Last Saturdays Launch

[Micromeister]

I've been pinned down the last few months with bothersome family estate stuff, preventing me from attending darn near any club or personal Mod-Roc functions... I've had a BAD case of the need to burn some BP or awhile now...Last Saturday dawned so beautiful and CALM. I grabbed the better 2/3rds all the mIcro-maxx gear and headed acoss the street for a few hours of maxx'in. This tiny strip park sits atop the bluff, hill really overlooking Bolling AFB and across the reiver Reagan National Airport so I'm Truely limited to Micro-Maxx Sport and test fliing
I've had a group of about 8 New (in January) Micro-Scale models preped and ready for filght but this was the first chance i've had for ANY real flhying time at all. Mary and I managed to prep and launch 12 micro's before noon. The Saturday Witching hour with the real estate folks. Man I had A Blast!!! almost everything worked only managed to damage one model the 1: 36 micro Nike-Apache kicked the motor, coming in ballistic onto the 2nd street pavement. OUCH! got some repairs to do on that one.
Heres a couple of the 2 & 3 pic flights. OH YEA! I actually caught SOME of the Flights using the burst mode on my Canon digital.

 

[Micromeister]

Arcus pics

 

[Micromeister]

Nike-Asp pic

 

[Micromeister]

Der REd Max Winter Camouflage flight pics

 

[Micromeister]

Asp flight

 

[Micromeister]

.281" dia Scout B flight

 

[Micromeister]

rear ejection pod MM powered Mosquito, that didn't

 

[Micromeister]

Micro Explorer Aqurius flt

 

[Micromeister]

T-3 ESS Raven flight

 

[Dbarrm]

Its funny you talked about the AFB. I work at Homestead AFB, South of Miami FL and was talking to the Terps guy up in the tower today and he told me that you cant put anything in the air over 200 feet within 10 miles of the flightline without air trafic control approval. He is looking up the reference for me as I type this. He says they have to run off model aircraft flyers from the NASCAR track parking lot all the time due to the closeness to the base. Just food for thought.


Dan

 

[Elapid]

i just made my first micro-powered rocket, a 3 motor cluster...

should i use the NiCr igniters that come with the motors, or estes-style if i can fit em in?

 

[Karl]

WOW ! They use Micro-Maxx II motors ? Or are they clusterd ? Wow there big for mmx! Lots of nice pictures , keep up the good work!
-Karl

 

[Steward]

Your RED MAX is the MAX...!!!

EXCELLENT...!!!

 

[Micromeister]

Originally posted by Elapid
i just made my first micro-powered rocket, a 3 motor cluster...

should i use the NiCr igniters that come with the motors, or estes-style if i can fit em in?

I almost never use the igniters that come with the motors, I usually save them for friends who's kids fly the RTF models. Some Estes igniters will fit and are a good bet for your first 3motor MM cluster, just check them before and after installing them. Don't push in to hard as you'll likely short the wires against each other. I normally make my own igniters 30gage x 1" pieces of bare NiCr wire for single motor models and 34gaga for clusters up it 8 motors. The 34 gage pops a fraction quicker giving a better chance for all the motors to light before first motion. Here's a pic of one of the 3 motor cluster models..Sorry no launch pic's these guys are just TOOO quick

Karl:
Yes, they are all Micro-Maxx Powered, No all the models in the lift-off photos above are Micro-Maxx-I #5662 or Micro-Maxx-II #5663 single motor models. I build Micro models in all size body tubes from minimum dia. .281" to BT-20 (Clusterd). Minimum dia. .281" works for lots of thing but for Scale models they sometimes don't allow enough detail. T-3 (.375") T-4 (.448") seem to make the best main airframe tubes for scale models. I'm Working on a complete line of 1 : 36.8715 scale NIke boosted Scale models based on the .448" (10.5mm) tube for the Nike motor. This allows plenty of Scale detail opportunity with minimal weight. Generally models in the 2 to 8 gram weight class fly best, some of the lighter one to over 300 feet. 8 to 12g fly 15 to 35 feet and 13 to 17.1g while WAY over weight will clear the 9" launch rod but 6 to 12 feet At Present I have 94 different Micro-Maxx models, with another 6 on the building table and 4 or 5 A.S.P. kits i've never gotten around to building They are A blast to build and can TRUELY be flown in the back yard, a little larger field for some of the HI performance 300+ foot flights Gvie them a try you may find them a lot more flyable than the bigger stuff. Cheaper also

