Stefan_Jones
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jun 8, 2005
- Messages
- 450
- Reaction score
- 2
Made two flights of a stock Oracle camera and included rocket yesterday, from a freshly plowed-up vacant field across the street. (Unsuitable for flying before last month because of the waist-high grass; probably unsuitable again a few months from now because I think it was plowed up to make way for more condos and townhouses.)
On my very first flight last weekend, all but about the first five seconds of the video were a jumble, due to the payload spinning around during descent. I snap-swivelled a kevlar cord to the nose lug so the camera would be pointing down during recovery.
First flight was very good. I used a D12-5. The boost-phase footage
was still rather short. Based on the elapsed-time counter on the Media
Player, first motion was at about 2 seconds, ejection at 7 seconds.
Maybe the counter isn't very accurate, but I believe the delay was short.
After downloading the movie to my laptop (waiting in my car nearby), I
loaded up a D12-7. Based on the rocket's arc, I believed this was a
safe bet. As it happened, the rocket was just arcing over at ejection.
Launch time was just shy of 3 seconds into the video, ejection at
about 9 seconds. Again, a short delay if the video timing was correct.
But . . . the parachute seperated from the rest of the model! (Later
inspection showed that the snap-swivel had popped open.) The camera
and rocket tumbled to the ground. Fortunately, the camera was entirely
unharmed. The rocket had a slight ding or kink in it.
The video from this flight was rather dramatic. You can see the rocket
body twisting around at the other end of the shock cord. The impact
was apparently kind of soft . . . no bounce or "jump." The video ends
with my fingers wrapping around the camera and picking it up.
My current plans are to launch once or twice more with the existing
booster, then work on a streamlined super-booster.
Stefan
On my very first flight last weekend, all but about the first five seconds of the video were a jumble, due to the payload spinning around during descent. I snap-swivelled a kevlar cord to the nose lug so the camera would be pointing down during recovery.
First flight was very good. I used a D12-5. The boost-phase footage
was still rather short. Based on the elapsed-time counter on the Media
Player, first motion was at about 2 seconds, ejection at 7 seconds.
Maybe the counter isn't very accurate, but I believe the delay was short.
After downloading the movie to my laptop (waiting in my car nearby), I
loaded up a D12-7. Based on the rocket's arc, I believed this was a
safe bet. As it happened, the rocket was just arcing over at ejection.
Launch time was just shy of 3 seconds into the video, ejection at
about 9 seconds. Again, a short delay if the video timing was correct.
But . . . the parachute seperated from the rest of the model! (Later
inspection showed that the snap-swivel had popped open.) The camera
and rocket tumbled to the ground. Fortunately, the camera was entirely
unharmed. The rocket had a slight ding or kink in it.
The video from this flight was rather dramatic. You can see the rocket
body twisting around at the other end of the shock cord. The impact
was apparently kind of soft . . . no bounce or "jump." The video ends
with my fingers wrapping around the camera and picking it up.
My current plans are to launch once or twice more with the existing
booster, then work on a streamlined super-booster.
Stefan
