LPR/MPR Payloads?

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TangoJuliet

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I'm not a HPR flyer, so I don't have any need for E-Bays for D/D, but I'm building an Estes Ventris and other than my JL Alt2, I'm looking for payload ideas. Seems to me that a rocket with a payload bay ought to have some kind of payload, right? :wink:

So, what kind of payloads do you fly in your LPR/MPR payload rockets?
 
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I have made a payload using some bt55 and papered balsa bulkheads (also dry sand) for a rocket designed to fly only with a payload(30g of cheese), payload was for test flights. then of course there is always the 'astronaught simulator' aka an egg. there are likely other things that can be used.
Rex
 
Oh yeah, I forgot about the 'astronaut simulator'! Lol!
And the Ventris could be modified for two, even three of them, though they would surely need to be wearing their 'protective environmental space suits' (Zip-Loc), just in case there were some kind of incident.
 
You could probably stick 4 808 cameras in there for 360 viewing if you cut down the shoulders.
Or a small gopro on a G80.
 
Seems to me that a rocket with a payload bay ought to have some kind of payload, right? :wink:

Sez hoo? There's a ton of kits out there that Estes & Centuri did that have payload sections that served little or no purpose at all. Although the suggestion of putting something in there was usually mentioned. I have a lot of designs with payload sections that serve only as an aesthetic. And excuse to install a transition, to avoid that usual bland look so many rockets have anymore. ( 3-4 FNC comes to mind ) Some of the cooler looking designs had a payload section that only served as giving the model some personality. Or representing a crew module/section of sorts. ( Astron Trident comes to mind ) Go take your daily vitamin dose and rethink the matter just a little. :wink:
 
I'm not arguing that at all. I completely agree that many of the Estes/Centuri designs with "payload" sections were only cosmetic and truly useless. I just figured with the Ventris being bigger, it would be nice to actually use the payload bay for something. I have a Sony Action Cam (AS-15) that I might be able to finagle into it somehow. We'll see :wink:.
 
So, what kind of payloads do you fly in your LPR/MPR payload rockets?

Then I suppose, to answer your question correctly, would be, nothing. Although, when LW and I were kids, he flew a honeybee in his Xray. And I believe I had a bumblebee in my Constellation. Other than that, just air. I'm like you, I don't do HPR either and have no need for electronics. I did consider a camera once. One of those key chain fob jobs most people taped to the airframe. Unfortunately, it was a piece of junk and never left the ground. I suppose, if I were to use the payload for something, an internal camera of sorts would be the way I'd go. But I've seen 10's of dozens of those anymore, and they all look the same. Mine would look no different so I prolly wouldn't bother.
 
I keep mulling around an idea to build some sort of cradle for my Action Cam (outside of its waterproof case) where when it's installed in the rocket would look down/aft during ascent, then at apogee/ejection it would transition to horizontal, under canopy (still attached to the rocket) to shoot the horizon as it descends. I'm not sure I want to mess with my Ventris for that, but it may warrant buying another one for that purpose if I can find one for decent money.
 
I'm not sure I want to mess with my Ventris for that, but it may warrant buying another one for that purpose if I can find one for decent money.

Build your own camera totin' rocket. Scratch builds are way cheaper if you buy your parts smartly.
 
Scratch building is not out of the question, though something like the Ventris is already almost ideal for such a payload in the MPR range.
 
I remember buying a bunch of those little parachute men, but they wend in the BT, on top of the parachute, not in the payload bay.

I must admit, I too had a few of the "payload section" kits, but never used them for anything.. Never found or thought of anything interesting to put in them..
 
Unless you don't cut the shoulders. Then you're stuck with what....1/2 an inch of space?

I was about to say the same thing. The payload bay in the Ventris is surprisingly small unless you cut an opening in the nosecone and/or transition.
 
I was about to say the same thing. The payload bay in the Ventris is surprisingly small unless you cut an opening in the nosecone and/or transition.

Don't get me wrong, its totally doable. If you're going to go through the effort of installing a payload, then modifications shouldn't be too onerous.

I'm going to start a ventris with a stratologger in the transition to practice main deployment. To fit the chute, I have to cut down the shoulders, rivet(!) the aft end of the tube, and will likely put a couple shear pins with brass strips in the fore.
 
It's actually like 2", but yeah, not much considering its external appearance (a lot like the inside of a B-52 really). I already planned to cut the shoulders off of the NC and Transition.
 
Keychain cameras are pretty easy to do and they usually work ok.

Although it's just as easy to tape them to the outside of the rocket than to install them in an interior payload section.

Altimeters are fun even if you are not in competition, to have some kind of half-accurate idea of how high the rocket went.
 
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