Should have quit while I was ahead...

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Launch Lug

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So I took advantage of a beautiful evening with next to no wind conditions to take my Stonebreaker scratcher out for her maiden flight(s). Started off by flying a small 13mm rocket to verify wind gust and direction, hardly any at all resulting in a landing practically on top of the launch area. So next was to FINALLY fly my new rocket. I was excited and nervous all at the same time. I had previously inquired as to whether flying this rocket on a C11-3 for a first flight would be a good idea as the rocket came in a little heavy. I was told it should be just fine so that's what I did. I sent her up for the first time with what was to be a perfect flight. Launch, straight flight, perfect chute deployment and a soft landing not too far from launch site. Sent her up for a second time on the same size engine and perfect flight again. At this time I was real pumped. Sunset was approaching at this point and I thought to myself I should just pack it up and call it a successful day. In hind sight that's what I should have done. I had a D12-5 in my box that was just calling out to me. Should I do it or should I just go home now? What to do what to do. I thought to myself "I already had two perfect flights and I don't know when I'll get the chance for a day like this with next to no wind." You guessed it, in went the D12-5. I decided to compensate for the ever so slight wind. This is where a chain of horrifying events began to unravel. You see I was using a makeshift launch pad out of a short length of 2x6 lumber with my 4 foot 3/16" launch rod sticking out of it. Now pointing straight up in the air this worked just fine but as I was to soon find out angling it was not such a good idea. As soon as the engine ignited the thrust caused the unstable pad to tilt and whip the rod ever so slightly causing the rocket to launch itself in a very horizontal fashion. OH CRAP! A rocket reaching only about a 1/4 of its apogee height with a 5 second delay, this cant be good. I thought for sure it was a goner but kept my fingers crossed waiting for the chute to deploy........ Poof! Out comes the chute, YES! It will be just fine.... wait, the chutes not opening up, the rocket is falling rapidly directly over a busy street.... Crack! I hear it hit the pavement. I run about the length of a football field over to where it landed in hopes of salvaging the remains before a car finished it off. There she lay but surprisingly not completely destroyed as I had envisioned. The only damage was a slightly crumpled frame just above the fin section. Only other damage was one of the shroud lines ripped off the chute which is an easy fix and a small ding in NC shoulder. I really think it will fly just fine the way it is, look at the pictures and tell me what your your opinion is (the damage is located right where the top centering ring of the motor mount so I don't think I can successfully do a body splice). For some reason, perhaps having to do with the direction of the rocket at deployment, the lines got hung up on the launch lug and the shock cord got tangled up as well. The part that sucks about all of it was where it actually landed. As you can see in the picture it landed literally 2 feet away from the grass. Even with the chute not opening it would have been just fine had it landed in the grass, oh well.

Even with the disappointing last flight of the night which resulted in a slightly damaged brand new rocket, I still had a blast and am excited to go back out and launch it again. Of course next time I will have an appropriately stable launch pad. :wink:

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If you're CAREFUL...you might be be able to use expanding foam to pop out and strengthen the crumpled area. Just go easy as it's a fine line between enough and popping it open like a watermelon :wink:
 
I don't know what I was thinking, I have TTW fins so my centering ring is actually 1" behind the leading point of the main fins. I can do a splice after all. This makes me feel much better. Time for repairs!
 
As you can see in the picture it landed literally 2 feet away from the grass. Even with the chute not opening it would have been just fine had it landed in the grass, oh well.

'Ain't that they way it always goes?
Glad to see it's repairable.
 
If you're CAREFUL...you might be be able to use expanding foam to pop out and strengthen the crumpled area. Just go easy as it's a fine line between enough and popping it open like a watermelon :wink:

You pop open watermelons? Usually I just slice them. I'll have to look into this new technique to surprise everyone at the next cookout! :p
 
I once had a watermelon that popped. It sounded nice and ripe when I knocked on it, but when my mom stuck the knife in it, it burst open and spewed liquified rotten watermelon all over the kitchen, kinda like this: :puke:
Turned out what had had happened was that it had been rotting inside, the resulting gasses had built up enormous pressure. So, when we punctured the rind, that was all it needed to finally explode.
True story.
 
The body splice on my rocket is setting up drying as I type this. I cut the air frame just between the upper and lower fin sections. Made a 3-3/4" sleeve coupler out of some extra body tube that fits the whole length between the top motor mount centering ring and the bottom ejection baffle centering ring. This thing is going to be SOLID!

Any suggestions as to a good way to "fill and feather out" the crumpled areas? The frame itself is straight but the damaged area has some ripples and slight indentations.
 
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