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I just remembered this thread:
New Estes Saturn1B Decal placement error? | The Rocketry Forum
There are some errors in the instructions so follow Raptor2's diagram.
Still on the mainland?
Nah, was only there for 4 days helping the older son move back. Believe it or not, it was 80F and cloudless sky.
Unfortunately I already put on the fin decals. I lost one of the decals anyways. I already dropped the rocket and bent the escape rocket so no rescue. Fortunately it’s unmanned.
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Should've packed some rockets and purchased some motors while you were up there.
Could've launched a few with Bernard.
Could've launched a few with Bernard.
We were tempted but don’t think he wanted to fight the Friday pm traffic to reach the 60 Acre park. It was nice talking shop on his porch and his wife made us lunch. I grabbed a photo of his 15 year old PS controller battery.
The family later visited the ski lodge where I practically grew up. There were many times when we were fighting our way up the hill in a snow storm, but not today.
I found my old yearbooks in my dad’s basement. Here’s me watching the Challenger disaster.
The family later visited the ski lodge where I practically grew up. There were many times when we were fighting our way up the hill in a snow storm, but not today.
I found my old yearbooks in my dad’s basement. Here’s me watching the Challenger disaster.
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It's true that getting back from Sixty Acres on a Friday evening is not fun, now that traffic is trending back toward pre-pandemic levels. There is a park much closer which has a double (?) sized soccer field surrounded by trees on three sides that I sometimes go fly in, especially with grandkids, but the subject didn't come up, as I got the impression they were here at the house longer than they thought they might be. I think Ron got at least one "where the heck are you?" text or call while we were sitting on the front porch.
The weather while Ron and his son were here was an aberration for April near Seattle—the longest stretch of days in April with highs above 70 degrees ever. Back to normal now....48 degrees and raining lightly as I type this, with sunset most of an hour away.
That battery is several years older than the controller. I flew electric RC airplanes from the early 1980s when it was quite hard to do until rockets came back and took over my hobby life ~2009.
The weather while Ron and his son were here was an aberration for April near Seattle—the longest stretch of days in April with highs above 70 degrees ever. Back to normal now....48 degrees and raining lightly as I type this, with sunset most of an hour away.
That battery is several years older than the controller. I flew electric RC airplanes from the early 1980s when it was quite hard to do until rockets came back and took over my hobby life ~2009.
My latest scratch creation. The BT is from a somewhat crushed Estes MR. They sent me a replacement tube. I patched this one. It’s only 14.5” because I used some of it for the Biohazard. I “whittled” down the BT-70 NC to fit. This is the first time using gold paint. Any suggestions for names?
I promise not to comment on the nose cone color.
I like the speckle-fade between the gold and red up top. I assume that is red on top of the gold? What type of red is that exactly?
Names: Gild Navigator, Aurophile
Definitely Guild Navigator!
I left out the "U" on purpose, but you are of course free to spell it as you like.
That looks freakin awesome.
I misaligned the retainer and lost one of the canes but still works and will be an impressive armament in the US missile arsenal.
I misaligned the retainer and lost one of the canes but still works and will be an impressive armament in the US missile arsenal.
Attempted to launch at the park this morning. The forecast was promising 3mph but was 10mph instead. The Checkmate did a lawndart, and the Orbital Transport landed on a roof, so decided to pack it up and try again in a couple weeks when the trade winds die down.
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Sorry to hear about the Checkmate. I've taken to making sure (with a 3/32 inch drill bit in a wooden handle) that the sustainer motor does NOT have the propellant blocked by leftover clay from the nozzle formation when making up a pair of motors for my Checkmate after having had this happen, I think, three times in the life of two of them. When flying at Sixty Acres in the winter this is survivable, but over a harder surface, not so much. Having the second stage not light when flying over a hard surface (just after I'd done a rebuild) is what finished off my first Checkmate.
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Spartan
If you haven't already cut it off, an alternative is to just straighten it out as best you can (using the nose cone shoulder to help with that process) then flow a little thin CA into the remaining wrinkles/creases to stabilize them. Not quite as pretty, but quick and easy.
Only about 1/4” I had to take off...
This was my first booster not igniting. I’ve added vent holes to other boosters but thought this BT20 was too small for it to happen. There isn’t a lot of space so I removed the aft block. The thin CA makes the dechaffing easier but still rough with the small tube. The booster was green until I discovered it was difficult to find in the grass.
Since Checkmate is direct staged—with the motors taped together—venting isn't going to help. As I mentioned before, this sort of failure happens when there's a little bit of clay up in the nozzle of the sustainer motor. It needs to be checked for and carefully cleaned out. Also, the nozzle on an A3-4T (or 1/2A3-4T) is pretty tiny. That makes it a little harder to get it lit.
My Checkmate is in the face card scheme - yellow with one blue fin. Even then the booster can be hard to find in the grass....
My Checkmate is in the face card scheme - yellow with one blue fin. Even then the booster can be hard to find in the grass....
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In sustainers, I like A10-3T for 13 mm, A8-3 or A8-5 for 18 mm, D12-5 or D12-7 for 24mm (never used a 24 mm C so don’t know about the nozzle size) BECAUSE of the big nozzles. I haven’t had any problems with sustainers not igniting for the most part, but @BEC idea of gently scraping the apex of the nozzle can’t hurt.
And I think that the B4 has a larger nozzle than the B6.
The thing is, the Checkmate could really use an A3-5T for the sustainer, when flown off an A10-0T booster anyway. Four seconds is enough delay for the top stage if the booster is an OOP 1/2A3-0T.
