cc express d to e

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kzimmerman

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Was wondering if anybody had tried this. I'm a little concerned that the d-e combo will not have enough speed to remain in a straight line up during that slight pause between booster burnout and sustainer lighting. My son built one, he likes stuffing a ridiculous amount of newtons into small rockets......
 
I've seen a number of them go on D to D and they all did well. Don't see why an E on top wouldn't work.
 
I've done it and can assure you that it will go straight up in calm to low wind conditions without adding additional nose weight. Flew mine several times on a D12-0 to an E9-8 and it went well out of sight. Light winds, clear skies and several sets of good eyes are essential to recovery, as is a large recovery area.
 
The D12-0 is my favorite booster motor. Lots of kick. Staged rockets are more sensitive to wind so yup, calm winds are a plus.
 
Okay, thanks! I saw an e to e build on here, came up on my suggested threads after I posted my original post. My concern had to do with weathercocking upon staging, I built a minimum diameter a10 to a3 a while back, and that is just what it did. Not enough speed at staging, and it staged towards the horizon, right over the crowds head. Not wanting to repeat that with a e engine with a much longer burn, I thought I would ask.
BTW, going to do another 13mm two stage minimum diameter soon, plus an 18. I've designed a 24, but the sims don't look promising for recovery.......
I'll try to post a build thread.
 
Yes, I think E12s have a better reputation. That's what I'll be going with if I'm going to use a BP E motor.
 
Yes, the E9's have a bad reputation for c***'s, but they were the only 24 mm, E black powder engines that were available when I built my CC Express. I guess I've been lucky as I have not had a c**o with an E9 and I really like the long burn after staging. IIRC, Estes claims the CC Express, D12 to D12 is good for almost 1,800 feet of altitude when built "stock".
 
CC Express is BT-55 (IIRC).

I built a large number of two stagers from 3 foot BT-55 for the sustainer and a booster sized for E9 or E12.

I flew them dozens of times with D12-0 and E12-0 boosters and E12-6, E12-8 and E9-6 and E9-8 upper stage motors. They all flew perfectly straight up (thanks to long and stable and lightweight design) and staged perfectly and the upper stage went "stupidly high".

I had built them to burn up all the E12 motors that I had from the "suspect" production date codes. Naturally, since I was burning up a couple of hundred $$$ in motors, none of them failed.
 
I feel the need for a .ork coming on.

Can I get someone to scan the fins and decals with a ruler for me? As high a DPI as you can get, and .png format for the images work best for me.

Thanks!
Jim
 
... I'm a little concerned that the d-e combo will not have enough speed to remain in a straight line up during that slight pause between booster burnout and sustainer lighting...

There is no pause between booster and sustainer with black powder motors. Here is an onboard video I did years ago. This is a CC Express D12-0 to D12-7.

[video=youtube;9l1NcjOUHVU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9l1NcjOUHVU[/video]
 
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There is, I've noticed it more on smaller motors. The 24's seem to stage rather quickly, the 18s a little slower and the 13's even more so. I thought you were there that day I launched that little 2 stager mentioned above? Like 2 years ago maybe at the sod farm.
 
I feel the need for a .ork coming on.

Can I get someone to scan the fins and decals with a ruler for me? As high a DPI as you can get, and .png format for the images work best for me.

Thanks!
Jim

I'll break out my wife's kit when I get home and start scanning for you lol.
 
Ever get the feeling that we own too many kits and not enough built rockets?
 
Ever get the feeling that we own too many kits and not enough built rockets?

welp, after seeing this thread, the mailman musta knew i was thinkin about the cc express as it showed up at my door today!
and he didint seem to care if i have a few unbuilt and under construction.
its his fault!!!:kill:
 
Ever get the feeling that we own too many kits and not enough built rockets?

There is no such thing as too many kits or built rockets. Right now I'd just settle for one that I could build complete.
 
I haven't forgotten. I just had some surprise crap get in the way.
 
There is a rocsim file, but I havn't really checked it's accuracy. I never put the decals on mine, If I can put my hands on them, I'll scan 'em! Also fin templates, I'm in the habit of keeping the balsa fin scraps in case I decide to do a clone, rebuild or repair. In between houses at the moment, they may be packed up somewhere at my Moms........
 
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