Whoosh end good. Pop end no joy. LPR HARD KNOCKS.

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Daddyisabar

Daddyisabar

Oddroc scum. Mindsimmer.
TRF Supporter
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Today was the end of my favorite old kitbash, the zoomie Supermarine Spitfire. Started life way back when close out Spaceship One 18mm kits were cheap and plentiful.

No ejection charge. Came in ballistic, like standing in the North African desert watching the handy work of The Star of Africa. So :(
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Happier times back on the couch.
More and more D12 failures. Come on Estes QA! Mess report filed. Taking more courage to press the button with confidence. This used to happen one out of a thousand. Seems like it is now down to one in a hundred.
 
I've had the occasional no-eject, cap-intact from 18 & 24mm motors. Last time was a C5-3 in the RTF SLS. Stuck the landing!
 
SolarYellow said:
Quarks are cheap.
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You can't teach old dudes new tricks. Give me motor ejection or give me death! Now that is really powdered white wig and buckled shoe old dude thinking. Well, if you can't leap out of the 18th century I guess your stuck with the rocket's red glare. Silly old dudes. :)
 
In the words of ET, “ooooooouuuuuuuuuch!”

wonder what Estes will give you when you file the report? Not like they have a suitable kit. Maybe a Baby Bertha to bash, though. Hmmmm, that sentence kinda sounds “wrong”……
 
BABAR said:
In the words of ET, “ooooooouuuuuuuuuch!”

wonder what Estes will give you when you file the report? Not like they have a suitable kit. Maybe a Baby Bertha to bash, though. Hmmmm, that sentence kinda sounds “wrong”……
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No need for free kits or motors from Estes. All the King's horses and all the Kings men, can't put Spitty back again. 😢

It's just a flesh wound, I’ve had worse. Will buff right out. 30 minutes with lots of super glue and accelerator and a Frankenstein version could fly again! :)
 
Daddyisabar said:
Today was the end of my favorite old kitbash, the zoomie Supermarine Spitfire. Started life way back when close out Spaceship One 18mm kits were cheap and plentiful.

No ejection charge. Came in ballistic, like standing in the North African desert watching the handy work of The Star of Africa. So :(
View attachment 572255
View attachment 572256
Happier times back on the couch.
More and more D12 failures. Come on Estes QA! Mess report filed. Taking more courage to press the button with confidence. This used to happen one out of a thousand. Seems like it is now down to one in a hundred.
Click to expand...

A D12-3? D-12-5? With no ejection charge? Get Penrose on the the phone...
 
brockrwood said:
A D12-3? D-12-5? With no ejection charge? Get Penrose on the the phone...
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My beloved D12 3. The wind was on and off so I went with shorter delay for less glide. But instead I got a very big arc. Watched it all the way in to impact. Then the compressed air explosion popping the tail section back into the air, like a dead cat bounce. Oh the horror! My eyes! Had to give a good pull to get the plastic nose cone out of the hard dry earth East of Fort Lupton. Just little bits of dog barf blowing in the wind. Then the long, hard walk back to the flight line carrying the corpse. :(
 
Daddyisabar said:
What is the LPR flyer to do?
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I haven't had a rocket damaged in the last 4 years, I use about 40 motors a year I'll guess. However I have a high percentage of motors with weak ejection charges. They will blow the nose cone off, maybe get the parachute out, but I recover the rocket and it still has the wadding smoldering inside.
But back to the question- I'm in continual rocket building mode so best case I'm building up my fleet. If I have some failures I won't like it but I'll have plenty of rockets left to fly.
 
bjphoenix said:
I haven't had a rocket damaged in the last 4 years, I use about 40 motors a year I'll guess. However I have a high percentage of motors with weak ejection charges. They will blow the nose cone off, maybe get the parachute out, but I recover the rocket and it still has the wadding smoldering inside.
But back to the question- I'm in continual rocket building mode so best case I'm building up my fleet. If I have some failures I won't like it but I'll have plenty of rockets left to fly.
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I try to fly a half dozen or so every club launch, so I think I am down to about 200 rockets with around 100 or so in flyable or near flyable condition. A Dangerously low number for sure! The little voice in my head is once again telling me...BUILD AND FLY MORE ROCKETS!

Unfortunately motor quality ain't what it used to be.

Singing: "That ole grey mare she ain't what she used to be..."
 
BABAR said:
In the words of ET, “ooooooouuuuuuuuuch!”

wonder what Estes will give you when you file the report? Not like they have a suitable kit. Maybe a Baby Bertha to bash, though. Hmmmm, that sentence kinda sounds “wrong”……
Click to expand...
A Baby B could be kitbashed into a nice zoomie ME 109 F trop. A Star of Africa version. But his engine failed too and those old planes were hard to bail out of, especially when covered in oil.
 
Daddyisabar said:
A Baby B could be kitbashed into a nice zoomie ME 109 F trop. A Star of Africa version. But his engine failed too and those old planes were hard to bail out of, especially when covered in oil.
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A non-existent ejection charge on a C5-3 (clay cap still intact, like yours) crumpled my beloved Manta Bomber. What can be done when even Manta Bombers and Gooney Spitfires aren't safe???

Luckily, it did buff right out. :D

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tcomfort said:
A non-existent ejection charge on a C5-3 (clay cap still intact, like yours) crumpled my beloved Manta Bomber. What can be done when even Manta Bombers and Gooney Spitfires aren't safe???

Luckily, it did buff right out. :D

View attachment 572343
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Why, why do all the good ones find the bad motors! What is a parent too do? Motors these days!

Manta bombers are SOOOO PURDY! Can't loose such rare birds to defective motors!
 
All hail the mighty Supermarine Spitfire... May it R.I.P. and be an inspiration to all future non 3/4FNC's

Or as Jimmy Durante would say.. "sum-bitch! My nose hurts"
 

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