The road to L2 is paved with practice. PSII trainer fleet

[Nytrunner]

G38 FastJack to 1094' with two good deployment events.
Pictures courtesy of a much better camera than mine.



Although this was a test of apogee deployment, I rigged the main to go at 400 and put an 8" estes chute in the forward section to get a laugh from the club mates. Chute release unreefed at 300 as planned.

 

[samb]

G38 FastJack to 1094' with two good deployment events.
Pictures courtesy of a much better camera than mine.

View attachment 327776View attachment 327777

Although this was a test of apogee deployment, I rigged the main to go at 400 and put an 8" estes chute in the forward section to get a laugh from the club mates. Chute release unreefed at 300 as planned.
View attachment 327778View attachment 327775

Nice! Like the straight, vertical column of smoke with the wild blue yonder in the background. My best launch pictures are taken by my rocket buddies too.

 

[Nytrunner]

Thanks!

Thinking on it, I really can't remember if these came from his iphone or the goPro he had set up.

 

[Nytrunner]

1 good flight, one unfortunate flight.

Vertigo II's main deployment performed perfectly on a G77.


Fissile Missile had a perfect apogee deployment on an F40 (first 29/40-120 use!), but the main failed to deploy resulting in a cracked nosecone, creased payload tube, and a bashed baffle/booster tube. I think I can repair it if I can track down the right PSII parts.

Charge went off, pin was sheared (although that might have happened on impact). Possible cause; powder leakage. That charge weight was previously flight tested successfully, and I noticed a corner of the tape over the cartridge had come loose.

 

[Nytrunner]

This was a productive week off of work.

I got the Fissile Missile repaired, now its parts are just awaiting temperatures above freezing for paint.


Next stop on the road to L2: The High-explosive Armor Piercing Incendiary munition (affectionately referred to as the H.A.P.I Man )
It's the Partizon that's been living behind my couch with a zipperless baffle in the lower coupler, shear strips at the nose, 3d printed coupler ebay caps and sled for an RRC3, and adjustable nose weight. All in all, It's already going to be overstable, so I think the T3 tracker will be living in the nose.

I'm painting the tip red with a silver band like the 50 cal AP/Incendiary marking and am using my three cans of camoflage drab paint, but I need some outside advice for the paint layout. I'm painting some contrasting faux control surfaces at the back of the fins.

Beyond that, what arrangement would look good? I'm leaning towards 1 color per tube (excluding fins) to avoid masking, but I can be convinced of other patterns.
There will be military font wording on the center section in Yellow or Black depending on what color that tube ends up.


Construction is 90% done, I'm just building up the fillets and awaiting the 3 printed parts.

 

[Nytrunner]

Picked up a couple 3d printed lids and a sled for my coupler e-bay.



The sled has hole patterns for both the RRC3 and the Stratologger CF depending on what I want to fly in it. It'll start with the RRC3 since that's the altimeter I want to practice with in this rocket. There are also slots for ziptieing either a 9v or a 2s e-flite Lipo,

I epoxied a couple 40 shells to the lids as charge wells, and JB welded eyebolts into the coupler nuts that tighten down one of the threaded rods.
All that's left is to make the rivet holes for securing it in the airframe and cut the switch hole as soon as I get the switch from Apogee. (switch goes in that cutout that's visible in the battery picture)

Doofus (me) didn't take care not to flex the tube when measuring the ID of the coupler, so I had to sand the lid's shoulder a tad to get it in there.

 

[Nytrunner]

Update:

I've been taking a class after work that's eaten way more of my time than I predicted. That's wrapping up in a week, so I'm back to thinking rocket thoughts.

H.A.P.I ground tested successfully twice, but during flight, the shear pin twisted in the thin plastic nosecone. I got some good pin breaking experience, but I think I'll go with friction fitting PSII nose cones from now on. Payload tube is wrinkled and the rivets tore forward 1/2 an inch upon landing, so the electric Partizon will need some repair work before reflight.
[video=youtube;tt_Ttmeg7jM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tt_Ttmeg7jM&t=27s[/video]

But the road to L2 is getting a lot closer. I got a couple shipments and couldn't resist laying everything out in preparation. Targeting a J350 Red Lightning (it'd be cool to do all my certifications on Red Lightning)
Everything laid out (minus motor case) weights ~10 lbs. I love big cardboard. Eric Cayemburg, this one goes out to you.

 

[Nytrunner]

Been awhile since I've updated here. I finally got around to repairing H.A.P.I with an inner layr of tube on the wrinkle, a new baffle coupler in the booster, and filling in the rivet tears with epoxy. Everything worked fine in flight. Maybe I'll actually get around to designing and ordering its lettering. Don't think I ever uploaded a picture of the complete and painted rocket.

This little Pro Series II collection has been good. Got me up to speed and practiced on the Stratologger, RRC3, and T3 for electronic apogee, chute release main, and full dual deployment as well as tracking.

 

[Nytrunner]

Finally ordered my label for H.A.P.I from stickershock23.com




Painting BroncBuster III the Leviathan is coming along, and I already have its decals from signspecialist.com

 

[Nytrunner]

Finished BroncBuster III in time for HARA's Nov 10th launch (which is looking ever likely to be postponed by rain)

For those that didn't read BroncBuster II's thread, this is painted green and orange like my original BroncBuster after my university's colors, plus blue which was added when we merged with another school (one semester before I graduated...)

