Ok guys I decided to cut loose and left outside the last building touches prior to her maiden flight that took place yesterday (sunday) on an AT I195J-S...
She wobbled a bit as she cleared the 12' rod (super-safe side) but she suddenly straightened up to a guesstimated apogee of around 600'. I wasn't sure about the delay but I went short because of the draggy aerodinamic and because of the final weight: the airframe was around 2.6 lb without motor while the finished nosecone was 3.5 lb all by herself !!! recovery was via a LOC 36" for the a/f and a LOC 24" for the nosecone.
Things I worried about 'till the last moments were:
- rail button stand-offs breaking (the fore one is long, around 2");
- the last section of BT (which is canted) crushing under the weight of the hefty nosecone;
none of them happened so I'm pretty happy!!!
That's all, here are the pics (say 'Thank you' to Daniel Flury):
Congrats on the maiden flight! It's always good to worry and at least be able to predict what *might* go wrong. All of the worries seem to fade away once the flight succeeds.
Nice looking rocket! Get it dirty and make that awesome nozzle rusty! Thanks for the picture post.
One thing I didn't mention is that when Swiss TRA Prefect Juergh Thuering saw the A.C.M.E. he was somehow spoiled 'cause he had in mind to build a bigger upscale himself !!! So it is probable that we'll team up to build another one around PML 7.5" tubing but this is a secret for the moment, so do not tell anyone...