 

[Micromeister]

Karl:
Jus so you know I wasn't kidding heres a composite of all my Micro models except the Quest RTF models, everyone knows what they look like Every model in these pic's has flown 3 or more times. Some Old regulars like the MM H/D Rotoroc have more then 20 flights

 

[Karl]

wow! How long does a MMXII motor burn for?I do have a micromaxx starter set thats only been used once , the launch controller that comes with it is &"!£ !!!!!
Is it possible to CHAD stage MMXII motors?
-Karl

 

[Micromeister]

Originally posted by Karl
wow! How long does a MMXII motor burn for?I do have a micromaxx starter set thats only been used once , the launch controller that comes with it is &"!£ !!!!!
Is it possible to CHAD stage MMXII motors?
-Karl

Let me invite you to join another Yahoo group. Art Applewhite set up a Micro-Maxx group a while back. once you join the group visit the group site and peruse the Files and Photos section. the FAQ section will be of GREAT help join us at https://groups.yahoo.com/group/MicroMaxRockets

also in the files section are several ways to imporve, fix or replace the Quest silo launch system, including converting from 9v to 12volt batteries. OBTW 9v batteries are destroyed very quickly by short circuiting them like we do to launch rockets. that may be why your haveing trouble.

I have Staged Micros but because there are no booster motors it isn't a very reliable thing to do. There is some discussion in the FAQ section on the subject. even with a .5 to 1 sec delay of micro motors the models would tend to be in the horixontal postion but the time the second motor starts so CHAD staging isn't recommended. Heres a better look at one of my two stage downscales I put a single LED coin cell lite in for night launches

 

[Micromeister]

Heres another of the Oops! photos from Saturday, I totally missed the lift-off on this one.

 

[Elapid]

i do have a few Estes igniters that don t have a lot of pyrogen on em...

as far as being cheaper...maybe per flight, but not cheap considering attained altitude or grams of BP.

i think they are REALLY cool though!

 

[Micromeister]

Originally posted by Elapid
i do have a few Estes igniters that don t have a lot of pyrogen on em...

as far as being cheaper...maybe per flight, but not cheap considering attained altitude or grams of BP.

i think they are REALLY cool though!

NO I'm speaking of total COST to fly. Models, motors, support and required time/gas to the launch field.

My most expensive Micro-Maxx model with recovery system and LED lighting system cost under 4 bucks including paints and decals. As a 4 motor cluster it costs me 3.24 to launch this little beasty to about 45-50 feet where at night its just about out of sight or as high as I'd like to send it. Maybe it's because I've been flying rocket for so long but I no longer need to fly higher then I can see. Putting a model rocket a mile up for no purpose has no meaning and frankly is a waste of time and good BP or whatever your using for fuel. I much prefer to fly an 11 gram Micro Maxx Scale sounding rocket to achieve 50-80 feet then flying much larger models to any altitude. Faster and higher is almost never better, unless there is a good scientific purpose.
Or maybe is just the micro building challange..I just don't know anymore

 

[Elapid]

i was just commenting on the 6.99 i spend on 6 micro maxx motors compared to the 4.79 3-packs of estes 18mm motors.

i'm not near any airports though...

my main scientific purpose is a thorough qualitative and quantitative analysis of how much noise and smoke i can make and how many motors i can burn in one day, how many i can burn at once, and how big of a motor can i make burn...
big flames and sonic bings, bangs, and pops...
VERY important work!
maybe i have more dollars than sense?


[edit] maybe it didn't occur to you that the words i selected for my sig might not have to do with rocketry.