It flew twice

[SPONGE]

I got to fly my scratch built rocket a couple of weeks ago. Thanks go to this forum for answering my beginer questions. Also thanks go to the Austin Area Rocket Group. This was the second time I have flown at one of their launches and they are well run and alot of fun. I will probably join soon. The rocket I made was built from 2in mailing tube I got from work. The nose cone was made from a cone of styrofoam from Walmart. It was shaped with a wood file, coated with wood glue, and filled with spackle. The fins were made from aircraft plywood. The parachute is a 36 in X-form made from ripstop by my wife. I flew it the first time on a cluster of three C-11s and the second time on D-12s this pic is the first launch.

 

[SPONGE]

Here it is floating back down.

 

[SPONGE]

Here we are, ready to go again.

 

[SPONGE]

"We have main engine start."

 

[SPONGE]

This is what's left after a critical ejection failure. Don't worry the paint is drying on the second version as I type this. I was able to salvage the fins, the recovery gear, and the motor mount. The new version has piston ejection. We'll see how well that works.

 

[rstaff3]

Nice job!

 

[Jase]

Very nicely done Sponge! Sorry to hear about the ejection failure.

what kind of glue did you use for your fins? Must have been a heckuva landing to knock them off like that.

Jason

 

[Austin]

Great pics Sponge...hard to believe it was totally scratch as it looks clean as any kit I have seen. Nice paint job too...I know you will have another one ready in no time!

Carl

 

[rstaff3]

SPONGE, I didn't see the last crash pic the first time I looked. When I said 'nice job', I meant on the great looking rocket and nice pics...not the final outcome. Hope to see v2.0 soon!

 

[rstaff3]

OT for this thread, but have you stayed dry during all the flooding?

A friend of mine moved to Georgetown a few months ago. They were on their way to Canada just before the floods, hope their house is still there!

 

[SPONGE]

Thanks y'all, I'm glad you like the pics. Building these things sure is fun. Jase, I just used yellow wood glue on the fins. I was surprised that they ripped off like that, even thought the landing was rather hard (core sample). This time they won't come off so easily. After the fillets dried, I glued down another layer of heavy paper soaked in glue that goes up the fin about .75in.
I'm sure you're friend's house is still in G'town rstaff3, most of the bad flooding was south of Austin. Things were pretty soggy here for a couple of days. This last launch was almost scrubbed because we weren't sure if we could get into the field. There were a few rockets that got muddy. The last flight of the day was a HP that went to 9800+ft. It missed landing in a large pond by just a few yards. I have been thinking about doing a static test so I could check the performance of the piston ejection. Has anyone ever done a static test with a whole rocket?

 

[Stymye]

I don't have an answer myself but
the last question reminded me of something
way back when(before I knew better) I held my estes omega while a friend ignited it, I think it was a d engine,
I was amazed at the kick and thrust and, the rocket nearly left my hand....again I stress..... I didnt know any better and I would not recommend anyone try this.
I would suspect that if you could somehow fix your rocket stationary,onto the pad for example, you would want to be carefull that the flame
wouldn't burn the end of the sustainer during the test


stymye

 

[kgholloway]

You'd also have to figure out a way to keep from burning up the blast deflector. I've seen an Estes "D" engine burn a 1/2" hole through an 18 guage stainless steel blast deflector when a rocket got stuck on a rod.

Ken

 

[swimmer]

I too was surprised at the power of Estes motors, only my experience was a C6. I had installed the Estes MK109 on the launch rod and hooked up the ignitor. The motor lit and the rocket proceeded up the rod. One problem, I had forgotton to remove the plastic launch rod protector. The rocket wedged against the plastic protector and the thrust raised rocket and Estes pad to 5 feet. The pad and rocket then fell back and landed on its side. The rocked thrusted and the delay charge popped the nosecone and chute. Made me have a lot of respect for not only Estes motors but all motors. By the way, the only damage was a mark on the side of the rocket. Have flown it sucessfully many times since then. Always, safety first!!

Swimmer

 

[SPONGE]

Well, I never was able to do a groud test of my piston ejection system, but I flew it anyways. The flight was a success on several levals. First, only two engines lit but it still flew pretty straight, arcing slightly toward apogee. Second, the piston ejected and pushed out the nose cone and chute very well. The bad part is that the snap on the steel fishing leader that I used below the piston came apart, sending the body into the ground at a high rate of speed and destroying it. The nose cone came down on an unopened chute and was damaged, but repairable. I was able to salvage the fins and the motor mount again and rebuild the rocket. To step up the pace of my learning curve I decided it was a good idea to built a second rocket very similar to the first. So, at the next AARG launch I will have two rockets to give me a better chance of getting some more stuff right. The new ship has a much shorter BT, a longer nose cone, and newly designed fins.