Turf Airport Launch

[Gus]

The gracious owner of a small airport near Sandman's house allowed us to use the taxiway to launch rockets this weekend.

Weather was perfect, zero wind, beautiful clouds. A couple of small plane takeoffs and landings on the grass runway only added to the beauty of the day.

Our rocket recovery expert Emma only had to use her pink two-wheeled-rocket-retrieving-vehicle to pick up 2 rockets. The rest landed almost on the pad. What a great day!

I took lots of photos, mostly of Sandman's fleet (mine aren't nearly as photo-worthy). Man he builds beautiful rockets. Thought I'd share some with you.

First up, Sandman's Goony Goblin. Unbelievable speed and altitude.

 

[Gus]

Next up, Sandman's Goony Red Max.

 

[Gus]

Then, Sandman's "I bought it somewhere and repaired it" rocket. Can't remember what it really is but I'm sure some of you will help out with the I.D.

 

[Gus]

Next up, Sandman's Little Joe II.

Full flight report can be read here:

https://www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?threadid=5991&goto=newpost

See pages 19 and 20 of the thread.

 

[Gus]

Then, my Barbie Lofter.

No pic of the rocket, which had a chute failure on the booster, which then nearly impaled me.

No damage to the booster, and light weight (anorexic) Barbie made a picture perfect ejection and landing on her oversized parachute. This "Barbie" is actually a hollow knock-off which comes with a big parasail-type parachute and a string and is meant to be used as a kite.

Pic is of astronaut Barbie gliding in from about 300'.

 

[Gus]

Next up, Sandman's Sorta-Orbital-Transport.

Glider flew like a brick in the trim test, but glided magnificently from altitude. Go figure.

 

[sandman]

Gus,

I just forgot to tell you...the Ebay rocket is a Nike Apache.

The orbital transport thingy is a KITBASH of an Orbital Transport. Only the parts that come in the kit were used. Looks sorta like the Bat Plane but silver.

The day was a barrel of fun...but way too short.

"How can we be finished...I got motors left!?"

sandman

 

[Gus]

Yeah, I really knew that Sandman.

Just checking to see if the students are awake.

Anyway, next was Sandman's Mini Astron Spaceplane.

I've doctored the picture to show 3 consecutive frames of it heading up the launch rod, all in the same picture. The speed of the camera is 24 frames per second and these were the only 3 it caught, which should give you an idea of how fast that little beast was moving.

 

[Gus]

Sandman and I had a lengthy discussion about this.

My theory is that the mini spaceplane is moving so fast that even a tiny amount of lift in the wings is what caused it to arc back over to the ground.

Whatever the real reason, the result wasn't pretty.

 

[sandman]

The Space Plane flew on a 1/2A too!

gotta get some 1/4A's!

sandman

 

[Gus]

Better luck was had with Sandman's Mini Constellation.

Man what a beautiful little rocket.

Flew great too!

 

[Gus]

Finally was my Estes Mercury Redstone.

I had never launched it, but I figured if Sandman was going to launch the Little Joe II, I'd better try (however feebly) to keep up appearances.

Really nice flight.

 

[sandman]

All in all a great day! About 15 or 20 flights one failure (SpacePlane), one minor mishap (Little Joe II), an one near death experience (Barbie's Booster).

Booster missed Gus by les than a foot...he wasn't looking.

But a heap of fun!

sandman

 

[Gus]

Other flights of the day included my daughter's Razor, a couple others, and my D-engine knockoff of the Vatsaas brother's Halloweener.

Aside from Sandman's Little Joe II, my favorite flight of the day was my daughter's first scratch built, a cone rocket made from a paper plate and some scotch tape. It flew like a whisky-drinking duck.......twice! Kind of the opposite end of the spectrum from the Little Joe II in almost every way; design, execution, cost, and flying characteristics. Man what a hoot!

All in all, a great day of flying.

For those of you going to NARAM, Sandman, his fleet, and the Little Joe II will be there.

Don't miss it!

 

[nomopbo]

Nice pics!
I enjoyed the slide show!
Looked like an exellent day!

 

[Mike]

Nice pics guys, wish i was out flying....

 

[eugenefl]

Nothing beats (1) having a nicely groomed field to fly on, (2) beautiful windless weather, and (3) a rocket buddy to fly with! Nice pictures. I definitely appreciate the mini-outing reports. They're just as fun as the big meets! IMO, mini-outings can actually be more enjoyable due to the "relax-factor."

 

[kelltym88]

Originally posted by eugenefl
Nothing beats (1) having a nicely groomed field to fly on, (2) beautiful windless weather, and (3) a rocket buddy to fly with! Nice pictures. I definitely appreciate the mini-outing reports. They're just as fun as the big meets! IMO, mini-outings can actually be more enjoyable due to the "relax-factor."

Ain't that the truth!!! Great pictures guys!! Hey, Sandman, aren't you supposed to working on my nose cone? HAHA
Anyway, thanx for the report. Can't wait to see the NARAM pictures.

 

[astronboy]

Great report. Thanks for the pics GUS!!

Great job on those GOONYS Sandman!!

 

[kelltym88]

I don't know what happend, but it posted on the wrong thread. Sorry. Disregard this message.

 

[Gus]

Quicktime movie of the flight of the Little Joe II is available here:

https://home.earthlink.net/~skristal/

This is not a streaming movie. You may have to wait for it to load.

Enjoy.

 

[jpasqual]

Gus - great job on the report and yout Merc redstone looks great. Sandmans Rockets look great. I was lucky enough to see his LJII in person. I would love the chance to see some of his other classics and scratch builts - Great Job Sandman - I hope we can all get together and fly sometime

 

[cydermaster]

The photo of the Mini Constellation is cool with the Planes in the background.

Sounds like you had a top day, thanks for shareing the pics.

 

[sandman]

As much fun as we had Sunday, that may be our last outing at that airfield for a while.

Did anyone noticer the corn in the background???

More than knee high! Ready to swallow rockets whole!

I do have a line on a 120 acre wheat field that should be ready to harvest in about a week.

sandman

 

[scadaman29325]

Originally posted by Gus
Quicktime movie of the flight of the Little Joe II

Enjoy.

Enjoy?????????????

Wow, you must have freaked when you saw it coming down!

How did you stop yourself from trying to catch it?

 

[sandman]

How did you stop yourself from trying to catch it?

I just froze

But it's all better now. Fixed.

sandman

 

[Gus]

Wow, you must have freaked when you saw it coming down!

He didn't "freak".

Cool as a cucumber.

Just picked it up and said to my daughter: "Hey, I built it... I can fix it."

And he did!

Had it fixed before my daughter and I even got home!

Note to Parental Rocketeers: The Sandman is a very good role model for small children.