L2 Certification Build (Giant Leap Talon3 or Wildman Jr)

[EightBitBelmont]

Recently got back into rocketry after a long absence (since high school). Got roped into mentoring a TARC team and found myself enjoying rocketry again. Joined my local NAR section and managed to put together a decently solid kit for a L1 flight which was successful. I have these two rockets at my disposal to build, and was wanting to document the build and get some advice from those who have been at this much longer than I have. Does anyone have advice on which one to build first?

As a side note, we currently do not have any L2 members and a fairly low AGL waiver (3000'), so two of us are working towards our certification to be able to help out others. I've located a few places within a three hour radius of Morgantown, WV and once I get one of these built I will be looking to do a certification attempt with one of the two.

 

[blackbrandt]

Why is your signature so long? It takes up a massive page...

 

[Bat-mite]

What? He has three lines in his .sig.

 

[EightBitBelmont]

I thought it might be an signature image, so I deleted what was in my profile, but I only saw the three lines I intended

 

[blackbrandt]

Hmmm, weird. Nevermind.

 

[Rocketjunkie]

Why is your signature so long? It takes up a massive page...

Talk about long signatures - look at yours.

 

[scsager]

Recently got back into rocketry after a long absence (since high school). Got roped into mentoring a TARC team and found myself enjoying rocketry again. Joined my local NAR section and managed to put together a decently solid kit for a L1 flight which was successful. I have these two rockets at my disposal to build, and was wanting to document the build and get some advice from those who have been at this much longer than I have. Does anyone have advice on which one to build first?

As a side note, we currently do not have any L2 members and a fairly low AGL waiver (3000'), so two of us are working towards our certification to be able to help out others. I've located a few places within a three hour radius of Morgantown, WV and once I get one of these built I will be looking to do a certification attempt with one of the two.

Hi Brian, Welcome to the forum.

My advice would be to build both rockets right away. You'll pick one to Cert with... and the other one is your "Back-UP" plan when the first rocket crashes. This gives you two chances to Cert without having to make an extra 3 hour trip.

The Wildman jr will take a 5 grain 38mm J motor - You will want to sim this and make good recovery plans, - it will go out of sight. The 3" Talon should hit about 3000' feet on a J and and single deploy without a tracker is a possibility if the field is big enough, and skies are clear.


Good luck!

 

[ksaves2]

WMJr will go 6500' with a Loki J330 red. I used a Raven and put a Beeline GPS on top in the ebay. Drilled a tight hole for the antenna to protrude into the main
chute bay. Wrapped a cardboard tube that AT igntiers come in with duct tape and used clay to stick it to the bulkhead to stent and protect the antenna.
Worked like a charm. Rocket disappeared and nothing was seen..........Except one could tell on the D72 the apogee blew by the descent rate and the main blew on cue. Still wasn't sighted by anyone while in flight. Followed the datum line displayed on the Garmin 60Cs that was interfaced to the D72 to the last known packet .85 mile away. When I got close a new packet came in and the icon "jumped" on the map just a little bit. Rocket was in perfect condition. Kurt

 

[EightBitBelmont]

I like the sound of that - one of the next steps I am taking is to get my technician license. If is electrical and is a neat gadget, I want to learn about it, and a GPS transmitter/receiver is definitely in my later plans.

Probably going to start work on them tonight (I have already prepped the fiberglass for the Wildman Jr). Should I turn this into a concurrent build thread? Thoughts?

 

[Bat-mite]

I like the sound of that - one of the next steps I am taking is to get my technician license. If is electrical and is a neat gadget, I want to learn about it, and a GPS transmitter/receiver is definitely in my later plans.

Probably going to start work on them tonight (I have already prepped the fiberglass for the Wildman Jr). Should I turn this into a concurrent build thread? Thoughts?

If a build thread is an option, always DO IT! :wink:

 

[EightBitBelmont]

If a build thread is an option, always DO IT! :wink:

Duly noted. I think I will make it a certification/build thread - I can always do fillets on the other rocket while waiting for curing.

As I stated when I started, I really got into HPR to help some middle school kids that I also coach in First Lego League. If anyone is an educator and
wants a really neat idea for a classroom project with rockets check out S4 (Small Satellites for Secondary Students). It was developed under a NASA
grant and uses Arduino and off the shelf sensors for a muti-purpose payload.

 

[ksaves2]

I like the sound of that - one of the next steps I am taking is to get my technician license. If is electrical and is a neat gadget, I want to learn about it, and a GPS transmitter/receiver is definitely in my later plans.

Probably going to start work on them tonight (I have already prepped the fiberglass for the Wildman Jr). Should I turn this into a concurrent build thread? Thoughts?

You might want to consider an EggFinder GPS tracker kit. Cheaper than the APRS solutions and doesn't require a ham ticket. Full
Setup cost $90.00 to $120.00. Kurt

 

[EightBitBelmont]

You might want to consider an EggFinder GPS tracker kit. Cheaper than the APRS solutions and doesn't require a ham ticket. Full
Setup cost $90.00 to $120.00. Kurt

So EggFinder + laptop + Google Maps = portable non-ham rocket retrieval unit? Sounds like a good place to start! Thanks for the info Kurt

 

[ksaves2]

So EggFinder + laptop + Google Maps = portable non-ham rocket retrieval unit? Sounds like a good place to start! Thanks for the info Kurt

Actually, one can pair it to an Android device and use GPS Rocket locator or input the lat/long manually into a mapping GPS. Kurt

 

[Handeman]

Duly noted. I think I will make it a certification/build thread - I can always do fillets on the other rocket while waiting for curing.

As I stated when I started, I really got into HPR to help some middle school kids that I also coach in First Lego League. If anyone is an educator and
wants a really neat idea for a classroom project with rockets check out S4 (Small Satellites for Secondary Students). It was developed under a NASA
grant and uses Arduino and off the shelf sensors for a muti-purpose payload.

You might also want to check out the CanSat competitions. That is run by one of the guys in our club at Battle Park. Or check out the Battle of the Rockets that we host each spring. The link is on the bottom of the CanSat page. Both are great for high school and college teams. Those are more after-school club type programs rather then classroom activities.