Initiator001
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I am on my way to NSL West 2024.
I hope to see some of you there.
I hope to see some of you there.
NSL West 2024
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Sharon and I will be there, back row next to Matt and Steve. We will have our AZ flag and tie-dyed streamer up if the wind isn’t too strong.
DabCat
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Leaving just now as well. Excited to see everyone and meet some forum members I've never met before. I'll be hanging out over at Bryce's camp most likely.
Have fun folks. We just got back from the tARC finals (with more of the customary fun with a connection in Denver) and so won't be driving back out that way this year. We're headed to New Mexico next month (my 50-year HS reunion) then will drive to NARAM in August. See you there.
We’re at the launch. The wind was too strong, broke our flagpole, still on the back row if anyone wants to stop by.
Initiator001
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I arrived in Alamosa today (Friday) and drove out to the launch site. It's the same one as has been used in the past.
It was a little windy.
Wind was out of the West at a steady 4-5 MPH with regular gusts to 7-9 MPH.
All the GSE and other items (Tents, porta-potties) were in place. Many folks had trailers and RVs.
As long as the wind doesn't get any worse there will be flying this weekend!
It was a little windy.
Wind was out of the West at a steady 4-5 MPH with regular gusts to 7-9 MPH.
All the GSE and other items (Tents, porta-potties) were in place. Many folks had trailers and RVs.
As long as the wind doesn't get any worse there will be flying this weekend!
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Got into Alamosa this evening. I'll be on vendor row with a modest selection of FR3 stuff on the field (chutes, Nomex).
Got a special project coming up? Stop by and let's chat about patterns, colors, and sizes for a custom chute.
Steve
Got a special project coming up? Stop by and let's chat about patterns, colors, and sizes for a custom chute.
Steve
After taking longer than I wanted for rocket prep yesterday, I got out to my hotel (Baymont in Monte Vista) after dark last night. I’ll see if I can set up a spot in vendor row early this morning. My plan this weekend is to be flying and recovering rockets first thing in the morning, then be available for Featherweight customer service in the afternoons, and then prep my next flights at my hotel in the evening.
This year I am bringing rockets and motors that could set up to 5 different altitude records, though I don’t expect to make that many attempts. I’m starting with a J single stage attempt first thing this morning if it’s calm enough, and then probably a J 2-stage tomorrow and G single stage on Monday when it’s predicted to be calmest. Depending on how my J1026 flight goes this morning, I may fly a K627 tomorrow also, and possibly a K 2-stage attempt Monday.
I'm volunteering registration Sunday 2-4 and 2nd RSO Monday 10-12.
See you on the range!
This year I am bringing rockets and motors that could set up to 5 different altitude records, though I don’t expect to make that many attempts. I’m starting with a J single stage attempt first thing this morning if it’s calm enough, and then probably a J 2-stage tomorrow and G single stage on Monday when it’s predicted to be calmest. Depending on how my J1026 flight goes this morning, I may fly a K627 tomorrow also, and possibly a K 2-stage attempt Monday.
I'm volunteering registration Sunday 2-4 and 2nd RSO Monday 10-12.
See you on the range!
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The wind came up at 7:30 instead of 8:30, so no flights for me today. Just about everyone is waiting for tomorrow.
Got up early this morning and prepped "Drago". Sims to 6400 ft. on an AT K850 Dark Matter.
At 7:30 I loaded this 4" rocket with winds between 15 and 20 mph. After the safety meeting, Dennis opened the range and gave Bryce C. the go ahead. Perfect boost to 6288 ft. and the Featherweight GPS tracked it to the Northeast where it landed near the gate to the Southway gravel pit. Sharon got a picture and a video of me snagging the Recon chute and stowing it back in the payload tube:
Sorry about the big pictures, Sharons phone saves them that way.
I talked to one other flier that got one off after me, but today is a blow out. They called the launch around 10:30 and most everyone has left or is hiding from the wind here:
I think Drago has earned a new paint job after being drug through the field. I did some minor repair to the top of the fincan, and untangled the recovery. Prepped the avbay and repacked the main chute:
Really rocking and rolling here in the toy hauler, hoping tomorrow will be better. We have lots of rockets to fly if it is...
At 7:30 I loaded this 4" rocket with winds between 15 and 20 mph. After the safety meeting, Dennis opened the range and gave Bryce C. the go ahead. Perfect boost to 6288 ft. and the Featherweight GPS tracked it to the Northeast where it landed near the gate to the Southway gravel pit. Sharon got a picture and a video of me snagging the Recon chute and stowing it back in the payload tube:
Sorry about the big pictures, Sharons phone saves them that way.
