First Annual Father's Day Fun Fly

[sandman]

Got to do what I wanted to do on Father's Day...FLY ROCKETS!

Forum Member "Gus" his wife and two girls (mine is all grown up!) came all the way up from the big city to fly with me and my wife at our "local" airport.

The airport is well maintained and surrounded by corn fields. The corn is only about 6" high so it is not a problem...yet!

Absolutely no lost rockets, nothing stuck in a tree. Only one mishap. Everything flew great!

Heck we flew and even found 2 Mosquitos!!!

My Mini-Astron Space Plane...well, that was my mistake...I just grabbed a 13mm motor and didn't realize that it was an A10...not good! It should only be flown on an A3 motor.

I exceeded the speed of balsa on that one! WAY too much thrust!

Gus took all the pictures and he has a 2 hr drive to get home so pics will come later.

Yer gonna love his Barbie Rocket!

3 hours of flying one rocket after another...ya gotta love it!

We can't be finished flying...I got motors left!

You know, it's a funny thing about my Mini Astron Space Plane...you'd think I'd learn...I did the same dumb thing 40 years ago with one...I grabbed an B14 motor...rocket flew...wings didn't

sandman

 

[Gus]

Let me repeat.



Man what a great day! Beautiful weather. Tremendous field. Wonderful hosts. Sandman launched brilliantly produced replicas of both real rockets and historic model rockets, and I launched my kid-pleasin' goofy arsenal. A perfect mix.

And Sandman's being kind when he says his mini-Astron space plane was the only mishap. My BerthaVostok went unstable after 2 prior normal flights. My daughter's Galileo flew fine and then shed 2 fins from an "over-enthusiastic" ejection charge. Her response was the same as Sandman's: "hey, I built it, I can fix it". (Realizing that at 8 years old she understands that, was the best Father's Day gift I got today. )

But most of the day's flights were picture perfect. Unfortunately, I was so busy launching, watching, and learning, that I didn't take nearly enough pics.

Nonetheless, here's Sandman launching his original (NAR-membership-inspiring) LJII.

 

[Gus]

Next up is Sandman's "Cartoon Rocket".

This is NOT an Acme Spitfire. Just a similarly inspired crooked piece of (brilliant) junk that flies straight as an arrow!

 

[Gus]

And finally, my Barbie-Lofter. Takes Barbie to 650' on an Estes E9-4 and drops her out of the exhaust-free payload section on her own parachute.

Nosecone and transition by Sandman.

Nauseating paint-scheme by (colorblind) Gus.

 

[ymj365]

Gus: And finally, my Barbie-Lofter. Takes Barbie to 650' on an Estes E9-4 and drops her out of the exhaust-free payload section on her own parachute.

I've got to show this to my daughters! They'll love it!

Hmmm... I wonder what size motor I'd need to shoot Kellys up there... (they certainly have enough of them... I doubt my girls would even miss one or two).

And maybe the Lil Bratz too...

 

[Gus]

ymj365,

Regular Barbies are 4.9 oz (crucial design consideration). Kelly's are lighter. Bratz are heavier. Beanie Babies come in various sizes, but the bears are right around 4.9 oz too.

Sandman and I also launched this rocket today, which your daughters may like. (The Walmart shampoo aisle has a surprising number of kid's character BT-50 ready nosecones. ) It flew great.

Sandman suffers his embarassing friendship with me graciously. :kill:

 

[firemanup]

Nice flights and report guys....

Barbie must have been a kick.. was it Ken's idea to loft her up..?? heh

 

[ymj365]

Gus: Regular Barbies are 4.9 oz (crucial design consideration). Kelly's are lighter. Bratz are heavier. Beanie Babies come in various sizes, but the bears are right around 4.9 oz too.

Rebecca (11) looked at me like I was crazy when I told her this. Miranda (8) suggested using something else that weighs about the same as a Kelly for a few test flights. (hmmm... that's almost a promise... )

(The Walmart shampoo aisle has a surprising number of kid's character BT-50 ready nosecones. )

They like the Hello Kitty rocket... looking thru the junk toybox, I'm thinking that we may build an Elmo one.