hounddawgracing
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Mar 12, 2008
- Messages
- 359
- Reaction score
- 0
Back at the casa from our first club launch ever with Supersition Spacemodel Society. Unfortunately my camera is on the fritz so no pictures. But, it was fun and glad I went. I loaded up the kids, bikes, table, ez-up, cooler, bbq, sunscreen, all 13rockets, motors and everything else I needed except the launch rod in its new pvc carrier 
I was a bit sceptical as the wind was blowing steady at about 10mph and gusting pretty good.
The launch site was a drive and probably, like most, in the middle of nowhere. In the southwest we don't have much of that green crap so it was basically sandy dirt with a few patches of scrub brush and a lone tree or two. It appeared to be crop that was resting. Nevertheless, it was fairly soft compared to the hardness of concrete the ground usually is out here.
Anywho, as soon as we got there, the three of us took a stroll down the line of cars and stumbled upon Recovery Technologies, whom I placed a small order with PayPal the night before, for some 100lb Kevlar, couple nomex chute shields and a really nice, super-thin 12" "Master" chute. I'll definitely buy from Deby again. The chute opens like, right-now. The Master line is very thin for small framed rockets. It opens much faster than my Top Flight chutes but is different materials. Anyway, we stroll passed the flight line to probably 15-20 motorhomes, a couple of paragliders and some ultralights. And, yes, a ton of rockets.
So, we register and start prepping some stuff to launch. Here's the flight report which is mostly cardstock rockets that I've posted pictures of last week.
First up was AXE's cardstock "Top Secret". This was an 18mm design converted to 13mm which flew on an A10-3T. It flew as great as it looked. There was maybe two or three rolls prior to burnout which made for a nice smoke trail, perfect streamer deployment and nice landing. There was a bit of weakening to one of the fin joints which was fixed w/CA. My 5yro boy pushed the go button for this one and decided playing with all his new friends in the dirt was more important than rockets at the time.
Second was Bob Harringtons cardstock ESS Raven on an A10-3T. Again, great flight, couple of rolls, perfect streamer deployment....No Damage.
Third was Art Applewhite's 13mm Six on an A10-3T. This was probably the nicest launch so far. There was no roll, just straight into the wind, high flight, nice deployment, no damage.
Next up was a Fliskits Caution Rocket on a B6-4. Whoa baby did this one go. I didn't get hardly any of the roll that I read in the reviews. Nice, high flight, perfect deployment, no damage.
Fifth was a Fliskits Nebula on an A10-3T. It ripped off the pad, straight into the wind. Then, the nose cone blew at about 150-200', did a couple loop de loops, deployed steamer, no damage. I think what happened is there was a bit of a gap on one side of the BT to the nose cone even though it seated tightley with tape. What I need to do is glue in an internal collar and push it in a bit on all three sides so I don't need to tape the nose cone. Other than that it went great and see no future problems with this "free" cardstock rocket.
Sixth was an Estes Raskal with a C6-5. This one screamed off the pad, nice flight, good deployment but the chute didn't unfurl even though the streamers did. This is the eight inch chute that I tied a 40" streamer to each of the six chute lines. My fault in not taking more time to pack it thinner because that's alot to cram in that little BT. But, when it works, it looks great. Even doing it inside the truck it was tough with the wind and dealing w/six streamers at the same time. The only damage was an estes dent or perhaps a dent from impact. Not sure on that one but it's fixable. My girl helped launch this one, her first for the day.
Seventh was AXE's downscale cardstock U.S. Patriot on an A10-3T. WHOA BABY did this thing haul the mail. Perfect, perfect flight, streamer deployed, tracked into the sun and never saw it again. I don't know how myself or any one of the people on ATC's or Golf Carts couldn't have found it w/a 1" x 36" streamer but we never did. It didn't float off very far at all but did go behind the line of cars as most every other rocket did. Maybe it found the one or two bushes out there and got eatin'. I dunno. But, I'll build another. I liked that one.
About this time, my 6yro girl Kat has been pallin' around with a nice 6yro boy from two spots down. He's a rocket flyin' fool so she finally wants to start flying her own birds. We put up her Estes Metalizer on a B6-4 (she picked that engine cause of the wind). It was a good choice on her part. We loaded it up with a new chute shield and a 12" Top Flight chute. She didn't even want me on the line. She filled out her card, took it through the RO, to the pad, hooked up the wires, checked continuity...everything. As always a perfect flight with this rocket, beautiful recovery, no damage. I was proud of her and gave her a "Atta Girl" and a high five.
Since my girl was havin' so much fun, she wanted to have a drag race with her new friend. Both wanted to fly thier Estes Gnomes. Both were loaded with A10-3T's...You seeing a pattern here? Kat's was first off the pad and first to land. Super high flight, nice recovery, no damage....happy kid.
That was the last for the day but ended up forgeting my chair on the launch line. What's one more, right? So I put up the Top Secret rocket again on an A10-3T. It was identical to the first with no damage.
Even though the wind was hummin', it was a great day but just couldn't stay for the night flight. We got to see a bunch of MPR stuff as well as HPR go up. It was very cool and plan on going next month. Everyone was very helpful in loaning their launch pads/controlers and nice as expected. As I'm packin' up, I'm talkin' to the fella next to us that I've been chatting with off and on all day. My boy was hangin' w/his boys as well. Turns out it's TRF's Jeff_in_AZ whom I'd picked his brain about going to this thing in the first place.
