What kinds of things make a difference for the long-term survival of a rocket?
I'm realizing that although I built a lot of rockets when I was younger, I didn't fly all that often so I probably never had a single rocket that flew more than a dozen or so times. Now that I'm Born Again, I'm building more rockets but I haven't flown any of them many times yet either.
So I'm asking for people's experiences with how rockets age as they fly many times.
What kinds of things do you see wear out or go wrong over time?
What kinds of design and build techniques make a difference in how well a rocket survives into its old age?
I'm mostly interested in low power, classic cardboard, balsa and black powder; I imagine the high power world has some differences...
I'm realizing that although I built a lot of rockets when I was younger, I didn't fly all that often so I probably never had a single rocket that flew more than a dozen or so times. Now that I'm Born Again, I'm building more rockets but I haven't flown any of them many times yet either.
So I'm asking for people's experiences with how rockets age as they fly many times.
What kinds of things do you see wear out or go wrong over time?
What kinds of design and build techniques make a difference in how well a rocket survives into its old age?
I'm mostly interested in low power, classic cardboard, balsa and black powder; I imagine the high power world has some differences...