 

[Tyler P]

I love that you're doing all this practice for L2 with these rockets. I found a couple of Argents still in stock at one of our distributors and ordered one up. I think I'll follow your example and use it for practice with dual deploy. I need to research a bit more and keep on learning.

Thanks for this thread!

 

[Nytrunner]

Fleet is finally complete! Two have motors and charges packed, I'll do another tonight, and BroncBuster III will wait until the 6g case is burnt off (nothing beats ProX cases for field reloading!)



Thanks Tyler! It's been a fun project making dual deploy and tracking work for these small cheap rockets. Learned several things about Lipos,

Good luck with the Argent! Figuring out how to get a battery and altimeter in the transition is always fun. Also -though shear pins are great most of the time- I recommend just tape friction fitting the nosecone on for main deployment. The PSII cones are thin and can jam the pins as I learned.

 

[Tyler P]

Nice fleet! Have fun!

 

[Nytrunner]

Went out with a club friend who had his own rail for one last launch.
Great pics courtesy of Turbulent_Sphere

Vertigo II on an F40 (and a tree)


And a beautiful underexposed quick-shutter shot of H.A.P.I on an H123 (Class 1 flight parameters met, and the sky is the same color as the tree pic in reality)

 

[Tyler P]

Went out with a club friend who had his own rail for one last launch.
Great pics courtesy of Turbulent_Sphere

Vertigo II on an F40 (and a tree)
View attachment 369371View attachment 369372

And a beautiful underexposed quick-shutter shot of H.A.P.I on an H123 (Class 1 flight parameters met, and the sky is the same color as the tree pic in reality)

View attachment 369373

Really cool shots! What model is the Verigo II? Cool-looking shape!

 

[Nytrunner]

Vertigo II is an Estes Ventris (Pro Series II like the Argent) with a Stratologger crammed in the transition.
[H.A.P.I is a Partizon, another PSII]

Build details further up in this thread

 

[Tyler P]

Vertigo II is an Estes Ventris (Pro Series II like the Argent) with a Stratologger crammed in the transition.
[H.A.P.I is a Partizon, another PSII]

Build details further up in this thread

Too bad it's a PSII. I'll have to search around for one. I like the looks of it.

 

[Nytrunner]

Too bad it's a PSII. I'll have to search around for one. I like the looks of it.

Don't let that stop you, get a 2.6" to 54mm transition and you've got yourself a 5% upscale. I can get you fin dimensions.

 

[Tyler P]

Don't let that stop you, get a 2.6" to 54mm transition and you've got yourself a 5% upscale. I can get you fin dimensions.

Yeah, scratching it wouldn't be that hard for sure. I'm thinking my next build may be a scratch again, so maybe this one would be fun. I'll let you know when I need the dimensions!

 

[Nytrunner]

Vertigo II's flight on the F40



H.A.P.I's flight on the H123 Skidmark

 

[Nytrunner]

Good flight of Fissile Missile on an H133 Blue Streak

 

[Nytrunner]

Good flight of the Broncbuster III on an H53 Mellow by Cesaroni to 2909' and 360mph

I need to put a small drogue on it or something while it's held by the release, the wind seemed to really take it as the body was freefalling.

On pads with Turbulent_Sphere and his grid fin (great boost, delay blow by ended the flight, no damage)



Stuck the landing

 

[DRAGON64]

You both put on some excellent flights this past Saturday! I will hope to make March's launch.

 

[Nytrunner]

You both put on some excellent flights this past Saturday! I will hope to make March's launch.

Thanks! We hope no weather or circumstances prevent you from getting out there!

Reminds me, I forgot to post the flight video

 

[DRAGON64]

Nice, virtually no spin on accent... a great shot of the flight line and field.

Yeah, guilty as charged; I had 4 small rockets ready to go, and when I went to load them in the car the wind tried to knock them out of my hands... Back inside I went. I guess I miss-judged that day by a long shot.

 

[Nytrunner]

Nice, virtually no spin on accent... a great shot of the flight line and field.

Yeah, guilty as charged; I had 4 small rockets ready to go, and when I went to load them in the car the wind tried to knock them out of my hands... Back inside I went. I guess I miss-judged that day by a long shot.

Next time come on out, and if it is windy, sit back and watch others chase their rockets into the trees!

 

[Nytrunner]

Found another shot of H.A.P.I On a G83 Blue Streak

 

[mbeels]

I like the idea behind these rockets, electronic deployment (single or dual) in a mid-power rocket is a lot of fun, and a cheap(er) way to get experience with electronics. After doing DD in a MPR, its quite a bit easier in a larger HPR.

Is this fleet still flying?

 

[Nytrunner]

doing DD in a MPR, its quite a bit easier in a larger HPR.

Is this fleet still flying?

That's the truth, 4 and 5" bays are spacious!

They are still intact and lying under the guest bed. As a matter of fact, I'm working to swap an RRC3 into H.A.P.I for a diagnostic flight after it turned up no data during Long Tom's last flight

 

[DrewW]

@Nytrunner I'm going to give this a try also. Great record of your experience. I have a mean machine I've modified to a 29mm motor mount and some scratch super big berthas planned I'm going to get my electronic deployment experience in with.