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The replacement Honest John is finished. The airfoils on the first rocket were a joke. These are much better. I launched the Semroc OT yesterday and video will follow shortly. It took several coats of paint to cover up the switching the fins around. Now to apply the floor wax...

53CEFA7A-060C-40B5-846D-681DA0F60861.jpeg
 
Dude, weren't there thunderstorms going off yesterday?
I cancelled mowing my lawn. Built a BB III instead.
There was Wednesday night from the south but not Thursday. Didn't seem to deter the local baseball game in the park. That's the problem with launching in the evening. People using the park for sports and stuff. What's up with that... ;)
 
Launches during another stormy Hawaiian day (and baseball game)

The weather forecast said it was going to be a pleasant evening with rain storms during the day. Unfortunately the rain clouds stayed around with 10 to 15 mph winds. I persisted to try out my new handheld video cam and the new Plano tackle box. The cam has an excellent zoom which seems to work well for auto focusing but not for finding model rockets in the sky. It’s also tough to use my bifocals when looking up. Hopefully someday soon, we’ll get our blue skies back.

The Panasonic videos are in 1080/60p in Sports mode. They are in a proprietary AVCHD format (.MTS files) instead of mp4 format. Turns out it doesn’t have many key frames, so it's harder to edit. Also, the audio is on variable rate. I didn't figure this out until after I uploaded to YouTube so had to fix and reupload. Next time, I'll try mp4 format in Auto or sunshine mode. This wasn't the best weather to try out the new cam.

I also tried the modified Estes starters where the leads are bent around for the flat connectors to attach to the paper. I was reminded of why I cut the flat connectors off in the first, but the trick seemed to work. The starter for the Orbital Transport didn’t fully ignite because it was probably touching the plate, so I used a small clothespin to give more space. Maybe I’ll use heat shrink to protect the connectors.

The new Orbital Transport worked well with the C5-3. A local kid got tired of watching the baseball game and decided to help us again. Personally, I don’t like to count down but is necessary with kids. One of the fins cracked but easily fixed with TB Quick&Thick. I also used the Q&T to fix the Max Fat Boy broken fin. Fortunately, the rocket landed next to the Hula stage.

Timeline:
00:00 Intro
00:33 Viking #1 3pts
01:51 Super Neon 3pts
02:30 Orbital Transport 5pts
05:08 Diamondback 365ft 4pts
06:43 Max Fat Boy 4pts
09:57 Total 19pts

 
The good thing about videos shot in low light conditions is that you can really see the orange flames in the exhaust of BP motors.
Looks like you picked up a new rocketeer.
Heh.
 
The good thing about videos shot in low light conditions is that you can really see the orange flames in the exhaust of BP motors.
Looks like you picked up a new rocketeer.
Heh.
Looks like a fun day despite the weather.

I do think I am going to replace my:

“three, two, one, fire”

with your new countdown catchphrase :

“Love you. Bye!”

nice to see your son mentoring the youngster.
 
Night launches

This was our first time launching at night. I bought a string of lights to insert into the clear bays. The weather was rather mild today with the winds usually calm in the evenings. For the three launches, I respectively have the GoPro8 at 1080/60p and Low Light mode, GoPro3 at 720/120p, Panasonic cam at 1080/60p and Night mode, and iPhone8 at 1080/60p. It's obviously very difficult to focus at night while holding the cameras. I'm not sure if the Panasonic or iPhone was better, but I probably shoulda been further away with the Panasonic. For the GoPro8, I coulda kept it at 240fps and not in Low Light mode.

Because it gets so hot in the daytime, the local parks have lit basketball/tennis courts for the families to enjoy in the cool evenings. This was a problem last July when there would be hundreds out at night with no social distancing or masks. This likely contributed to the second lockdown in August with stricter requirements than before. With about 25% of the State immunized, it's no longer an issue.

The curled starters weren't working for me this time. I think I might go back to the alligator teeth connectors, mostly because the flat connectors are rather small to work with. I think the jaggedness in the Loadstar descent graph was due to the altimeter moving around in the payload bay so need to secure it better next time.

Timeline:
00:00 Intro
00:52 Supernova 4pts
01:54 Loadstar 5pts
02:51 Loadstar 115ft 6pts
04:18 Total 15pts

 
I didn't know Estes made sparkies.
Spectacular.
I had exactly the same thoughts!

that was really cool!

I saw the LoadStar up, and then saw B6-4 (single stage config) and went, “whooo, glad he’s not going two stage at night”....... then I see it rigged for two stage. I assume you FOUND the booster although with no lights I figured it’d be a challenge.

once you get night flying tuned in, an onboard camera might be pretty cool!

Thanks again for posting these, I really look forward to seeing what you guys are up to!
 
I had exactly the same thoughts!

that was really cool!

I saw the LoadStar up, and then saw B6-4 (single stage config) and went, “whooo, glad he’s not going two stage at night”....... then I see it rigged for two stage. I assume you FOUND the booster although with no lights I figured it’d be a challenge.

once you get night flying tuned in, an onboard camera might be pretty cool!

