As mentioned in this thread, today was the day set for the Pheord X150 I purchased from Fliskits to show its stuff... It is also the day I decided to go for my NARTrek Bronze.
My friend Rob and I proceeded to our usual launch field, where we set up his new saw-horse launcher - it was very nice not having to kneel down to hook clips to the igniters! First off the pad was his Estes Patriot, which carried a toy soldier paratrooper as a passenger. Flawless flight, and the paratrooper stayed aloft well over 2 minutes. I found myself wondering if I could use the parachuter to to qualify for my bronze PD duration
- it was certainly the best of the day!
The first of my rockets to blast into the wild blue yonder was my Semroc ThunderBee on an A3-4T - I love the altitude this baby gets on an A!
The next flight was that of my Semroc Javelin on an A8-5 - straight boost and nice streamer deploy, but the landing left something to be desired, as the tip of one fin was severely damaged when the model hit the asphalt road
As I was loading my newly-built Quest Big Rage onto the pad, both plastic lugs came off - examination revealed that I had used plastic model cement instead of CA when putting them on the model. Man, the stupid things one does late at night Anyway, a few drops of CA and we were good to go, on a C6-5. The bird achieved a moderate altitude and the payload section chute deployed perfectly. The booster chute came out, but did not deploy - after inspection revealed that I had used too little wadding, resulting in a melted Quest parachute. The rocket suffered no damage.
Here's a shot of my 1st 3 rockets on the pad - from left to right: Javelin, ThunderBee, and the Big Rage:
Rob's Sputnik Too was next, followed by the first of my NARTrek birds - an MRC Enforcer, equipped with a booster. The C6-0, A8-5 combination turned in a beautiful flight. Requirement 1 - done
To fulfill the "launch a D-powered rocket" requirement, I stuffed a D12-5 into my Dynastar/Apogee Rising Star payloader. Another great flight. 2 requirements down.
We then took a break from my NARTrek stuff so we could launch the Pheord. It shot off the pad on a C6-0, flipped over, and descended quite gracefully to the ground, where it gave a bounce as it landed on its antennae. My friend was very impressed, and is bugging me to get the Triple Threat so he can see a 2 stage saucer.
Here's the Pheord at lift-off:
Next up was my attempt at the NARTrek 30 second streamer duration requirement. I figured this would be easy, as I still had a few competition birds I built for NARAM-30 long ago, and surely they could do the job. Well...
My first attempt using a BT-5 minimum diameter bird with an A3-4T failed dismally, as the streamer was way too big and jammed in the small body tube. The flight ended with an inglorious core sample of the cotton field.
I next tried a BT-20 rocket, with thin plastic fins. It shot off the pad on a B6-6, and turned in an OK 46 second duration. BTW, all my duration flights made use of CMR pop launch lugs to get as much altitude as possible. 3rd requirement done.
I decided to go with what works for the parachute duration requirement, and stuffed an A8-5 into the same rocket - with an 8" diameter Estes chute. The wind had picked up to about 10 mph by now, and I was concerned about losing the rocket in the trees to the east. The chute caught on a fin, and this attempt ended with a very poor time of 48 seconds.
I then loaded a B6-6, kept the same chute, and canted the rod a bit into the wind, sacrificing altitude for improved recovery chances. I also reefed the chute a bit, which turned out to be quite unnecessary, as the rocket turned in a 68 second flight and landed about 50 yards from the pads. Requirement 4 - done. Time to submit paperwork and go for Silver.
Rob brought today's launch to an end with his Estes Athena on a C6-7 (The distance we had to walk to retrieve this bird was sufficient to convince us that it was time to quit ).
A good day - somewhat humbling, but good. Boy, do I wish I achieved a duration equal to that of the toy paratrooper, as my friend now considers himself the PD Duration champ.
My only retort was "Let's see if that paratrooper can repeat his time with a burned-out engine casing shoved up his a**" :kill:
My friend Rob and I proceeded to our usual launch field, where we set up his new saw-horse launcher - it was very nice not having to kneel down to hook clips to the igniters! First off the pad was his Estes Patriot, which carried a toy soldier paratrooper as a passenger. Flawless flight, and the paratrooper stayed aloft well over 2 minutes. I found myself wondering if I could use the parachuter to to qualify for my bronze PD duration
- it was certainly the best of the day!The first of my rockets to blast into the wild blue yonder was my Semroc ThunderBee on an A3-4T - I love the altitude this baby gets on an A!
The next flight was that of my Semroc Javelin on an A8-5 - straight boost and nice streamer deploy, but the landing left something to be desired, as the tip of one fin was severely damaged when the model hit the asphalt road
As I was loading my newly-built Quest Big Rage onto the pad, both plastic lugs came off - examination revealed that I had used plastic model cement instead of CA when putting them on the model. Man, the stupid things one does late at night
Anyway, a few drops of CA and we were good to go, on a C6-5. The bird achieved a moderate altitude and the payload section chute deployed perfectly. The booster chute came out, but did not deploy - after inspection revealed that I had used too little wadding, resulting in a melted Quest parachute. The rocket suffered no damage.Here's a shot of my 1st 3 rockets on the pad - from left to right: Javelin, ThunderBee, and the Big Rage:
Rob's Sputnik Too was next, followed by the first of my NARTrek birds - an MRC Enforcer, equipped with a booster. The C6-0, A8-5 combination turned in a beautiful flight. Requirement 1 - done
To fulfill the "launch a D-powered rocket" requirement, I stuffed a D12-5 into my Dynastar/Apogee Rising Star payloader. Another great flight. 2 requirements down.
We then took a break from my NARTrek stuff so we could launch the Pheord. It shot off the pad on a C6-0, flipped over, and descended quite gracefully to the ground, where it gave a bounce as it landed on its antennae. My friend was very impressed, and is bugging me to get the Triple Threat so he can see a 2 stage saucer.
Here's the Pheord at lift-off:
Next up was my attempt at the NARTrek 30 second streamer duration requirement. I figured this would be easy, as I still had a few competition birds I built for NARAM-30 long ago, and surely they could do the job. Well...
My first attempt using a BT-5 minimum diameter bird with an A3-4T failed dismally, as the streamer was way too big and jammed in the small body tube. The flight ended with an inglorious core sample of the cotton field.
I next tried a BT-20 rocket, with thin plastic fins. It shot off the pad on a B6-6, and turned in an OK 46 second duration. BTW, all my duration flights made use of CMR pop launch lugs to get as much altitude as possible. 3rd requirement done.
I decided to go with what works for the parachute duration requirement, and stuffed an A8-5 into the same rocket - with an 8" diameter Estes chute. The wind had picked up to about 10 mph by now, and I was concerned about losing the rocket in the trees to the east. The chute caught on a fin, and this attempt ended with a very poor time of 48 seconds.
I then loaded a B6-6, kept the same chute, and canted the rod a bit into the wind, sacrificing altitude for improved recovery chances. I also reefed the chute a bit, which turned out to be quite unnecessary, as the rocket turned in a 68 second flight and landed about 50 yards from the pads. Requirement 4 - done. Time to submit paperwork and go for Silver.
Rob brought today's launch to an end with his Estes Athena on a C6-7 (The distance we had to walk to retrieve this bird was sufficient to convince us that it was time to quit
).A good day - somewhat humbling, but good. Boy, do I wish I achieved a duration equal to that of the toy paratrooper, as my friend now considers himself the PD Duration champ.
My only retort was "Let's see if that paratrooper can repeat his time with a burned-out engine casing shoved up his a**" :kill:
