New Year's Eve launch

[adrian]

I spent the Christmas / New Year vacation visiting my parents, and as there's a field within (admittedly fairly long) walking distance which is suitable for rocket flying, I took some rockets to fly.

Flight 1: Fred. This is the sustainer from Fred'n'George, whose conversion from a Fliskits Freedom Forge is covered here. A10-3T. Seriously underpowered due to being fat and heavy, it went up, went down, and ejected just in time to avoid crashing. This was expected; the purpose of this flight was to check that Fred is actually stable. It is.

 

[adrian]

Flight 2: Feuerlilie F25. Based on the plans on luft46.com.
B6-4. As usual, went up in a straight line, but rolled. The parachute ejected where it was supposed to, but took its time to open fully. Which suited me - it meant I didn't have to walk as far to retrieve the rocket.

(Hmm... I can view all the other attachments but this one won't load. So you can also see the picture here.)

 

[adrian]

Flight 3: Fred'n'George. Booster George was loaded, sustainer Fred was reloaded, for a full power flight.
C6-0, A3-4T. The boost phase was fine, separation was fine, sustainer ignition didn't happen.

 

[adrian]

Fortunately, the ground was very soft because there had previously been a good snowfall which had thawed. So Fred suffered no damage apart from a muddy nose.

 

[adrian]

Meanwhile George had landed perfectly using a Nomex streamer.

Fred obviously separated before its motor could ignite. I'll enlarge the vent holes in George to try to prevent that happening again, and may fit a stuffer tube. (I know it's possible to ignite a 13mm sustainer motor from an 18mm booster because I've already done it, several times simultaneously, in MIRV Gatling. )