Quest Icarus with mosquito boosters:)

[pdooley]

Did I mention I'm not too crazy about the Quest Icarus?
Well, as it turns out, I had 2 of the kits laying around.
1 got bashed into a 13mm motor with Preator influence, the other was built stock.

After a couple average flights, I have decided to give the stocker a little boost.

So, would this be considered parallel staging or clustering?

 

[pdooley]

a full shot..

 

[BlueNinja]

I think it depends on the burn times and whether the boosters come off. If the burn time on the boosters is shorter than the sustainer and they fall off, I think it would be considered staging otherwise it would be a cluster.

 

[jetra2]

Originally posted by pdooley
So, would this be considered parallel staging or clustering?

Both, sorta, but since the boosters stay attached, it would be clustering.

Cool design - looks pretty neat!

Jason

 

[Karl]

V Nice rocket indeed , the Quest Icarus , must try that one day , looks fantastic with that mod! Well done!
-Karl

 

[pdooley]

Thanks for the kind replies guys


One thing I just thought of:
If the central motor doesn't light,
lawn dart!!

 

[Karl]

Well if your making a cluster like that , you should realy make sure that if the main motor doesent light , the others motors have enough thrust to take it to a safe height and deploy properley.
-Karl

 

[pdooley]

Karl-
The problem is the booster tubes are not vented into the main airframe.
The booster motors simply blow out the back when the ejection charges fire.

 

[Karl]

Originally posted by pdooley
Karl-
The problem is the booster tubes are not vented into the main airframe.
The booster motors simply blow out the back when the ejection charges fire.

Im sure the main will light , you could wire all 3motors up with QuickMatch (if its legal there) , and that will give a reliable igniton.
Ohh btw , is that 3 18mm motors ?
-Karl

 

[pdooley]

you could wire all 3motors up with QuickMatch (if its legal there)

Pardon my ignorance, but whats a quickmatch?

The roc has 18mm main with 13mm boosters.
The boosters would be A10's, which would put out more thrust than a B6 or C6.

I don't know if that would cause the center to light slower.
Probably not.

 

[Elbmod]

Go fly the bird.....

Do you envisage problms with asymmetric thrust since there are only 2 outboards with a three fin pattern?

 

[Karl]

Originally posted by pdooley
Pardon my ignorance, but whats a quickmatch?

The roc has 18mm main with 13mm boosters.
The boosters would be A10's, which would put out more thrust than a B6 or C6.

I don't know if that would cause the center to light slower.
Probably not.

Im sure you can get it over there , its's a very fast burning fuse ( about 250ft per sec ) . Just wire all your motors up with the same legnth of QM , tape an ignitor to the end of the quick match , then all of the motors should light at the same time . Hmmmm 13mm motors have quite a nasty ejection charge , it might blow the nosecone of your boosters and if the noscone wont budge it make blow the tube up. You should realy use the 1/2 A motors that havnt got a delay or ejection ( If you can get them , I know there aint any over here )
-Karl

 

[pdooley]

Do you envisage problms with asymmetric thrust since there are only 2 outboards with a three fin pattern?

I only think happy thoughts

I was thinking should be ok since the thrust is in the same plane, much like a large diameter rocket with linear clustered motors.

 

[pdooley]

Hmmmm 13mm motors have quite a nasty ejection charge , it might blow the nosecone of your boosters

I plan on running the motors just tight enough to fit in the tube without falling out.
The path of least resistance should be blowing out the back.

I'll let you know tomorrow!

 

[n3tjm]

Originally posted by pdooley
The boosters would be A10's, which would put out more thrust than a B6 or C6.

Actually, they wouldn't. An Estes A10 actually should be called the A2. The reason why Estes calls it a A10? because it produces a high initial burst of thrust (~13N) but after .2 seconds, the thrust stays well below 2 newtons, and stays there for over a half second. The B6 and C6 has a inital thrust spike over 12 N for the B, and 14 N for the C, then the sustainer hangs around 4 newtons till the end of the burn.

 

[pdooley]

Understood.
The number in the motor designation is the initial thrust, which occurs right when my sustainer needs to light

Oh, ok. The B/C spikes higher. That's cool.
I wonder why they aren't called B-12's/C-12's

 

[n3tjm]

The number after the letter should be the average thrust... but in some cases the manufacture request the motors to be marked as one thing, even though they are another... Estes marks the A10 as an A10 to emphasize its higher kick of thrust compaired to the A3 (6N max).

Aerotech does this all the time too..

The J350 for example... it really is a J444.

 

[pdooley]

Question- How does the 13mm A motor compare to 18mm A?
The 18mm A looks pretty empty, the 13mm is filled to the top.

Looks like they have about the same amount of propellant.
Do they have same impluse?

 

[n3tjm]

In the case of the Estes 13mm versus 18mm A motors, I believe their total impulse are the same. I have to check that up... Anyway, the reason why the 13mm is filled to the top is because of the smaller diameter tube... volume.

 

[Karl]

Yeh I agree! The Estes A8's have a big burst of thrust at the begining and thats it , the coast fase does the rest. But on the other hand you have the A10 , which can put a rocket up to 200ft , where as the A8 can only do about 100-150ft.!
-Karl

 

[eugenefl]

Pat flew his clustered Icarus today. I must say, it was absolutely awesome! What a great way to add a little smoke 'n flame to an already slick rocket! See attached launch pic.

 

[pdooley]

Great picture Eugene!
That rocket seemed to be a crowd pleaser.
Thanks again for lending me your clip whip

 

[Karl]

Pdooley , well done ! That flight looks awesome! How did your boosters go ? Good pic btw
-Karl

 

[pdooley]

Booster motors popped out the back, we could see 2 small poofs of smoke.
The C6-7 in the sustainer was at burnout or ejection phase, I don't recall.
No damage to the tubes or NC's.

 

[eugenefl]

Originally posted by pdooley
Great picture Eugene!
That rocket seemed to be a crowd pleaser.
Thanks again for lending me your clip whip

Thanks! Yeah, if you look at the high resolution version you can see the mini-A's fire a little better. No problem on the whip clip - anytime.

I was telling Pat that if these were strap boosters they would have separated from the main rocket a tad early and come down under streamer recovery. What's cool about that is that they simulate a NASA type rocket. It's cool to see boosters peel away while the main continues travelling upwards. It's a very realistic effect!