grimlock3000
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- Apr 12, 2004
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I finally had a chance to go out for my first launches today. The launch area was a baseball field that was a bit on the small side, however there was not a single person around so it was safe. Myself and my friend went out with a Alpha III, Bandit, and Wizard Este's rockets and a selection of engines. Winds were just under 10 mph or so with some calm spots. We tried waiting for the calm spots to do the launches.
The first flight was the Alpha III on a A8-3. This went perfectly straight on the way up, but the rocket drifted quite a bit coming down. I was pretty exicted though. I cut a small hole in the chute after recovery. The Bandit was a bit heavier, so I sent it up on a A8-3 and decided to try the standard chute. The Bandit went up good and came down with minimal drift, but I still cut a hole in the chute. Here were the rockets after their first launches:
Next up was the Wizard. I went with another A8-3 and the Wizard did an amazing flight upwards. I was impressed, being so light the Wizard really scoots! It was coming down really fast though. I built the streamer per the kit directions but I think I would use a bigger streamer next time. It broke a fin on the ground:
With the Wizard down for the day, I went for a B6-4 in the Alpha III. I caught this picture on launch:
The picture would have been perfect if it was snapped a tiny bit later. Anyway, once the chute came out, the wind really picked up and I watched as the Alpha drifted almost horizontally through the sky. It disappeared behind the treeline. We declared the rocket lost.
Finally, I decided to try a B6-4 in the Bandit. I angled the launch rod a bit, and went with a bigger hole in the chute to bring it down faster. Unfortunately, the hole was not big enough, and the got the Bandit stuck in a tree:
We then went looking for the Alpha III lost from earlier, hoping it had drifted into a small clearing about 100 yards from the launch site. It made it _right_ to the edge of the clearing, but got stuck in a tree anyway:
Another two feet and the Alpha III would have cleared those trees and landed in a flat area with no trees, doh!
Luckily I learned a lot today. First up, I need some larger rockets that do not fly as high for smaller launch areas. I also need to cut much bigger spill holes in the chutes, or just use streamers to bring down rockets faster if there is wind. Next, I need to sand the gloss off body tubes before I glue fins to them so they do not break on landing. And finally I realized that it might be a while before I use my C6-5s in anything, I was really happy with my flights on the A8-3s and B6-4s. Losing the rockets stunk, but it is all part of the learning process
I have a Este's GBU-24 Paveway III to build right now, and I am going to order a Flis Kits Praetor and a Quest Big Betty soon, should be fun
Update: I put my flights into EMRR: https://www.rocketreviews.com/cgi-bin/flightlog/fltprofile.cgi?jump&&riendeau,brian
The first flight was the Alpha III on a A8-3. This went perfectly straight on the way up, but the rocket drifted quite a bit coming down. I was pretty exicted though. I cut a small hole in the chute after recovery. The Bandit was a bit heavier, so I sent it up on a A8-3 and decided to try the standard chute. The Bandit went up good and came down with minimal drift, but I still cut a hole in the chute. Here were the rockets after their first launches:
Next up was the Wizard. I went with another A8-3 and the Wizard did an amazing flight upwards. I was impressed, being so light the Wizard really scoots! It was coming down really fast though. I built the streamer per the kit directions but I think I would use a bigger streamer next time. It broke a fin on the ground:
With the Wizard down for the day, I went for a B6-4 in the Alpha III. I caught this picture on launch:
The picture would have been perfect if it was snapped a tiny bit later. Anyway, once the chute came out, the wind really picked up and I watched as the Alpha drifted almost horizontally through the sky. It disappeared behind the treeline. We declared the rocket lost.
Finally, I decided to try a B6-4 in the Bandit. I angled the launch rod a bit, and went with a bigger hole in the chute to bring it down faster. Unfortunately, the hole was not big enough, and the got the Bandit stuck in a tree:
We then went looking for the Alpha III lost from earlier, hoping it had drifted into a small clearing about 100 yards from the launch site. It made it _right_ to the edge of the clearing, but got stuck in a tree anyway:
Another two feet and the Alpha III would have cleared those trees and landed in a flat area with no trees, doh!
Luckily I learned a lot today. First up, I need some larger rockets that do not fly as high for smaller launch areas. I also need to cut much bigger spill holes in the chutes, or just use streamers to bring down rockets faster if there is wind. Next, I need to sand the gloss off body tubes before I glue fins to them so they do not break on landing. And finally I realized that it might be a while before I use my C6-5s in anything, I was really happy with my flights on the A8-3s and B6-4s. Losing the rockets stunk, but it is all part of the learning process
I have a Este's GBU-24 Paveway III to build right now, and I am going to order a Flis Kits Praetor and a Quest Big Betty soon, should be fun
Update: I put my flights into EMRR: https://www.rocketreviews.com/cgi-bin/flightlog/fltprofile.cgi?jump&&riendeau,brian