Launvh Report, 1st of the season

[astronboy]

Well, my brother and I had our first launch of the season today. It was 54 degrees and sunny w/5mph winds. We launched 22 rockets, some several times. Here are the highlights:

1) I lost my Day-glo orange Astron STREAK. It was only powered by a 1/2A6-2, but once the ejection puff was seen, that was it. It did not help that the local school had just marked off the soccer league fields with orange paint.

2) Vintage 70's launches: Alpha III, Goblin, Missle Toe, went well.
Alpha III (a recent ebay rebuild) was very nice on an A8-5. Goblin screamed on a D12-7.... and missed the schoolbuilding by about 10 feet on the way down. Missle Toe was beautifully boosted by an A3.

3) Vintage 1970's Renegade (D12-7)and Blue Bird Zero (C5-3) were both eaten by trees. A bad day for my brother as both were his.

4) Cloned launches: Alpha, Defender, Mark, Citation Patriot, Screamer, Star Snoop and Wolverine all went well. Mark is converted to 13mm, and flew nicely on an A3. Citation Patriot flew like a big bertha.... low and slow on a B6-4. Defender was very nice with a C11-5. Alpha, always my first launch, was predictable as always on an A8-3. Screamer Screamed on a 1/4T motor. Star Snoop lost a fin as it landed on the road. The Wolverine boosted nice, but came down fast with a tangled chute. (no damage)

5) Cloned Scout ejected the engine when the catch hook tore from the body tube.

6) Scratch: Scale Hermes RV-A10, and Alpha D (both BT-60 based) went well. Hermes launched very nicely and was very stable on a B6-4. Alpha D was tested on a C11-5. It passed!!

7) T-Birds: BT- 5 based , 1/4A powered dowscales: Cherokee T and Renegade T launched beautifully to about 300 feet, and sropped within 50 feet of the launcher. This proves that they can be launched on a small baseball field as designed.

8) My 6 yr old nephew managed to spot land his ESTES Mach 12 right in a garbage can where it belongs.

Attached is the only launch photo that came out. I am still adjusting to the delay of my digital camera, and all of the other launch photos that I took are of an empty launch pad surrounded by smoke.!!

 

[jetra2]

When I take my pictures, this is what I tell my dad or brother. "Ok, I'm going to count down, and when I hit one, do a quick 1/1000 and hold that button!" Hope this helps.

BTW - good report, sorry you lost some rockets!

Jason

 

[havoc821]

On that star snoop, is that an eye that you painted on the nose cone? I can't tell. If so, how didi you go about doing it. I have a rocket that I scratch built called the "Eye" in the Sky, and I wanted to paint an eye on the nosecone, but I don't know how to make it look nice. Any suggestions? BTW if you want to see the rocket I'm talking about check the Eye in the Sky thread in scratch built.

 

[astronboy]

havov821: Yes, I did paint an eyeball on the nosecone. It took more patience waiting for the paint to dry than anything else. here is how I did it:

The white is the bare plastic cone. The iris was painted first and is metallic Testor's blue spray paint. I used masking tape cut into a 1/8" strip to mask a circle around the nosecone, then followed the 1/8" strip with a 1/4" strip. Then a 1/2" strip, and then a full width strip of tape. I then masked the rest of the cone with a piece of typing paper that was taped on.

I used a compass to make about 8 marks around the nosecone a given measurement from the base. The tape was then just applied by eye:

After allowing the paint to fully dry. (I usually wait a full week for color coats), I masked the pupil in the same manner. The pupil is just gloss black.

The blood vessels are hand painted with a fine brush. Believe it or not, I used various pictures from early ESTES catalogs and MRNs in order to get the correct look: bloodshot, but not too messy.

 

[havoc821]

So you mean that you painted the tape and applied tape or did you use the tape to mask off areas. I'm kinda lost with all the numbers and stuff. Could you explain easier? I guess I could just look at the picture and go by that, but I just somewhat a little lost. Anyways great looking rocket and thanks for the help!

 

[havoc821]

So you mean that you painted the tape and applied tape or did you use the tape to mask off areas. I'm kinda lost with all the numbers and stuff. Could you explain easier? I guess I could just look at the picture and go by that, but I just somewhat a little lost. Anyways great looking rocket and thanks for the help! BTW if you have a digital camera, could you take a still pic of the rocket just standing up so I could get a good look at the eye? Thanks.

 

[havoc821]

So you mean that you painted the tape and applied tape or did you use the tape to mask off areas. I'm kinda lost with all the numbers and stuff. Could you explain easier? I guess I could just look at the picture and go by that, but I just somewhat a little lost. Anyways great looking rocket and thanks for the help! BTW if you have a digital camera, could you take a still pic of the rocket just standing up so I could get a good look at the eye? Thanks.

 

[astronboy]

Sure... I masked off the area that I wanted to stay white. In order to mask on the sharp curnes of the cone, I needed to use a thin strip of masking tape. This this tape made the nice sharp edge of the area that will be painted. In order to mask the rest of the cone, I used steadily wider strips of tape, as the curve of the cone became less. Once I was finished with the tape, I covered the base of the nosecone with a roll of paper, and taped that down as well. When I was all done, all that was exposed was the tip of the cone that I wanted to spray blue.

Here is a link to a page on my website with a clear photo of the rocket.

https://towrowrow.tripod.com/astronboy/id8.html

Let me know if I can help more!!

 

[havoc821]

Thanks, I think that's all I need.

BTW sorry about all the posts. something must have gone wrong.