Personal Launch Report - SCRA 2013-09-22

[gdjsky01]

Seemed like a fine day to launch some rocket by a dam site... :lol: Temps were mild most of the morning. Probably started around 22C, calm, and partly cloudy and rose during the morning to perhaps 26C with some breeze but nothing too wild. I arrived about 8:20am having left about 7:30.

Shreadvector launched his Booster-55 and Red <something er another> ETX two stage on a D to C. Last week one of those went completely arse over tea kettle, but today it flew just fine. Although the rod angle did find the sustainer heading way out towards the dam. But it was found and recovered eventually.

I am afraid all I have is a rod picture and a cutoff up, but as you can see, clearly, it's head upwards. Apologies to Estes I guess... :confused2:

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[gdjsky01]

I setup my Saturn's Wild, a flis Deuces Wild i bought pre-built off of eBay. I gave some Saturn V themed decals.

All set to go on two Quest B6-4s

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Wheeee!

Chute deployment was fine (tho the quest charges are really really weak). The altimeter said all that smoke and noise was for 270 feet (82m) or so. :lol:

 

[gdjsky01]

I setup my E-Limination E. This rocket is made from a bunch of parts that I had accumulated. It's designed to carry an altimeter and "E-liminate" them or... BE E - Liminated :lol:

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Estes E12-6s made during the first run that seem to have some hit or miss properties to them. :wink:

However mine have been fine. Either way, we get a good show right? So I placed the Estes Altimeter in to the payload section and let her fly.

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Nope. Flew just fine to an Estes Altimeter recorded 994 feet (300m). Recovery was nominal on an 18 inch nylon chute.

 

[gdjsky01]

Thanks to my friend I was able to score a pair of Estes F15-6's. So I had prepped the Quest High-Q in anticipation.

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They are fun motors! Worked just fine and gave the High-Q a nice long boost on up to 1190' (362m).

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Delay was just about perfect and recovery was nominal under a 24 inch nylon chute.

 

[gdjsky01]

I flew the first flight of my recently completed Sprint-XL.

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Flew just grand on a C11-7. I think the delay was a bit too long for the angle of the rod, but had it been a bit more vertical the -7 would have been perfect. Either way all's well that ends well at 710 feet or 216 meters.

In this picture you can see the white plastic starter cap near and its shadow on, the nose. Bounced real good! :wink:

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[gdjsky01]

Finally I flew my old beat up Farside-X clone. Probably end of life'd it. It flew on B6/B6/B6-6 combo. I flew it off the 4 foot 1/16th rod to give it some extra time to stabilize.

Everything almost went perfect but I had the 1 stage stick to the second and therefore the second stage motor burned up the inside of the third stage as well as losing thrust. So the sustain was still going slow when it lit and tipped off at a very shallow upwards angle. The chute still did have time to deploy and was recovered fine. The altimeter read out 264 feet. A whole lot-a motors for not a whole lot-a height. :lol:

The insides were already pretty beat up... now they are even worse... time to build a new 18/18 two stager and maybe a 24/18/18. The first pictures I have of it launching are 2003. So a nice long lifespan.

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[gdjsky01]

My entire album is on flickr as usual here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffgortatowsky/sets/72157635779618753/

Some interesting photos of other rockets in there. I like Ross Iwamoto's Satellite Intercept. It was VERY well built and finished.

Anyway... enjoy!

 

[kelltym88]

Nice report and pics, thanks. Someday I'll get out there...... someday.

 

[qquake2k]

Dang, Jeff, you always get the best photos! Nice report!