Oooh … I just came here to say that I’m thinking of going out on Monday and you all are ten posts ahead! Looking forward to joining some folks there.
60 Acres Park, Redmond, WA (Seattle area)
- Thread starter DirkTheDaring
- Start date
BEC
Well-Known Member
I have some altimeter testing to do, so I will try to come up on Monday as well.
BTW Ron, I plan to be in Hawaii late February/early March. I hope to fly with you! Do you carry rockets when you travel? Carry on or checked in? And engines? I assume not, can I buy them locally from a store or from you? Or should I have some shipped in to you ahead of time?
Looking forward to launching in nice weather!
ken
The winds are iffy, and the ground is wet, but I'll fly what I can!
BEC
Well-Known Member
Weather forecast for Monday has been deteriorating. *sigh*
It was gorgeous, albeit with breezes not quite where we'd like at the Raceway today. We had a very low-key launch — just Jim Pommert, Dave McCammon and me. Jim left 1 1/2 rockets in the trees on the west side, unfortunately. I managed to retrieve the one I put up there at the end, as it wasn't too far from the lip of the hill.
It was gorgeous, albeit with breezes not quite where we'd like at the Raceway today. We had a very low-key launch — just Jim Pommert, Dave McCammon and me. Jim left 1 1/2 rockets in the trees on the west side, unfortunately. I managed to retrieve the one I put up there at the end, as it wasn't too far from the lip of the hill.
Thursday and Friday next week look much better. Whether we fly on Monday or not, I'll plan on flying on Thursday or Friday, whichever looks best.
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I think I'm giving up on Monday. It'll just be too soakin' wet. I'm looking at Thursday or Friday instead. Have fun! (and maybe I'll change my mind at the last minute, so if you do plan to launch, please post.)
BEC
Well-Known Member
It will certainly be wet if for no other reason than it's likely to keep raining until midnight-ish (per Weather Underground — the National Weather Service is more pessimistic). But WU is showing a very small chance of rain tomorrow (again, much lower than the NWS is showing). Since I have some testing to do that I only got started on yesterday, I'm still considering going up tomorrow.
But both sources show Friday as being much better, including with respect to winds. So that will be a much better choice. I'm just not sure, with a bunch of other stuff going on, whether I'll be able to get up there Friday.
But both sources show Friday as being much better, including with respect to winds. So that will be a much better choice. I'm just not sure, with a bunch of other stuff going on, whether I'll be able to get up there Friday.
I’ll prolly decide in the morning. Besides I promised a lift to someone.
Hey Ken, did your lighted Birdie go up?
Launched mine a few months ago at a day launch.
Flew straight and stable.
Hasn't gone up at a night launch yet.
And I kept the can the birdies came in.
One end cap used in the motor mount, other end cap used as a shoulder for the birdie nose cone. Fins will be papered balsa in the shape of badminton racquets.
![0115231741[1].jpg](https://cdn.imagearchive.com/rocketryforum/data/attachments/474/474194-2e1db407c3d907ab5e1e7747148d9359.jpg "0115231741[1].jpg")
![0115231741a[1].jpg](https://cdn.imagearchive.com/rocketryforum/data/attachments/474/474195-a4cc0f764aef8d140184027c2c010602.jpg "0115231741a[1].jpg")
Hope to see you in a month or two!
Launched mine a few months ago at a day launch.
Flew straight and stable.
Hasn't gone up at a night launch yet.
And I kept the can the birdies came in.
One end cap used in the motor mount, other end cap used as a shoulder for the birdie nose cone. Fins will be papered balsa in the shape of badminton racquets.
Hope to see you in a month or two!
Unless the wind forecast drops meaningfully overnight, I think I'm going to bag it. Rain is supposed to stop around midnight but the mid-day wind is looking like it's in the 8-10 mph range. Oh well. If it's dry-ish here in Seattle, maybe I'll do a ground test of my first dual-deploy rig, and then hopefully do it for real at the WAC launch in February.
Yes, didn’t fly very straight, but it flew! I don’t remember the details.
Yeah. It sucks. I’ll go on Friday and the next WAC launch.
Yeah I was hoping the weather was going to cooperate but looks pretty bleak. Not sure I’ll be able to make it Thursday or Friday but maybe the planets will align
BEC
Well-Known Member
I'm heading up in a few minutes. Should get there about 12:30. We shall see what we shall see. The forecasts have generally gotten a little better, both from a rain chance and a winds perspective.
It's a quite beautiful day in Seattle. But wind is 9 mph, dropping to 6 mph by 4 PM. My latest experimental model is not quite ready, otherwise I'd be tempted. I like to fly in winds of 6 and under.
I woke up not feeling so great, so I wouldn't have gone today in any case. Planning Friday.
