So, I'm new here and I know y'all like pictures and stories of destruction, so here you go (sorry, no pictures of destruction, which are the best).
Had a beautiful day here in northern AZ on Monday 1/20 and convinced my wife to go out with me to toss some rockets in the air.
First flight was the first flight of my (pre-Estes sale, woe is me) D-Region Tomahawk. Nice, parabolic flight on the manufacturer's recommended first flight engine, D12-3. I'm estimating max altitude at about 75' AGL. Ejection charge at about 20' AGL. Recovered with three fins popped and center coupler broke loose. Sorry no photos, since been repaired with a baffle in the stuffer tube and epoxy holding the stuffer tube to the plastic piece and the coupler to the body tubes. Fins replaced with Loctite green "Extra Time Control," which is what was holding the only fin that didn't pop.
Flight two was even more horrendous. The primary rocket I remember as a kid (besides my Astrocam) was my Alpha. It's an Alpha, it's my first, why wouldn't I want one again? Well, Amazon, in their graciousness, sent me two when I only ordered one. I build one stock, and one to be beat-up-able; removable shock cord mount ala hmcbanjo, kevlar shock cord with a couple inch braided elastic "shock absorber." Well, I launched the beat-up-able one on it's first ever flight with my first ever Quest engine, an A6-4 off a Q2G2 igniter. Got to about 6-8' AGL and made a perfect impersonation of the drawing of an unstable rocket flight presented in Stine's book. Landed in one of the few clumps of grass about 50' from the pad, started a small grass fire, the ejected. I stomped out the fire and luckily found the parachute ground-ejected away from the fire, so that's a plus. The 2" section of elastic was burned, the whole body tube is deformed and paint bubbled. I'll try to salvage it.
That's me with the remains.
Third flight, maiden flight of my Der Red Max. Little bit worried. Previous two flights were maiden flights that ended horribly, hoping the third would buck the trend. And it did. Perfect up and back flight (couple burn spots on the chute, but nothing I noticed until I was home). Sorry, no photos.
Flight number four. Wanting to redeem my childhood rocket, I launched the stock (almost, I did replace the rubber band with 1/8" flat braided elastic) Alpha on a B4-4. Perfect flight, straight up, no spin that I noticed (of course, I do have the parent's eyes (for the rocket) and may not notice that; or it was up to fast to see...).
Here's right at ignition:
Flight number five, starting to feel a little better about not destroying something every time I push a button.
Estes Crossfire ISX on a B4-4, I didn't want to lose it. Awesome flight, straight up, guestimated altitude of 900' AGL based off other rockets launched.
And flight number six! Estes Nova Payloader. Found out then and there that my lapel camera didn't fit in the payload bay, so it was replaced with an AltimeterTwo.
Estes Nova Payloader on a C6-3. Once again, perfect flight. According to the AltimeterTwo in the payload bad we're looking at 681' with a max speed of 153mph. Great deployment and it stuck the landing!
For flight number seven we have the Estes Amazon. On a C6-5 it was a slightly longer delay than I like, this is perfect for a slow and low C6-3 engine. Anyway, here's some pics:
The Amazon had a camera attached to the side, but my tech know how was surpassed by my tech not-know how, so I didn't get it turned on. It provided a lesson, however, in that I know that I can get a good flight, though a delayed deployment, with a camera strapped on and no bigger motor and to use C6-3s as a max delay.
And the final flight was a great one on the Mega Mosquito with a D12-3:
Had a beautiful day here in northern AZ on Monday 1/20 and convinced my wife to go out with me to toss some rockets in the air.
First flight was the first flight of my (pre-Estes sale, woe is me) D-Region Tomahawk. Nice, parabolic flight on the manufacturer's recommended first flight engine, D12-3. I'm estimating max altitude at about 75' AGL. Ejection charge at about 20' AGL. Recovered with three fins popped and center coupler broke loose. Sorry no photos, since been repaired with a baffle in the stuffer tube and epoxy holding the stuffer tube to the plastic piece and the coupler to the body tubes. Fins replaced with Loctite green "Extra Time Control," which is what was holding the only fin that didn't pop.
Flight two was even more horrendous. The primary rocket I remember as a kid (besides my Astrocam) was my Alpha. It's an Alpha, it's my first, why wouldn't I want one again? Well, Amazon, in their graciousness, sent me two when I only ordered one. I build one stock, and one to be beat-up-able; removable shock cord mount ala hmcbanjo, kevlar shock cord with a couple inch braided elastic "shock absorber." Well, I launched the beat-up-able one on it's first ever flight with my first ever Quest engine, an A6-4 off a Q2G2 igniter. Got to about 6-8' AGL and made a perfect impersonation of the drawing of an unstable rocket flight presented in Stine's book. Landed in one of the few clumps of grass about 50' from the pad, started a small grass fire, the ejected. I stomped out the fire and luckily found the parachute ground-ejected away from the fire, so that's a plus. The 2" section of elastic was burned, the whole body tube is deformed and paint bubbled. I'll try to salvage it.
That's me with the remains.
Third flight, maiden flight of my Der Red Max. Little bit worried. Previous two flights were maiden flights that ended horribly, hoping the third would buck the trend. And it did. Perfect up and back flight (couple burn spots on the chute, but nothing I noticed until I was home). Sorry, no photos.
Flight number four. Wanting to redeem my childhood rocket, I launched the stock (almost, I did replace the rubber band with 1/8" flat braided elastic) Alpha on a B4-4. Perfect flight, straight up, no spin that I noticed (of course, I do have the parent's eyes (for the rocket) and may not notice that; or it was up to fast to see...).
Here's right at ignition:
Flight number five, starting to feel a little better about not destroying something every time I push a button.
Estes Crossfire ISX on a B4-4, I didn't want to lose it. Awesome flight, straight up, guestimated altitude of 900' AGL based off other rockets launched.
And flight number six! Estes Nova Payloader. Found out then and there that my lapel camera didn't fit in the payload bay, so it was replaced with an AltimeterTwo.
Estes Nova Payloader on a C6-3. Once again, perfect flight. According to the AltimeterTwo in the payload bad we're looking at 681' with a max speed of 153mph. Great deployment and it stuck the landing!
For flight number seven we have the Estes Amazon. On a C6-5 it was a slightly longer delay than I like, this is perfect for a slow and low C6-3 engine. Anyway, here's some pics:
The Amazon had a camera attached to the side, but my tech know how was surpassed by my tech not-know how, so I didn't get it turned on. It provided a lesson, however, in that I know that I can get a good flight, though a delayed deployment, with a camera strapped on and no bigger motor and to use C6-3s as a max delay.
And the final flight was a great one on the Mega Mosquito with a D12-3:
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