This was my first club launch in (I think) over a year, so I was eager to get out there. It was also my first time at our club's new launch site, an 88-acre farm outside of Needville, TX, southwest of Houston.
The drive from my house took about an hour and 15 minutes, and I was at the launch site for about 4 and a half hours.
After driving past the gate into the farm twice, I noticed a small group of blue canopies set up in the field, so I drove on in there. The field was mowed and very dry, so the ground was nice and hard.
There were 5 people flying yesterday. 2 of us (including me) came alone, 2 came with their wives, and 1 came with his wife and 4 kids (who were *very* well-behaved, btw.)
I had 6 flights total, as described below.
First up was my Golden Scout #635, on a 1/2A3-4T 13 mm motor stuck into an expended 18 mm motor casing. I didn't use a shim of any kind. The flight was good, nice straight boost, perfect tumble recovery. The motor was stopped by the retaining hook just as it should be. One of the fins was broken about 1/3 of the way out from the root edge, straight in toward the centerline of the rocket. Must have landed right on the end of that fin, which should be easily repairable with some thin CA glue.
Second up was my Golden Scout #636, again on a 1/2A3-4T stuck into an expended 18 mm motor casing, and again with no shim of any kind. The flight was virtually identical to the first one, nice straight boost, perfect tumble recovery. The motor was stopped by the retaining hook just as it should be. And again, one of the fins was broken about 1/3 of the way out from the root edge, but this time it broke to the side. This fin too should be easily repairable with some thin CA glue.
Third up was my new Big Daddy, flying nekkid for its first launch. In fact, it was so nekkid that it didn't have a launch lug on it! Fortunately I had brought pretty much all of my rocket stuff other than spare body tubes, so I had a couple of packages of assorted launch lugs with me, including the 3/16" lug that I needed. Some gel CA and a few minutes later, the Big Daddy was ready to fly. Or it was ready to fly once I installed a new red and yellow 24" Dynastar nylon parachute in it. It flew on a D12-5 with the 1" orange spacer that came with the kit. The launch rod was the new 4 foot stainless steel 3/16" rod I recently bought from onlinemetals.com. The flight was great, nice and high, arced over quite a bit due to the wind. Good parachute ejection, and the rocket came down perfectly, right onto the apex of another rocketeer's canopy! No damage, no scorching of the chute.
Fourth up was my scratch-built Big Stick. The front end of the rocket uses a Fat Boy nose cone and a length of BT-80 tube, followed by the main body of BT-70 tube, 6 clipped delta balsa fins, and a 3-motor 18 mm cluster. For the parachute I used a new 24" orange Top Flight thin mil nylon chute. Motors were 3x C6-5's. The launch rod was again the new 4 foot 3/16" stainless steel rod. The flight was great. The rocket was quick off the pad, went nice and high, and the triple ejection charges went off close together, but spaced enough that all 3 could be heard. Landing on the 24" parachute was nice and gentle, no damage at all, no scorching of the parachute.
Fifth up was my Rokitflite Odyssey. I figured since I talk about this rocket so much, I really ought to launch it again. I used the stock 18" red plastic parachute, but man it's hard to fit that thing into the short length of BT-50 at the front end of the Odyssey! The motor was a C6-3. Flight was perfect, nice straight boost, nice and gentle-enough recovery. No damage, no scorching of the parachute. Another great Odyssey flight. This rocket got lots of oohs and aahs from everyone who saw it on Sunday.
Sixth, and last, was my scratch 7-Up Flyer, a 2-motor 18 mm cluster rocket. It's basically an 18" length of BT-60, a Big Bertha nose cone, a dual cluster motor mount, and a body wrap made from the label from a 2-liter bottle of 7-Up. The body wrap fit the tube perfectly by wrapping it around the tube so that the top and bottom edges meet. This rocket probably hadn't flown in over 2 years. One of the three balsa fins popped off after a flight some time ago, and while I repaired it, I hadn't flown it again until yesterday. For the parachute, I used a new 18" orange Top Flight thin mil nylon chute. Motors used were 2x C6-5's. This one just *jumped* off the pad, went nice and high, and drifted just over the fence into an adjacent field, where it was easily recovered.
A couple of lessons learned at this launch:
1. Reinforce all fins of my Golden Scouts with thin CA, at least along the leading edge.
2. I really like nylon parachutes, particularly the Top Flight thin mil nylon chutes. These are way thinner than the regular Top Flight chutes, and are nice and strong.