BEC
Well-Known Member
It was cool, breezy with winds 7-8 gusting to 11 when I first got there at about 12:30 but it got a little better as the afternoon wore on and was almost pleasant in the sun breaks. I got eight flights in and helped a family with their first ever rocket flights. There were probably half a dozen other families who came and went with a red Porta-Pad II and one or two models while I was there. There's a Swift 220 stuck in the grass about mid-field on the north field, though even if you find it I don't know the names of the folks who lost it. (Better lost, really, in my opinion. I don't like those pointy-nosed ballstic-returning little models).
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That's a lot of activity for a so-so Monday: that's great. I stayed home and eventually ran a more or less successful ground test of the apogee charge for an Estes STM-012 converted to dual deploy. The drogue chute and some of the Kevlar cord got hung up on wires I used to off the initiator: the full cord length is about twice what ejected here. But the 0.3g black powder charge (packed in a piece of masking tape folded over) seemed to blow the rocket apart with spirit so I think that’s what I’ll go with when the time comes to send it.
DerRedMax
Well-Known Member
Wow, sounds like lots of rocketry activity at 60 Acres today.
Best way to keep tabs on us is the FB page. The rockets I flew at 60 Acres were packed in my luggage so nothing fragile. There's two good LHS but we can hook you up for motors.
Hawaii Rockets | Facebook
This group is for anyone, of any age, in Hawaii that is interested in building and flying rockets, whether they be small hobby-level model rockets or advanced high power amateur rockets, rockets that...
BEC
Well-Known Member
You can expect families with their Porta-Pads out there whenever the weather isn't awful and it's not overrun with soccer, though it helps if school is out, as it was today.
I didn't realize you have an FB page. I lied and said I live in Hawaii. Wishful thinking.Best way to keep tabs on us is the FB page. The rockets I flew at 60 Acres were packed in my luggage so nothing fragile. There's two good LHS but we can hook you up for motors.
Hawaii Rockets | Facebook
This group is for anyone, of any age, in Hawaii that is interested in building and flying rockets, whether they be small hobby-level model rockets or advanced high power amateur rockets, rockets that...www.facebook.com
Attention Seattle area rocketeers! We plan to fly at 60 Acres tomorrow, Friday the 20th at about noon. Weather is looking about as good as it gets. The grass may be wet, but other than that we can't ask for better winter weather!
Hope to see you there!
Hope to see you there!
The weather does indeed look promising. I'm hoping to be there sometime in the morning.
We should get there around noon
boatgeek
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If you don't make it there today, I'll be out with my high school TARC team on Sunday, probably starting around 11. I'm guessing that a bunch of other TARC teams will be there as well.
I'm planning on flying a couple of my own rockets as well, including one on a CTI G250 motor. There's not very many of those left around since CTI stopped production after the fire.
I'm planning on flying a couple of my own rockets as well, including one on a CTI G250 motor. There's not very many of those left around since CTI stopped production after the fire.
We had a great time today since your people including world famous Bernard. Lots of flights mostly good, a few, um, not so good.
I don’t think I’ll be there on Sunday because I’m planning on going to the big model train show in Puyallup that day.
Next Friday is looking like good weather as well, and we are currently planning a repeat performance that day.
I don’t think I’ll be there on Sunday because I’m planning on going to the big model train show in Puyallup that day.
Next Friday is looking like good weather as well, and we are currently planning a repeat performance that day.
BEC
Well-Known Member
It was a fun afternoon. I flew a few more after Ken and the rest of the folks with him left. Unfortunately that included a D12-5 CATO that wiped out my Green Eggs on its 35th flight. Fins scattered over a 20-foot radius and nothing else much left of the bottom 6-8 inches of it. The charred top of the motor mount is still up in the body. I didn’t find the motor hook and I’m sure there are other bits of body tube still on the field as well.
MESS reports filed for that, the A10-0T that blew in the first stage of the Checkmate and the C18-6W that made my Nova Payloader skywrite on its 113th flight (some others of which have been on C18-6Ws).
My wife and I will be at Ocean Shores next Friday, and getting ready for the trip on Sunday (day after tomorrow), so I’ll miss you guys either way. I will, however, be flying rockets a little bit off the beaches there. I have an Alpha III with a streamer that‘s been flown there on several occasions in the past, and that won’t be the only thing I’ll take. We’ll have kites, too…for days when it’s too windy for rockets.
I have no idea where Ken gets this “world famous” bit….
MESS reports filed for that, the A10-0T that blew in the first stage of the Checkmate and the C18-6W that made my Nova Payloader skywrite on its 113th flight (some others of which have been on C18-6Ws).
My wife and I will be at Ocean Shores next Friday, and getting ready for the trip on Sunday (day after tomorrow), so I’ll miss you guys either way. I will, however, be flying rockets a little bit off the beaches there. I have an Alpha III with a streamer that‘s been flown there on several occasions in the past, and that won’t be the only thing I’ll take. We’ll have kites, too…for days when it’s too windy for rockets.
I have no idea where Ken gets this “world famous” bit….
