Returning to the Hobby after many years - and I have questions

[rharshberger]

f

Quick question - Does the term 'Hobby Loads' include all loads that do not require a NAR/Tripoli High Power certification (High G and better motors)? That is low and mid power motors? I think I know the answer, I just want to make sure I understand the terminology.
thanks!

Mark

For the most part yes, there is ONE HPR load for the Hobbyline case though, the G138T blue thunder propellant, it requires certification because it has more than 80ns of maximum impulse.

 

[markfsanderson]

+ or - 1 second is okay on the delay usually, by then the rocket has slowed for apogee so a slightly short delay is generally okay, and if its one second longer the rocket has not picked up enough speed to cause damage after hitting apogee.

Thanks! Is the advantage of RockSim over the OpenRocket the addition of better visualization? Why buy RockSim (other than support the Hobby)? Thanks!

 

[rharshberger]

RockSim is end of life (or at least it seems to be), currently it does things that OR doesn't do though like fins on transitions (coming next OR release I have heard), Pods, and alternate methods of figuring CP than just Barrowman, it does cost $123 from Apogee (sole vendor).

OpenRocket is free, it will read .rkt files (Rocksim files), does not support spill holes in parachutes, pods, fins on transitions (though you can work around this one with a few tricks). For the most part OR will do most of what Rocksim does and NeilW was kind enough to build a packaged installer for it so its easy to install. OpenRocket is still under development and a release for next year has been strongly rumored (some of us have had a development version to play with for a while now), fyi OpenRocket versions are not sequential Ver 15.03 which is out the current one was released in March of 2015, so a release next year would be Ver 19.

 

[bjphoenix]

Thanks - I'll look at those as well. For now we'll probably keep the altitude low and the take off fun . . . Those large diameter rockets might just fit the bill!
Mark

Your 5 year old will think it is as big as he is. Has he ever seen anything other than a small black powder motor launched? A G motor is relatively loud to a little person.

 

[rharshberger]

My kids favorite rockets are the Estes Crayon rockets and the No.2 Skywriter pencil rocket, why, because they are familiar with these items in life, they fly the rockets at nearly every launch and a B6-2 is their common fodder (for the Crayons). I load them up then they carry them to to pad and I assist them placing and hooking them up. If I had know they would be as popular as they are I would have added baffles to them that way I could re-prep the parachute on the field as we recovered them, then it would just be load a motor and ignitor at the bench and back to the pads. My kids are 4, 8, and 10 years old (or will be in the next month to 4 months).

 

[markfsanderson]

Your 5 year old will think it is as big as he is. Has he ever seen anything other than a small black powder motor launched? A G motor is relatively loud to a little person.

That's a great point! We will be going to our first rocket launch next week in Hondo Texas (up to J motors) and I'll get a good idea about his response then. When we went to Wings over Houston a couple of months back he had no problem with the loud noises (and it gets loud there). We went to the monster truck rally as well, no problems with the loud noise there either. At first he didn't want to put on the over-the-ear hearing protection, but after about a minute he decided that ear protection was good . . . we were about 30 feet from the arena. I'll have some hearing protection on hand in case he needs it . . . not too worried about it yet . . .

Thanks!

Mark

 

[markfsanderson]

My kids favorite rockets are the Estes Crayon rockets and the No.2 Skywriter pencil rocket, why, because they are familiar with these items in life, they fly the rockets at nearly every launch and a B6-2 is their common fodder (for the Crayons). I load them up then they carry them to to pad and I assist them placing and hooking them up. If I had know they would be as popular as they are I would have added baffles to them that way I could re-prep the parachute on the field as we recovered them, then it would just be load a motor and ignitor at the bench and back to the pads. My kids are 4, 8, and 10 years old (or will be in the next month to 4 months).

That's a great idea . . . I had some similar thoughts where we'd buy some lower powered Estes rockets and stand;find an open field and launch . . . He's seen some videos of rocket launches and seems to be very enthusiastic . . . he has his own Traxxas RC Monster Truck which dearly loves and gives him (and the dog) hours of backyard fun!

Mark

 

[DGBrown]

If you want to stay low, check out some saucers. Art Applewhite makes some neat kits, and his Priority Stealth kit is a free download. https://www.artapplewhite.com/

I love flying mine on the G53.

 

[solid_fuel]

f

Quick question - Does the term 'Hobby Loads' include all loads that do not require a NAR/Tripoli High Power certification (High G and better motors)? That is low and mid power motors? I think I know the answer, I just want to make sure I understand the terminology.
thanks!

Mark

I took it to mean Hobby Line which would mean a load for the 29/40-120 case. There are F and G loads available for 29mm cases (the 29/60, 29/100, & 29/120 cases) that are not Hobby Line cases. These would take the 29mm high power sized delay even though they aren’t technically a high power load.

 

[rcktnut]

f

Quick question - Does the term 'Hobby Loads' include all loads that do not require a NAR/Tripoli High Power certification (High G and better motors)? That is low and mid power motors? I think I know the answer, I just want to make sure I understand the terminology.
thanks!

Mark

Hobbyline is the Aerotech brand of MPR loads. Here is the complete list of motors, the far right column designates whether HPR or not :