Favorite go to rocket to fly?

[user 35280]

BMS 3” diameter School Rocket (24mm) launching on a E20-4

 

[shawn_rocket]

What size nylon chute? Did you cut an overflow hole?

18" Pink Top Flight Thin Mil. I don't cut holes in nylon parachutes. Just when I used to use plastic chutes. I kept it 18" so it recovers slowly and minimize the chance of damage. So as you may guess, I rarely fly it on windy days or if I do, it has to be a big enough field. I've walked close to 1/2 mile for recovery!

 

[Sooner Boomer]

I guess this is the rocket I've flown the most. At least, it's one that's survived the longest. It's over 20 years old. It's smacked the parking lot from 2000 feet up when the chute tangled, more than once. I finally did my L1 with it last year.

 

[smstachwick]

I guess this is the rocket I've flown the most. At least, it's one that's survived the longest. It's over 20 years old. It's smacked the parking lot from 2000 feet up when the chute tangled, more than once. I finally did my L1 with it last year.

View attachment 505138

That thing must move like a scalded cat on an H or I.

 

[Adam3836]

Understandable
Well sounds like you have a fleet of rockets that have had flight time so that’s a good thing

That’s a tricky one. I don’t think I have one that is an especially frequent and reliable flier.

I lost my Star Trooper to an A10-3T CATO, and I have yet to build the Luna Bugs I bought to replace it.

I’m awaiting more personal funds to become available before I convert my Generic E2X to two-stage and fly it that way, and I’ve had to recover it from the water on one occasion. My Goblin usually comes back damaged and also requires more favorable winds now that I’ve put a booster on it and installed a parachute.

My Hi-Flier XL is currently in sick bay after the chute got stuck in the tube and it impacted the ground at fairly high speed.

The most reliable rocket in my fleet is my Star Orbiter. Its worst flight damage thus far was a nose detachment at ejection on an E23-8T, but nothing else has occurred so far. The problem with it is that motors for it have proven hard to come by. Most places don’t carry Estes 29mm black powder Es and Fs (and they usually ship with a HAZMAT charge), Aerotech is having some supply chain problems that resulted in a 15-week delay for my E16W reloads, and I do not yet have any CTI hardware for it.

It would be difficult to call any rocket in my fleet a go-to, really. They’ve all got their own share of problems that keep them grounded from time to time.

 

[Adam3836]

That’s a great rocket
I don’t have one but would like to maybe someday

My current go-to is LOC Forte extended with an av-bay. It flies redundant dual deploy, single dual deploy and motor ejection, with several sizes of chute depending on conditions. I can fly it low on mid-power motors or go high on HP motors. It's just a great, versatile all-rounder.

I have other rockets that may be bigger or more exciting for some reason (glider or whatever), but that old Forte is like a dependable old friend...

 

[Adam3836]

20 years ……. Now she’s working hard for you that’s great

I guess this is the rocket I've flown the most. At least, it's one that's survived the longest. It's over 20 years old. It's smacked the parking lot from 2000 feet up when the chute tangled, more than once. I finally did my L1 with it last year.

View attachment 505138

 

[flaperon]

My Baby Bertha has the most number of launches as it's a first flight wind dummy. It goes straight up every time and always comes back happy despite its abusive role. And, +1 for the Estes Protostar. It looks amazing going up and always flies true.

 

[Adam3836]

I-1299 that must ROCK !!! Awesome

View attachment 505106

My tubetastic (right). 20+ flights and we'll on the way to flying every 38mm RMS from 2 to 5 grains in the catalog. I-1299 flights are wicked cool, have to try shredding it on J's this year.

 

[Sooner Boomer]

20 years ……. Now she’s working hard for you that’s great

Yeah... working hard...

It became a bit shorter.



But I cut off the damage and spliced a slightly longer piece of body tube on. Can't find the paint any more - Duplicolor "Mirage" color shifting purple-green. So now it's just grey primer.

 

[krislhull]

My most flown rocket is a tie between my L2 bird (MAC Performance 4” ARCAS), and the first rocket I built five years ago as a sort of BAR, a Estes PSII Nike Smoke. Both have 6 flights on them to date.


I don’t really have a favorite flyer in reality, but I am a sucker for scale sounding rockets, and my favorite in appearance I just built, and have only had a chance to fly it once so far, and that’s the Estes Black Brant II.

 

[Citizen Baslim]

My go-to was my TLP Harpoon until I flew the fins off...for the third time.

The past few years my go-to is my Wildman Darkstar Mini on 24s and 29s with a JLCR for those high flights. It's an easy flier that goes up several times each time I make it to a launch.

 

[BEC]

It should come as no surprise to those who have seen many of my other posts that the Nova Payloader is, far and away, the most flown design in my fleet. I honestly don't know why this model has such a hold on me, but it does. To that end I have one with 75 flights, one with 101 flights, and several others.

