What did you do rocket wise today?

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Our club set up the range for any TARC teams in the area to be able to get some practice in. several teams showed up, but far less than anticipated. This allowed me to get in a couple of launches myself. The Madcow Little John flew well, good recovery, but I failed to arm the Flight Sketch for launch, so no data. I remembered to arm it for my Big Daddy launch on a G53FJ-10, with it's Vanderburn upgrade to 29mm. Also set the JLCR to 500 feet. It flew nicely, and landed somewhere in our swampy brambles thicket. Long story short, hours of searching did not locate it, so I'm sad. My best guess is it went into the pond/creek there, and completely sank. It could certainly be among the thickets somewhere,I found two other rockets that had likely been in there for years, not salvageable, but now disposed of. I may go back for another look tomorrow, as between the rocket with upgrades including Stickershock, motor case, JLCR and FS mini there's a not insignificant investment involved, but hopes are very low.

Madcow Little John

Estes Big Daddy with Vanderburn upgrades

Some years ago, I flew my LOC-IV (extended) on a J-570, targeting a mile as my personal goal. It flew well, dual deploy went well, but the main caught a pretty strong random gust between 1000 and 500 ft and it went sideways. . . I searched for about 3 hours in brambles and was cut from head to toe. It had a camera, Raven, 38/1080 case, Stickershock decals and a custom color chute plus the fact that I actually painted it to look 'nice'. . . I was heartbroken.

I drove the 3 hours home and my wife talked me into going back to the field the next day just to look, because she saw how bummed I was. For reference, she wasn't just trying to get me out of the house, she went to look too. Got to the field around noon (mid-summer, South Carolina) and it was hot. We (myself, my wife and a friend) went looking and had no luck,. I gave up again about 2-3pm and headed back to the truck and a flier saw me. He wasn't there the day before when I lost the rocket.

Roy talked us into going to look again and after another 2 hours, I went back to the car (bad cell service) and just sat there, completely beat/probably heat exhaustion. . .I felt terrible, borderline passing out. Anyway, I would occasionally yell 'GIVE UP, WE HAVE TO GO HOME!'. My wife came out of the brambles about 10-15 minutes later (told you she was a trooper) and we continued to yell for about a half hour. I wasn't going to leave with Roy in the brambles looking for my rocket (obviously not flying himself, which is why he came), but I was feeling terrible. We started walking back into the brambles and Roy popped out saying 'What? I thought you said you guys were leaving???" while holding my rocket in perfect condition. Roy normally flies MPR and that day he got my stash of RMS E's and F's as well as a solid Thank-You!!!

This isn't the only incident of Roy going on the prowl. . .he has found many rockets left for dead and abandoned or just left when a flier gave up looking.

So, my recommendation is to get a good nights sleep, bring plenty of water (if its hot) and hope that Roy is there. . .

Sorry for your lost stuff. I hope you find it and got good data once recovered.

The flight from the recovered camera is linked below. Didn't miss a mile by very much, but never would have known for sure without Roy's help!

Sandy.

 
We finally our our twice re-scheduled QRS April '21 club launch today! 😁
A leisurely paced day as there was not a big crowd. Winds were 15km/hr from the south. Got two flights in, both successful recoveries without long walks.

Fright of the Concordes - An all F/Glass 54mm custom build, GLOW 1.8kg, to 2355ft on a CTI Pro38 2G 269H110 White. Micropeak altimeter readings were a bit screwy, so I think I need more, or better, vent holes.
Fright of the Concordes 18Apr21.png


The Dart - an all F/Glass 38mm min diameter scratch build, GLOW 0.83kg, to 2614ft on a CTI Pro24 6G 131G84 Green in a scratch built 24mm adaptor.
The Dart 18Apr21.png
 
Got an order in to erockets for a repair coupler for Pigasus, a set of 3 MPC "Duck Dodgers" themed ARF'S for the grandkids (Duck Dodgers, Marvin the Martian, and Porky Pig as the Space Cadet), and two of @hcmbanjo's Odd'l Rockets, the Cyclone (maple seed recovery) and the Breakaway (the one that breaks apart). Hopefully inspire the younger ones to think that there is more than one way to get back to earth intact.