3. The field is now set as a favorite in my GPS, so I won't miss it again.
4. Bring more Gator Aid, or water in bottles smaller than 1 gallon. :surprised:
The drive from my house took about an hour and 15 minutes, and I was at the launch site for about 4 and a half hours.
After driving past the gate into the farm twice, I noticed a small group of blue canopies set up in the field, so I drove on in there. The field was mowed and very dry, so the ground was nice and hard.
There were 5 people flying yesterday. 2 of us (including me) came alone, 2 came with their wives, and 1 came with his wife and 4 kids (who were *very* well-behaved, btw.)
I had 6 flights total, as described below.
First up was my Golden Scout #635, on a 1/2A3-4T 13 mm motor stuck into an expended 18 mm motor casing. I didn't use a shim of any kind. The flight was good, nice straight boost, perfect tumble recovery. The motor was stopped by the retaining hook just as it should be. One of the fins was broken about 1/3 of the way out from the root edge, straight in toward the centerline of the rocket. Must have landed right on the end of that fin, which should be easily repairable with some thin CA glue.
Second up was my Golden Scout #636, again on a 1/2A3-4T stuck into an expended 18 mm motor casing, and again with no shim of any kind. The flight was virtually identical to the first one, nice straight boost, perfect tumble recovery. The motor was stopped by the retaining hook just as it should be. And again, one of the fins was broken about 1/3 of the way out from the root edge, but this time it broke to the side. This fin too should be easily repairable with some thin CA glue.
Third up was my new Big Daddy, flying nekkid for its first launch. In fact, it was so nekkid that it didn't have a launch lug on it! Fortunately I had brought pretty much all of my rocket stuff other than spare body tubes, so I had a couple of packages of assorted launch lugs with me, including the 3/16" lug that I needed. Some gel CA and a few minutes later, the Big Daddy was ready to fly. Or it was ready to fly once I installed a new red and yellow 24" Dynastar nylon parachute in it. It flew on a D12-5 with the 1" orange spacer that came with the kit. The launch rod was the new 4 foot stainless steel 3/16" rod I recently bought from onlinemetals.com. The flight was great, nice and high, arced over quite a bit due to the wind. Good parachute ejection, and the rocket came down perfectly, right onto the apex of another rocketeer's canopy! No damage, no scorching of the chute.
Fourth up was my scratch-built Big Stick. The front end of the rocket uses a Fat Boy nose cone and a length of BT-80 tube, followed by the main body of BT-70 tube, 6 clipped delta balsa fins, and a 3-motor 18 mm cluster. For the parachute I used a new 24" orange Top Flight thin mil nylon chute. Motors were 3x C6-5's. The launch rod was again the new 4 foot 3/16" stainless steel rod. The flight was great. The rocket was quick off the pad, went nice and high, and the triple ejection charges went off close together, but spaced enough that all 3 could be heard. Landing on the 24" parachute was nice and gentle, no damage at all, no scorching of the parachute.
Fifth up was my Rokitflite Odyssey. I figured since I talk about this rocket so much, I really ought to launch it again. I used the stock 18" red plastic parachute, but man it's hard to fit that thing into the short length of BT-50 at the front end of the Odyssey! The motor was a C6-3. Flight was perfect, nice straight boost, nice and gentle-enough recovery. No damage, no scorching of the parachute. Another great Odyssey flight. This rocket got lots of oohs and aahs from everyone who saw it on Sunday.
Sixth, and last, was my scratch 7-Up Flyer, a 2-motor 18 mm cluster rocket. It's basically an 18" length of BT-60, a Big Bertha nose cone, a dual cluster motor mount, and a body wrap made from the label from a 2-liter bottle of 7-Up. The body wrap fit the tube perfectly by wrapping it around the tube so that the top and bottom edges meet. This rocket probably hadn't flown in over 2 years. One of the three balsa fins popped off after a flight some time ago, and while I repaired it, I hadn't flown it again until yesterday. For the parachute, I used a new 18" orange Top Flight thin mil nylon chute. Motors used were 2x C6-5's. This one just *jumped* off the pad, went nice and high, and drifted just over the fence into an adjacent field, where it was easily recovered.
A couple of lessons learned at this launch:
1. Reinforce all fins of my Golden Scouts with thin CA, at least along the leading edge.
2. I really like nylon parachutes, particularly the Top Flight thin mil nylon chutes. These are way thinner than the regular Top Flight chutes, and are nice and strong.
3. The field is now set as a favorite in my GPS, so I won't miss it again.
4. Bring more Gator Aid, or water in bottles smaller than 1 gallon. :surprised:
