Personal launch report 2-22-14
Snow and ice, snow and ice. Depression. And then...
Sixty degrees! Blue skies! Wind gusting to 5mph! Run for the rocket room and empty it into the car. Well, I didnt actually empty it. I left body tubes, balsa stock and paint. Oh, and the build pile.
I grabbed 3 maidens and a half-dozen favorites, new tripod and tower launch pads. Range box, BP motor box, recovery box, log book. Run, before She finds something in the yard that needs doing. Thats for after the wind picks up.
Get to the park and check the wind. Not much but keeps changing. From the south, then from the east. I start hauling stuff toward the southeast part of the park. Three trips about 150m each from the parking lot. The ground is still sorta mushy, so my stupid mistakes may get by unscathed. Then I notice that the playground is to the northwest. Damn. Hey, its right by the parking lot, 150m. All LPR flights today. Im happy again.
Start with my little Star Trooper. Painted bright yellow. (My first one was painted grass green; stupid. Know where it is now? Neither do I.) 1/2A3-4T, streamer and launch. Straight up and ejected at ~10m still going up fast. Re-checked the motor. Yup, the label says -4, but it was actually a -1. Landed less than 2m from the pad. Slightly scorched streamer but no other damage. OK start for the day.
Then the Tiny der Red Max. BT5 down-scale with a 1/4A3-3T. I had to hold this launch. The kids are coming. Straight up and (almost) straight down. Excellent maiden flight. This was the last rocket that I recovered myself today. The recovery crew is here.
Flutter-By, B4-4. The kid who brought it back was almost in tears. It broke! So I launched it again so they could see that that was the way it was supposed to work.
Mini-Max, 1/2A3-4T. Excellent flight.
Ricochet, A8-3. Excellent maiden flight. The first parachute recovery for the kids.
Breakaway, B4-4. I popped it apart before launching so the kids could see why it didnt need a parachute. Came back with an Estes dent in the nose cone. DIIK how.
Der Red Max, B6-4. Excellent maiden flight. The kids started to notice that the Red Max, the Mini Max and the Tiny Max were different scales of the same rocket. I need to build a BT20 Baby Max.
Big Bertha, B6-4. Always a favorite. Straight up, popped the chute and started drifting south. South? SOUTH? The breeze had been coming from the south! Everything else had drifted, if at all, north or west. My Big Bertha was sacrificed to the dreaded rocketus eatemupus (tree). There are very few branches in that tiny wood that are higher than my beloved Big Bertha. The kids started leaving. One little girl gave me a hug and said she was sorry. New build time.
Parachute Duration A, 1/2A-2T. Excellent maiden flight. I used a streamer as this was the first test flight of the rocket and the tower launch pad. I need to rig a stand-off and a blast deflector on the pad for test flights. Competition flights will use a piston.
All in all a good day. I lost the BB but Im not ready to buy a train set.
Snow and ice, snow and ice. Depression. And then...
Sixty degrees! Blue skies! Wind gusting to 5mph! Run for the rocket room and empty it into the car. Well, I didnt actually empty it. I left body tubes, balsa stock and paint. Oh, and the build pile.
I grabbed 3 maidens and a half-dozen favorites, new tripod and tower launch pads. Range box, BP motor box, recovery box, log book. Run, before She finds something in the yard that needs doing. Thats for after the wind picks up.
Get to the park and check the wind. Not much but keeps changing. From the south, then from the east. I start hauling stuff toward the southeast part of the park. Three trips about 150m each from the parking lot. The ground is still sorta mushy, so my stupid mistakes may get by unscathed. Then I notice that the playground is to the northwest. Damn. Hey, its right by the parking lot, 150m. All LPR flights today. Im happy again.
Start with my little Star Trooper. Painted bright yellow. (My first one was painted grass green; stupid. Know where it is now? Neither do I.) 1/2A3-4T, streamer and launch. Straight up and ejected at ~10m still going up fast. Re-checked the motor. Yup, the label says -4, but it was actually a -1. Landed less than 2m from the pad. Slightly scorched streamer but no other damage. OK start for the day.
Then the Tiny der Red Max. BT5 down-scale with a 1/4A3-3T. I had to hold this launch. The kids are coming. Straight up and (almost) straight down. Excellent maiden flight. This was the last rocket that I recovered myself today. The recovery crew is here.
Flutter-By, B4-4. The kid who brought it back was almost in tears. It broke! So I launched it again so they could see that that was the way it was supposed to work.
Mini-Max, 1/2A3-4T. Excellent flight.
Ricochet, A8-3. Excellent maiden flight. The first parachute recovery for the kids.
Breakaway, B4-4. I popped it apart before launching so the kids could see why it didnt need a parachute. Came back with an Estes dent in the nose cone. DIIK how.
Der Red Max, B6-4. Excellent maiden flight. The kids started to notice that the Red Max, the Mini Max and the Tiny Max were different scales of the same rocket. I need to build a BT20 Baby Max.
Big Bertha, B6-4. Always a favorite. Straight up, popped the chute and started drifting south. South? SOUTH? The breeze had been coming from the south! Everything else had drifted, if at all, north or west. My Big Bertha was sacrificed to the dreaded rocketus eatemupus (tree). There are very few branches in that tiny wood that are higher than my beloved Big Bertha. The kids started leaving. One little girl gave me a hug and said she was sorry. New build time.
Parachute Duration A, 1/2A-2T. Excellent maiden flight. I used a streamer as this was the first test flight of the rocket and the tower launch pad. I need to rig a stand-off and a blast deflector on the pad for test flights. Competition flights will use a piston.
All in all a good day. I lost the BB but Im not ready to buy a train set.
