KenParker
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Aug 1, 2001
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My son continues to surprise me. I was in the room over working this morning and he came into the room about 10:10 AM and said "Let's go get the StratoBlaster stuff out of the tree." So we threw the stuff in the Durango and headed over to the school.
First off, I should tell you my latest brilliant idea for rocket recovery: blast the pieces out of the tree using paintball guns. That's right, that is another hobby that my son and I participate in, so we have the gear. We took his first gun, which is a Tippman 68 Carbine with a red dot scope, an expansion chamber, a motorized hopper, an aftermarket sniper barrel, and a 20 oz CO2 tank. We also took his best gun, which is a very customized Airgun Designs 68 AutoMag running on nitrous, again with an aftermarket sniper barrel, motorized hopper and a very expensive red dot scope.
When we got to the school, we carefully looked around the base of the tree, and almost immediately found the battery pack to the radio gear. It had only one of four batteries still in it, so whatever caused it to get launched out of the fuselage pod was pretty severe.
The fuselage pod and the wing were still in the tree.
We went after the fuselage pod first, as that had the rest of the radio gear in it - two micro servos, the receiver, and the switch.
Kent started shooting at the pod, and started hitting it almost immediately. Problem was, the receiver and the servos were hanging out of the pod, so the connecting wires were tangled around branches. By the way, as a reminder, the pod was probably 50 feet up in the tree. It got to the point where Kent was actually shooting individual tiny branches off of limbs to free the wires. Finally, the pod broke loose and fell......
about ten feet, where it got tangled again. Sooooo... Kent took aim and started shooting again, and again due to the fact that wires were caught on branches it was quite a challenge, but once again, suddenly the pod broke free and fell......
about twenty feet this time before it got hung up yet again. But now, it was only about twenty feet up, at a range incredibly easy and deadly to a paintball gun. He blasted it out of there in short order and it fell to the ground.
The radio gear is covered with paint, but it can be cleaned and used again. The antenna wire to the receiver was broken off short, but that too can be replaced. Then for the unfortunate part..... the fuselage pod had been split into upper and lower pieces, and what we had was the lower piece. The upper piece of the pod had the motor mount in it, so the RMS hardware was still up in the tree.
But number one son was already circling the tree trying to find the optimum shooting spot for the wing, which was almost in the top of the tree, 60 or 65 feet up. Kent found a spot and started firing. His first hit elicited no movement from the wing. The second hit got better results as the wing shifted about 2 or 3 inches.
Kent decided he didn't like his spot so he circled off to choose another one.
Finding a spot he liked better, he cut loose with several shots, and one of them hit the wing solidy and it almost slipped free. Encouraged, he fired another burst and the wing slipped free and fell......
but landed in another group of limbs just below where the pod had been.
This evoked some language from my son which I wisely chose to ignore (never challenge someone who is angry that is shooting a paintball gun.)
He found another shooting spot and opened up again. This time when he hit the wing, it slid out of the branches away from the tree and started fluttering to the ground.
Kent ran over to it, flipped it over and there was the motor mount on top of the wing, with the RMS hardware still in it.
SUCCESS !!! I just love it when a plan comes together.
The bad news is..... #1 son wants me to have a custom t-shirt made for him that says "Rocket Recovery Professional - Rockets 2 - Trees 0." He wants it to have a collage on it with rockets, a compound bow, a paintball gun, and some unhappy trees.
Now all I have to do is finish my A4 L2 project so I can start building the StratoBlaster kit that I have squirelled away. I've already figured out the mods I will need to make so that it will stand up to the power of an F24. The mods should only add an ounce or less of weight. I have another idea that may keep it at the same or even less weight.
Onwards and upwards.
First off, I should tell you my latest brilliant idea for rocket recovery: blast the pieces out of the tree using paintball guns. That's right, that is another hobby that my son and I participate in, so we have the gear. We took his first gun, which is a Tippman 68 Carbine with a red dot scope, an expansion chamber, a motorized hopper, an aftermarket sniper barrel, and a 20 oz CO2 tank. We also took his best gun, which is a very customized Airgun Designs 68 AutoMag running on nitrous, again with an aftermarket sniper barrel, motorized hopper and a very expensive red dot scope.
When we got to the school, we carefully looked around the base of the tree, and almost immediately found the battery pack to the radio gear. It had only one of four batteries still in it, so whatever caused it to get launched out of the fuselage pod was pretty severe.
The fuselage pod and the wing were still in the tree.
We went after the fuselage pod first, as that had the rest of the radio gear in it - two micro servos, the receiver, and the switch.
Kent started shooting at the pod, and started hitting it almost immediately. Problem was, the receiver and the servos were hanging out of the pod, so the connecting wires were tangled around branches. By the way, as a reminder, the pod was probably 50 feet up in the tree. It got to the point where Kent was actually shooting individual tiny branches off of limbs to free the wires. Finally, the pod broke loose and fell......
about ten feet, where it got tangled again. Sooooo... Kent took aim and started shooting again, and again due to the fact that wires were caught on branches it was quite a challenge, but once again, suddenly the pod broke free and fell......
about twenty feet this time before it got hung up yet again. But now, it was only about twenty feet up, at a range incredibly easy and deadly to a paintball gun. He blasted it out of there in short order and it fell to the ground.
The radio gear is covered with paint, but it can be cleaned and used again. The antenna wire to the receiver was broken off short, but that too can be replaced. Then for the unfortunate part..... the fuselage pod had been split into upper and lower pieces, and what we had was the lower piece. The upper piece of the pod had the motor mount in it, so the RMS hardware was still up in the tree.
But number one son was already circling the tree trying to find the optimum shooting spot for the wing, which was almost in the top of the tree, 60 or 65 feet up. Kent found a spot and started firing. His first hit elicited no movement from the wing. The second hit got better results as the wing shifted about 2 or 3 inches.
Kent decided he didn't like his spot so he circled off to choose another one.
Finding a spot he liked better, he cut loose with several shots, and one of them hit the wing solidy and it almost slipped free. Encouraged, he fired another burst and the wing slipped free and fell......
but landed in another group of limbs just below where the pod had been.
This evoked some language from my son which I wisely chose to ignore (never challenge someone who is angry that is shooting a paintball gun.)
He found another shooting spot and opened up again. This time when he hit the wing, it slid out of the branches away from the tree and started fluttering to the ground.
Kent ran over to it, flipped it over and there was the motor mount on top of the wing, with the RMS hardware still in it.
SUCCESS !!! I just love it when a plan comes together.
The bad news is..... #1 son wants me to have a custom t-shirt made for him that says "Rocket Recovery Professional - Rockets 2 - Trees 0." He wants it to have a collage on it with rockets, a compound bow, a paintball gun, and some unhappy trees.
Now all I have to do is finish my A4 L2 project so I can start building the StratoBlaster kit that I have squirelled away. I've already figured out the mods I will need to make so that it will stand up to the power of an F24. The mods should only add an ounce or less of weight. I have another idea that may keep it at the same or even less weight.
Onwards and upwards.
