What did you do rocket wise today?

neil_w said:

Got my flying fleet packed up for tomorrow. Total of 10 rockets, no way I'll get to fly them all but I like to leave my options open (which is another way of saying I'm too indecisive to choose my flyers in advance )
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(there's another 5 rockets at least in the tote)

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Aahhh - Another fan of Accur8. They look great!

But I don't see the Engine Nacelles on the Ragnarok.....

les said:

But I don't see the Engine Nacelles on the Ragnarok.....

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Inadvertently cut out of the picture. I wussed out and went with the fins on the intakes rather than those long skinny shrouds... after a couple attempts at those I gave up. Documentation here: https://www.rocketryforum.com/threa...eptor-build-thread.144054/page-2#post-1762064

Pumpkin Warrior 3.2 aka Squirrel Works' "Too Cool for School" ready to fly.

neil_w said:

...no way I'll get to fly them all but I like to leave my options open (which is another way of saying I'm too indecisive to choose my flyers in advance )

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Right there with you... Its going to be a crowded field tomorrow. I was hoping to get down to the launch today, but I can't do 4 hours of driving two days in a row. So, I am taking my time and getting things prepped as far as I can before making a (hopefully) early start tomorrow.

I am going to try to get it down to 6 rockets. I've got two never-flown rockets, and I want to repeat my L2 cert flight (for the cameras this time)

The +3 will be for the bonus rounds. The White WAC Corporal has had a tough career; shock-cord burned through on its first and only almost-successful flight, blown up and gutted by a CATO on its second launch, a 900 meter fall onto hard-packed dirt with no chute (when the chute-release got hung-up inside the body tube) last year. I'd like it to get one clean flight and recovery before I retire it.

The EAC Viper gets lots of attention while waiting in line at the RSO table, but I am not sure it has anything left to prove.

I love the Viper too!

(BTW want video of the Pringles rocket...)

Pretty happy with the way this one turned out. Tomorrow I’ll feed her a g76 and see how it goes.

Being a lifelong squirrel fan I had to order the Squirrel Works Acorn rocket. It arrived today and is surprisingly larger than I thought it would be. Phoosh!!! goes the squirrel!!

Made progress on a long stalled project. At this rate I should be done in 2024, 2025 at the latest.

Presently on the way home from the September RadRocs launch. Met Neil and Marten and other good people.

Successful maiden launch of Office Supplies. Slo Mo suffered yet another repairable fin break; I'm getting tired of repairing it, so maybe it's due for retirement. Or maybe I'll keep repairing it only with less care.

Stood for Neil's in memorium launch of his APRO Lander II.

In the second image it looks as if i was shooting rockets into light fixtures but that fixture is at least 100 yards away, its an optical allusion + the wind on its behalf.
The 3rd image are the prize rocket landings at to where they landed nearest to our target. Also by the looks of the flag you can tell that Texas had some 15 mph winds

I received my Miss Riley kit yesterday, but I took the photo and posted it today! I might just make the Oct 5 launch and call it an October Sky after all...

Flew some rockets!

@mbeels and @jqavins both hiked over to meet at the RadRocks launch today. Weather was overcast and a bit breezy, with occasional bits of rain. But the wind was (for a change) blowing towards the large open fields on the other side of the road, so it ended up being a great day of flying.

I flew seven rockets (probably the most different rockets I've flown at a single launch) for 8 flights total. Highlights:

• Maidened Plasma Dart II on a C6-5. Good flight but arced over a bit; probably will try a QJ C12 next time. Recovered with no damage.
• Flew the repaired Alcubierre on a D12-5. Best flight of the day, absolutely straight up and looked great in the process. Unfortunately suffered ring damage (again) on landing. Think I'm gonna have to retire this one.
• Flew the IRIS-T on a D16-6. *Fantastic* flight, quite a bit higher than I expected. Pretty much straight up, and landed in a nice soft fresh-plowed field for perfect recovery with no damage.
• Flew my APRO Lander II on an E15-4 in tribute to Gary Byrum. Clean flight and recovery.
• Got in two flights on my upscale Quinstar, one on an E16-0 and one on an F12 that Marten was gracious enough to lend me. That flight was great, loud and smokey.

Also got to see Marten fly Skunk'd (that rocket is seriously awesome in person) and maiden his beautiful upscale Plasma Dart II XL, and Joe got in the maiden flight of his great Office Supplies rocket, which had a perfect flight on a D12-5.

(sorry I'm too lazy right now to link to all the relevant build threads)

Met a bunch of new folks that I hadn't seen at any launches before. All in all a great day.

Martin (@mbeels) and I with our respective Plasma Dart IIs (his is a wee bit bigger than mine...)


Joe's (@jqavins) Office Supplies rocket aloft on a D12:


APRO Lander II going up on an E15:


And the IRIS-T riding a nice black column of smoke courtesy of a QuestJet D16. Look, it's going straight this time!

Bought a bunch of tools and stuff stuff for L2 build. My one bad hawk shock cords arrived.

neil_w said:

Met a bunch of new folks that I hadn't seen at any launches before. All in all a great day.

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Sounds like a great time!

I am heartened to see the IRIS performs well after all. Must have been a rod fluke the last time around. A rail hopefully wont have that problem.

Drove 2.5 hours to a launch and couldn't fly due to low (3k') cloud ceiling . At least some people got to fly.

