Aerotech Mustang and Aerreaux

[rabidsheeep]

Finished the building part... just painting...

The mustang will be a dark green with matte black and alittle bit of chrome after my moms 69 mach 1, which was her first car

the aerreaux... not sure yet... prolly just stock...

overall the kits were... well... ok...

the instructions were understandable... although you need to understand which is the rear and which is the front rather well, and also the aerotech not having the instructions fully was alittle bit of a downside, but thank you Justin Horne...

the mustang was alittle wierder to build because i dind't know what to sand, and really what to do... learned alot off of that... (the parachute seems frighteningly small)

also the way they put the fin lock rings on the baffle was confusing

nice kits though... thanks for all the mpr help while i was getting into this... im going up to a metra launch with my mom soon (somehow i bribed her because my like great second cousin owned a house that is now a sheriffs department and she wants to see it or something) to set em off on some f's

this is gonna be fun.

 

[eugenefl]

Hmm...both kits look like they have very similar fin sets. I don't think I ever noticed that before. Well, both will be very high flyers on anything more than an F. Personally, I felt disappointed with the build. I think the kit was too easy. I also don't see how a beginner MPR rocketeer will learn much about a rocket kit. AT kits are kinda in their own league. Each to his own though. They sure look great!

Best of luck with the paints and flights!

Woohoo! I'm part of the 2000 posts club!

 

[AlexM]

I would not reccomend that parachute...

 

[rabidsheeep]

which? the mustangs looked alittle small but i liked the texture on it, the aerreaux looked alittle big (im used to them small because the park i launch my small ones at isn't huge) and the material wasn't great either...

anyone got a suggestion of what i should use?

 

[AlexM]

I have a Mustang, and on an F20 on a CALM day, you will never see it again with a parachute unless you have an extremely large field. I would use a streamer or nose blow. I use nose blow, and it usually comes down within 75 yards or so.

 

[rabidsheeep]

uhh, how big of a field are we talking?

and how big of a streamer?

id rather get it back with a broken fin than lost, thats true...

 

[Justin Horne]

Yep, true...

I fly my arreaux on F20, and probably won't put anything bigger in it...
I flew it in 5-7 mph wind one, drifter most of a mile (yes, on an F20) so, be careful with it. For being so big, the rocket weighs next to nothing. I use the stock chute, but i will downsize it on the next flight to an 18 inch. The rocket will come down pretty fast, but i'm sure it will be fine.

Really, it is a fun rocket though..

Justin

 

[AlexM]

Well...
Usually this time of year, depending on where you live, there will be a ton of thermals rising up from the ground pushing your rocket up if it has a parachute. I remember, once, I looked at an altitude graph from my perfectflite and saw that once the rocket got to 100 feet, it shot back up to nearly 200! then it actually just stayed at 200 for about 45 seconds. If you launch your mustang on an f20, it goes out of sight.those thermals could keep it out of site. If you have a rocket with no parachute, something cool happens. have you ever seen like mars landers and stuff like that use thrust to slow the rocket down on descent. Something like that happens. Obviously, the thermals are going to be more intense closer to the ground right. Well what happens is that when the rocket reaches about 100 feet or so, the thermal catches a little part of it and slows it down probably 4-7 feet per second. so then, when your rocket comes down on a nose blow, it falls fast without drift, and then when it gets closer to the ground, it slows down and lands at about the same speed it would on a streamer. Plus, nose blow is like a cheap streamer anyway.

 

[phaar]

Yeah...Our TARC rocket was heading for the power lines and it was about 5 feet from landing on top of them, which could have been disasterous for us. Then, it just floated back up about 30 feet and then stayed at about 200 feet for about 30 or 40 seconds. Then it just slowly drifted down. CRAZY. But, without thermals, we may not have placed third in the contest!

 

[rabidsheeep]

ok... so how long of a streamer/big of a parachute should i use?

 

[AlexM]

On the Mustang, just go nose blow. On the Arreaux, I would personally go with a 14 inch chute.

 

[AlexM]

Or like a 2-3.5 inch streamer

 

[Chilly]

I'd recommend you reinforce the Arreaux's aft end of it with a coupler tube or something similar, and slather it with epoxy. It has a tendency to dent badly upon landing. And downsizing the chute is definitely a good idea once you've done that. It's a tank and a great, great rocket. Mine's flown on an E9, E15, F20, F40, and G35. I wouldn't put any RMS motor bigger than an F in it, and that's on a calm day. Mine's flown twice on G35s to about 2800'...but I was lucky to spot it coming down. You'd be well served to put some tracking powder in the chute.