My current one, which is the sixth one I've built (including the two I did for the Classic Model event at NARAM-60) will next fly on its 94th sortie. I have the next one ready to go when this one finally dies. Here is my current flyer in May of 2020, before its first flight. The liftoff shot is its 12th flight in August of 2020, when it was being used to beta test a sample of what would become the Q-Jet C18-6W. It's quite a bit uglier now with each fin having been broken off at least once. It's also on its third (I think) 'chute.

I have also used Nova Payloaders for R&D projects, lots and lots of altimeter testing, and have built a 256% upscale based on the Estes PSII Partizon, as seen in the third image..





All that said, I have probably built more Alphas than any other model (several Alphas representing several variations over the years, an Alpha II, several Alpha IIIs, one Alpha IV and two Alpha VIs, plus a 167% upscale of the original Alpha configuration).

 

[RocketRev]

LOC Minimag!

 

[Zman1961]

When I am done with HPR for the day, my favorite go-to rocket is my Estes 24mm Ho Jo, now (sadly) out of production, on an E12. It has had all its fins re-attached at least once, top of air frame reinforced with a wrap of BT-60, buckled airframe above the motor mount, peeling paint, and still my favorite, always flies great.

 

[Adam3836]

That’s some serious air time for those guys that’s great
Cool rocket

It should come as no surprise to those who have seen many of my other posts that the Nova Payloader is, far and away, the most flown design in my fleet. I honestly don't know why this model has such a hold on me, but it does. To that end I have one with 75 flights, one with 101 flights, and several others.

My current one, which is the sixth one I've built (including the two I did for the Classic Model event at NARAM-60) will next fly on its 94th sortie. I have the next one ready to go when this one finally dies. Here is my current flyer in May of 2020, before its first flight. The liftoff shot is its 12th flight in August of 2020, when it was being used to beta test a sample of what would become the Q-Jet C18-6W. It's quite a bit uglier now with each fin having been broken off at least once. It's also on its third (I think) 'chute.

I have also used Nova Payloaders for R&D projects, lots and lots of altimeter testing, and have built a 256% upscale based on the Estes PSII Partizon, as seen in the third image..

View attachment 505187View attachment 505188


View attachment 505190
All that said, I have probably built more Alphas than any other model (several Alphas representing several variations over the years, an Alpha II, several Alpha IIIs, one Alpha IV and two Alpha VIs, plus a 167% upscale of the original Alpha configuration).

 

[JackC]

1/3 scale Nike Smoke with a 98mm motor mount tube. It started life as a 75mm but a fire on the pad destroyed the original motor tube and allowed me to hollow out the interior and add the 98mm tube. The rocket is 15 years old and can reach 15,000 feet on a 4 grain motor. It’s a beautiful rocket, a crowd pleaser whenever it’s on the range, and it looks even better accompanied by its favorite model.

 

[Adam3836]

Very nice
Great rocket

1/3 scale Nike Smoke with a 98mm motor mount tube. It started life as a 75mm but a fire on the pad destroyed the original motor tube and allowed me to hollow out the interior and add the 98mm tube. The rocket is 15 years old and can reach 15,000 feet on a 4 grain motor. It’s a beautiful rocket, a crowd pleaser whenever it’s on the range, and it looks even better accompanied by its favorite model.

View attachment 505221

 

[JackC]

Very nice
Great rocket

 

[JackC]

Thanks!

 

[JackC]

Thanks!

 

[OZRoc]

Hawk Mountain Jumanji (avatar). Going on about 10 years now.
Suffered a cato back in 2015 but the booster was re-built.
Flew it's first 75mm motor last year, an L820 sparky. Was a sight to behold.



Cheers

 

[DabCat]

I always fly my Estes PSII Partizon. It flies great on G76's and G64's with a few occasional 29/180 H's. It flies every time I go launch. I liked it so much I made a 3in and 4in upscale with some larger ones in the works for LDRS.

 

[JackC]

Hawk Mountain Jumanji (avatar). Going on about 10 years now.
Suffered a cato back in 2015 but the booster was re-built.
Flew it's first 75mm motor last year, an L820 sparky. Was a sight to behold.

View attachment 505250

Cheers

I had one of those, too! Nice rocket!

 

[cwbullet]

Nike Smoke

 

[smstachwick]

View attachment 505278
Nike Smoke

What’s the scale on that thing? 2/3?

 

[Adam3836]

Impressive
That’s a big boy lol

View attachment 505278
Nike Smoke

 

[cwbullet]

What’s the scale on that thing? 2/3?

1/2 to 2/3.

 

[JackC]

View attachment 505278
Nike Smoke

My Nike Smoke wanted to say to your Nike Smoke, “You may be bigger than me but my model is cuter!”

 

[Hobie1dog]