AlexK
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Feb 16, 2013
- Messages
- 230
- Reaction score
- 1
Greetings, all!
Just writing this to say 'hi' and 'watch out for someone asking sillier questions than have ever been asked before.'
I'm just getting back into the hobby - I haven't flown anything in almost ten years, mostly due to school, although I did manage to snag an NAR L1 cert back in '03. (THOY Falcon, AT H180 - beautiful flight!). My only other HPR project is a DG&A Armageddon (in case it wasn't obvious I did my rocket building a few years ago), which I glassed partly as a way to learn the technique and partly so I could cram as big a motor as I dared in there. I used to be active on the old Rocketry Online forums, up until 2004 or so, and I'm amazed at how far the hobby has gone. I still think of motors in terms of "LEUP or non-LEUP!" Along the way I snagged a propulsion degree - working on Electric Propulsion. Nowadays I work on experiments that fly on the space station. I'm various levels of fanboy for manned spaceflight, especially the launch vehicles, and ESPECIALLY the Saturn V.
Since I 'just' have an L1 I'm planning to start out small for now - fly a few more H- and I- class birds, play with electronics, maybe build an 'odd' configuration or two (I'd love to do parallel staging with strap-on separation), then move up into L2, L3 and EX. Eventually I want to be making candy, then move into other propellants... possibly even liquids (infrastructure allowing).
I've been reading the forums a fair bit, given all the changes - one of my first 'new' purchases will be a set of 38mm cases, and I'm trying to decide AT or CTI (leaning AT - I like lower cost-per-load, and I *really* like White Lightning). Whether the club has a vendor with a specific set will naturally be a big deal, though. I have a few questions/clarifications which I want to post here - and avoid a bazillion threads everywhere else. So without further ado:
1: What happened to Animal Motor Works? People are talking like the motors are scarce, and I'm not finding mention in vendor/manufacturer lists.
2: It's nice to see Estes is in the MPR business again. When did they start licensing Aerotech's E, F, and G motors?
3: In my search for a set of casings, I focused on AT and CTI (and their compatible third-party vendors). Loki research didn't exist when I last flew, so they're very new to me, and I'd like to know a bit more (that I didn't find perusing the 'propulsion' forum). I'm given to understand Loki motors have reusable graphite nozzles. What is the effective lifetime on the nozzles, given commercial loads? Loki cases seem to be a lot more 'mix and match' which is really speaking to my inner experimentalist - obviously anything I buy would be flown with commercial loads, but for long-term planning purposes, how are the Loki cases for EX loads?
4: Do hybrids fly much any more, or have they fallen by the wayside now that we don't need a LEUP for our APCP fix?
That's all for now - I'm sure I'll ask lots more questions as appropriate (or inappropriate!) in the coming weeks. Hopefully there are a couple members of Tri-City Skybusters or Tripoli Northern Ohio around - I'd love to be able to talk to some locals ahead of the next club meetings!
Just writing this to say 'hi' and 'watch out for someone asking sillier questions than have ever been asked before.'
I'm just getting back into the hobby - I haven't flown anything in almost ten years, mostly due to school, although I did manage to snag an NAR L1 cert back in '03. (THOY Falcon, AT H180 - beautiful flight!). My only other HPR project is a DG&A Armageddon (in case it wasn't obvious I did my rocket building a few years ago), which I glassed partly as a way to learn the technique and partly so I could cram as big a motor as I dared in there. I used to be active on the old Rocketry Online forums, up until 2004 or so, and I'm amazed at how far the hobby has gone. I still think of motors in terms of "LEUP or non-LEUP!" Along the way I snagged a propulsion degree - working on Electric Propulsion. Nowadays I work on experiments that fly on the space station. I'm various levels of fanboy for manned spaceflight, especially the launch vehicles, and ESPECIALLY the Saturn V.
Since I 'just' have an L1 I'm planning to start out small for now - fly a few more H- and I- class birds, play with electronics, maybe build an 'odd' configuration or two (I'd love to do parallel staging with strap-on separation), then move up into L2, L3 and EX. Eventually I want to be making candy, then move into other propellants... possibly even liquids (infrastructure allowing).
I've been reading the forums a fair bit, given all the changes - one of my first 'new' purchases will be a set of 38mm cases, and I'm trying to decide AT or CTI (leaning AT - I like lower cost-per-load, and I *really* like White Lightning). Whether the club has a vendor with a specific set will naturally be a big deal, though. I have a few questions/clarifications which I want to post here - and avoid a bazillion threads everywhere else. So without further ado:
1: What happened to Animal Motor Works? People are talking like the motors are scarce, and I'm not finding mention in vendor/manufacturer lists.
2: It's nice to see Estes is in the MPR business again. When did they start licensing Aerotech's E, F, and G motors?
3: In my search for a set of casings, I focused on AT and CTI (and their compatible third-party vendors). Loki research didn't exist when I last flew, so they're very new to me, and I'd like to know a bit more (that I didn't find perusing the 'propulsion' forum). I'm given to understand Loki motors have reusable graphite nozzles. What is the effective lifetime on the nozzles, given commercial loads? Loki cases seem to be a lot more 'mix and match' which is really speaking to my inner experimentalist - obviously anything I buy would be flown with commercial loads, but for long-term planning purposes, how are the Loki cases for EX loads?
4: Do hybrids fly much any more, or have they fallen by the wayside now that we don't need a LEUP for our APCP fix?
That's all for now - I'm sure I'll ask lots more questions as appropriate (or inappropriate!) in the coming weeks. Hopefully there are a couple members of Tri-City Skybusters or Tripoli Northern Ohio around - I'd love to be able to talk to some locals ahead of the next club meetings!
