Newbie here, and a pic of my current fleet

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Vicious

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Hi All,

My buddy Corpse turned me on to this place, lots of good reading here. I've been flying rockets for a few weeks now and love it. I thought I'd attach a picture of my current fleet if that's ok. Here's a break down from left to right.

The Rain Maker is a kit that I got off of Ebay last week and I just finished it up, it's got a 24mm "E" motor mount in it but after flying Corpse's Executioner the other day I'm thinking we'll stick a C11 in it to see how it flys and maybe end up with a D in it. I was flying my Blue Ninja with E9's the other day and lost it to the trees on the 3rd flight, I couldn't believe how way the %#&@ up there it was on an E9....LOL

The next one is a Wizard (18mm) that the clear coat is still wet on, we plan on flying it on Monday (weather permitting).

The tall one in the middle is an Aspire by Apogee, it is designed for a 29mm motor but I put an Estes 24mm mount in it since I can't find anything 29mm up here easily. We flew it on a D12 the other day and it popped a fin on landing, it flew awesome, I fixed the fin and it's gonna get an E9 stuck up it's but Monday.

The Zenith II is one that we flew last week too and it got stuck in a tree, luckily we came back and were able to rescue it later. I flew it on a B6 as a single stage at first and it went perfect. Then I stuffed C6 booster in it with another B6 and it got stuck in the tree, it's a pretty cool 2 stage rocket.

The Patriot on the right hasn't flown yet but it's a copy of Corpse's with a 24mm mount in it plugged for a D motor. His flys perfect and I expect the same out of this one.

Last week I lost a Blue Ninja on an E9, my Astra on a C6, and my Heatseeker on a C6. We've got a pretty good area to fly, but there are some trees and the lake's not very far off (my Heatseeker is in the water.

I've got a Sizzler, High Flyer, Guardian and a 3 stage Commanche in the works right now and when they're done (at least the first 3) I'm doing an Executioner with a 3 24mm cluster in it! Corpse thinks I'm nuts...LOL...He don't think it'll come back after the first triple "E" launch.

Sorry to be so long winded, I just thought I'd introduce myself and show you my current fleet.
 
Wow! Those are some fine looking birds you got there. Great job on the finishes. :)

This is the best place for rocketry information. And, the folks here are very cool and helpful. Glad to have you with us.

Regards,
Todd
 
Very nice rockets,I have an aspire too.I haven't finished it yet,but have 2 f20-7s for it. https://www.lunar.org/ are having a launch on the 24th.Some of are going if we can.........jerry
 
Originally posted by Vicious
Hi All,

Last week I lost a Blue Ninja on an E9, my Astra on a C6, and my Heatseeker on a C6. We've got a pretty good area to fly, but there are some trees and the lake's not very far off (my Heatseeker is in the water.

G'day Vicious,

Navajo and I also lost a rocket recently . It was my beloved "Guardian". :(

This was the Guardian's seventh launch and the first rocket that we had ever bought(so Navajo and I were upset when we lost it because of it's sentimental value and good looks).

rest assured we will buy another Guardian because it is such a good, solid rocket......;)

The area in which we launch some of our lower powered rockets is a large football oval surrounded by a few trees and rows of houses.

We did the launch in the evening and actually took some pictures with a digital camera for the first time. The pictures hav'nt turned out too well but here they are......

The first pic is the Guardian sitting on the portapad ready to launch. The second pic is the trailing smoke of the Guardian. The third pic is the Guardian's last sighting as it flaoted away in to the distance.

P.S: I miss my Guardian already.......:rolleyes:
 
Sorry to hear about your Guardian, Blackbird. Remember, the Rocketry Gods demand regular sacrifices, and once they've got one of your birds in their sights, its done for!

Either that, or the UK TV good taste gods took revenge for Neighbours & Prisoner Cell Block H! ;)

Welcome, Vicious. Good looking fleet there. :)
 
Greetngs, Vicious!

Welcome to TRF. You're going to like it here and you're starting off on the right foot with a picture in your very first post! :)

Stick around, get involved, have some fun
jim
 
Hi Vicious,
Nice rockets, looks like a page from a cataloge:cool: I've got an old Wizard (several years which is old by rockect standards in the heavily forested North East). The thing is a cat with a thousand lives. I tried my darndest to loose it at the last Cub Scout launch and almost did but we found it in the middle of the access road to the launch field (along way from home). Just last week it ended up in a small tree. I got it back but not with out falling several feet on my back into the snow. I'm getting too old to climb trees!

Welcome to the forum. This is by far and away the friendliest and most unassuming place on the internet. The folks here are the best:D
 
Welcome

Those are great looking rockets. Do feel like you get long wind as I think we all do at times.
 
Vicious,

Welcome to the fray! This place is like a second home w/o the bad uncle! There are bunches of great people here. Come to think of it, we may have some crazy uncles here and there. But the good kind of crazy...

Very nice fleet!! It looks like you are a painter extraordnaire!!

I'm just finishing my on Guardian and can't wait to fly it.

OBTW, you started out perfect by posting a pic. TRFers love pictures!!

Welcome!!!

bmhiii
 
I must say, I like that Rainmaker!

