Follow up to my Elcie G Thread

[Rev Lovejoy]

Thanks for all the help and advice. This is a great site.

I wanted to report some observations from the launch day for the Elcie G's.

I sanded down the fins considerably so that the gliders would come off easily. In my test launch, 2 out of 3 stayed attached to the fins. I also sanded down the nose cone, because I also failed to deploy the recovery system, which I attribute to a tight nose cone fit. I lost a fin in the rapid crash. I had made two boosters, so I had a spare.

Once I made these adjustments, the launches went well. The kids really enjoyed the gliders. I had 43 show up on day one of our day camp, and I only had 40 glider kits. Some shared with siblings, so it worked out.


I did notice that the booster began to show serious wear. With over 12 launches in a short period of time, the tube was beginning to crease. The recovery system deployed successfully every time, but it still came straight down rather quickly. this leads me to my next noob question:

if a rocket kit has a streamer in it, am I crazy for wanting to upgrade to a parachute? Is it simply a cost factor? My son is 2 and a half, and we went to the LDRS 28 on July 4th to be spectators. He loved the launches, but moreso the parachutes. I would pack a parachute in every rocket. I have read the threads here about mylar balloons becoming parachutes and I plan to try that.

With a low-flyer such as the elcie booster I was using, what would be the downside of parachute vs streamer? Is it just the time it takes to pack, and the expense?

 

[kjohnson]

if a rocket kit has a streamer in it, am I crazy for wanting to upgrade to a parachute? Is it simply a cost factor? My son is 2 and a half, and we went to the LDRS 28 on July 4th to be spectators. He loved the launches, but moreso the parachutes. I would pack a parachute in every rocket. I have read the threads here about mylar balloons becoming parachutes and I plan to try that.

Nope not crazy at all. Streamers are relatively cheap to put in kits and it helps keep the cost low. As long as you have the space in the BT, you could swap out the streamer for a chute.

As you get more into the hobby and fly more rockets you will start to get the feel for what modifications you can make to any particular rocket and still have good flights.

kj

 

[sj_h1]

Party crepe' paper makes great streamer and have a fire retardant also applied to them. If you want to go the parachute route, buy one of those mylar emergency blankets. They are cheap and you can get 20-30 small 'cutes out of them.

 

[sj_h1]

Party crepe' paper makes great streamer and have a fire retardant also applied to them. If you want to go the parachute route, buy one of those mylar emergency blankets. They are cheap and you can get 20-30 small 'cutes out of them.