Thanks again for posting these, I really look forward to seeing what you guys are up to!
Appreciate it. I liked your video too.

For an onboard camera, I might have to turn on the night vision feature. Next time...:)
 
I got my Astrocam I bought from AC Supply for $30. Also got my first 2021 Estes catalog from them which I find ironic.

I was told that the cam shoots in 60fps (but they lied).

66B0EA09-8FA2-4285-8522-EA62C92D906A.jpeg
 
Well, I turned the cam on, took a video, inserted into USB, watched video, checked the Properties, changed the date/time, save, ejected. Now the cam won't turn on and the computer doesn't acknowledge the device. Poop, Any ideas? Now I get to see how wonderful the AC Supply customer service is...

Actually, I had it plugged in but maybe the battery died. Hold on...
 
Yeah, that sounds like it ran down. Charge it for awhile and then try again. Even so, I'm surprised your computer doesn't see it.
 
Okay, so it took a bit but it finally started charging when connected to a cell phone charger and I was able to copy the video.

Here's the Properties from the Astrocam.

1615871763325.png


Here's the Properties from my $30 cube camera. However to get the audio to play in the Video Editor, I have to pass the video through VidCoder to convert the audio from VBR to CBR.

1615871618745.png
 
Look what I made!

487DE001-2AD9-4065-B3A7-CF3913131149.jpeg

Honestly, I wouldn’t pay more than $30.

Call me old fashion but I prefer water decals to stickers. Once it’s on the tube, they ain’t no way of getting it off.
 
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So after sitting on the charger overnight, it won't turn on again. Sandra at Estes said to mail it to her and they'll test it. If it's working fine, they'll send it back. At least it's small and easy to mail.
 
Makes you wonder how it'll hold up to the rigors of launch and recovery.
Cheap electronics.
(I should talk. I have a cheap $9 key fob camera).
 
Makes you wonder how it'll hold up to the rigors of launch and recovery.
Cheap electronics.
(I should talk. I have a cheap $9 key fob camera).
Exactly. After fiddling with it for a bit, it started working again. I'm worried that it'll start working again when Estes gets it and mail it back to me.
 
Makes you wonder how it'll hold up to the rigors of launch and recovery.
Cheap electronics.
(I should talk. I have a cheap $9 key fob camera).
I have 21 flights on one, including several with incomplete ‘chute deployments. It took me awhile to figure out how to get a 15 inch ‘chute and an FS Mini in a cloth pouch out of that BT-50 tube reliably. In fact, I have had to replace the body tube once because it’s gotten crumpled from the resulting less-than-soft landings. It’s flown on Q-Jet B4s and C12s, Estes B6s, C5s and C6s.

The camera has been rock solid. Here is a Q-Jet C12-6 flight:

I took advantage of the ability to peel the sticker off the pearlescent tube to transfer it to the replacement plain white BT-50.
 
Maybe the USB connection is sporadic. I have the same problem with my USB card reader. Have to jiggle it sometimes to get a connection with the computer.
 
Maybe the USB connection is sporadic. I have the same problem with my USB card reader. Have to jiggle it sometimes to get a connection with the computer.
Could be. I'm trying 3 different USB chargers. I've got the blue light on and charging because it wasn't charging without the blue light on.

I was wondering what the hole in peak of the NC was for then figured out that's what the string was for. I replaced the rubber cord with elastic and added swivels.
 
Well, I turned the cam on, took a video, inserted into USB, watched video, checked the Properties, changed the date/time, save, ejected. Now the cam won't turn on and the computer doesn't acknowledge the device. Poop, Any ideas? Now I get to see how wonderful the AC Supply customer service is...

Actually, I had it plugged in but maybe the battery died. Hold on...
Not sure it applies to the Estes cams. I think @georgegassaway was the source (not sure), but i did read somewhere that at least for the Keychain 808 cameras the cameras had no internal overcharging protection, the recommendation was not to leave them plugged in over 2 hours, ideally to unplug them when the “completed charging” signal was given (varies, light stops blinking, starts blinking, or turns off. Read the manuals. Of course the manuals are not in the best English, but since I speak zero Chinese, I am not in a position to complain!)
 
I have 21 flights on one, including several with incomplete ‘chute deployments. It took me awhile to figure out how to get a 15 inch ‘chute and an FS Mini in a cloth pouch out of that BT-50 tube reliably. In fact, I have had to replace the body tube once because it’s gotten crumpled from the resulting less-than-soft landings. It’s flown on Q-Jet B4s and C12s, Estes B6s, C5s and C6s.

The camera has been rock solid. Here is a Q-Jet C12-6 flight:

I took advantage of the ability to peel the sticker off the pearlescent tube to transfer it to the replacement plain white BT-50.

Not overly impressed with the picture quality. If however the flight data is automatically applied, that would be a cool plus.
 

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