I will say this, I got a ton of looks walking to the line carrying these cardstock models. Most everyone asked to take a look and couldn't believe they were cardstock. More than a few were even anxious to watch the smallest Patriot they'd ever seen fly. Even the anouncer would say "It's Tom again w/Annnnooother cardstock model on an A10. Watch these folks, 'cause they really zip and fly nice". It was a nice compliment.
I was a bit sceptical as the wind was blowing steady at about 10mph and gusting pretty good. The launch site was a drive and probably, like most, in the middle of nowhere. In the southwest we don't have much of that green crap so it was basically sandy dirt with a few patches of scrub brush and a lone tree or two. It appeared to be crop that was resting. Nevertheless, it was fairly soft compared to the hardness of concrete the ground usually is out here.
Anywho, as soon as we got there, the three of us took a stroll down the line of cars and stumbled upon Recovery Technologies, whom I placed a small order with PayPal the night before, for some 100lb Kevlar, couple nomex chute shields and a really nice, super-thin 12" "Master" chute. I'll definitely buy from Deby again. The chute opens like, right-now. The Master line is very thin for small framed rockets. It opens much faster than my Top Flight chutes but is different materials. Anyway, we stroll passed the flight line to probably 15-20 motorhomes, a couple of paragliders and some ultralights. And, yes, a ton of rockets.
So, we register and start prepping some stuff to launch. Here's the flight report which is mostly cardstock rockets that I've posted pictures of last week.
First up was AXE's cardstock "Top Secret". This was an 18mm design converted to 13mm which flew on an A10-3T. It flew as great as it looked. There was maybe two or three rolls prior to burnout which made for a nice smoke trail, perfect streamer deployment and nice landing. There was a bit of weakening to one of the fin joints which was fixed w/CA. My 5yro boy pushed the go button for this one and decided playing with all his new friends in the dirt was more important than rockets at the time.
Second was Bob Harringtons cardstock ESS Raven on an A10-3T. Again, great flight, couple of rolls, perfect streamer deployment....No Damage.
Third was Art Applewhite's 13mm Six on an A10-3T. This was probably the nicest launch so far. There was no roll, just straight into the wind, high flight, nice deployment, no damage.
Next up was a Fliskits Caution Rocket on a B6-4. Whoa baby did this one go. I didn't get hardly any of the roll that I read in the reviews. Nice, high flight, perfect deployment, no damage.
Fifth was a Fliskits Nebula on an A10-3T. It ripped off the pad, straight into the wind. Then, the nose cone blew at about 150-200', did a couple loop de loops, deployed steamer, no damage. I think what happened is there was a bit of a gap on one side of the BT to the nose cone even though it seated tightley with tape. What I need to do is glue in an internal collar and push it in a bit on all three sides so I don't need to tape the nose cone. Other than that it went great and see no future problems with this "free" cardstock rocket.
Sixth was an Estes Raskal with a C6-5. This one screamed off the pad, nice flight, good deployment but the chute didn't unfurl even though the streamers did. This is the eight inch chute that I tied a 40" streamer to each of the six chute lines. My fault in not taking more time to pack it thinner because that's alot to cram in that little BT. But, when it works, it looks great. Even doing it inside the truck it was tough with the wind and dealing w/six streamers at the same time. The only damage was an estes dent or perhaps a dent from impact. Not sure on that one but it's fixable. My girl helped launch this one, her first for the day.
Seventh was AXE's downscale cardstock U.S. Patriot on an A10-3T. WHOA BABY did this thing haul the mail. Perfect, perfect flight, streamer deployed, tracked into the sun and never saw it again. I don't know how myself or any one of the people on ATC's or Golf Carts couldn't have found it w/a 1" x 36" streamer but we never did. It didn't float off very far at all but did go behind the line of cars as most every other rocket did. Maybe it found the one or two bushes out there and got eatin'. I dunno. But, I'll build another. I liked that one.
About this time, my 6yro girl Kat has been pallin' around with a nice 6yro boy from two spots down. He's a rocket flyin' fool so she finally wants to start flying her own birds. We put up her Estes Metalizer on a B6-4 (she picked that engine cause of the wind). It was a good choice on her part. We loaded it up with a new chute shield and a 12" Top Flight chute. She didn't even want me on the line. She filled out her card, took it through the RO, to the pad, hooked up the wires, checked continuity...everything. As always a perfect flight with this rocket, beautiful recovery, no damage. I was proud of her and gave her a "Atta Girl" and a high five.
Since my girl was havin' so much fun, she wanted to have a drag race with her new friend. Both wanted to fly thier Estes Gnomes. Both were loaded with A10-3T's...You seeing a pattern here? Kat's was first off the pad and first to land. Super high flight, nice recovery, no damage....happy kid.
That was the last for the day but ended up forgeting my chair on the launch line. What's one more, right? So I put up the Top Secret rocket again on an A10-3T. It was identical to the first with no damage.
Even though the wind was hummin', it was a great day but just couldn't stay for the night flight. We got to see a bunch of MPR stuff as well as HPR go up. It was very cool and plan on going next month. Everyone was very helpful in loaning their launch pads/controlers and nice as expected. As I'm packin' up, I'm talkin' to the fella next to us that I've been chatting with off and on all day. My boy was hangin' w/his boys as well. Turns out it's TRF's Jeff_in_AZ whom I'd picked his brain about going to this thing in the first place.
I will say this, I got a ton of looks walking to the line carrying these cardstock models. Most everyone asked to take a look and couldn't believe they were cardstock. More than a few were even anxious to watch the smallest Patriot they'd ever seen fly. Even the anouncer would say "It's Tom again w/Annnnooother cardstock model on an A10. Watch these folks, 'cause they really zip and fly nice". It was a nice compliment.
