Blackhawk 29

[The_Quacken]

Not a full build but I wanted to show off this since it’s my first real fiberglass high power (Altho it’s sorta sitting on the very edge of high and mid power) it’s a wildman Blackhawk 29 and hopefully I can get a flight on her at the next score launch. First flight will probably be mid power but eventually I’m hoping to put the biggest h or I in it that motor delay will allow lol
I love the sticker shock holo decals on it

 

[kenstarr]

Nice! I have a Blackhawk 24. I desert darted it into the rock hard salt flats some years ago on a CTI Vmax that like the other motors of the same design, failed to light the delay/ejection charge. Just damaged the tip of the nose! That thing is almost indestructible. Great for removing stuck motors from other rockets as well! Yours looks fantastic!
Ken

 

[The_Quacken]

Small update flew on a g80 and it took a hard turn into the sun and was lost. No one at the launch even saw an event it’s probably a 1/4 mile over the road. I think it might have been the rail guide as it took a super hard turn right at the top of the launch rod and otherwise flew straight
View attachment IMG_6495.MOV

 

[waltr]

Hate it when they do that..

The Sim file I found indicates a G80 and the rail you used should be perfectly fine.
Stab about 4 cal and 21m/s off rail.

You think maybe a rail button came off?

 

[cerving]

I have a Mongoose 29, similar to the Blackhawk. Those 29mm MD rockets just scream for either a tower or a fly-away rail guide... buttons just don't seem right on a rocket like that. Rail guides CAN do funny things, however... you have to make extra sure that they slide freely on the rail, or your rocket may go off on a tangent like yours did.

 

[kenstarr]

Rats! That's too bad. Mine had rail buttons. They seem so ungainly and grossly oversized compared to the rocket. They have even skipped launching before because they couldn't see it on the rail! Definitely wants a tower.
Ken

 

[GalantVR41062]

I see a rail guide being left behind as the rocket took a hard right. Looks like the turn started only inches into the flight well before it left the rail.

 

[Tractionengines]

Looks like it was a fly away rail guide. But it failed somehow right at ignition. It was turning hard as soon as it started moving.
Once the guide came off it went straight.

@The_Quacken can you confirm it was a fly away rail guide? Any photos of it after the flight (or current status) to see if we can help figure out why it didn't provide guidance? I would not use it again until you gave an idea what went wrong.



[ edit: Sorry @GalantVR41062 to duplicate your post. I started this post, then got on something else, and didn't refresh to get the latest posts when I came back to it. ]

 

[The_Quacken]

I have a Mongoose 29, similar to the Blackhawk. Those 29mm MD rockets just scream for either a tower or a fly-away rail guide... buttons just don't seem right on a rocket like that. Rail guides CAN do funny things, however... you have to make extra sure that they slide freely on the rail, or your rocket may go off on a tangent like yours did.

Yeah if I remember the rail guide seemed to have a mild catch but it seemed to slide well enough at the time.. it clearly didn’t lol

 

[The_Quacken]

Looks like it was a fly away rail guide. But it failed somehow right at ignition. It was turning hard as soon as it started moving.
Once the guide came off it went straight.

@The_Quacken can you confirm it was a fly away rail guide? Any photos of it after the flight (or current status) to see if we can help figure out why it didn't provide guidance? I would not use it again until you gave an idea what went wrong.
View attachment 527493 View attachment 527494


[ edit: Sorry @GalantVR41062 to duplicate your post. I started this post, then got on something else, and didn't refresh to get the latest posts when I came back to it. ]

It was in fact a fly away rail guide it was one of the apogee plywood ones

 

[The_Quacken]

Rats! That's too bad. Mine had rail buttons. They seem so ungainly and grossly oversized compared to the rocket. They have even skipped launching before because they couldn't see it on the rail! Definitely wants a tower.
Ken

Next min dim I get will definitely get a tower. That said this has put me off Minimum diamoter a little bit I need to maybe learn some tracking first lol

 

[GalantVR41062]

No problem Tractionengines, I think it's interesting we had almost the same post without collaborating.

Also the rocket is still out there, either lawn darted way down range to the right or laying somewhere down wind.

If we had: the location of the pad, wind direction/speeds at ground level and altitude, good simulation of this flight profile and recovery gear plan, camera location and direction we could probably give you a search area to go look for it.

 

[Citizen Baslim]

@The Quacken: Once you verify precisely what happened to the fly away rail guide, a short post on the Rookie Mistakes thread may be a good place to help others learn from the incident.
Thank you in advance if you post.

 

[The_Quacken]

@The Quacken: Once you verify precisely what happened to the fly away rail guide, a short post on the Rookie Mistakes thread may be a good place to help others learn from the incident.
Thank you in advance if you post.

both rocket and rail guides are not in my possession so unfortunately, I can only guess but I think its most likely a poorly fitting rail guide (I had to sand it some and it didn't sit around the body tube as nice as It should which allowed the rocket to torque in the rail guide leading to friction and that extreme almost weathercocking effect. IDK if my wild guesses are useful tho as I have 0 data to back any of that up. main rookie mistake is putting a kick in the butt g80 for first flight tbh lol

 

[The_Quacken]

Its been recovered!!!!! it was found buried 6 inches into the ground. recovery gear had totally ripped out the mount from inside the tube and the body came down ballistic. nose cone and parachute were not recovered nor was motor. those tubes are no joke only a minor chip from 2.6k ish feet is really good.
Anyways now that its back im going do this to it and see if itll ever return

 

[The_Quacken]

A slight teaser