build something you know won't come back

[spacecowboy]

I'm wondering
does anybody build something you know won't come back ????

I got a wild hair, tubing from my bride's school, and started work with leftover fin material, thinking an E9 is putting this joker into orbit.

And then I see I have completely nailed straight fins without an alignment tool, and then I think I ought to build c-rings for 18mm, and then my brain starts spinning, and I decide sending a basically free rocket out there on an E9.

You watch. . . .it is going to come back down 10 ft from the pad. And I do have to rub some salt into the wounds, friend tried to shred, on purpose, Estes HiFLier on D21. Cracked the fins, bent the tube, and the joker was one of the prettiest flights I have even seen (of course, roc gone)

 

[Balsa Bob]

The last time I lawn darted I patched it back together and ended up with an airworthy rocket, albeit one that looked like crap since it went through the ringer. I knew it would fly, and I wanted to put an "E" in it, stuff it with an oversize parachute, launch it from the field at the end of my street, and watch it float several neighborhoods away... but I chickened out.

 

[spacecowboy]

Balsa bob
my first REAL kit bash was putting a 24mm engine tube in a FatBoy. This roc screams like crazy even on b6, c6.

stick an e9-6 in one. WOW. It was very windy that day, the 17" chute didn't help a lot. at least a 1/2 mile walk. I did recover it, and it has made c11, d12 flights in my local park, and what a bird, even on chute with no wind, lands close by.
I stuck a Express up on D12, D12. I watched the cone go floating to the next state, Driving out of the field, my bride spots the booster and then later, the sustainer. I had WANTED to go into orbit with this one.

The other flight, not really trying to lose it, an Eliminator on an E9 at a 1mile X 1mile park in Amarillo, bride's hometown.

That flight rated, it actually sort of scared me, it ended up in somebody's back yard. I went on a long trek, LONG, and later that day, my bride says that brother said, should we go looking for him ?
That is rox.

 

[Balsa Bob]

The worst thing to have happen is for the cone/parachute to separate from the sustainer. Sure, the body drops a short distance from the pad, but the cone just drifts, and drifts, and drifts...!

 

[spacecowboy]

Balsa Bob
good friendship ahead, I appreciate your responses,

My first L1 cert attempt Nuke Pro Maxx, wrong color paint, a small dia bird, and H153. SIM said 3500 ft. I could see it, but I never found it.

A year or two ago, the guy that got me started in this gig at 40+ year old, and we are I AM NOT KIDDING, watching that chute and CC express cone for at least 10 minutes

I am very proud to have bought manufactured parts, cut my own fins, and designed my SUCCESSFUL L1 bird.

Labor day w/e is going to be a very good memory. At least 6 birds that basically cost nothing but fin material.

 

[Balsa Bob]

Yoiks...! An H-153 in a 12 ounce rocket, you say... that would make for one heck of a thrust-to-weight ratio, dontcha think...?

 

[CTimm]

I've been flying a BT-55 Nike-X clone for years on an E9 from fairly small fields and haven't been able to lose it yet!!!!
It goes almost out of sight, and the ripstop-nylon streamer helps with sighting and recovery issues.
Its primered white, has sharpie-markered black roll-patterns, and the thrust ring has been blown away from an E15 cato from a few years back. Several fin-root cracks and re-glueing give minor oscillation when it picks up speed 2/3rds of the way up.
I've flown it at the last 3 odd-numbered narams too.
Some models just refuse to become lost.
One of these days I'll build the Thrustline(tm) version to replace it.

 

[xenon]

I flew a Streched Quest Nike-Smoke a year or so ago on a G40 (or G35, I don't remember). Got it back when someone found it the next day. A few months later, replaced the tube (it had been crunched) and flew it on a H275. Shredded just before burnout. Got most of it back half way intact (few fins missing from landing, tube zippered) not bad for and Estes BT-55 going 900mph!

 

[BobH48]

Originally posted by spacecowboy
I'm wondering
does anybody build something you know won't come back ????

