What did you do rocket wise today?

[arconhi]

It was a great day of flying. The Venus Probe is a fun rocket to fly and watch . Will do some more soon. Thanks again for sharing all kinds of info.

Here are some of the flights we had today with Antares J S. More to upload tomorrow.

 

[heada]

Prepared 7 rockets for tomorrow. Probably won't launch all of them but would be nice.
Estes 4" Der Red Max 29mm
LOC 4" Goblin 38mm
USRockets 2.2" AeroROC3 3x 24mm
LOC 2.2" BBX 29mm
LOC 2.6" AGM-78 3x 24mm
LOC 2.6" AIM-54C 29mm
LOC 2.6" AIM-120C 38mm dual deploy

 

[rbelknap]

This was yesterday, but did the second build session with the local elementary school over zoom. We got our school BMS kits done early (except for fin fillets - “homework”) and spent some time answering questions/providing feedback on decorating ideas.

After the kids logged off, the teacher and I discussed logistics for holding a launch at the end of the school year.

Today I’ve been staring at the rocket off and on trying to figure out how I’m going to paint this one. I’ve got a couple of ideas, but they would involve some seriously complicated masking, and I’m not sure I feel like putting in the effort needed to make it look good.

 

[GrouchoDuke]

I did some testing of one of my electronics projects tonight & everything looks awesome with it.

I'm staring at the last 2 fillets on my current build.

 

[BrendanH69]

Definitely need a launch video!

Interesting launch day today at Cedar Grove, QLD.

Flew “Spoolin’ Around” first up, on a C6-3, which proved a little under powered for it's 207g mass and too long a delay, so it nose darted and did a “ground pop”! No damage.
The RSO appeared to be a bit miffed with me presenting it for flight and seemed a little..... insulted by it . Everyone else got the fun factor!

Anyway, it now needs a 24mm motor mount to juice it up a bit more for next time.

View attachment Spoolin Around 16May21 IMG_2899.MOV

 

[Wally Ferrer]

View attachment 464408

This was yesterday, but did the second build session with the local elementary school over zoom. We got our school BMS kits done early (except for fin fillets - “homework”) and spent some time answering questions/providing feedback on decorating ideas.

After the kids logged off, the teacher and I discussed logistics for holding a launch at the end of the school year.

Today I’ve been staring at the rocket off and on trying to figure out how I’m going to paint this one. I’ve got a couple of ideas, but they would involve some seriously complicated masking, and I’m not sure I feel like putting in the effort needed to make it look good.

I think it already looks good, after all it's a rocket...

 

[WillMarchant]

Working on my Boosted Bertha. Modding the kit to use 24mm engines with TTW ply fins for the sustainer. My Big Bertha will go slow, the Boosted Bertha will go fast and high.

How did that work out? Did you use the same number and size of holes in the 1st stage centering rings?

I plan to leave the 2nd stage as 18mm.

 

[arconhi]

Interesting launch day today at Cedar Grove, QLD.

Flew “Spoolin’ Around” first up, on a C6-3, which proved a little under powered for it's 207g mass and too long a delay, so it nose darted and did a “ground pop”! No damage.
The RSO appeared to be a bit miffed with me presenting it for flight and seemed a little..... insulted by it . Everyone else got the fun factor!

Anyway, it now needs a 24mm motor mount to juice it up a bit more for next time.

View attachment 464411

No damage done. Now on to a 24mm motor. It will fly like a champ Mate. Good luck on the next flight. Hope you post a video of it.

 

[rbelknap]

I think it already looks good, after all it's a rocket...

So true.

After using this as my go-to kit for scouts and school rocket build sessions for a few years, I’ve started looking for alternate finishing methods. Last year, I used them to try out some paint techniques I don’t have a lot of practice in. Last night (after posting) I decided to scrap the complicated masking nightmare I had envisioned. Instead, I’m taking inspiration from the Piñata Rocket flown by LUNAR’s VP.

I’ve never decoupaged a rocket before. That should be interesting.

 

[heada]

Prepared 7 rockets for tomorrow. Probably won't launch all of them but would be nice.
Estes 4" Der Red Max 29mm
LOC 4" Goblin 38mm
USRockets 2.2" AeroROC3 3x 24mm
LOC 2.2" BBX 29mm
LOC 2.6" AGM-78 3x 24mm
LOC 2.6" AIM-54C 29mm
LOC 2.6" AIM-120C 38mm dual deploy

Mega Der Red Max was great. CTI G68
LOC 4" Golbin was awesome on a Loki G69 sparky
AeroROC had 2 out of 3 D12s ignite, off axis flight and landed hard breaking 2 fins. It'll be repaired.
AGM-78 flew straight up on 3 E12-6 motors but drifted far and landed on a roof. Will recover after the next wind storm
AIM-54C sheared the motor can out when the F42 ejection charge went. Needs a new motor can but will fly again.
The BBX was my favorite. G76 to about 1300ft
That brings me to the AIM-120C on a Loki G80. It will need to be rebuilt from the ground up. Drogue fired but didn't shear the 2x 2-56 nylon shear pins. Main popped at 250ft but there was no saving it at that point. The Eggtimer Quantum might be ok, gotta power it up at the bench to check.

