The Captain's Personal Launch Report, LUNAR Snow Ranch 03/04/17

[qquake2k]

It was a gorgeous day at the Ranch! The weather was much better than they promised. Lots of sun, and lots of beautiful cloud formations. The Ranch has greened up nicely, and it's good to see water in the creeks again. The forecast rain never appeared, so we had a full launch day. It was better attended than I expected, Olga counted 125 cars. It was busy at the pads with a LOT of launches, including quite a few TARC flights.

 

[qquake2k]

Can't upload photos, for some reason.

 

[ThirstyBarbarian]

Sounds like a really nice day! I'm fighting a chest cold right now, so it's s good thing I didn't know how beautiful it was going to end up being, or I would have forced myself to go.

 

[qquake2k]

You should have come out. It would have been worth it!

 

[ThirstyBarbarian]

You should have come out. It would have been worth it!

Now you're just rubbing it in! :wink:

 

[qquake2k]

Now you're just rubbing it in! :wink:

Darn right I am!

 

[qquake2k]

Yay, I can finally upload photos! Here are the first of them. That's my friend Olga soaking up the sun.

 

[qquake2k]

The first and last flight of 5 Times A Fool. The motor was a G64W. I deduced that the blanket I used was too big and thick, and the ejection charge couldn't push the chute out. It did pop the nose cone out, though, and it core sampled hard. It hit so hard it popped one of the fins completely off, and broke another. It also demolished my Altimeter One. Total carnage, but impressive!

[YOUTUBE]JZzZ8T8HDf8[/YOUTUBE]

 

[qquake2k]

Bullpup XL's flight, however, went much better. The only problem was the guys who walked in front of us right as he launched. Scared the crap out of them, though! The motor was a G75M. Both chutes came out this time. After the 5 Times mishap, I took the blanket out of Bullpup and used dog barf. I wasn't taking any chances.

[YOUTUBE]bE7BHpnpQKw[/YOUTUBE]

 

[qquake2k]

I've never seen this before. Apparently the nose cone hit the top of the body tube at some point.

 

[qquake2k]

Can I say how wonderful Olga is? She is an absolute joy to be with!

 

[qquake2k]

We ate well. Those are pineapple sausages on my Coleman Fold N Go grill. They were so good!

 

[captbk]

Nice report Jim. Sorry about 5time but following another one of your builds was worth it. Gongrats on the Bullpup flight. Congrats on Olga too!

 

[Woody's Workshop]

Thanks for sharing Jim!
Sorry for the loss of the 5 Times A Fool.
I still say someone ought to offer Rocket Insurance!
At least for Hardware.

 

[robbdm]

We ate well. Those are pineapple sausages on my Coleman Fold N Go grill. They were so good!

Excellent report, can't wait for your rocketry cookbook. What wines goes with Dark Matter motors?

 

[qquake2k]

Nice report Jim. Sorry about 5time but following another one of your builds was worth it. Gongrats on the Bullpup flight. Congrats on Olga too!

I am absolutely blessed to have a friend like Olga!

 

[qquake2k]

Thanks for sharing Jim!
Sorry for the loss of the 5 Times A Fool.
I still say someone ought to offer Rocket Insurance!
At least for Hardware.

Wouldn't be worth it unless it covered labor too. But if it did, I might lawn dart a lot more of them. Accidentally, of course.

 

[qquake2k]

Excellent report, can't wait for your rocketry cookbook. What wines goes with Dark Matter motors?

I'm going to say Dark Matter motors would go best with Captain Morgan Cannon Blast.

https://us.captainmorgan.com/rum-drink/cannon-blast/

 

[ThirstyBarbarian]

I'm going to say Dark Matter motors would go best with Captain Morgan Cannon Blast.

https://us.captainmorgan.com/rum-drink/cannon-blast/

3 grams of black powder in every shot!

 

[o1d_dude]

Great pictures, Jim. Between you and Olga you managed to capture a lot of the Snow Ranch ambiance.

Really sorry I relied on the weather report and the announcement that the launch was closing down at noon.

Rebuild 5 Times so I can give your recovery train the once over when you launch it again.

 

[qquake2k]

When I rebuild him, I won't use a blanket. I'll put baffles in the motor tube. When I removed the blanket from Bullpup and used dog barf, both chutes came out just fine.

 

[scsager]

The altimeter one might be fixable. I was able to repair mine after a bad crash by replacing the case and screen with parts from the Jolly Logic website.

 

[qquake2k]

Mine is pre 2014. The case is different, and I assume the LCD is, too.

 

[gdjsky01]

Fantastic report. Thank you for taking the time! Excellent pictures. Like someone said, really helps capture the feeling of the place.
I've used chute protectors/blankets a lot, especially in 2.6 inch and larger rockets. Really never been an issue. But use what works!

I've had more parachute damage with Doggie Barf than with blankets. ... Maybe I use more BP??? Not for 29/40-120 loads... I use all of what comes with it. Or not enough barf?



Anyway great report!!!! Thanks for posting!

 

[qquake2k]

Thanks Jeff! I think i my case, the blanket was too big and thick. It was a 12x12 from Rocketchutes.com, and they use a heavier Nomex material. I should have used a thinner 9x9 that I have.