I have a set of drill bits with nice wooden handles that I got from the late lamented Ace R/C probably 40 years ago now. I use the 3/32 inch bit from this set to gently drill into the throat of the nozzle of an A3-4T just a little. Then I shake the residue out in my palm. If the residue is black, then I'm ready to tape the motors together for the Checkmate.
C11s have a slightly smaller nozzle than D12s.
John Boren gave my wife a Hex-3 at NSL in Alamogordo, NM in 2017. It's a hoot to fly and hers flies straighter than some I've seen .
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As all JB rockets probably do...John Boren gave my wife a Hex-3 at NSL in Alamogordo, NM in 2017. It's a hoot to fly and hers flies straighter than some I've seen
I guess the best way to insert the MM in the body is to wrap the body around the MM. Can’t figure out how else to do it without bunging up the paper...
Several crazy windy day launches with 3 altimeters
The trade winds continue. We've only had two days of low wind in April. I tried last week Wednesday, but the winds were stronger than forecasted, the Checkmate lawndarted, and the Super Cruiser landed on the gym roof. I had prepared several D rockets so decided to pack it in. This time, I planned several streamer rockets.
The Hex-3 is a nice cardstock, no painting needed. The Mega Vortico with the E12-8 was really loud and awesome. The Sundancer and Nike-X were Q-jet C18. The Sundancer was really quick and produced a nice flame with the C18-6W. I thought I lost it but heard the streamer at the edge of the park. The streamer is made from 4" strips of Mylar emergency blankets. One of these days, the pre-installed rubber shock cord is gonna give.
I next tried the C18-6W with the Nike-X, and twice the motor popped. I guess they were Catos. This was part of a pack I bought from jonrocket.com. It was a pack of 10 for $37. For the third try, I used a C18-4W that I previously bought so wasn't part of the pack. The altimeter graph shows that the 6W would have been better.
I think the reason why the Checkmate didn't ignite the 2nd stage is because I forgot to tape the two motors together. I also used a 1/8" drill bit to open the 1/2A3-2T nozzle for the second try. The retry worked much better. The XAM worked great with the C5-3 with the motor adapter, especially in the 10mph wind with the quick initial thrust.
Unfortunately, the C5-3 didn't work so well with the Mini Executioner because it's a bit heavier. I decided the Executioner needed an extra 3 inches to better clone the original. During these windy days, the rocket has survived many hard landings with two broken (papered) fins and dented tips.
00:00 Windy intro
00:12 Hex-3 3pts
01:25 Mega Vortico 3pts
02:31 Sundancer 4pts
03:46 Nike-X 467ft 5pts
06:23 Checkmate 2pts
07:01 Checkmate 5pts
08:04 XAM 353ft 5pts
09:19 Mini Executioner 245ft 4pts
10:30 Super Cruiser 3pts
11:28 Total 34pts
The trade winds continue. We've only had two days of low wind in April. I tried last week Wednesday, but the winds were stronger than forecasted, the Checkmate lawndarted, and the Super Cruiser landed on the gym roof. I had prepared several D rockets so decided to pack it in. This time, I planned several streamer rockets.
The Hex-3 is a nice cardstock, no painting needed. The Mega Vortico with the E12-8 was really loud and awesome. The Sundancer and Nike-X were Q-jet C18. The Sundancer was really quick and produced a nice flame with the C18-6W. I thought I lost it but heard the streamer at the edge of the park. The streamer is made from 4" strips of Mylar emergency blankets. One of these days, the pre-installed rubber shock cord is gonna give.
I next tried the C18-6W with the Nike-X, and twice the motor popped. I guess they were Catos. This was part of a pack I bought from jonrocket.com. It was a pack of 10 for $37. For the third try, I used a C18-4W that I previously bought so wasn't part of the pack. The altimeter graph shows that the 6W would have been better.
I think the reason why the Checkmate didn't ignite the 2nd stage is because I forgot to tape the two motors together. I also used a 1/8" drill bit to open the 1/2A3-2T nozzle for the second try. The retry worked much better. The XAM worked great with the C5-3 with the motor adapter, especially in the 10mph wind with the quick initial thrust.
Unfortunately, the C5-3 didn't work so well with the Mini Executioner because it's a bit heavier. I decided the Executioner needed an extra 3 inches to better clone the original. During these windy days, the rocket has survived many hard landings with two broken (papered) fins and dented tips.
00:00 Windy intro
00:12 Hex-3 3pts
01:25 Mega Vortico 3pts
02:31 Sundancer 4pts
03:46 Nike-X 467ft 5pts
06:23 Checkmate 2pts
07:01 Checkmate 5pts
08:04 XAM 353ft 5pts
09:19 Mini Executioner 245ft 4pts
10:30 Super Cruiser 3pts
11:28 Total 34pts
You guys are nuts.
Good day for draggy low flying odd rocs.
The Hex 3 stuck the landing nicely.
On the QJet catos, did you did stick the igniter all the way up to the front?
Gonna ask Mike if he wants to resume flying at Sandy's as soon as the wind dies down.
BTW I think he may originally be from Washington state too.
Laters.
Good day for draggy low flying odd rocs.
The Hex 3 stuck the landing nicely.
On the QJet catos, did you did stick the igniter all the way up to the front?
Gonna ask Mike if he wants to resume flying at Sandy's as soon as the wind dies down.
BTW I think he may originally be from Washington state too.
Laters.
I inserted the initiators to the black heat shrink so I believe so. Definitely not as dramatic as an Estes cato...
There was an episode from The Rocket n00b where he used Estes starters for the Quest composites. How would that work or did I hear him wrong?
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