337% Big Daddy - "Midnight Express" - L3 cert project

[JRL303]

Fantastic. Congratulations! Nice report.
Jim

 

[jus_rockets]

Man what a "picture perfect" flight, congrats and on the level 3 and that is one cool rocket!

 

[qquake2k]

Most excellent! Congratulations!

 

[eggplant]

Great job Boris! :clap: Now you need to fly it on the C cluster...

 

[isobig]

Grats! Can't wait to see the video.

 

[fossunit43]

Congrats.

Those photos are fantastic and your rocket is gorgeous.

 

[gdjsky01]

Congrats!!!! Super flight.


:wave:
- Jeff

 

[crossfire]

Way to go Boris. I guess the chute worked out fine.
GP

 

[jimbo]

Beautiful rocket, and great pictures...congratulations on the successful L3 flight!

 

[Salvage-1]

excellent way to do it.. congrats!!

 

[mainer]

Congrats Boris! Awesome flight!!

 

[delta22]

Way to go Boris. I guess the chute worked out fine.
GP

Used Top Flight Recovery Chutes and tubular Kevlar harnesses for a great recovery.

Thanks for the quality parts and quick shipment Gary.

 

[delta22]

Thanks all.

Downloaded data from the Featherweight Raven. Amazing capabilities in such a small package.

Raven data:

The 7/12/12 flight on L820 Skidmark:
Max speed: 328 MPH
Max altitude: 2629 ft (baro, close to the 2608 ft reported by the Perfectflite HA45K)
About 9 Gs off the pad

7/13/12 flight L3 on M1230 Imax:
Max speed: 502 MPH
Max altitude: 4790 ft (baro, vs. 4673 ft reported by the Perfectflite HA45K)
About 8 Gs off the pad

 

[delta22]

Flight video, includes both L820 Skidmark and M1230 L3 flights plus onboard HD video:

[video=youtube;u3xxDEPVbz8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3xxDEPVbz8&feature=plcp[/video]

YouTube playlist of all my LDRS videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3xxDEPVbz8&list=PL7EBDC9F336D067FF&feature=plcp

Took a while to get this together due to software and video compatibility issues.

Used a Samsung HD (720 60p) camera mounted to DSLR for hand held video, an AipTek low cost HD (720 60p) video camera on a tripod near the pad (slow motion liftoffs) and a Boostervision HD Gearcam (720 30p) on the rocket.

 

[[POW]Eagle159]

Nice, I watched the whole playlist!

I wish I wasnt so far away from LDRS...

 

[delta22]

Flight 3: On 10/6/12 the Midnight Express flew again at CMASS / MMMS in Berwick, ME.

Pro-X 54mm 4grain K740 C-Star - It pleased me greatly to fly the same propellant formula as used on the Space Shuttle.

Lifted off loudly on a hard thrusting bright white flame and column of white smoke. Apogee at 1360ft. Dual altimeters plus motor backup for this single deployment flight.

Although recovery was clean, cracked a fin on contact with the ground. Clearly visible at the end of the onboard video.

Will be repaired.

Liked this liftoff so much I have two K740 loads ready for 2013.

[video=youtube_share;0AeyZi2hx-g]https://youtu.be/0AeyZi2hx-g[/video]

 

[cwbullet]

Thanks for sharing the flight. Nice to the build and flight together.

It is an inspiring build thread.

 

[Rocketjunkie]

Windy day, high horizontal velocity at touchdown, swept back fin tips - broken fin

 

[cwbullet]

Windy day, high horizontal velocity at touchdown, swept back fin tips - broken fin

That is a bummer. I have a scrap piece of body tube that is 11.6 inches in diameter. I may have to try and build one. Maybe with Fiberglass fins.

 

[Rocketjunkie]

That is a bummer. I have a scrap piece of body tube that is 11.6 inches in diameter. I may have to try and build one. Maybe with Fiberglass fins.

The best solution is to fly on calm days so the impact is nearly straight down.

 

[delta22]

Completed repairs on the cracked fin.

First filled the crack with West Systems epoxy while holding the fin in position.

Then built up two 1.3oz FG layers of 3" strips, followed up by two more layers of 1.3oz FG covering the side of the fin that cracked.

Finally a little touch up paint.

 

[delta22]

Prepping the Midnight Express to fly on a ProX K740 at the CMASS 7/27/13 Amesbury, MA launch.

Current weather prediction is for light winds and temps in the 80's.

 

[jflis]

Awesome! Can't wait to see her fly tomorrow!

 

[cwbullet]

Good to see it flight worth again.

 

[delta22]

Mid-afternoon at the CMASS Amesbury, MA 7/27/13 launch, Midnight Express went up for its fourth flight.

Winds were very light and the rocket soared straight up on a loud, bright white flame and a column of smoke.

The ProX K740 is a very nice engine for this rocket, with the all of the powerful 2.5 second burn clearly visible from the ground.

Gotta love that C-Star propellant, the same formulation as was used on the Space Shuttle boosters.

 

[delta22]

As can be seen in the last picture, the rocket recovered right back at the pad. Not a common occurrence in our normally windy launch site.

Recovery was dual deploy, with dual altimeters plus motor backup.

Drogue: 5ft Top Flight Recovery CrossFire chute
Mains: two 7ft chutes, another nice Top Flight Recovery and a Spherachute.

Rocket was separated at apogee by a 3g charge, with a 2.5g for the mains and 4g motor backup at 13 seconds.

The Featherweight Raven reported 1492ft, the Perfectflite HA45K reported 1484ft.

This was the cleanest recovery yet for the Midnight Express.

Note: The boy seen in the last picture was back with the rest of the spectators during the launch.

 

[dixontj93060]

Looks like the booster is upside down in that last picture(?).

 

[qquake2k]

Looks like the booster is upside down in that last picture(?).

It probably bounced when it hit. Mine do that a lot.

 

[thobin]

Nice launch!

TA