estes alpha

[GDel]

its great. easy to build fun to shoot off. goes straight. little more height would be good though.

 

[JOEROCKET]

try it on a C6-5 it will go waaaay up there

 

[GDel]

i used a c 6-7

 

[Rob Fisher]

Originally posted by GDel
its great. easy to build fun to shoot off. goes straight. little more height would be good though.

-Not high enuff on a C6-7.................WOW!

 

[wyldbil]

Dude, you must have access to an AWFULLY big field! If so, I am jealous!

 

[cjl]

2 words:
Estes Sizzler
That thing darn near dissapears on a B, throw in a C, and be prepared to go to the store for a new one. So far, I'm 0 for 2 on recovery of a sizzler on a C motor.

 

[rocketman-song]

nice on the sizzler. my alpha goes about 1000 i can recover it easily every time. i go to a highschool to launch. its huge. the field is about 300yds by 500. no trees. just an estimate.

 

[Countdown Hobbies]

wait you got it back on a C?

 

[rocketkyle]

if you're stupid like me, you leave the MMT out of it and fly it on E9-8's.

 

[JBeau]

Originally posted by rocketkyle
if you're stupid like me, you leave the MMT out of it and fly it on E9-8's.

Sheesh, leave out the parachute and put a streamer in it, and MAYBE... no sense of responsibility, won't you feel AWFUL when you find out some baby bird choked on a rocket you breezed away?

Hehe

 

[rocketkyle]

Well, I got it back
O yea, I don't use Estes parachutes anyway. Of course I used a streamer...

 

[UncMikesRktShk]

Originally posted by rocketkyle
if you're stupid like me, you leave the MMT out of it and fly it on E9-8's.

No different than mine which flys on a D12-7, Have yet to lose it but we do fly on a large farm. Will have to try it on an E however

 

[rocketkyle]

It seems to spin on the way up. All of my "overpowered" rockets seem to do this. I don't know why. I know for a fact that my fins are on strait. It does provide for an awesome smoke trail on the way up, though.

 

[UncMikesRktShk]

Originally posted by rocketkyle
It seems to spin on the way up. All of my "overpowered" rockets seem to do this. I don't know why. I know for a fact that my fins are on strait. It does provide for an awesome smoke trail on the way up, though.

Funny you say that my alpha does the same thing it corkscrews like crazy, even though the fins are on perfectly.

 

[Rob Fisher]

-My D powered Baby Bertha does the spinning thing too! Must definitely be a property of too much power.

 

[Pyro Pro]

The Alpha and Baby Bertha/Big Bertha both have long, swept back fins. On the higher thrust motors, they tend to flutter.

I don't know if this is as much of a problem with model rockets as much as it is high-powered, but it's just what I'm thinking.

 

[rocketkyle]

I think it has something else going on. I flew a minimum diameter rocket with a swept delta fincan on an Ellis Mountain F20-10 and it left sideways and started spinning.

 

[AlexM]

It is called coning. It is explained in detail a couple posts down in this thread [Click Link]

 

[rocketkyle]

thanks.

 

[Tedman]

Originally posted by cjl
2 words:
Estes Sizzler
That thing darn near dissapears on a B, throw in a C, and be prepared to go to the store for a new one. So far, I'm 0 for 2 on recovery of a sizzler on a C motor.

ive recovered my sizzeler everytime on c's but have lost the nose cone 2 times but if you turn it into lawndart recovery you never lost the nosecone or the rocket

 

[robfire820]

Originally posted by rocketkyle
if you're stupid like me, you leave the MMT out of it and fly it on E9-8's.

Just an E9? I built one about 5 years ago stertched it by 2" and flew and recovered on a G55, via a streamer.

 

[rocketkyle]

today i put an Ellis F20 in one, but it didn't ignite. Tried three times. That's two of those motors that don't like my ignitors or crapperheads. I won't be buying anymore of those motors. I wish I could still get a G55.

-Kyle.

 

[Steward]

Certainly one of my better birds...

I can always count on her for a great flight...!!!

 

[DanLW]

At one time I held a Level 1 Cert. Then I got out of the hobby for aobut 5 years. Now that I'm coming back in, I decided to start over with the Alpha and work my way back up to Level 1. Hopefully this time I'll make it all the way to level 3 in several more years.

As for me, the Alpha flew unexpectedly high on an A! A B flight was nice. But the field wasn't big enough for me to dare flying a C. I almost lost it to power lines on a B... it literally came down between two lines and landed two feet from the pole!

So far, 5 flights and counting.

 

[Fishhead]

Originally posted by DanLW

At one time I held a Level 1 Cert. Then I got out of the hobby for aobut 5 years. Now that I'm coming back in, I decided to start over with the Alpha and work my way back up to Level 1. Hopefully this time I'll make it all the way to level 3 in several more years.

As for me, the Alpha flew unexpectedly high on an A! A B flight was nice. But the field wasn't big enough for me to dare flying a C. I almost lost it to power lines on a B... it literally came down between two lines and landed two feet from the pole!

So far, 5 flights and counting.

Welcome back. I love the Alpha artwork.

 

[cjl]

yes, definitely welcome back, and great pics.

 

[dlrflyer]

Yes, very cool artwork. I can't help but laugh, F's and G's in an Alpha, I haven't got the guts to even use a C in mine.

 

[the unknowen]

putting a g in an alpha is just a motor with fins on it
when you think about it

 

[cjl]

yep, and basically what I am going to do soon. I have a sacrifice to the rocket gods that is a scratch built minimum diameter 24mm rocket. I'll be flying it on an Aerotech F101-15 that I have, just fins and a motor. Should be fun (and I'll try to catch a pic or vid if I can)
On a side note - what software did you use for that pic collage? Looks very nice.

 

[DanLW]

Originally posted by cjl
yep, and basically what I am going to do soon. I have a sacrifice to the rocket gods that is a scratch built minimum diameter 24mm rocket. I'll be flying it on an Aerotech F101-15 that I have, just fins and a motor. Should be fun (and I'll try to catch a pic or vid if I can)
On a side note - what software did you use for that pic collage? Looks very nice.

Be sure to check that in RockSim to see if it will actually be stable...

Speaking of a motor with fins, well, I had a Delta Clipper once. Two failed launches. The first one taught me that you can't stage a composite motor (E-30) from a black powder motor. Somehow the upper stage survived, though. The second time for some reason the chute didn't deploy. Well, I got a nice core sample of the Black Rock Desert.

Anyway, after that I had a perfectly good first stage that held a D engine. I also had a perfectly good nosecone. Now, this was before I knew about rocket stability. Well, here's the video. The camera is stationary, but the audio says it all.

Motor with fins and a nosecone...

As for the photo edit, I just used PhotoShopLE. I just made three layers from the three separate pictures, and used the soft eraser tool to get rid of the edges and expose the portions of the pictures I wanted to show.