Also yesterday got over to Hobby Express and grabbed 4 more Quest D16-4's, excellent replacements for the C6-3's on my Venus Probe, Mercury Redstone, Pigasus, my granddaughter's Estes Crayon rocket, and the 3 new MPC Duck Dodgers rockets.

Hint, hint: Randy is clearing out sets of the MPC Duck Dodgers rockets for $9.99 for all three. Even my rocket-indifferent beloved wifey couldn't pass up a bargain like that, especially for the grandkids!
 
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Burned a lot of motors today with my son. Mostly successful. I think I have a bulk pack of C6-5s with weak ejection charges. Lawndarted my childhood alien space probe and the Firestorm. Both have flown many times on C6-5s without any issues. The ASP lawndarted in January on this same box of motors - which might have been the first motor from it. Will reach out to Estes and see what they think. Big day of firsts though!

  • Two-staged the Astrocam nosecone B6-0 to B6-6. Sustainer spins bad. Builder (me) did a bad job on the fin alignment, I guess. First staging attempt and it was perfect though!
  • First flight for my Big Daddy. D12-3. Stuck the landing. Put it up after that on an E12-4. Fantastic flight. Definitely want to go bigger. Needs smaller chute first; spill hole in stock 24" is still way too big.
  • Put the new scratch-built Alien Space Probe up for its first flight on a D12-3. Perfect. build thread.
  • Four Viking bulk pack creations had perfect flights.
  • Lit our first composite engines ever in our rebuilt Estes D-Region Tomahawk. Shock cord failure from earlier was rough. Put that up on an Estes E12-4 first, then two Aerotech E20-4Ws. I get it with the composites now. Holy poop. Wow!
  • Baby Bertha found a tree after a really high C6-5 flight. Rope saw FTW! Love that little rocket. Need to convert to streamer though.
  • Der Red Max got its first flights. C6-5 was first. Then a C5-3. Really liked it on the C11. Rips off the pad. Nice flying rocket. I understand the love it gets now :)

We had fun. Lots of fun. Time to do a few small repairs and restock on some motors.
 

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Burned a lot of motors today with my son. Mostly successful. I think I have a bulk pack of C6-5s with weak ejection charges. Lawndarted my childhood alien space probe and the Firestorm. Both have flown many times on C6-5s without any issues. The ASP lawndarted in January on this same box of motors - which might have been the first motor from it. Will reach out to Estes and see what they think. Big day of firsts though!

  • Two-staged the Astrocam nosecone B6-0 to B6-6. Sustainer spins bad. Builder (me) did a bad job on the fin alignment, I guess. First staging attempt and it was perfect though!
  • First flight for my Big Daddy. D12-3. Stuck the landing. Put it up after that on an E12-4. Fantastic flight. Definitely want to go bigger. Needs smaller chute first; spill hole in stock 24" is still way too big.
  • Put the new scratch-built Alien Space Probe up for its first flight on a D12-3. Perfect. build thread.
  • Four Viking bulk pack creations had perfect flights.
  • Lit our first composite engines ever in our rebuilt Estes D-Region Tomahawk. Shock cord failure from earlier was rough. Put that up on an Estes E12-4 first, then two Aerotech E20-4Ws. I get it with the composites now. Holy poop. Wow!
  • Baby Bertha found a tree after a really high C6-5 flight. Rope saw FTW! Love that little rocket. Need to convert to streamer though.
  • Der Red Max got its first flights. C6-5 was first. Then a C5-3. Really liked it on the C11. Rips off the pad. Nice flying rocket. I understand the love it gets now :)

We had fun. Lots of fun. Time to do a few small repairs and restock on some motors.