I built a two stage Midnight Express and launched on a C6-0, C6-7 combo and it took me two tries before it didn't come back!

 

[mike_bar]

Originally posted by spacecowboy
I'm wondering
does anybody build something you know won't come back ???? [Snip]...

I am just finishing a 24mm Paper Tiger. All scratch build for speed and low mass. It will fly on an E9-8.

 

[Nuke Rocketeer]

Back in the 80's I built a modified Estes ApacheII 2 stager to take the AT E6-0/E6-8. Staging worked perfectly and I never saw either the booster or the upper stage again. Even on a mylar streamer, it just kept floating away. I gave up after 10 miles.

:kill:

 

[hokkyokusei]

Originally posted by Mike_BAR
I am just finishing a 24mm Paper Tiger. All scratch build for speed and low mass. It will fly on an E9-8.

I think the required nose weight might bring the mass up on that one!

 

[jflis]

Originally posted by spacecowboy
I'm wondering
does anybody build something you know won't come back ????

Virtually every multi-stage rocket i've ever built... LOL (I have a very nice collection of misc boosters...)

Most impressive I ever did was a minimum diameter FSI F-100 bird that we flew just befor opening the range at a NEMROC years ago (wanted to test the winds and didn't care if we got the rocket back.

3, 2, 1, ignition!

WHHoooommmm! like warp drive, outta sight, never to be seen again. NO idea how high she went. so we went back to setting up the range. Seemed like 5 minutes later we hear this fluttering and look up. Darned thing landed within the circle of launch pads...

go figure!

 

[Balsa Bob]

Upon re-reading the original question, it would seem the obvious answer is "Any Estes Mosquito".

 

[Nuke Rocketeer]

Originally posted by jflis
Virtually every multi-stage rocket i've ever built... LOL (I have a very nice collection of misc boosters...)

Most impressive I ever did was a minimum diameter FSI F-100 bird that we flew just befor opening the range at a NEMROC years ago (wanted to test the winds and didn't care if we got the rocket back.

3, 2, 1, ignition!

WHHoooommmm! like warp drive, outta sight, never to be seen again. NO idea how high she went. so we went back to setting up the range. Seemed like 5 minutes later we hear this fluttering and look up. Darned thing landed within the circle of launch pads...

go figure!

Time to build a big set of three stage models to make use of those slightly used boosters Jim. Too bad you did not put a F7 on top of that one and then you wold have never seen it again. I did that once. min dia. F100 to F7. I did get the F100 booster unit back and still have it, waiting for someone to come out with a BP booster engine again, or maybe I'll burn my last F100-0 and put an E60-8 on top of it for the next July 4th.

Joe W

:kill:

 

[SecretSquirrel]

I thought I did. I put an Apogee E-6 in a Gremlin. Rocksimed to over 3200 feet, not bad for a 15" long rocket.

When it launched I lost sight of it long before it stopped boosting and I figured it was gone forever. About a minute and a half later somebody yelled "there it is!" Then I could see the long streamers, but just barely. Came down less than 100 yards from the pad.

I'm gonna have to try that again before the motor is de-certed.

 

[WiK]

Yeah, I built an Estes Comanche 3, as if it wasn't gonna come back. Did a fairly terrible paintjob. Then to maximize the chances of losing it, launched it in a drag race with Hokky and Cyder's Commanches. And I managed, with the help of Mike, to get the sustainer and first booster back!

Phil

 

[hokkyokusei]

I hate the idea of building something that I know I'm not going to get back!

 

[Rocketjunkie]

I've built several 4 stage rack rockets, all powered by D12-0, D12-0, D12-0, E9-6. They were planned as 'fire and forget' but I did get the first one back - not the second time Details are in this thread: https://www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=14063

I also have an Ellis I69 with fins glued on it but haven't flown it yet.

 

[Loon]

Balsa Bob is right
The misquito is designed to be lost