I've always thought about picking one up, but I lack imagination and always paint my rockets the way they are drawn up by the manufacturer. I never liked the stock color scheme well enough. The simple red-on-white that you've done has a certain *snap* to it! It looks a LOT better!

Anyway, I suggest a swing test on that baby with an E9 installed before you launch it with one - just in case.

Welcome aboard!
 
Thanks for all of the compliments, this place is friendly....not many friendly forums left on the internet.

Fore Check, please excuse my ignorance, but I don't understand what you mean by a "swing test". I've just been slappin 'em together and shooting them off without much thought beforehand.

I just witnessed my first "E" launches the other day with Corpse's Executioner and my Blue Ninja, after seeing the power of an "E" motor I didn't think that stuffing one in my Rain Maker was a very good idea. But if you've got a way for it to come home then I'm game....LOL.

Thanks, Butch
 
Vicious:

by a swing test, I mean prepare the rocket for flight. Put the chute, wadding, and engine all in and ready to go. In this case, load it up with an "E" engine.

Then, lay the rocket on it's side and find the balance point. You know, like a teeter-totter. The balance point will *probably* be right around the top of your rearmost fins where they attach to the body tube (give or take an inch or two).

Then, tie a loop of string around the rocket at the balance point, leaving about 10' or so of string for you to swing it with.

Then, go outside (where you will be clear of obstructions) and hold the string by the end furthest from the rocket (about 10' or so) and swing it around in flat, horizontal circle. If the rocket "flies" straight under your swing test, you should have a nice stable flight. If it wobbles, or if it flips around so that fling "stable" the back of the rocket is pointed "forward", you *not* have a stable flight with your "E" engine installed - it will come off the pad a lot like a bottle rocket with the stick removed (this is not good!)

The purpose of the swing test is to verify stability of your rocket. The Rainmaker, being originally designed for standard A through C engines, flys stable in that configuration. Changing to an "E" engine will transfer the center of gravity of your model quite a bit towards the rear (vs. original design) because of the significantly greater weight of an "E" engine vs. a "C". Without getting into the long discussion of rocket stability, this could cause your rocket to become unstable (depending on the location of the center of pressure of the design.)

For simplicity, I'd do the swing test. If it seems to "fly" straight, you're good to go. If not, you will need to start adding nose weight (to the very front of the rocket) to move the balance point (as described above) - or center of gravity - forward and keep swing testing until it "flies" straight. Remember to move the attachment point of your loop of string forward on your rocket as you move the center of gravity!
 
Awesome info man! Thank you very much, I'll give that a try later today.

Thanks, Butch
 
Nice looking fleet Vicious. I will echo the welcome on TRF and that's a nice fleet you've got there. No doubt it will be growing! If you load up more than an 'A' in that Wizard, you may not get it back! My first one got stuck in a tree and that was an 'A' flight, but the darn thing went near out of sight on an A8! The Aspire flies great on F21's. Oh yeah, did you leave off the payloader section of the Zenith II or does Quest make a payload section for that rocket anymore? I have an old MPC version of that rocket, and here's a picture of her in the early 1970's MPC paint scheme.
 
Nice fleet. It appears you take care in detailing your rockets. Nice collection thus far. Welcome to TRF!
 
hay Vicious
i think you need to place a new fleet pic.
LOL
add some of them nice tree pics.

but dont tell them about all my brakeage

or about the IRON MAIDEN lawn dart .

still was a good day to fly
 
LOL...the Iron Maiden lawn dart was pretty cool! It went about 150 feet up then came straight down under power, it stuck itself into the ground and then blew up when the ejection charge went off! Glad noone was close to it went it popped.

I lost 3 out of 5 of my fleet today, the Wizard is in a tree and recoverable with a long enough pole though. My Zenith II flew great as a single stage but when I flew it as a 2 stage it took off at about a 45 degree angle and was long gone after the 2nd stage hit...I think some nose weight would be in order to run 2 stages.

The Rain Maker on a C11 went straight as an arrow and went an easy 1200', it came down nice and all seemed cool except it split one of the top fins in half, I retired it for the day but it should repair easily.

The Patriot on a D12 flys awesome, it goes about 1500' straight up, it came down in a tree but we were able to rescue it....we flew it about 4 times and it came home undamaged.

The Aspire was a whole 'nuther story, I flew it on a D12 first and it went straight up and came down nice on a streamer so I loaded it up with an E9. It went at least a half mile straight up (maybe 3000') and came down nice again on a streamer. That launch was so cool that I loaded it up again with an E9, this time it went way the hell up there again but this time it blew the nose and streamer away from the rocket. The nose and streamer came down in a tree and the rocket came down from about a half mile up without anything to help slow it down except the ground. It's hurt pretty bad, I'm thinking I might just get another one rather than fix this one.

So I left with 5 and came home with 1 broken, 1 slightly wounded, one unhurt, one lost for good and I think I can get the Wizard back next time out.

All in all it was a fun day, we made a bunch of launches and everyone had fun, Corpse's Executioner flys soooo nice on an E9, I can't wait until we get the cluster going.

I attached a pic of the broken rainmaker fin, I'm thinking of stripping them all off and flying it without.

Butch
 
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