my 4x Argosy. Hadn't flown this girl in over 10 years. Put her up on J340M. By now the wind had kicked up a bit. Great flight, but it landed 1/2 mile away and by the time I got to it it had been drug across the playa. While it was scratched up pretty good, no real damage, no repairs needed.

My pop showed up and he hadn't been to one of these launches before. He remembers us launching at Hart Park when I was a kid. He got to see the Argosy go up. I wanted to show him a variety of different flights. So next up was my Franken Deuce. My upscaled scratch built Deuces Wild with 29mm mmt. You can tell in the picture why it's named the way it is. She went up on 2- F67's. Another nice flight, but this time sustained some damage I'm sure I can fix without starting over. I dunno, maybe just add more Bondo....

On to the Estes Magnum. D12-0 to D12-5. Lost the nose cone ( but someone kindly turned it in) and broke a fin, simple fix. And I got the booster back as well.

With my pops being there I wanted him to see why and how motors work with casings , etc. So I put together a G64 and put it in my Estes Nike Smoke. I also started trying different video settings on my phone, which failed. So I only have picture of it...

My pops was having a good time....thats my 4x Photon Disruptor. I chose not to fly it with how everything was getting drug by the wind.

After some sustanance and saying goodbye to pops (he had an appointment) I prepped the Doorknob with an F67. Great motor for that rocket. But again, the wind drug it a bit. I used the stock balsa fins and surprisingly none broke, but one did crack. Nothing some glue can't fix.

It was getting late in the day, the range was getting ready to close down so I got my Estes Mega Red Max ( the pro series II kit from like 10 years ago, not the newer, smaller one out now) prepped and ready with an AT I175. Yes that's a 38mm motor. And this was built stock for the most part, upgraded the shock cord. Again, I tried messing with video settings on my phone, so I just have pictures. You see it on the pad...and it landed right next to it... pretty cool. I really think Estes did well with this and the Nike Smoke. I don't understand why they were so quick to drop them.... anyway, that was Saturday.

Sunday morning came, it was still cold, it was overcast, but it was calm. I loaded up and was ready to head out, but I wanted to get a couple more flights in before I headed home. First flight of the day I put up my Fliskits Richter Recker on 3- E12-4's. Beautiful straight flight. No wind made for a short recovery walk.

My last flight before hittin the road back to So Cal was my Heisenberg (the Estes Scion) on a G78 Green. A fantastic way to end my trip. Nice straight flight and easy recovery.

I had a great time. Don't know when I will get the chance to do it again, but I had lots of fun. All photos and video were taken with my Samsung Galaxy Note 10.

Tripoli Vegas ran a great launch. It wasn't super crowded, there really was no wait, and it was pretty chill and laid back. Thanks guys.