Mid Power Rail system

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I use a 6ft 1010 by 80/20 rail and I love it because you cant blame a bad flight on rod whip:D
 
Buttons are easy to get at railbuttons.com that every rocket gets one now...well almost all of them. :D
 
Originally posted by Bowhunter
Do you prefrer a rail for mid power?

Mid-power = < 3.3 lbs and < H power. I don't see any need at this point. At 3.5 lbs, on a G80, my Mirage flew fine from a 1/4" rod.

If what's good enough is, what's better isn't really.
 
At our club launch, lines form to the left for the very popular 1/4" rods, no waiting on the rails... ;)
 
Originally posted by DynaSoar
Mid-power = < 3.3 lbs and < H power. I don't see any need at this point. At 3.5 lbs, on a G80, my Mirage flew fine from a 1/4" rod.

If what's good enough is, what's better isn't really.

Rails aren't so much about being a weight issue as much as it is a consistency issue. A rail allows the rocket to remain still on the pad. Wind gusts won't have a rocket flopping all over the pad, possibly pulling out the ignitor like what can happen with one on a rod. Rails also only come in 2 sizes, but for mid & most high power, you'll only need the smaller "standard" rail unlike that arsenal of rods for all your different sized rockets with lugs. Another benefit is that you'll never see a rail guided rocket bind up on liftoff. The "fudge factor" is much greater (in a more tolerant) way than having crooked lugs are.

Just the $0.02 of a rail lover... HTH,
 
I love rails, mainly for the reasons that lalligood described. I also like them because the button look really cool, and aren't as ugly as lugs. On most every rocket I have at E or over power, it has buttons.

Did I mention they're also really cheap? :D

I'm still traditional for my LPR rockets though. Lugs all the way on those, unless I deem it necessary to use the rail.

Jason
 
All my newer models get rail lugs. I don't use a standard rail for low/mid power - it is an aluminium curtain rail which has loose fitting sliders. Almost no friction and the 'buttons' are rectangular with very low frontal area - and epoxy TTW mounting option as standard - no screws required. HPR uses a standard rail.

By next season I expect I will not use rods at all.
 
I have been using buttons on my hpr, mpr and even larger lpr rockets for some time. Thank you railbuttons.com :) I think I was one of the first customers.

Same reasons as above. Stability (on the ground and while on the rail, that is - they will hold that Mean Machine still in the wind), less lines (except at the first TRF meet, we TRFers must know a good thing when we see it), they are cheap enough, etc. Despite using them on most larger rockets, I have to admit that I almost always use a conventional lug too, just in case the rails are used and I don't wang to wait a round.
 
I built a rail pad this spring and intend to use it for everything from large LPR on up. It is just more stable than a rod, and a lot stiffer than a rod of the same length.
 
I use a rail for most everything except questes stuff. My PVC rail pad has seen everything from E's up to an I218. Even a J570, once, before I rebuilt it.

I had a LOOOONG walk, for an AT Warthog with an F20 one time, due to rod whip. That was enough to convince me the 30 dollar investment for a rail was well worth it!!
 
every thing in our fleet gets buttons - all the way down to the Estes Cluster Bomb.

The only rockets we have that use a rod are Mars Lander and Outlander - just could not figure out an way to mount buttons on them.

Rails look better too:D
 
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