Captain's Launch Report, LUNAR Snow Ranch, March 8, 2014

It was a gorgeous day at the Ranch yesterday. Sunny, breezy and mild. Oh what a difference a few days of rain made! The creek was still dry, but the ground was beautifully green. A gosh darned good rocket day!

My goal for the day was to launch four of mine. It took me all day, but I did it! All were maiden flights, all were successful, although one suffered two broken fins. First up was the upscale Freefall, on a 29mm H165 Redline. Perfect flight, and we even recovered the paratrooper! The awesome launch photos were taken by my good friend Hanna, and my son Joe.

The paratrooper was recovered by my son with no damage. He got a nice ride!

Second up was Jersey Bomber, my 4" upscale Mosquito. Unlike last month, they allowed sparkies yesterday. So I took advantage of the opportunity and flew the bomber on an H178 Dark Matter. I love those motors!

Next up was Plump Ninja, on an H123 White Lightning. Very nice flight, but...

Two of the Ninja's fins broke off. I think it needs a bigger chute. They look repairable, though.

Number four was the Gooniot on a G76 Mojave Green. He sure looks tiny next to that Mega Der Red Max. Hanna got a great shot of the green flame!

I want to thank Hanna and Joe for all their help. I wouldn't have been able to do it without them!

Here is one of Kit's flights of his pink Crayon, on an H148 Redline, I believe.

qquake2k said:

I want to thank Hanna and Joe for all their help. I wouldn't have been able to do it without them!

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Great report... I got a shot of Hanna and Joe learning from the Captain.....

Videos of my flights:

[YOUTUBE]FhM-sfvGZCs[/YOUTUBE]

[YOUTUBE]XzpGwSEP7mI[/YOUTUBE]

[YOUTUBE]85DGHg64Glk[/YOUTUBE]

[YOUTUBE]w1wb39foMks[/YOUTUBE]

[YOUTUBE]8VkoL3GXNFY[/YOUTUBE]

[YOUTUBE]Z-RLK3mvgy4[/YOUTUBE]

Also that 7th one of the Bomber, get the original and crop that sucker (pun intended) like so
:clap:

Great day, great launch and great photos! Great to see you Jim, and happy to see these rockets fly in real life!

Ari.

Ari's glider:

[YOUTUBE]0OrwDSFuC4Y[/YOUTUBE]

More of Ari's glider. The video is of his second flight, the photos are the last from his first flight.

[YOUTUBE]waiMjg5uR4M[/YOUTUBE]

Great report and pics Jim. Glad that your drought let up and you got to fly all those great builds.

Wow Jim, thank you for photos and videos!

Ari.

Beautiful rockets, beautiful flights!

Great work

Here's a snapshot I took of the Captain with his command. He's under the canopy refilling his rocket fuel beverage container (I think).

Gratuitous Crayon in foreground as I have only two hands.

View attachment 165009

A shortcoming of my Galaxy S4's camera is that it doesn't handle fluorescent pink very well. The Plump Ninja and the Jersery Bomber are the most brilliant pink in real life and not the flame orange in the image. Oddly, the pink crayon is somewhat accurate.

As to living up to his Low and Slow title, Jim put it in jeopardy as both the Gooniot on a G76G and the Bomber on the H178DM left their pads quite energetically. I liked it.

o1d_dude said:

A shortcoming of my Galaxy S4's camera is that it doesn't handle fluorescent pink very well. The Plump Ninja and the Jersery Bomber are the most brilliant pink in real life and not the flame orange in the image. Oddly, the pink crayon is somewhat accurate.

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Even my camera does that... it always fights with the fluorescent. If anyone figures out a way to take better photos of neon pink, I'm all ears!

My camera tends to wash out fluorescent pink in the sun.

Congrats on beautiful rockets and great flights. 4 maiden shots and only two broken fins? A lot of us would kill for that kind of day!

Great report! It was good to be out at Snow ranch after so long and to see so many rocket friends.

BABAR said:

Congrats on beautiful rockets and great flights. 4 maiden shots and only two broken fins? A lot of us would kill for that kind of day!

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Oh, I'm not complaining. It was a great day!