If it crashes the Sheriff's report filed in Mayberry RFD will read "A good flier that got all mashed up."Ya....it's a great flier!" (i seen it, I didn't build it, David Schwantz did)
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If it crashes the Sheriff's report filed in Mayberry RFD will read "A good flier that got all mashed up."Ya....it's a great flier!" (i seen it, I didn't build it, David Schwantz did)
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Random Friday observation: In many, many threads about some particular kit, someone is bound to succumb to the temptation to say "It's a great flier". I have been guilty of this myself. It's funny because in a pretty large percentage of those cases the rocket in question is a 3FNC or 4FNC. Shouldn't we expect pretty much *any* 3/4FNC to be a good flier?
Now if someone says "It's a great flier" in a thread about something like the Cosmos Mariner or the Outlander, then *that* would be newsworthy.
On further reflection, it might also be good to distinguish "It's a great flier" (ie reliably flies straight and true) and "It's really fun to fly" (ie any of your fantastic creations). I love them both, though we all know which the RSO prefers to have show up at the table!My inner RSO says NEVER to anything considered Funny Looking. My outer oddroc flier is down at the pub nine to the dozen telling tall tales.
If it is a scratcher and if the fins and motors are on top and if the builder sketched it out on a napkin from the local tavern, sure we should expect it to be a great flier...If it's a "kit", and If it's a "3FNC or 4FNC", and If the builder follows instructions, sure we should expect it to be a great flyer.
It's all those If's that make this hobby so much fun.
F.R.O.G. ???Great flier to me, means in part, that half its flight wasn't nearly parallel to the ground and that those kinds of flights are repeatable.
F.R.O.G. flights don't appeal to me.
Free Rocket Over Ground.F.R.O.G. ???
Is it a three stage?Next build: 18FNC
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Maybe a kit called "Flier" (or "Flyer"). Then, when someone builds and finishes one especially well, that's "a great Flier".I think I'll keep "It's a great flier" in mind for a future rocket name.
Make it a 3-stager...Next build: 18FNC
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Dr. Zooch Space Shuttle is a great flier…
and a crowd pleaser!
And then there was the time that I had a review killed altogether because of my comments about how the airplane flew (Davey Systems Eindecker). That's what happened to the lousy fliers or the ones with too many build issues. They just didn't get published.
Some rockets just seem to have the most stubbornly undesirable flight characteristics. I had an Estes scale model of a Starchaser Thunderstar that would routinely thrash around if, for whatever reason, that second motor failed to light, and that happened plenty of times. The Estes Big Daddy is also infamous for lawn darting if the nose fit isn’t just so. Too loose and you actually get gas leakage and failed ejection.Random Friday observation: In many, many threads about some particular kit, someone is bound to succumb to the temptation to say "It's a great flier". I have been guilty of this myself. It's funny because in a pretty large percentage of those cases the rocket in question is a 3FNC or 4FNC. Shouldn't we expect pretty much *any* 3/4FNC to be a good flier?
Now if someone says "It's a great flier" in a thread about something like the Cosmos Mariner or the Outlander, then *that* would be newsworthy.
Lol, I read your first paragraph and my first thought was the Estes MIRV, then kept reading and realized great minds think alike. How that made it through testing and into production…..well, let’s just say it’s one of the exceptions that proves the rule Estes makes great rockets!Some rockets just seem to have the most stubbornly undesirable flight characteristics. I had an Estes scale model of a Starchaser Thunderstar that would routinely thrash around if, for whatever reason, that second motor failed to light, and that happened plenty of times. The Estes Big Daddy is also infamous for lawn darting if the nose fit isn’t just so. Too loose and you actually get gas leakage and failed ejection.
A lot of authentic scale kits with no fin enlargements have marginal stability at best. Others are underpowered. Some are both.
Speaking of under-powering, there is the Estes MIRV to consider. The sustainers are too heavy and there isn’t a commercial booster motor strong enough for safe flight. Getting a larger booster motor in there like a C11-0 isn’t really possible. Fingers crossed for a C5-0 soon, that might fix it.
Then there are rockets that just seem to be cursed for one reason or another. Whether this be specific airframes that have too much “personality”, multiple attempts at assembling a particular kit/design by a given builder that never seem to go quite right, or even an entire product line that is just too easy for rocketeers everywhere to mishandle.
So in most cases I’d consider a “good flyer” to just not have prep or flight characteristics that would make it a “tricky flyer” or just a garbage bird.
And then there are a few that look all wrong but are in fact safe, reliable rockets that perform reasonably well. The Fliskits ACME Spitfire, for instance. That is a good flyer.
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