Zooch Saturn I SA-5

It took off well and flew straight to a pretty respectable altitude.

When the thrust ended, though, it still continued to coast on momentum but slowed down quickly and began to fly a bit less straight.

Ejection occurred perfectly at apogee while the rocket was horizontal. The chute deployed and it began its drift downward to land not too far away, although it had the bad sense to land on the opposite side of a barbed wire fence.

The rocket performed really well on a B4. For that reason, and because of my distaste for barbed wire fences, I felt pretty confident about trying the next flight on an A6-4. I loaded it up and took it to the pad accompanied by looks of incredulity from those who had heard my motor choice.

The boost actually went pretty well. The rocket flew up and it flew straight. I didn't even really have any complaints about the altitude.

It was the coast phase that really stank. The rocket decelerated quickly and started heading down. The problem was it kept going down. I have no reason to think the 4 second delay was inaccurate but if sure seemed like an A6-12 while at the same time the earth's acceleration field seemed to approximate that of Jupiter.

I mean a really long time...:y:

As best I can tell, ejection occurred about 5 feet above the ground. This accomplished several things. It accelerated the nose cone giving it a deeper penetration of the ground, it broke up the aerodynamic shape so that the body did not hit quite as hard and, most importantly, it did get the bright orange chute out so that I could easily find the rocket when I stopped crying. Fortunately for me, the ground was very soft due to rain and there was no damage at all. I did, however, have to persuade the nose cone to let go of the mud.

This rocket took much more effort than I expected. Rolling the tanks, in particular, was a difficult task for me. That said, I did learn a lot and I enjoyed putting it together.

It flew well also. It might even have done OK on an A8-3 but that's not something I'm planning on trying. It's a good product and the service and support from Dr. Zooch are excellent.

Persons interested in following this rocket can find its service life documented here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/23694991@N03/collections/72157617582604204/

Ya' know folks... I put it in the instructions... IN THE INSTRUCTIONS "...NEVER use an A engine on this kit."

What more can I do?:bangpan:

Dr.Zooch said:

Ya' know folks... I put it in the instructions... IN THE INSTRUCTIONS "...NEVER use an A engine on this kit."

What more can I do?:bangpan:

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If you encourage them to use an A motor, they won't.

If they use it anyway, well, op::eyepop::clap: enjoy the show.

Dr.Zooch said:

Ya' know folks... I put it in the instructions... IN THE INSTRUCTIONS "...NEVER use an A engine on this kit."

What more can I do?:bangpan:

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Instructions! Instructions!? Who reads instructions?

I just looked at the pretty pictures.

In truth, the instructions probably did have such a warning and I may have even seen it. My thorough reading of them, however dates back to May and I did not recall the warning.

Based on how well the B4 did, I thought the A would be fine. I still think it would have done well if I could have scrounged an A8-1 or and A6-2 or something of the sort.

My Sa5 got more abuse from me than any self respecting rocket should ever have to put up with. Its still ready to fly. That says a lot.

You done good.

JAL3 said:

In truth, the instructions probably did have such a warning and I may have even seen it. My thorough reading of them, however dates back to May and I did not recall the warning.

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"In truth," the instructions DO say EXACTLY what I quoted above- there is no "probably" involved here.

Now- if someone wants to to do a great job building one of these kits and then take it out and turn it into an earth nail, or shoot it into a brick wall or any other such thing, I really have nothing to say in that. I just want EVERYONE reading this thread to know that you, and everyone else were instructed, in writing, in the kit, to "NEVER" use the engine you selected. The flight results are NOT due to design, or higher drag than expected or any such thing as that. And that the instructions do not "probably" say not to use the engine that you used- they very specifically, in all caps say to NEVER use that type of engine.

Of course, I will always be happy to sell you a replacement kit after the next flight on an A engine... come to think of it, hummmm... maybe I should take that "Never use an A engine" stuff out of the instructions... I may just sell a few more kits that way.

My SA-5 is probably one of my rockets that has taken the most work to put together. That being the case, its a shame that it doesn't get out more often. I tried to make up for that on Saturday when I pulled it out and stuck a B6-4 in it.

This one looks nice taking off...

…it looks nice boosting in the air…

...it even looks nice coasting along and getting too small to really see.

But its hard to beat the view when you see the puff of smoke and flash of orange and that it will be coming home again safe.

And come home safe it did. It just needs to be dusted off a bit. It landed next to a fire ant mound; I guess fire ants are part of the ant scale program as well.

JAL3 said:

And come home safe it did. It just needs to be dusted off a bit. It landed next to a fire ant mound; I guess fire ants are part of the ant scale program as well.

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I heard rumors that the fire ants were the preferred pilots for futuristic fighter designs because of their aggressiveness in combat...

Peartree said:

I heard rumors that the fire ants were the preferred pilots for futuristic fighter designs because of their aggressiveness in combat...

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I guarantee their aggressiveness!:dark:

JAL3 said:

And come home safe it did. It just needs to be dusted off a bit. It landed next to a fire ant mound; I guess fire ants are part of the ant scale program as well.

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Is that a snake next to the saturn V!?!

kruland said:

Is that a snake next to the saturn V!?!

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you scared me there for a sec and I had to go look at the pic. (Snakes are my phobia)

What I think you're seeing is the elastic. It does not reach all the way to the body because its tied to a Kevlar thread which cannot be seen in the pic.

If it had been a snake, my rocket would still be there. ALL SNAKE ARE DEADLY!!

The funeral parlor charges the same rate for a heart attack as for a venom injection!

JAL3 said:

you scared me there for a sec and I had to go look at the pic. (Snakes are my phobia)

What I think you're seeing is the elastic. It does not reach all the way to the body because its tied to a Kevlar thread which cannot be seen in the pic.

If it had been a snake, my rocket would still be there. ALL SNAKE ARE DEADLY!!

The funeral parlor charges the same rate for a heart attack as for a venom injection!

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Those are great shots of the rocket John Well done and I feel the same way about credit card bills
Cheers
Fred

Nope, I was referring to the little smoothly-bent tapered "stick" circled in red.

JAL3 said:

you scared me there for a sec and I had to go look at the pic. (Snakes are my phobia)

What I think you're seeing is the elastic. It does not reach all the way to the body because its tied to a Kevlar thread which cannot be seen in the pic.

If it had been a snake, my rocket would still be there. ALL SNAKE ARE DEADLY!!

The funeral parlor charges the same rate for a heart attack as for a venom injection!

Click to expand...

kruland said:

Nope, I was referring to the little smoothly-bent tapered "stick" circled in red.

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I see that now. I didn't notice it at the time. I generally keep my eyes open for snakes.

I don't do snakes. ever.