Black Friday Rocket Launch_was a little windy

[John Rozean]

So the reason that these wind considerations are so important is that central Missouri tends to have a lot of trees and I have to deal with somewhat constrained launch areas.

 

[Dipstick]

Buy a chute release! Jolly Logic all the way!

 

[JStarStar]

It is somewhat of an art to be able to gauge wind speed and direction to figure out launch rod angle to get rockets to drift right back to your feet.

And as we know in colder temperatures under 50F, plastic parachutes tend to get stiff and refuse to open -- the immortal "plastic wad" recovery system.

Sucks to bust off a fin on the Astro-1, but replacing balsa fins is usually not a major operation. As long as the fin root itself isn't torn off the body tube, should be a fairly easy fix.

 

[John Rozean]

It is somewhat of an art to be able to gauge wind speed and direction to figure out launch rod angle to get rockets to drift right back to your feet.

And as we know in colder temperatures under 50F, plastic parachutes tend to get stiff and refuse to open -- the immortal "plastic wad" recovery system.

Sucks to bust off a fin on the Astro-1, but replacing balsa fins is usually not a major operation. As long as the fin root itself isn't torn off the body tube, should be a fairly easy fix.

thanks for the comments...and I actually oriented those fins wrong on the Astro 1. I had the balsa grain parallel to the body tube. I learned from some great input from this site, by Rex R and K'Tesh, that I need to pay more attention to the grains on those balsa fins -- that is, having the grain parallel to the leading edge.

This site is the greatest!

 

[JStarStar]

thanks for the comments...and I actually oriented those fins wrong on the Astro 1. I had the balsa grain parallel to the body tube. I learned from some great input from this site, by Rex R and K'Tesh, that I need to pay more attention to the grains on those balsa fins -- that is, having the grain parallel to the leading edge.

This site is the greatest!

Heh heh ... you know, the Astro-1 is a Retro-Repro version of the Centuri Astro-1, which essentially was a "variation" of the Estes Astron Alpha, except the fins were attached "backward" for a trapezoidal appearance.

I remember when I built my original Astro-1 way back in the day (1969-70 or so) I was about to cut the fins "wrong" according to the template and put the grain parallel to the root edge, because it "looked backward."

Finally I got it straightened out, to discover that the balsa wood stock Centuri used for fins was much much harder than the typical Estes balsa of the day, so cutting those fins was quite a hack-fest.

And now all the under-50 rocketeers are saying, "what is this 'cut the fins' business he's talking about?"

 

[Tbmx3]

Nice video. You might try and get in touch with a few farmers just outside of Columbia. I'm sure you could find one that wouldn't mind you launching rockets from one of there fields. All the crops are out and there are a lot of great people in central Missouri. Good luck

 

[Rex R]

just to add to the confusion, paper has a grain too...okay with paper the grain usually runs the length of the paper .
Rex