I talked to one other flier that got one off after me, but today is a blow out. They called the launch around 10:30 and most everyone has left or is hiding from the wind here:
I think Drago has earned a new paint job after being drug through the field. I did some minor repair to the top of the fincan, and untangled the recovery. Prepped the avbay and repacked the main chute:
Really rocking and rolling here in the toy hauler, hoping tomorrow will be better. We have lots of rockets to fly if it is...
Did you lose a chunk of fin on that flight?
No, just some scratches and dirt. It's ready for NCR's "Mile High Mayhem" next weekend.
Fortunately, Drago found a rock to eat, which stopped it from dragging into Alamosa:
Fortunately, Drago found a rock to eat, which stopped it from dragging into Alamosa:
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Yeah, the wind definitely put a damper on the flights. Still, lots of fun talking with rocketry folks today!
These stories are making me feel a little better about not making the effort to come, but still missing seeing some of these flights and visiting with folks.
Initiator001
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Yes, too windy today.
I decided to do some shopping instead.
I decided to do some shopping instead.
Does anyone at NSL have with them a Loki 38mm size 25 nozzle I could borrow for a flight tomorrow or Monday? Sadly, I accidentally left my little box of nozzles at home. This would be for flying the K627 as a single-stage K record attempt, after flying the rocket tomorrow with the same case on a J1026 (which uses a #28 nozzle, which I have)
Never mind. Nosecone jammed at an apogee over 26,000 feet.
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Shovel recovery, or did pulling out work?
Pulling it out worked. The nozzle and the back end of the airframe and the chute are salvageable. Which is good, because I need the chute and the nozzle for my 2-stage flight tomorrow.
Sorry About the bad luck, Adrian.
Did the charge fully burn? 26k AGL when ground level is 8k ASL makes the air at apogee super thin.
Hoping for better luck with your planned two-stage flight tomorrow!
The charge is contained within a .25" ID steel piston, and the ematch fires downward into the powder, so there's really nowhere for the powder to go until the nosecone moves over an inch. The inside of the piston has grey soot like it does after the ground tests.
Steve Lubliner and I did a post-mortem on the remains, and our best theory is that the nosecone just got wedged onto the tightly-packed harness. The space around the nosecone ejection piston is completely full of reefed harness, and there is unavoidably some uncontrolled slack that has to go somewhere unknown when the nosecone is moved into final position. When everything is right, the top edge of the 29mm chute cannon is in contact with the inner surface of the cone, and the end of the nosecone ejection piston is in contact with the harness attachment hardware that is cast into the tip. But if some harness got trapped between the edge of the chute cannon and the cone, it could have really wedged the cone into place during the 120G boost. The lower edge of the cone was unsupported because it slips over the motor case, and the aft airframe is just friction fit onto the middle of the case.
The sustainer I'm going to use tomorrow was an earlier iteration of the same chute cannon concept. Last night I tried and failed to prep it with a high-performance slender nosecone, again because of this harness jamming problem, even though I flew it successfully a couple of weeks ago. For tomorrow's shot I'm not going to use that nosecone, but use a more conventional cone that isn't a custom long L/D layup but is instead a normal commercial 5:1 VK cone that is extended on the bottom with some commercial FG tubing. I think the supersonic drag performance won't be as good, but this cone has the full 1.5" diameter cylinder over the whole overlap with the chute cannon, so when I put that cone on, there are no points of contact except the coupler section of the aft airframe. This nosecone goes on easily and had very vigorous ejection during a ground test I did this afternoon. This sustainer has the nosecone slipping onto a section of coupler tube that is glued into the lower airframe, and so the bottom edge of the nosecone has a solid stop.
I'm confident that I won't have the same problem I had this morning, and hopefully I can avoid the other potential problems too.
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Yeah, I can see that.
It just so happened that my wife and I both caught a cold or something right after coming back from the tARC finals and we didn't even get to go hang out with some local rocket folks up at Sixty Acres today, so again I'm glad we didn't make the drive this year, in spite of missing some good stuff.
It just so happened that my wife and I both caught a cold or something right after coming back from the tARC finals and we didn't even get to go hang out with some local rocket folks up at Sixty Acres today, so again I'm glad we didn't make the drive this year, in spite of missing some good stuff.
BayouRat
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I had a great time at NSL West! Great to see you all there!
terryg
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So, do we know where NSLW 2025 will be at yet?
Read it on their facebook page.
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Something to plan for. Start building and testing now...
Unfortunately it will again be up against the TXSO, so I won't be going.
I'd like to get up to Alamosa sometime for some other launch though.
+1 to both ...Unfortunately it will again be up against the TXSO, so I won't be going.
I'd like to get up to Alamosa sometime for some other launch though.
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