Delta III to fly at AirFest

The Rocketry Forum

Help Support The Rocketry Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
I'm likin' any team willing to try a Delta........best O' luck Kev

Chuck
 
Originally posted by Chuck Rudy
I'm likin' any team willing to try a Delta........best O' luck Kev

Thanks, Chuck.

The real fun was that one day while working on it, it dawned on me...

This rocket will have more propellant in it than about half of us have ever burned. Combined....

Total motor weight is 163 POUNDS, of which about 40% is propellant...

-Kevin
 
Originally posted by troj
If you want to see what we're up to, head to https://www.insaneprojects.com

The site is getting periodic updates as time ticks down.

-Kevin

Geez, did you have to put the pic of Tom's bare arse on there? I was looking for a rusty spoon to gouge my eyes out with after I saw that! I think I'm going to be scarred for life! :eek:

Seriously, it's a cool project, and I wish you guys the best with it!
 
Try a fork Joe it works better.... heh

Project information looks great Kevin..... it's doubtful but i'm not giving up hope yet on being able to come down and see it go up. we'll see...

Nice job on the site too
 
best of luck on the project, can't wait to see launch pics:)
thats a heck of alot of propellent
 
Originally posted by firemanup
Try a fork Joe it works better.... heh

Project information looks great Kevin..... it's doubtful but i'm not giving up hope yet on being able to come down and see it go up. we'll see...

Nice job on the site too

Keep an eye on the electronics page; should have some really cool tidbits to add there, soon, once I get confirmation on what's coming....

-Kevin
 
Mega-sweet!!!! Sure wish I could be there to see it fly!

BTW, how do you plan to separate the boosters?
 
Originally posted by Ray Dunakin
BTW, how do you plan to separate the boosters?

VERY carefully...

Sorry, that just had to be said...

We're doing some tweaking at the moment, but once we've got it all nailed down details will be made available. Including whether or not they actually work....

-Kevin
 
Aw MAN, we're going down that way-a week before the launch. Parents don't want to drive 200 miles down there, then 200 back, then 200 there, then 200 back twice in a week. Maybe I can do some convincing. Project looks awesome!
 
Originally posted by Blue_Ninja_150
Aw MAN, we're going down that way-a week before the launch. Parents don't want to drive 200 miles down there, then 200 back, then 200 there, then 200 back twice in a week. Maybe I can do some convincing. Project looks awesome!

So tell 'em to just stay down there.... 8-}

Just to be fair, if it's at all windy on Monday, we won't fly. This is not a wind-friendly project. I'd rather scrub and fly another day than risk too much wind.

-Kevin
 
you should get in contact with Steve Mashburn.He lead the Delta 2 project.They had some serious boosters and everything went great. His site is www.wsrocktery.com. Maybe he can lend ya some advice.
 
Originally posted by Badboy1982
you should get in contact with Steve Mashburn.He lead the Delta 2 project.They had some serious boosters and everything went great. His site is www.wsrocktery.com. Maybe he can lend ya some advice.

Thanks; we have indeed checked out any site we can find with info on boosters.

The biggest issue we run into is size differences.

When it's all done and we publish the specifics, you'll see we've incorporated ideas from a number of sources while doing some other things our own way.

-Kevin
 
Originally posted by troj
For anyone who's interested, the site has recently been updated. We're getting closer every day; a little over two weeks until it's scheduled to fly!

https://www.insaneprojects.com


I especially like the part about lowering the cure oven around the lower main body tube.

I wasn't planning to come to AirFest, but if it does not start cooling off in these parts, I am going to be looking for any excuse to get out of town again...


Bill
 
I'll let the team leader post details, but here are some pictures
 
Last one for now, these were taken from video and the time on there is wrong, it was more like 12:30 or 1:00
 
As Andrew indicated, we did indeed get the beast off the pad.

Unfortunately, the flight wasn't optimal, but it wasn't a complete disaster either...

On liftoff, the rocket started to come up reasonably straight, then arced to the northwest (wind was out of the southwest). The boosters popped off beautifully and every one recovered under a parachute. The explosive bolts did their thing and we got both mains plus the nosecone parachute out.

Unfortunately, the booster section stripped its chute, so it came in ballistic and is a total loss. The boosters have a few dings but are in good shape. The upper main has some serious road rash from getting dragged over the ground by the main.

Post-mortem shows that the central P motor was tardy coming up to pressure and didn't provide us any thrust until we were at, or just past, the end of the rails, which allows the rocket to tip over a bit.

As the P tailed off on thrust, the rocket started to dip down, so the altimeters did their thing and popped the mains. The pilot chute for the lower main pulled the recovery harness back into the still-burning motor, compromising its integrity, which is why we stripped the chute. The parachute itself is in perfect condition, and other than some Kansas dust, looks like it has never been used.

We'll have more flight photos and video available in time...

-Kevin
 
Originally posted by Rich Pitzeruse
Where is the video those stills were grabbed from? We wanna see!

Patience, oh ye of the sig longer than the content....

We're working on collecting all the video, so that we can make some available. Likewise on the photos.

I already have 4GB of photos to dig through, and I'm betting there's another 2 or 3 GB that I haven't gotten my hands on yet.

-Kevin
 
Originally posted by troj
As the P tailed off on thrust, the rocket started to dip down, so the altimeters did their thing and popped the mains. The pilot chute for the lower main pulled the recovery harness back into the still-burning motor, compromising its integrity, which is why we stripped the chute. The parachute itself is in perfect condition, and other than some Kansas dust, looks like it has never been used.

We'll have more flight photos and video available in time...

-Kevin

From the video we have, the P motor ignited between 1.56 and 1.6 seconds after the Ls ignited. This, along with wind, and less than optimal stability probably caused the arching.

As a side note, the upper section was dragged more than 1.5 miles before we could get to it to colapse the parachute

The picture is of 3 of the booster parachutes open, the main on the upper and the colapsed main for the lower section
 
The rocket fully assembled and on the pad for the first time
 
Originally posted by Ray Dunakin
Man, that's a beautiful rocket. What a shame it got messed up.

Nothing but mere flesh wounds...

There is serious discussion of fixing it to fly again at LDRS in Amarillo.

-Kevin
 
Back
Top