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I keep getting pushback on FB from veteran BD owners... Here's the last exchange...
So, you've seen the poll question... Here's some answers I'd like to find out...
If you had a BD lawndart:
Did you apply masking tape or any other kind of tape, to the shoulder as indicated in instructions?
Did you modify the nosecone *IN ANY WAY*? If so, how?
Did you believe that there was a weak ejection for some reason? Why do you feel this way? Is there any evidence for a weak ejection?
Was there any scorching or other indication that the ejection charge fired off (or didn't)?
Were you flying it with non-Estes motors (e.g. Aerotech RMS) and forget to add the ejection charge?
And the BIG QUESTIONS...
Did you file a MESS Report?
Did you contact Estes? If so, who, or what department, did you contact about this explaining what happened? FYI their Compliance Officer is currently Heather Brown (in the past it was either Mary Roberts, or Chandra Serfoss).
If you've flown a BD, but never had a lawndart:
Did you apply masking tape or any other kind of tape, to the shoulder as indicated in instructions?
Did you modify the nosecone *IN ANY WAY*?
Thanks!
Random Big Daddy Owner said:I’ve flown my two Big Daddys dozens of times and seen plenty more flown by others...never experienced a problem or seen someone else have one with the nose cone ejecting.
K'Tesh said:I'm glad to hear that you haven't had any problems with your BD.
Please answer this question. Have you done anything... anything at all... to improve the fit of your nosecone to the body tube? Such as applying tape to the shoulder to snug the fit of the nosecone to the body tube. This would be following the instructions found in the "PREPARE RECOVERY SYSTEM" step (damn I miss instruction step numbers).
I suspect that the BDs that are lawndarting (the ones that are not having ejection charge failures (something that some people are claiming is the cause)) did not follow the step indicated in red in the image below. I believe that this easy-to-overlook-step is a *MAJOR* part of the reason that this kit has the reputation that it does. The rest of the cause is that the nosecone is simply too loose in its manufacture to allow that ramp to open up in a drag separation situation
So, you've seen the poll question... Here's some answers I'd like to find out...
If you had a BD lawndart:
Did you apply masking tape or any other kind of tape, to the shoulder as indicated in instructions?
Did you modify the nosecone *IN ANY WAY*? If so, how?
Did you believe that there was a weak ejection for some reason? Why do you feel this way? Is there any evidence for a weak ejection?
Was there any scorching or other indication that the ejection charge fired off (or didn't)?
Were you flying it with non-Estes motors (e.g. Aerotech RMS) and forget to add the ejection charge?
And the BIG QUESTIONS...
Did you file a MESS Report?
Did you contact Estes? If so, who, or what department, did you contact about this explaining what happened? FYI their Compliance Officer is currently Heather Brown (in the past it was either Mary Roberts, or Chandra Serfoss).
If you've flown a BD, but never had a lawndart:
Did you apply masking tape or any other kind of tape, to the shoulder as indicated in instructions?
Did you modify the nosecone *IN ANY WAY*?
Thanks!
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