1:93 Scale Saturn 1B

[LithosphereRocketry]

Flew it today on an AT E15-4W. Those composite motors make some noise, especially on the LPR rack only 30ft away!



The first half second of the flight was perfect. Then it took a sharp turn (wind shear, I'm guessing?) and flew off sideways. Stability margin was fine by every measurement I could find, including the Apogee Saturn 1B's own CG... The one possible issue is that I flew it off of a smaller rod (3/16 rather than 1/4) and it may have been a bit short on rail speed - the first pic just after liftoff seems to suggest other wise, though, as it's straight at about 10-15ft above the pad.



Video (can't figure out embed...)
https://youtu.be/mxmapAp2WRo

 

[dr wogz]

I'm just happy you got it back! (Evil corn!)

 

[LithosphereRocketry]

So I flew the Saturn 1B again a few weeks ago but I hadn't posted it yet because I was waiting for video from a friend who took slow-mo of it. Long story short, it flew great in the same configuration as last time. It coned a bit on the way up, so it's possible that it was marginally stable to begin with, but it otherwise flew fine.

Landing was a different story- one of the little balsa fins snapped off due to harder ground at the local soccer field compared to its previous flight, where it only barely touched the ground due to 8ft corn. The balsa broke and tore off some of the paper. It has been repaired. I have updated my profile pic to one of the much nicer ones I grabbed from the video...



[video=youtube;_KQIQ4r0APU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KQIQ4r0APU[/video]

 

[NJRick]

beautiful job!! great flight video too!

 

[LithosphereRocketry]

beautiful job!! great flight video too!

Thanks!

I can't take credit for the video- a friend with a much nicer phone than me took that.

If you want to build one I can put together plans... You'll need access to a 3D printer but they're everywhere these days. A laser cutter is a nice thing to have but not absolutely necessary.

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