JStarStar
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jun 5, 2009
- Messages
- 2,552
- Reaction score
- 78
This summer had been pretty much a rocketry dud for me -- my work schedule has been totally revamped so I am never free on Saturdays or pretty much any other day my local section has been launching, plus I've had a lot of stuff going on cutting my free time down to nothing, so I haven't actually gotten out to launch anything (well twce in my local park for about 10 minutes, but that was about it).
But my siblings were looking for a way to throw me a 3-week belated birthday party, so we decided on a Sunday afternoon meeting at the launch site about halfway between their house in Lansing and my house in Metro Detroit.
My brother, a semi-BAR in his own right, rounded up his own half-dozen rockets, helped my nephew, 12, round up his box of 3-4 birds, then the rest of the "clan" (4 adults, 5 kids [ages 2, 5, 5, and 10] and a dog) hopped in a couple of SUVs and we all converged on Lyon Township.
I was worried on a beautiful 80-degree day we might be elbowed out by picnickers, but no problem -- there were like two people in the whole park. Happily for the younger crew the adjacent porta-potty was unlocked, in working operation and even decently clean.
So I pulled up to the picnic pavilion, packed out all my gear and set things up just as the crew arrived.
To get things off and running I decided to send up a Snitch on a B4-2 for the kiddies. Good idea, bad execution. The motor fired up through the nose (yeah, I was launching it right side up) and the whole thing came crashing down after flipping about 30 feet off the pad. Some minor dinging and dents but probably re-flyable at some point. But probably the only real failure of the day.
By this time my brother had his stuff set up too and we got a pretty good assembly line going. We launched for about four hours straight, I would say about one launch every five minutes (with some recovery time in between). I collected motor casings and we got at least 30 launches off for the afternoon.
Among the highlights:
-- A semi-successful (low but otherwise OK) launch of my Edmonds Twinsee. I had launched it before and it separated during power boost. This time it climbed, did a wide half-loop after thrust cutoff, then popped cleanly into twin gliders before coasting in. Cracked the nose of the "top" glider on landing, but it's gluable.
-- 2 good flights by my nephew's Estes RTF model (forget its name)
-- Half-a-dozen launches for my brother's Estes Wizard, an original model dating from about 1980.
-- A rough but survivable flight by my "Boosta-Bertha" (a first stage bashed out of a Baby Bertha and a slightly-modified Big Bertha second stage) on a B14-0/C6-7 combination. The "Boosta" stage, with a thick stage coupler up front, seems a bit nose-heavy and came in semi-ballistic, and the Bertha didn't completely eject the nose, but even though it nosed in the only damage was a slight dent in the BT. A little straightening and maybe some CYA on inside and we should be good.
-- 4-5 launches by the RTF Estes LoadStar I got as a "stocking stuffer." I let the less-rocketry-experienced in the group adopt that as their personal project. My 5-year-old twin nieces, who had never seen a launch before, learned how to pack wadding and parachutes. (They get the IDEA of igniters but not quite the actual execution just yet.)
-- A nice textbook flight from my Flat Cat on an A6-4. Two wide lazy circles, probably 30 seconds.
-- Double flights by the Baby Bertha/Big Bertha team, then the Mini-Max/Red Max dynamic duo (we call the Red Maxes, along with the Red Baron, the "Axis Air Force").
-- A sky-scraping shot with my "Spartan Special" (actually a Quest Falcon with a green-and-white Michigan State paint job) on a C6-5. The recovery crew got a good quarter-mile hike out of that one.
-- A decent flight with my Squirrel Works Red Baron. Popped the nose cone off at ejection (lost) and it came down in a funny fluttering motion, but the biplane glider itself landed in one piece and should be easily repairable.
-- Big flights by my Fat Boy on a D12-3 and my brother's Der V-3 on a C11-3.
-- A pretty awesome ride by my old Estes Maniac on an E9-4. Way out of sight on the boost, but came down within sight of the pad (although still over a hill and giving the recovery crew another good 10-minute run).
-- Show-stopper by my Deltie Airshow on an A8-3. Straight-up boost, smooth noseover, then all three Delties scatter into loops at ejection. A little low (I know Rob recommends B's) but I didn't want to risk loss if the winds kicked up.
Finally my brother-in-law fired up the grill and got burgers and brats going. We geared back the launch schedule but still managed to get a few more launches off. By the time it got 6-ish and the sun started to sink, everybody was ready for home.
I may have "paid it forward" for the next generation -- one of my 5-year-old twin nieces got "the bug" and served as DLO (designated launch officer) for probably 15 launches. I see a job as NARAM RSO in her future.
She got the routine: "We have continuity light," and then the 5-second countdown. And she even caught it when Uncle JSS intentionally left one of the clips unattached: "We have a hold, no continuity light!" Her twin also launched a half-dozen or so flights as did their older sister and brother. (We haven't put my 2-year-old niece on the launch button quite yet.)
