Just thought I'd give you a quick note on waht me and my son did on Sunday. We did a quick trip to the field to launch the the Quest Super Eagle, Estes, Hi-Flier, and a few of the vintage birds I had gotten.
First up was the Gyroc, on an A6. It still needs the final paint job, but its otherwise flightworthy. Had my son work the launcher, and with me on stopwatch, Altitrak, and recovery duties. Ignition went OK, but it quickly veeredup over and back down into the ground before it spit out the motor on ejection. Seems on of the tabs attached to the split "elevons"wasn't seated firmly against the motor case, causing it to be at less than a 180' angle. Lesson learned to pay better attention to the prep on that bird, but luckily there was no damage.
Next up was the Flutter-By on an A. It went up fairly straight (for a 6 inch rocket) about 250'-300', ejected the back half of the rocket, and both sections floated down as advertised. Pretty neat.
After that was the Centuri Arcon (single stage, not Arcon-Hi). Decided to launch this on a B6, and I'm glad I did, as it was more than enough to send it over 500' hundred feet high., In spite of the minimal breezes, we almost lost it the trees bordering the park boundry and recovered it in some brambles (no damage). Great flight, very stable, went straight up with minimal rotation. Nice Rocket.
Next up was the Estes Hi-Flier, also on a B motor. Spectacular flight as usual, probably close to 1000'. My son lost sight of it, but as I was 75 yards off, as I able to get a good track on it. Unfortuantely, what little breeze there was caught it on the streamer and send it the opposite direction to the other line of trees in the park, where it came to rest a good 45' up at least. Bummer. I'll have to check back from time to time to see if shakes loose, as it was out on the end of limb.
Determined not to lose the Super Eagle, I launched it at a good 5'-8' degree angle into the 'wind' on its usual C6-5. Suprisingly it didn't weathervane back upright and continued to arch over to a near horizontal flight about 200' up before it apogeed and popped its chute 50' AGL. Slightly unnerving. The small fin area on the rocket is probably a contributing culprit.
In the meantime, I'll have to go out and grab another Hi-Flier kit. I like that little rocket. I might have to buy more A motors too.
First up was the Gyroc, on an A6. It still needs the final paint job, but its otherwise flightworthy. Had my son work the launcher, and with me on stopwatch, Altitrak, and recovery duties. Ignition went OK, but it quickly veeredup over and back down into the ground before it spit out the motor on ejection. Seems on of the tabs attached to the split "elevons"wasn't seated firmly against the motor case, causing it to be at less than a 180' angle. Lesson learned to pay better attention to the prep on that bird, but luckily there was no damage.
Next up was the Flutter-By on an A. It went up fairly straight (for a 6 inch rocket) about 250'-300', ejected the back half of the rocket, and both sections floated down as advertised. Pretty neat.
After that was the Centuri Arcon (single stage, not Arcon-Hi). Decided to launch this on a B6, and I'm glad I did, as it was more than enough to send it over 500' hundred feet high., In spite of the minimal breezes, we almost lost it the trees bordering the park boundry and recovered it in some brambles (no damage). Great flight, very stable, went straight up with minimal rotation. Nice Rocket.
Next up was the Estes Hi-Flier, also on a B motor. Spectacular flight as usual, probably close to 1000'. My son lost sight of it, but as I was 75 yards off, as I able to get a good track on it. Unfortuantely, what little breeze there was caught it on the streamer and send it the opposite direction to the other line of trees in the park, where it came to rest a good 45' up at least. Bummer. I'll have to check back from time to time to see if shakes loose, as it was out on the end of limb.
Determined not to lose the Super Eagle, I launched it at a good 5'-8' degree angle into the 'wind' on its usual C6-5. Suprisingly it didn't weathervane back upright and continued to arch over to a near horizontal flight about 200' up before it apogeed and popped its chute 50' AGL. Slightly unnerving. The small fin area on the rocket is probably a contributing culprit.
In the meantime, I'll have to go out and grab another Hi-Flier kit. I like that little rocket. I might have to buy more A motors too.
