Vagabond Build mini-thread with interchangeable motor mount

[Marc_G]

I gave the spray bottle a whirl last night. Left all kinds of bubbles when I applied a second coat. It didnt seam to level out quite right either. Im goung to strip it down and try again. Otherwise I'll go back to sponge brush. I do think there may be some benefit in adding the simple green though.

I get lots of bubbles when I spray, but they routinely lay down pretty well in my experience. However, I've made the transition to foam brush and like not wasting a lot of the material, so I think I'm hooked on that technque except for fringe cases where the spraying may be easier.

Good luck. The good news is it's easy to wipe off the future using ammonia solution.

Marc

 

[Wayco]

Marc, I checked on RocketReviews.com for a list of launches for the Vagabond:
https://www.rocketreviews.com/vagabond-estes-vagabond-douglas-hurstell.html

All of the launches on D-12-3's report damage or failure to deploy. I'm a "Go Big or go home" kinda rocketeer, never bought a "B" motor until I helped some kids fly their first rockets. The Vagabond is made for an "E" motor, you should stick an E-9-6 in this rocket and GO FOR IT! Then let me know what happened...... If you're worried about launch speed off the rod, get a 6 ft. rod, most hardware stores carry them.
Oh, and yeah, that's a beautiful rocket, I would hate to see you trash it, but remember, they are easy to build, just get another kit and put a bigger motor mount in it...

 

[Marc_G]

I actually bought a 6 ft 3"16ths rod, but it was too big for my 3"16ths lugs. I think it was 3"16ths steel plus a thin coat of somethings shiny which made it a bit too thick to smoothly go through my lugs.

IT was also a bit whippy...

My first deploy on a D12-3 was OK... the line wrapped around the rocket when it came out but it opened. Failure in flight #2 was due to parachute caught in nose cone, since fixed.

My "recoverable area" is a radius 500' around the launch point with trees surrounding that, so Es would be risky, but on a still wind day I might be game...

Marc

 

[Marc_G]

Had a brief launch window in between storms this morning so I packed the boys into the car and headed to the field.

We got lucky about the break in the storms, though the 2 mile per hour winds when we left picked up as we drove then set up on the pad.

We did a bunch of smaller launches first, nothing remarkable other than my Mini Max getting stuck on the rod; not sure why. Burned a hole through the deflector plate.

Cleaned the rod and all was well after.

Finally it was time for the Vagabond. I decided to stick with D12-3, without any angling of the rod into the wind which was between 5-10 with some gusts.

IT went straight off the pad:



Good ride up with little weathercocking into the breeze that started gusting. Popped the cone right around apogee (to the best that I could see), and then fell fast as the chute didn't really open, though it was deployed out of the rocket. It would have been a safe landing in high prairie grass, but at maybe 150 feet the chute inflated and slowed it down for a perfect touchdown. No damage.

The winds picked up after this and I stuck to less risky launches; I had hoped to send it up on 3xC6-5 cluster and E9-4. As it was, I used half of my recovery zone and more wind drift would have been tragic. It was really blowing up there. I decided to wait for better conditions.

Here's the ground video; I didn't risk my onboard camera today.

[YOUTUBE]pq1MB2xhavY[/YOUTUBE]