Forgot to mention that a few of us got stung by bees. They have been set up to pollinate the canola crop.

Yesterday, now, but it was a pretty good day. 5 launches. From an F44 to a J316. T One CATO (G53J reload in a Hobbbyline case. Both the casing and the rocket survived.), also one (temporarily) lost rocket

The POT-80 Pringles can rocket did all right. It cracked a fin on landing, but it is an easy repair.

The Moonbat was camera shy (again*), but I did get some footage from a pad camera



and one of the other fliers thinks he might have gotten a shot of it leaving the rail on a lovely pink flame.

EDIT: Playing with Photoshop Wide Angle Adaptive filter.



* Actually, my camera is just really finicky about shooting in "drive mode" while also in "shutter priority mode" it stopped shooting just before the motor came up to pressure, so I have five more pretty pictures of the Moonbat sitting on the pad. Also, after I racked the rocket, somebody arrived and stood in front the video camera I'd placed further down the flight line. Somebody who wears tan Carhart work pants and who carries his wallet in his back right pocket.

The pictures do not do justice as to what went wrong. On the bottom you can clearly see that i had removed the engine mount from the rocket, this was part due because the old glue did not bond correctly with the sides of the body tube. So when it came to putting in the engine we noticed that the whole mount shifted back 1", I knew that if the rocket were to fire, surely it would of went through the whole upper half of the rocket. I repaired it in like 10 min with the proper amount of wood glue.

Worked on rebuilding my Tomahawk fincan.

....ordered $460 worth of propellant, nozzles and liner tubes from RCS, and am having custom mandrels made for high quality filament wound casings. Need to spend more fun tickets on rocket pieces parts for winter projects! Remember what Frank Perdue said "Parts is Parts!"

Spent some quality time deep in the jaggers, poison ivy and ticks searching for Duibhìn's Red Rocket. Maybe find it in the fall when the weeds have died.
Successfully flew a Mach1 Black Hole for it's first time. G53FJ to 929' and G64 to 1136'.

Received my 3D printed replacement Redstone fins from Ebay by Dan Patell. Nice. Better than the wood Estes gives you. Strong and surprisingly light.

SteveNeill said:

Received my 3D printed replacement Redstone fins from Ebay by Dan Patell. Nice. Better than the wood Estes gives you. Strong and surprisingly light.View attachment 393429

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I dont know if i want to agree with 3D printing the fins for the Mercury Red stone, if you bought the kit, they gave you the proper stuff to build the rocket, I wont go as far to buy separate pre-made parts. I just think making the whole rocket experience is cool, + on the side of painting the 3d fins, I think i would look weird. But Hey thats my opinion on that...

I was curious. Didn't like the fins much on mine. Worth a shot. These are a bit more scale. But I hear you. Thrust me I'm a scatch builder and will work with any tools including 3D printers which is on my list to get.

jqavins said:

Presently on the way home from the September RadRocs launch. Met Neil and Marten and other good people.

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neil_w said:

Flew some rockets!

@mbeels and @jqavins both hiked over to meet at the RadRocks launch today.

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My son and I had a great time yesterday, I got to see some rockets fly that I had only seen photos of previously. I managed to burn a whopping 12 motors, which is probably a record for me. We started by drag racing 3 baby Kraken (A3, A3, A10. The A10 won).

I saw the Office Supplies rocket first flight, text book flight and recovery, even without dog barf! Success.

neil_w said:

Flew the IRIS-T on a D16-6. *Fantastic* flight, quite a bit higher than I expected.

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The Iris-T looks even better in person, the photos don't do it justice. That detail is really impressive.

I posted a collection of photos I took, follow this link for an album.

https://imgur.com/a/x8w7r1u

EDIT: video.

neil_w was NOT exaggerating when he said that recovery to the south was challenging. I burrowed through a dense network of grass and branches to get through a ditch. Actually, the tunnel formed a de-facto bridge and suspended me above the swampy drainage ditch below. But I got Skunk'd! back. I didn't expect to go spelunking, I need to add a machete to my range box.

But friendly folk, beautiful rockets, and nice weather that held the rains back for us, a very successful day.

mbeels said:

The Iris-T looks even better in person, the photos don't do it justice. That detail is really impressive

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I must give highest honors to the IRIS-T, but that photo of both Plasma Dart IIs together is friggin sweet also

neil_w said:

• Flew the IRIS-T on a D16-6. *Fantastic* flight, quite a bit higher than I expected. Pretty much straight up, and landed in a nice soft fresh-plowed field for perfect recovery with no damage.

>snip<

And the IRIS-T riding a nice black column of smoke courtesy of a QuestJet D16. Look, it's going straight this time!
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Very nice.

Saw a couple of flights on Q-Jet D-16s yesterday. It is a great motor for losing little rockets >smile<.

We also saw an E12-0/E12-something double CATO (which is like seeing a unicorn get struck by lightning -- twice) and a A10-3T CATO in something that looked sort of like a Mini Mosquito, but shorter. Even with a couple of high-power shreds and blow-throughs, that one might have been the most thrilling failure of the day -- sending a 1 inch fireball about 20 feet up and out from the low power pads.

I finally finished the Shenzhou kit. Life, work and the Magician build (which I was trying to finish for a launch that ended up getting canceled) all got in the way. I created a build thread in the LPR forum.

Launched a bunch, including my take on Decaffeinator, Pumpkin Warrior 3.1

Any video of the Decaffeinator?