Any serious cluster flyers out there?

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I have many flights on a 7x18 cluster, a few on a 4x24, and one on 1x29 + 2x24 adapted down to 3x18. Have some larger clusters now on the drawing board. Clusters started as a sidequest on my road to airstarts and electronic staging, but I came to enjoy them in their own right. They're fun, and when it comes to composites, they're good practice for consistent ignition.
 
Serious - not as serious as this:

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No, but I have over a thousand from buying all the flashcubes (not magicubes) from ebay years ago I could find and taking them apart. You get 4 bulbs per cube. You can also use ematches which work the same and are low current also.
 
K 1100, and a mixture of I435's, I300's and H242's Now for BP clusters I use Flashbulbs, one per motor. Throw those clip whips away!!

absolutely love the picture in this post, hits the nostalgic vein hard.

1/2" launch lug, the "old" 38mm aft closures, the medusa nozzle on the K1100... great stuff
 
absolutely love the picture in this post, hits the nostalgic vein hard.

1/2" launch lug, the "old" 38mm aft closures, the medusa nozzle on the K1100... great stuff
I've flown a few Medusa nozzles....love them.
 
My Mercury LES is a 3 motor cluster, and my F-79 a 2 motor cluster.

I guess the question is "what is your definition of serious"? :dontknow:

When you design the rocket with just a couple motors, if one doesn't light, that's much more "serious" than 30 motors and a couple don't light.

000 The Money Shot No Sign.jpg2022-07-26 2nd Launch of F-79.jpg
 
I used a flash pan to light the 30 motors.
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You can see it in the very bottom right of the picture. I used a section of coupler that I had laying around. Put a bulkhead in the bottom and made 2 centering ring templates from my open rocket sim. Drilled a 3/8 inch hole for each motor and inserted a 3/8 inch diameter piece of metal tubing in each hole with about 3/4 of an inch of metal tubing sticking out the top. To use it I put about 8 grams of pyrodex inside the pan. Slide the rocket down the rail and match the tubing up to each motor. The weight of the rocket keeps the flash pan in place. Light the pyrodex with an ematch, it blows flame right into the motor nozzles and off she goes.
I cant take credit for the design, found it on an old post somewhere on the forum. But it sure does work.
 
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