First airstart rocket tips?

[Iamtannorv]

At some point in the future I wanted to build a WAC corporal/tiny tim 2 stage rocket but I figured a good place to start with that would be airstarts before trying to stage anything, but I had a few questions

Does anyone have any good kit suggestions for a good rocket to air"start" with? Looking at the LOC magnum but that seems kinda big and wondering if anyone knew any smaller kits that'd be good
What altimeters are a good choice for this? I know safety is a big thing with airstarts and staging so I need an altimeter with features possibly such as tilt detection etc to make it safe
Finally, how do you wire the ignitor for the airstart motors? Do they just get wired through holes in the centering rings or are the wires just tape down the side of the airframe?
Thanks in advance, and any other comments or help would be appreciated!

 

[David Schwantz]

I like Eggtimer Alts. The Proton will do it all. The Quantum will also but will need two. I ran my wiring down a tube that went through the CRs and on the inside of the airframe. That way there is no fishing it through holes.

 

[Johnly]

If you're going to use the electronics for staging at some time down the road, you really should use something with a gyro to measure the attitude of the flight before the staging event. Personally, I use a TeleMega for staged flights, but there are other alternatives available.

Igniters for air starts and staging are a critical aspect of the flight. I'd buy a BKNO3 kit from John Demar and use an ematch to get things rolling.
The insulation on the leads for the air start motors tend to get melted by the core motors, so protecting them is advised.

 

[JDcluster]

What About a Loc Ultimate 4"x 7 x 29 mm motor mounts? I have an older kit with a similar setup. A THOY Nitehawk. same motor configuration. I also have a Loc Mangum with 7 motor mounts. I use internal conduits to channel the wires through. I have a build thread in this section: https://www.rocketryforum.com/threads/loc-magnum-54-6-29.150621/post-2045578

 

[FredA]

Check out the MARSA products.
The wireless pyro is great.
Combine that with HEI....which you WILL want to do.

 

[roytyson]

Altus Metrum EasyTimer is an easy, compact way to do airstarts. For the kit, I have an Wildman ShapeShifter JR, with the 2 stage upgrade. Made putting it together very easy.

 

[cerving]

The RocketTiltometer3 (rocket-electronics.com) will add robust tilt-inhibit to any airstart device, it's not terribly expensive and you have the advantage of being able to use altimeters/timers that you are already familiar with. It can also record the tilt/roll data on a micro-SD card. The designer, Fran Hermes, has been doing this for a long time... his original design went OOP due to parts obsolescence, he re-engineered it this year.

 

[JDcluster]

Check out the MARSA products.
The wireless pyro is great.
Combine that with HEI....which you WILL want to do.

I have it along with the tilt gyro board. how do you use both from one MARSA?
Did he fix the issues with the tilt board yet?

 

[StreuB1]

A decent cluster rocket is a custom spin on the LOC I-roc. Give them a call and have them do a LOC I-roc, but change the MMT to 38mm central, (6) 29mm radial. Then, add an AV bay and an upper payload section to go dual deploy. Cut in a side hatch in the gap between the 38mm MMT and above the 29mm MMT's for an AV bay for the airstart elecronics. This gives you a relatively large rocket that can hold a LOT of motors but gives you an immense amount of flexibility for clustering. I had LOC kit this modified kit for me back in 2008 and still have it and fly it.

There is also the new big T-Loc from LOC that from what I see can likely be modified to add some 29mm outboards and with that kit, you have an auxiliary AV bay in the SIDE of the booster (copy of what I did to my modified I-roc above).

LOC Ultimate is also a favorite that is near and dear to my heart but its hard to make air starts work due to no easy means of an electronics bay. Its a great ground start cluster rocket though, arguably my favorite. Seven F50's makes for a LOT of noise and a majestic launch while the Thoy Nighthawk "old standard" load of seven G125's is SPECTACULAR!!!!