What was your First Composite Motor?

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Mine was a cluster of 3 AT E-15-7 Scratch built rocket just under 1500' - next 3 F's:)
 
1st AP was a cluster of 3x Aerotech F39T
Thanks Tim (lawndartman) for the addiction!
-Ken
 
G-80, promptly followed by an H-128.

Countless F, G, and H's since.

Will L2 this year on a J350 or something similar.
 
Mine was a trifecta of firsts.
H-97 in a Virgin 1.6X Mars Lander Upscale (still in primer), For a Level 1 Cert, on the 4th of July, 2005
Pictures on my website: www.roguespace.com

Go Big, or Go Home. Cert Accomplished.
 
Mine was an Aerotech SU G40 that I had found at the Hobby Shop. At the time I did not even realize that you could get Motors like that.
They had ordered it for a customer that never came to pick it up, so they put it out on the rack for sale.
I saw it and baught it. I built a scratch build for it and that was my first Composite Motor. It was 1999.
On its fourth flight on a G80 it ended up far away in a tree.
I had to order the Aerotech Controller to use the Copperhead Igniter, and I still use that controller to this day, but with alligator clips.
 
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Not sure. I was probably 11 or 12. We either flew a LOC Hi-tech on an F50 SU back in summer of 1987 or 88? Maybe an E15 in an Estes. At either rate, the field was realized to not be big enough and flew in Ohio after that.
 
Cool thread and thanks for bringing it back to life.

It was either an Aerotech F40W or F50T, I believe the latter, back in ~1990 in a LOC Graduator. Several more flights on the same motor and G40W's and G80T's in a North Coast Corporal and Patriot. I still have all of these rockets come to think of it. Geez I'm getting old!!!
 
For some reason I keep seeing the title of this thread as "What was your First Composite Monitor?"

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Aerotech single use D10s from valuerockets.com were my first composites. I love to take a rocket with an 18mm motor mount farther than it was ever expected to go. I dug out my first logbook and it looks like I first used one (a D10-7) in a Semroc Vega on April 18, 2010 at a launch at Tillamook, Oregon. The entry in my log book for this flight starts off "Wow!".

The very next flight was putting one in a BMS School Rocket with payload section, carrying an Eagle Tree altitude sensor as an altimeter. Recorded altitude: 1955 feet. Quite a ride for that little model and I recall it was a challenge seeing it on the way down and it took some other flyers there to help me find it.
 
AT F32T on July 5th this year.

Bought it because it was the most powerful motor I could buy that didn't require HAZMAT shipping.

The rocket disappeared off the pad and landed missing the fins and nose cone.
 
Aerotech E18-7 in a scratchbuild based on a Estes Echostar and had a perfect flight. I made the same adjustment to the delay for the second flight last weekend (supposedly took 2 seconds off) and this time the delay burned a bit long and ended up breaking one of the upper fins off in the upper part of the lower body (looked like nothing but a zipper at first) tube when it finally blew the ejection charge after dropping about 100-150' from apogee. Repairable though.

Nice flight on the full delay with my Vagabond. Next up is a E28T for the Vagabond and F39 for the scratchbuild.
 
I think my first composite was a G53FJ smoky in a 29-40/120 case. It wasn't much until much later that I tried loading up a 24mm case and decided that the one time was enough.

As a matter of fact, I'd suggest the 38mm hardware as being the minimum size anymore based on the relative ease of building reloads and cleaning the hardware out after use. So much easier than 24mm and 29mm.

Been looking at 54mm hardware lately...
 
Aerotech Single-Use E20-7 in my extended Maxi Alpha 3 on February 23, 2014. I just looked up the info and was surprised to see it was less than a year ago. Everyone joked that the E20 was going to be my gateway drug and I'd be hooked. I guess they were right. I built my Leviathan shortly after that, and got my L1 about 8 months later with my modified MDRM. Right now I'm waiting for my giant Wildman propellant order to ship.

Here's a thread about my first time: https://www.rocketryforum.com/showt...ing!-Lots-of-rocketry-quot-Firsts-quot-for-me!
 
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Some time in the early 90s I flew an Aerotech single use E, blue thunder, possible E30 but the line up could have changed since. I was starting to get a little bored with Estes so my mother got me an Initiator kit with pad and controller. I only flew a few more before falling out of the hobby for a while, definitely a token F and G in the Aerotech model then smashing some of my Estes rockets with the density of composites. Those motors sure are expensive for a kid!

Now I am back, and I have a single motor sitting in my home that probably has more total impulse than every one of my launches combined from those days. Yikes!
 
AT E18-4 in my Initiator...yeah - back when the Initiator starter set had the RMS casing and an E18-4, and an F40-7...I was hooked.
 
Cesaroni H143 Smoky Sam in a Madcow 4" Little John for my L1. Still prefer Cesaroni overall, but I fly a bit of everything.
 
It's interesting how many people had their very first experience with composites on their L1 flight.
 
ThirstyBarbarian said:
It's interesting how many people had their very first experience with composites on their L1 flight.
Click to expand...

True, TB! And I certainly wouldn't recommend it as I think having a bit of experience BEFORE you cert is really important. That said, I certainly broke my own rule :blush:
 
My first was an Apogee F10-8 in an Aspire. Most of that rocket is still out in the desert... I did get the chute and N/C back and built another one.
 
Mine was an AeroTech G40-4 SU in my NCR Phantom 4000 at LDRS X, 1991.

I was one happy kid that day.

So many of my happiest memories seem to involve rockets.
 
Enerjet E24(-4, I think) - back around 1970. Ended up flying it in my Centuri Saturn V sometime after that. Lifted off pretty good, proceeded to 'lay over' (i.e. pitched over to horizontal) about 150 feet up (don't know why) and then accelerate to 300 mph (my guess). Nothing ever really bad happened - it ejected before it hit and there was only minor damage (IIRC). A year or so later, my *2nd* composite motor was the Enerjet F52 (got 3 of them), but never flew any until around 1989 or '90 - and that was just one flight -- in a scratch built 'Super Goblin' (2.6" dia). Got off the pad rather smartly and then, the progressive thrust kicked in and the thing just jumped out of sight (on a single, white point of light -- no smoke). Still have 2 of those F52s, but will probably never fly them (my guess - too much of a collector's item any more).

-- john.
 

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