How about forgetting to install the CTI Pro38 Motor into the Aluminum Casing BEFORE loading it into my Model.................
The day after my Cert Flight.......... at BONG Recreation area. VERY ROOKIE
I bet THAT is a mistake ..... a person ONLY MAKES ONCE !!
Here it is on a CTI PRO-38 H143 Smokey Sam WITHOUT the Motor Casing.............. Oops
Wow, I'm up to post #40, and this is the third or fourth time I've read that same thing. I'm amazed it's such a common mistake. The liner without the case would be a really loose fit in the motor mount, and doesn't have the thrust ring. Even without a checklist, how about just paying attention?
Probably the worst rookie mistake I have seen is not taking the advice of experienced Rocketeers at the field or, worse, actually arguing with the person that is going to do your cert.
Well... I agree, but not all advice from experienced flyers is made equal. I have a friend who took such advice - You should do it this way instead of what you've designed, analyzed, and carefully built - and in the post mortum it was exactly that change which led to the dirt dive.
So listen to advice. Take it seriously. But after many low and mid power flights, don't switch off your own good judgement.
More great assistance, thank you, gotta love TRF. It's the people people that turn a fun hobby into an obsession! I got my L1 and L2 with single deploy/motor eject rockets, and my current build is a dual deploy Darkstar 3, so this is all very helpful.
And therein lies another (avoided; well done) pitfall: thinking that HPR is fundamentally different and needs to have all the complications. You can often build a rocket with same materials and methods as many MPRs (or sometimes even LPRs) and fly it successfully on an H motor. Don't do this without due consideration of maximum forces, flight profile, etc., but also don't think of HPR as a whole new world of mystery wherein every flight must have electronic dual deployment, epoxy and fiberglass construction, etc.
@FlyBy01 I think Plugger is referring to that fact some people think JB weld is the gods of glue, and will use it on their whole model.. Like, everything! including generous fillets!!
Any why not? No, it's not the god of glues, or the glue of the gods, but it's pretty good stuff up to a point. It's what I used for my entire L1 rocket, a modified Big Daddy, with no problems at all. No, I don't use it for everything in all cases, but that time it was what I had and it worked just fine. Don't overthink things, and don't bother spending a small fortune on 17 different kinds of glue.
(OK, after writing this response to post #64 and then reading on, I see that the JBW question has been beaten to death before I arrived. But I stand by the last sentence of that paragraph.)
Well, that's enough for now. I'll move on to page four of the thread in a while.