Alright, time for an update. I flew this rocket twice at RadRocks on Saturday. I didn't think I'd be able to, since my tracker and altimeter are hanging in a tree, but some awesomely fast shipping from Missileworks and Bigredbee got them to me just in the nick of time
So, early Saturday morning there was a really low ceiling at the field- right about 1500 ft. So, I figured, it would be a nice chance to pop some MPR flights up to play around with the tracker. Unfortunately, no such luck- two 1200 ft. flights landed right on our same field! Then, getting a bit frustrated, a stuck a G76 in a formula 38, for a nice 2600 ft. flight, now that the ceiling was a bit higher. As it turns out, one of the shroud lines ripped through, which meant even that landed no more than about 120 ft. away! The tracker helped a bit, as it did land in a little ditch, but I was a bit nervous going into a 4k+ with Redshift flight after minimal tracking experience.
Anywho, I packed the chute, and got the tracker loaded in. I had the H123W ready to go, friction fitted with a wrap of masking tape for a nice tight fit. It was originally simming to about 4700 ft, but after adjusting the file with data from the G339 flight, it was looking closer to about 4100. I got the rail guides ready to go, (which worked flawlessly on the G76 flight I might add) and loaded it up on the rail. When the motor lit, it was most certainly different from the G339 flight, with the motor burning almost 8 times longer! The rail guides guided it on a beautiful, vertical trajectory. The coast was for almost 15s, and it really did just keep going, and going, and going. We heard the apogee deployment, but didn't see anything, and then finally, at 500 ft. the main deployed and was visible. It landed a couple fields over, and I set out with the tracker. As it turns out, the parachute had snagged on top of a stalk, and the bright orange was visible from quite a ways away. The tracker helped, though, when it fell down with the wind. The RRC2+ beeped out a whopping 4901 ft! It just about kissed our 5000 ft. waiver! Feeling good, I re-prepped it with an H669N I'd picked up at METRA the previous weekend. I decided to stick with the sliding guides, as I had no reason to believe they couldn't handle it, and, once again, set off to the pads with the tracker. The rocket was simulating to 100 Gs off the pad, and it looked like it easily reached that. One second it was on the pad, there was a flash of light, and it was gone. There was a smoke trail at apogee, and we heard the apogee deployment, but that was the last we heard from it. I honestly didn't know if the main came out. We didn't hear or see it, and I didn't know the rocket was even down until I saw the tracking signal jump down. So, wondering in earnest where the thing went, Jim Z and I set off with the radio and yagi in hand. We trekked our way across the farm, zig zagging ever further, and in ever narrower directions. Between Teddy's awesome gear, and Jimmy's great knowledge of foxhunting skills, it really was an enjoyable experience tracking down the rocket, eventually zeroing in on it, sitting in a field of corn, with the main deployed, and the altimeter happily beeping out 4794. The rail guides could not have worked better, even under the immense stress of a motor like this. This was the highest thrust motor these guides took, and they really, really did perform flawlessly. There was minimal or no wear on the guides, and they sprung apart quickly, landing just a couple dozen feet from the pad.
It was a great day, with some great people, and I had a great time flying Redshift, and doing some more flights with the rail guides. Thanks Bill!!
Here's a video of the H123W liftoff, you can see the rail guides coming down to the right of the pad. Coleman (RocketHunter) has some GoPro video of the liftoff with the rail guides, which I'm sure we'll be seeing soon, so that should be really cool!
[video=youtube;36L7M1RQAuE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36L7M1RQAuE&feature=youtu.be[/video]
Nate
If I still got 11K+ on a J570, I'd bet you could break 15K with one! LDRS? :wink:
