smapdiage9
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Mar 14, 2009
- Messages
- 442
- Reaction score
- 3
Adventurous flying today! This month I tried to maximize my flying fun by doing as much rocket prep at home during the week as I could, which included building the L910 ahead of time. I don't have Pro75 hardware (aside from the closure/nozzle carrier) and planned to use it in the Gorilla 75/3500 snap ring case I bought from Gary who makes Gorilla's cases. I doubt if the ones he sells here on the forums qualify as commercial cases, but my local launches are all research launches so it wouldn't matter anyways, and since AMW/Gorilla are case cross-compatible and I've got a hubcap adapter there is no functional issue with firing a Pro75 2 grain reload (with spacer) in the 3500 case.
Anyhoo, this effort was defeated Thursday when I realized that the snap ring pliers I have are not manly enough to handle the giant snap rings in a 75mm motor. So this morning before the launch I rushed over to Ace, bought some bigger ones, and got back to loading. Unnnfortunately my ring slipped off the pliers inside the tube and got cocked sideways. Removing it was extremely difficult and ended up gouging the inside of the case; the raised metal didn't look like something I wanted to rub o-rings over without cleaning up, but I said "eff it" and decided to just leave and see if I could borrow a CTI case at the launch. Luckily Tom's Rockets had a Pro75 3G case to lend me, so I finished building it up and sent the rocket on its way.
Beautiful flight to 8600'! I was scatterbrained and forgot to attach my video camera but here are the stills:
This was my first 75mm motor and first L. I was surprised at how much fire spat out of the motor from the igniter, followed by a pause of no fire or smoke, followed by ROAAAR. Igniter:
Then there was nothing, and a second later this:
C-star is a pretty awesome propellant:
Tight crop from just after apogee, it was clear enough to see from 8000 feet below:
One unexpected benefit of the stickershock wrap is just how glossy the rocket is, it glints brightly on the descent and really aids with finding it in the sky after apogee.
Did my best to hit the trees, but it landed in the clearing just behind:
That complicated medusa of eggtimer products and chinese lipos worked out well, but I really need to clean up the wiring. This thing is going to get a new electronics arrangement before the next flight.
Anyhoo, this effort was defeated Thursday when I realized that the snap ring pliers I have are not manly enough to handle the giant snap rings in a 75mm motor. So this morning before the launch I rushed over to Ace, bought some bigger ones, and got back to loading. Unnnfortunately my ring slipped off the pliers inside the tube and got cocked sideways. Removing it was extremely difficult and ended up gouging the inside of the case; the raised metal didn't look like something I wanted to rub o-rings over without cleaning up, but I said "eff it" and decided to just leave and see if I could borrow a CTI case at the launch. Luckily Tom's Rockets had a Pro75 3G case to lend me, so I finished building it up and sent the rocket on its way.
Beautiful flight to 8600'! I was scatterbrained and forgot to attach my video camera but here are the stills:
This was my first 75mm motor and first L. I was surprised at how much fire spat out of the motor from the igniter, followed by a pause of no fire or smoke, followed by ROAAAR. Igniter:
Then there was nothing, and a second later this:
C-star is a pretty awesome propellant:
Tight crop from just after apogee, it was clear enough to see from 8000 feet below:
One unexpected benefit of the stickershock wrap is just how glossy the rocket is, it glints brightly on the descent and really aids with finding it in the sky after apogee.
Did my best to hit the trees, but it landed in the clearing just behind:
That complicated medusa of eggtimer products and chinese lipos worked out well, but I really need to clean up the wiring. This thing is going to get a new electronics arrangement before the next flight.