 

[rabidsheeep]

Originally posted by Tarc3
On the Mustang, just go nose blow. On the Arreaux, I would personally go with a 14 inch chute.

nose blow? huh?

also, i finished the painting on em...

the third smaller one is just something i had to paint lying around...

https://img21.photobucket.com/albums/v64/sheeepy/DV20040711190935.jpg

just the Mustang and Aerreaux

https://img21.photobucket.com/albums/v64/sheeepy/DV20040711190948.jpg

on the floor

i like how the paintjobs came out... i had the mustang done perfect, but then the primer decided that it didn't like bonding to the nosecone and it all flaked off... repainted, and clear coated, and now its good...

thanks for the help on the chutes and streamers... not sure which to go with

ill order a chute for the aerreaux

and for the mustang, did you mean a 2.5 inch wide streamer? how long in that case?

 

[AlexM]

Nose blow is no streamer or parachute, just the nose blowing off which makes it unstable and falls probably 25 feet per second until it gets closer to the ground.

 

[rabidsheeep]

... uhh... does anyone else reccomend this idea?

 

[AlexM]

I have launched my Mustang on an F20, and had it land on a road without anything being broken. All of this was with nose blow. Plus, it came out of the Handbook of Model Rocketry.

 

[rabidsheeep]

ill email the metra guys to make sure they'll let me...

 

[karatekicker271]

I no this is a bad idea, but i shot mine up on a G-35... GOT IT BACK!! lol

 

[RocketboyG80]

Nose blow would work fine if you built it well. But it wouldn't hurt to put a little 2" by 30" Mylar streamer on their for visablility purposes; also to prevent making the people at METRA nervous.
I buy my Mylar streamer material from Apogee Components.

 

[rabidsheeep]

then could i take the mustangs chute and use it on the aerreaux?

 

[RocketboyG80]

I was thinking of adding that to my post, but I saw you already replied. Yes, I would say the Mustang's chute would be fine on the Arreaux. You may even want to cut a 1-2" spill hole in the top of it to bring it down a little faster.

 

[rabidsheeep]

just one more thing... uhh... can you or cant you use estes E motors in AT rockets, and do the Aerotech E packs come with 2 engines or 1?

 

[RocketboyG80]

I wouldn't exactly recommend using E9's in those kits. It will boost them up, but not very straight from what I've seen. AeroTech single use E's come one to a pack. Although, those 24mm F21 Econojets come two to a pack. RMS E's come three to a pack BTW.

 

[rabidsheeep]

3 pacs are 24 mm right?

im kinda confused over the whole rms thing... you need a shell (which is around 30-40 bucks) and then the reload kit right?

 

[karatekicker271]

Ya, but in the end, it is a lot cheaper, because the casing pays for itself quickly, and the reload is alot cheaper. Heck, a H reload csing is expensive, but it is alot cheaper than a Ellis Mountain H SU. The reload is around 12.50 i think....

 

[rabidsheeep]

looking on e hobbies i see a few things...

theres the rms 24 system and the rms 29 system... i would want the 29 correct? or would the 24 be ok because i can use the adapter? would the thrust be alot weaker?

i would need

this
https://www.ehobbies.com/rk-aro-91291.html

and this
https://www.ehobbies.com/rk-aro-52308.html

right?

(too bad the casing is out of stock...)

**also, do the d and/or f motor reloads come in pacs of 3?

 

[Justin Horne]

Yes to the casing, no to the motor. That has an 8 delay, which im sure is too long, since I use F20-7's..

I'd suggest ordering both from Magnum . They've got all the stuff you'd want in stock, and ship really fast..

You are wanting the casing and the

motors.


There ya go!.

 

[loopy]

As for which RMS casing to get, get both! I have the 29mm40-120 and the 24mm casing, and use them both. The 29mm is great for all AT kits, although the E-16 reload makes for some really long bonus delays. If I'm going to launch an E, I'll usually use an E-18 in my 24mm casing. I also use my 24mm casing for launching my strengthened Executioner, Phoenix, Big Daddy, Venus Probe, and Prowler. Just make sure if you're building an Estes kit for the 24mm reloads, get a LOC/Precision motor tube or something similar that can handle the higher temps of AP.

Loopy

 

[RocketboyG80]

As far as casings go I'd say Great Lakes Hobbies has the best prices. Their motor prices are pretty competitive too.