Tubularity: 4" tube-fin breakapart rocket

[iter]

I have a successful ground test of the new setup. It looks like it's going to work on Saturday. It's ugly though.

Ari.

 

[rheil]

Very cool idea! Thanks for sharing and especially sharing your thoughts and experience with it.

 

[iter]

Tubularity is a very patient rocket.

LUNAR cancels November launch cancels: not enough rain, grass fire hazard
TCC is indecisive about November launch until too late in the day for me to drive out
LUNAR postpones December 1 launch: rain
LUNAR's new December date (8th): fog

Tubularity is patiently waiting.

Ari.

 

[iter]

Tubularity achieves flight and earns me L2 certification at Snow Ranch.

Photo credits: Martin Hall, qquake2k, self, self. I'm especially proud of the short recovery walk--closer than my parking spot that day :=)

Your fallback position can be to permanently join the tube sections and use standard parachute deploy.

Yes, for this flight I give up and do the simplest thing possible--motor eject and parachute. I like my cert flights simple and boring. I use tape to hold sections together rather than permanently gluing them as Kit suggests. I may eventually fly it with breakaway recovery. Then again, this may be one of those rockets that sees little action. It makes a nice conversation piece if I keep it around the office though.

Ari.

 

[o1d_dude]

I have no idea how I missed this flight...musta been on that long retrieval far upstream and way past the away cell.

You are one lucky fellow to have your L2 cert flight land so conveniently near the launch site.

Congratulations on your successful L2.

I'm looking forward to seeing the "Firefly" rocketry support and recovery vehicle at our next launch.

 

[iter]

It's all those hours fiddling with the sim to calculate motor delay drilling, while waiting for 3 months to fly this thing. Inter alia, I apparently memorized the wind-speed-launcher-deflection-angle table. Tubularity went upwind under power and floated back downwind under parachute. More pride than luck, I'd like to think! I've had Alpha IIIs land farther away than this :=)

Big thanks to James Marino for his support on the cert flight and for lending me his chute!

Firefly may make an appearance at the coming SARG launch.

Ari.

 

[MasonH]

Congrats!!

 

[Justasteen]

Ari,
Do you a video of the L2 Cert Flight?

 

[iter]

No video, but Martin Hall has extensive photo coverage here:

https://konoctipirate.smugmug.com/R...10513/27431147_jvKr9J#!i=2307300022&k=mwDZPKN

Ari.