Awesome day (mostly anyhow). The E20 is the first composite I burned too...total gateway drug.
 
That's too bad about the ASP. I hope it's fixable.

It's good I have two of them. 😃 I think I can just shorten the one that law darted and it'll still fly fine...or cut off the tube more and use a coupler to add enough to get back to stock length. The new ASP will probably never fly on a C except maybe a C11, so the risk of another bad C6 ejection charge will be reduced. It's heavier than my old one and has full legs and feet, so it needs more kick anyways.
 
Electronics work. Lots & lots of electronics work. Zero smoke escaped.

EDIT: Also researched some new processors for future electronics projects. It's sooooo nice when something new already has excellent documentation.
 
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Finally was able to control my GoPro Hero 5 Session remotely using my iPhone's WiFi.
I think it was by updating the app... but who knows. Sometimes it seems like WiFi connections require "the dark arts".
Really relieved since it will be inaccessible once my Level 3 project is on the rail.

1618838376453.png
 
Finally was able to control my GoPro Hero 5 Session remotely using my iPhone's WiFi.
I think it was by updating the app... but who knows. Sometimes it seems like WiFi connections require "the dark arts".
Really relieved since it will be inaccessible once my Level 3 project is on the rail.
Wireless: for when you hope it probably works usually.
 
Went back to look for my Big Daddy today, my amazing wife stood as a marker post for my sight line, indicating my search on Saturday had drifted a bit north of where it landed. I had certainly come within 30 yards of it Saturday. One last sight line before I was too deep in the thicket to see my wife Carol gave me one last correction, definitely NOT an area I had gone through, 30 more yards into the thicket and there was a small clearing, with a Big Daddy on the far side, standing on it's fins, bright orange parachute beside it. W00T!!! All electronics intact. 1576 feet altitude per the Flight Sketch... 😁 Thanks again for the encouragement @Sandy H. @BrendanH69...:clapping::goodjob:


IMG_1107.jpg
 
Sunday was Sooner Shootout at Sayre, OK. A bunch of people showed up, ready to fly rockets! I flew my cone, Astrocam, spool, and several other rockets. I held back a few high flyers because the wheat was about knee deep, and very hard to walk through. The Argonia Cup team from SWOSU showed up and proved they're not a fluke! They launched their rocket to over 10K and brought the drone with golf ball back to the launch site. I made plans to cert level 1 next month.
 
Went back to look for my Big Daddy today, my amazing wife stood as a marker post for my sight line, indicating my search on Saturday had drifted a bit north of where it landed. I had certainly come within 30 yards of it Saturday. One last sight line before I was too deep in the thicket to see my wife Carol gave me one last correction, definitely NOT an area I had gone through, 30 more yards into the thicket and there was a small clearing, with a Big Daddy on the far side, standing on it's fins, bright orange parachute beside it. W00T!!! All electronics intact. 1576 feet altitude per the Flight Sketch... 😁 Thanks again for the encouragement @Sandy H. @BrendanH69...:clapping::goodjob:


View attachment 460576
RESULT!
 
Went back to look for my Big Daddy today, my amazing wife stood as a marker post for my sight line, indicating my search on Saturday had drifted a bit north of where it landed. I had certainly come within 30 yards of it Saturday. One last sight line before I was too deep in the thicket to see my wife Carol gave me one last correction, definitely NOT an area I had gone through, 30 more yards into the thicket and there was a small clearing, with a Big Daddy on the far side, standing on it's fins, bright orange parachute beside it. W00T!!! All electronics intact. 1576 feet altitude per the Flight Sketch... 😁 Thanks again for the encouragement @Sandy H. @BrendanH69...:clapping::goodjob:


View attachment 460576
It's always a great feeling when we find our rocket that we think we may have lost.:clapping: Landing upright is awesome. Did you also get the speed it traveled ?
 
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