ARRRG moment

[tmazanec1]

Have you ever had an ARRRG moment in your hobby?
Mine was when I retrieved my Centuri Groove Tube and realized I had forgotten the wadding.
The parachute looked like Swiss cheese!

 

[Mugs914]

I just painted my Nike Smoke then realized I hadn't put on the launch lug...

 

[Cabernut]

Most recent moment?

When I realized (during a long retrieval walk) that twisted bare wire with no continuity check is not a reliable way to ignite a cluster. For clusters, 2 out of 3 IS bad.

 

[Fred Garvin]

Oh yeah. Finishing up my Sky Wolf, I got the dreaded krinklies applying clear to the nose. ARRRG!

Sanded, repainted. Applied clear and AGAIN got the dang krinklies! (ARRRG was not said, but something else was)

 

[TangoJuliet]

Installed a 29mm motor mount on a rocket with through-the-tube fin mounting that keys into one of the centering rings only to find that my motor mount had shifted slightly in the tube before the glue cured . I had to re-notch the fin tabs to get them mounted in the proper location.

 

[K'Tesh]

When I arrived in China and found that getting rockets here was going to be a lot harder than I planned (thanks to my ex-boss's promises of more hours (and pay) than what she delivered).

 

[Bat-mite]

Lost about $1000 worth of rocketry when I launched to 9000 feet when it was too windy. Never live that one down.

 

[tmazanec1]

Lost about $1000 worth of rocketry when I launched to 9000 feet when it was too windy. Never live that one down.

I can just see it now. A young woman, in her 20s, sunbathing by the pool on a lawn couch, half asleep and her eyes covered by a towel...when $1000 of rocket lands on her belly.

 

[Bat-mite]

I can just see it now. A young woman, in her 20s, sunbathing by the pool on a lawn couch, half asleep and her eyes covered by a towel...when $1000 of rocket lands on her belly.

More likely a tree ... but you never know! :wink:

 

[tmazanec1]

More likely a tree ... but you never know! :wink:

Ah yes...species Arborum rocketphagus.

 

[soopirV]

Mine was my first L1 attempt when I listened to a buddy and used a LOC cardboard 29/38mm adapter on an H399. Adapter wasn't up to the thrust, but got some good pictures of the event from the club photographer, and my 6 grain casing was found about a year later and returned to me!

 

[Flyfalcons]

My first rocket ever, an Estes Black Brant II hot rod with too big of a parachute, flown from my elementary school's play field. Apparently you need just a bit more space to recover a rocket that goes out of sight and descends at the rate of a helicopter leaf.

 

[Bat-mite]

My first rocket ever, an Estes Black Brant II hot rod with too big of a parachute, flown from my elementary school's play field. Apparently you need just a bit more space to recover a rocket that goes out of sight and descends at the rate of a helicopter leaf.

I remember a young lady at a NARHAMS launch that put about a one-ounce rocket up on a C motor with what was probably a 24" parachute. It sailed horizontally over the trees, going, going, gone. Then just when we thought we'd never see it again, it hit a thermal and started going up! Then it shrunk to the size of a dot, and disappeared for good.

The moral of the story? Never use a 24" chute when a 1" streamer would be more than sufficient. :wink:

 

[smugglervt]

On a recent club launch, walked out to retrieve my rocket jumped 2 drainage ditches to get to it. Took out my cellphone to get the data from my Alt 3 and put it back in my vest pocket. Walked back to the launch area jumping the drainage ditches again. Got back and went for my phone and realized I hadn't zipped the pocket. No $800 phone. Retraced my steps and walked the drainage ditches calling the phone with a friend's phone with no luck since I hadn't taken it off vibrate. Just about ready to give up when I spotted it laying in the grass right next to the ditch. Someone was looking out for me that day. But then the damn phone sh*t the bed this Friday and I had to replace it anyway.

 

[dpower]

At least once per launch!

 

[Cabernut]

Well here's yesterday's. I had just got done cutting a set of fins out of 1/4" plywood when I noticed something...




That should teach me to cut wood after midnight.

 

[tomsteve]

I just painted my Nike Smoke then realized I hadn't put on the launch lug...

did that on an estes Comanche 3.
cept I noticed at the pad.
yeah, I felt like a dolt.

 

[tomsteve]

NCR lance beta I built the summer of 1997 after the red wings ended their Stanley cup drought. made it a pretty sweet red wings rocket.
buuuuut
I tied the chute and shcok cord onto the little plastic thing on the nose cone- separately. on ejection and when the chute opened, the little plastic thing snapped, the shock cord came off but the chute stayed on. rocket stuck in the ground about 100' from me. chute and nose cone I think are still drifting. DOH!

but I learned the proper place to put the chute and why.

 

[Pem Tech]

Forgot LL until at the pad, check.
Disregarded sims and flew an underpowered motor, check.


Forgot to drill the delay on a CTI G69, check.


Flew a temperature cycled motor, check.


Trusted a Kraken alone with a baby Llama in a room containing cutlery, check.

 

[Andy Greene]

Is that a Bomark in your last pics Layne ?
My latest one involves a year or two of on and off work on a Bomark- I was comparing the model to the pics of the real rocket I plan on following the scheme of to get some panel alignments when the Arrrrrgg moment occurred. I mounted the nacels backwards - I have sanded and looked at this damn thing a million times ( as well as had some other rocket buddys look it over ) and somehow never noticed
Needless to say they have been "removed " and will require replacement and a buttload more work, thankfully I hadnt glued in the nose cones and they where salvageable.

 

[Pem Tech]

No, not a Bomark. That was one of my first Space Ark Jr. builds.

So, you had a Bomarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrggggggg Moment? My sympathies.

Is that a Bomark in your last pics Layne ?
My latest one involves a year or two of on and off work on a Bomark- I was comparing the model to the pics of the real rocket I plan on following the scheme of to get some panel alignments when the Arrrrrgg moment occurred. I mounted the nacels backwards - I have sanded and looked at this damn thing a million times ( as well as had some other rocket buddys look it over ) and somehow never noticed
Needless to say they have been "removed " and will require replacement and a buttload more work, thankfully I hadnt glued in the nose cones and they where salvageable.

 

[Andy Greene]

Yeeeeeper !!!! :wink: