Salvage-1
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- Mar 17, 2012
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.... or "How I created Aerotechs Largest Medusa Nozzle!!!"
This last weekend I was up in the Oregon High Desert with OROC attending their Spring Thunder event.
I had with me an L1000 which has been last in my motor box for the last two years glaring at me and daring me to fly it.
Well, this Spring I noticed that the epoxy around the front closure was rock hard and not spongey as it was last year (and when i bought it). So, I planned to use it, just to stop the guilt trip it gives me every time I open that mortar can to get another reload.
The Rocket.... A beastie that I picked up from a rocketeer leaving the hobby. A stretched 7.5" PML Pterodactyl, set up with central 54mm and four 29mm outboards.
For the first flight, I loaded with with the L1000 and no outboards, just to get the first flight out of the way and the reload used.
The flight looked perfect, with an AWESOME flame on the way up, flew straight with only slight weathercocking and flopped over for a successful dual deploy and landing. The TeleMetrum told me the altitude, which I thought was a little low, and I started the half mile walk through ankle ripping sagebrush to the recovery site.
When I got there I noticed the the PML phenolic had snapped off a length of body tube and had a few serious dings.... then my friend pointed out the rear end.
Well.... it seems that just near the middle of the burn, the L1000 thought that it really didnt need a thrust ring and started it's rapid way up the rocket. Luckily I had not removed the PML piston (which probably saved the entire flight not to mention the AV bay and electronics). When it stopped, there was still a second or so of burn left. In this time it consumed 90% of a centering ring and most of the motor tubes. Luckily the rear centering ring is/was fiberglass sandwiched, so it became a nozzle!!
I was going to smash off the PML phenolic and replace with Blue Tube anyway, so this actually saves me quite a bit of work :lol:
Now I will let the pics tell the story
This last weekend I was up in the Oregon High Desert with OROC attending their Spring Thunder event.
I had with me an L1000 which has been last in my motor box for the last two years glaring at me and daring me to fly it.
Well, this Spring I noticed that the epoxy around the front closure was rock hard and not spongey as it was last year (and when i bought it). So, I planned to use it, just to stop the guilt trip it gives me every time I open that mortar can to get another reload.
The Rocket.... A beastie that I picked up from a rocketeer leaving the hobby. A stretched 7.5" PML Pterodactyl, set up with central 54mm and four 29mm outboards.
For the first flight, I loaded with with the L1000 and no outboards, just to get the first flight out of the way and the reload used.
The flight looked perfect, with an AWESOME flame on the way up, flew straight with only slight weathercocking and flopped over for a successful dual deploy and landing. The TeleMetrum told me the altitude, which I thought was a little low, and I started the half mile walk through ankle ripping sagebrush to the recovery site.
When I got there I noticed the the PML phenolic had snapped off a length of body tube and had a few serious dings.... then my friend pointed out the rear end.
Well.... it seems that just near the middle of the burn, the L1000 thought that it really didnt need a thrust ring and started it's rapid way up the rocket. Luckily I had not removed the PML piston (which probably saved the entire flight not to mention the AV bay and electronics). When it stopped, there was still a second or so of burn left. In this time it consumed 90% of a centering ring and most of the motor tubes. Luckily the rear centering ring is/was fiberglass sandwiched, so it became a nozzle!!
I was going to smash off the PML phenolic and replace with Blue Tube anyway, so this actually saves me quite a bit of work :lol:
Now I will let the pics tell the story