Memorial weekend on a cloudy humid Hawaiian day with guest rockets and overpressures
The winds were favorable on Sunday so headed out to the park with Gary and Roger on the holiday weekend. It was sprinkling just before we got to the park then stopped until later in the afternoon. The GoPro8 was dark under the overcast clouds, and the GoPro3 wasn't going to cooperate today. I placed the Handycam on Auto which still undersaturated the video but better than oversaturing like last week. My laptop is in the mail for a warranty repair so used my other laptop that only has 8Gb memory which causes dropped clips including the ESAM-58 flight video but still kept the screenshots.
I revitalized my remote launcher but attached it to 8xAA batteries. It stopped working previously with the 12v recharger so decided to give it a try with the AAs. When connected to the igniter, you can hear the controller buzzing. It worked every time except with a 1 second delay. For the Little Joe I, I used the 12v recharger with the Thomas controller. I was then having trouble getting continuity with subsequent rockets until I pulled the clip off the rusted wire. Time to solder new clips on.
@BABAR is planning to visit early June and mailed me a few of his unique rockets. They arrived with some damage but was able to fix the Mach Double Diamond. It performed its backsliding recovery until the NC started pulling it down. Very cool. A local, Garrett left me a box of Mini-dactyls to try out from the LHS. He's probably shaking his head in haughty derision that I didn't add clay to the gliders. Still looked great. I'll add the clay next time.
I was inspired to launch my Saturn 1B and Little Joe I after visiting Kennedy Space Center the other week. I was really lucky the Saturn 1B didn't end up in the tree like it did previously on a D12-3. I tried a D22W so it would fly straight like it did with the E20W but not as high. It arced over anyways (clay was fine). Gary brought out his cardstock Little Joe I, so I hastily brought out mine. I forgot that mine lawndarted on a B6-4. Gary's also lawndarted, so hopefully it can be repaired.
The Scissor-wing mostly worked this time. I tried to replace the pivot after it broke apart from last week's crash. The repairs mostly held causing the wing to be slightly canted. The glider could also be too nose heavy so need to take out some of the clay. I think it's earned it decals now. I was going to launch the Condor on a C6-3, but I accidentally super glued a rod into one of the gliders. It'll be ready for the next launch.
I tried CHAD staging the Twin Factor by taping another booster motor between the two stages. It mostly worked despite the first stage Cato. I had six of the A10-3T motors and all with the same lot number. I'll have to come up with something creative to do with the remaining four.
Gary has an unreliable box of Quest B4-4 motors that he wanted to try out on various plastic rockets. If they Cato, not much damage to the plastic. Unfortunately, three of them had overpressures and burned a hole through the side. If he can get the melted motors out, he'll patch them up. He hasn't figured out what he'll do with the remaining composite motors.
Last week, Roger tried out his 180 degree twist rockets. The problem is that they spun too fast and twisted the tubes. This time, he used 10 degree twists which worked fine. I'd like to see 180 degrees but with shorter fins so they don't spin so fast. Overall, a productive day with no lost rockets and everyone's fingers and toes intact.
00:00 Saturn 1B 6pts
01:31 Flight video
03:00 Little Joe I dual 5pts
04:01 Mongoose 5pts
05:16 BABAR's Mach Double Diamond 4pts
06:25 Scissor-wing 4pts
07:17 Triplet Factor 5pts
08:10 ESAM-58 5pts
09:02 Garrett's Mini-dactyl single 3pts
09:46 Garrett's Mini-dactyl double 4pts
11:01 Gary's Heatseeker
12:01 Gary's Red Rider
12:39 Roger's Twister 1
13:32 Roger's Twister 2
14:35 Gary's LGM boosted
15:31 Gary's Eliminator XL
16:54 Gary's Quinstar
17:23 Gary's Priority Cinco
18:05 Gary's rocket
18:36 Gary's Orange Scratcher
19:08 Gary's Sky Cruiser
20:00 Gary's Dark Zero
21:03 Gary's Orange Crush
21:18 Total 41pts + 10 bonus = 51pts
Live stream:
https://youtu.be/QMkCZdLuZts