After a yummy dinner and my birthday cake, we packed the whole place up (miraculously all trashbags were fully operational). A couple weeks after my actual birthday, but a fun way to spend a Sunday afternoon.
But my siblings were looking for a way to throw me a 3-week belated birthday party, so we decided on a Sunday afternoon meeting at the launch site about halfway between their house in Lansing and my house in Metro Detroit.
My brother, a semi-BAR in his own right, rounded up his own half-dozen rockets, helped my nephew, 12, round up his box of 3-4 birds, then the rest of the "clan" (4 adults, 5 kids [ages 2, 5, 5, and 10] and a dog) hopped in a couple of SUVs and we all converged on Lyon Township.
I was worried on a beautiful 80-degree day we might be elbowed out by picnickers, but no problem -- there were like two people in the whole park. Happily for the younger crew the adjacent porta-potty was unlocked, in working operation and even decently clean.
So I pulled up to the picnic pavilion, packed out all my gear and set things up just as the crew arrived.
To get things off and running I decided to send up a Snitch on a B4-2 for the kiddies. Good idea, bad execution. The motor fired up through the nose (yeah, I was launching it right side up) and the whole thing came crashing down after flipping about 30 feet off the pad. Some minor dinging and dents but probably re-flyable at some point. But probably the only real failure of the day.
By this time my brother had his stuff set up too and we got a pretty good assembly line going. We launched for about four hours straight, I would say about one launch every five minutes (with some recovery time in between). I collected motor casings and we got at least 30 launches off for the afternoon.
Among the highlights:
-- A semi-successful (low but otherwise OK) launch of my Edmonds Twinsee. I had launched it before and it separated during power boost. This time it climbed, did a wide half-loop after thrust cutoff, then popped cleanly into twin gliders before coasting in. Cracked the nose of the "top" glider on landing, but it's gluable.
-- 2 good flights by my nephew's Estes RTF model (forget its name)
-- Half-a-dozen launches for my brother's Estes Wizard, an original model dating from about 1980.
-- A rough but survivable flight by my "Boosta-Bertha" (a first stage bashed out of a Baby Bertha and a slightly-modified Big Bertha second stage) on a B14-0/C6-7 combination. The "Boosta" stage, with a thick stage coupler up front, seems a bit nose-heavy and came in semi-ballistic, and the Bertha didn't completely eject the nose, but even though it nosed in the only damage was a slight dent in the BT. A little straightening and maybe some CYA on inside and we should be good.
-- 4-5 launches by the RTF Estes LoadStar I got as a "stocking stuffer." I let the less-rocketry-experienced in the group adopt that as their personal project. My 5-year-old twin nieces, who had never seen a launch before, learned how to pack wadding and parachutes. (They get the IDEA of igniters but not quite the actual execution just yet.)
-- A nice textbook flight from my Flat Cat on an A6-4. Two wide lazy circles, probably 30 seconds.
-- Double flights by the Baby Bertha/Big Bertha team, then the Mini-Max/Red Max dynamic duo (we call the Red Maxes, along with the Red Baron, the "Axis Air Force").
-- A sky-scraping shot with my "Spartan Special" (actually a Quest Falcon with a green-and-white Michigan State paint job) on a C6-5. The recovery crew got a good quarter-mile hike out of that one.
-- A decent flight with my Squirrel Works Red Baron. Popped the nose cone off at ejection (lost) and it came down in a funny fluttering motion, but the biplane glider itself landed in one piece and should be easily repairable.
-- Big flights by my Fat Boy on a D12-3 and my brother's Der V-3 on a C11-3.
-- A pretty awesome ride by my old Estes Maniac on an E9-4. Way out of sight on the boost, but came down within sight of the pad (although still over a hill and giving the recovery crew another good 10-minute run).
-- Show-stopper by my Deltie Airshow on an A8-3. Straight-up boost, smooth noseover, then all three Delties scatter into loops at ejection. A little low (I know Rob recommends B's) but I didn't want to risk loss if the winds kicked up.
Finally my brother-in-law fired up the grill and got burgers and brats going. We geared back the launch schedule but still managed to get a few more launches off. By the time it got 6-ish and the sun started to sink, everybody was ready for home.
I may have "paid it forward" for the next generation -- one of my 5-year-old twin nieces got "the bug" and served as DLO (designated launch officer) for probably 15 launches. I see a job as NARAM RSO in her future.
She got the routine: "We have continuity light," and then the 5-second countdown. And she even caught it when Uncle JSS intentionally left one of the clips unattached: "We have a hold, no continuity light!" Her twin also launched a half-dozen or so flights as did their older sister and brother. (We haven't put my 2-year-old niece on the launch button quite yet.)
After a yummy dinner and my birthday cake, we packed the whole place up (miraculously all trashbags were fully operational). A couple weeks after my actual birthday, but a fun way to spend a Sunday afternoon.
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