 

[jqavins]

Anyway, it now needs a 24mm motor mount to juice it up a bit more for next time.

There are always Q-Jets.

Anyway, yesterday I did a little paimting amd reattached a fin. Today I did a few wood glue fillets. It's not much, but I've done nothing for some weeks, so it's inimprovement.

 

[Funkworks]

Finished the payload area of the Smurf rocket. Poured drops of CA on the airframe’s cutout edges for the fin tabs (an experimental “fin release & leash” system).


Masked top and bottom of rocket for a final coat of “Apple Red” on the surface boards.

 

[teepot]

Today I finished another one. This one is 3'LOC tubes. It's 77" long and weighs 63 ounces with the chutes. It has a 38mm mmt. I made a boat tail out of a cardboard cone. I put an Aeropack retainer on it. It is dual deploy. I painted it red and black which was my high school colors many many years ago. 47 to be exact. We were the Pinkney Pirates so I named the rocket Pirate. It is my 139th scratch build.

 

[arconhi]

Some more launches from Saturday.

 

[BrendanH69]

There are always Q-Jets.

I happen to have a leftover E20-7W 24mm composite motor in my stash. It's effectively an Aerotech but re-badged and imported to Oz as a Southern Cross Rocketry motor. Delay is a bit too long, but then....

 

[BrendanH69]

Today I finished another one. This one is 3'LOC tubes. It's 77" long and weighs 63 ounces with the chutes. It has a 38mm mmt. I made a boat tail out of a cardboard cone. I put an Aeropack retainer on it.

Really nice work on the fin can. Like it! I'm feeling like a boat tail is needed on my next project, so bought a standard plastic boat-tail yesterday at our local launch!

 

[jqavins]

I happen to have a leftover E20-7W 24mm composite motor in my stash. It's effectively an Aerotech but re-badged and imported to Oz as a Southern Cross Rocketry motor. Delay is a bit too long, but then....

But it's 24 mm. You had said you need to upsize the motor mount because a C6 engine wasn't doing the job, and I was offering an alternative that would let you stay with the 18 mm mount, i.e. not have to rebuild.

 

[boatgeek]

I got out to my first HPR launch in two years this weekend, with the small and friendly Gorge Rocket Club in Goldendale, WA. Four flights:

First attempt with a booster motor in Stage-o-Saurus, all good except that the Eggtimer disqualified lighting the sustainer. Need to look more closely at the data on that one.

Dimetrodon on a K650 Pink. That's a fun motor. The main got stuck in the body tube, but the rocket landed in a wheat field and there wasn't any damage. I need to repeat ground testing on that.


Madcow Arcas on an I345 (also fun!). Chute tangled up on recovery so it didn't really inflate well. It also landed in the wheat field, so no damage. It took a little while to find though. I am grateful to my beloved wife for tracking it down in the knee-high wheat. That's Mt. Adams in the background.


Drag Queen on an alphabet of Q-Jets: 1x D16, 2xC12, 2xB4, 2xA3. All but one of the B4s lit, and the flight was reasonably straight even with a little off-center thrust. Unfortunately, she took enough damage on recovery that her dancing days are over. I'll probably rebuild the same basic design a little sturdier since she's such a crowd-pleaser.

In summary, no flights went as planned. I got a sunburn. It was hot. And I loved it. It helped that you could see four major mountains from the field: Adams (12,280 ft), Hood (11,250 ft), Rainier (14,411 ft), and St. Helens (8,366 ft since 1980). And there's a Greek Orthodox monastery just up the road with a bakery that sells to the public. Mmmmm, spanakopita.

 

[jqavins]

I remember in 1980 stepping out one morning to get the school bus, and knowing that Mt. St. Helens had blown some more, because I could smell it. I was in New Jersey.

 

[BrendanH69]

But it's 24 mm. You had said you need to upsize the motor mount because a C6 engine wasn't doing the job, and I was offering an alternative that would let you stay with the 18 mm mount, i.e. not have to rebuild.

No local supply of bigger 18mm motors so it’s much easier to change up to a 24mm mount to open the door to motors I can get. The old “Fly what you can buy” rule applies.

 

[gokovali]

Our 10K flight. 10.015 feet reached with 8lb payload. M1675 motor.
Hello from Turkey.

 

[tsmith1315]

I remember in 1980 stepping out one morning to get the school bus, and knowing that Mt. St. Helens had blown some more, because I could smell it. I was in New Jersey.

Which causes one to ponder on the speed of smell!

 

[boatgeek]

I remember in 1980 stepping out one morning to get the school bus, and knowing that Mt. St. Helens had blown some more, because I could smell it. I was in New Jersey.

I'm about a year too young to remember it, but we were fortunate to be upwind. We only saw a giant cloud on the southeast horizon, plus beautiful sunsets once the dust cloud blew all the way around the earth. My wife lived in N Idaho at the time. The sky went dark at midday as ash started falling. Her family was out fishing and didn't know what had happened--the first assumption was nuclear war. The town tried to run school for a day or two, but gave up for the rest of the year because they couldn't keep school buses running with all of the ash in the air. They got a couple of inches of ash. Where I was flying would have gotten 6-12 inches of ash and rock.

My family went up to St Helens a few months before the Big One and happened to catch an earlier eruption on film. One of these days, I gotta scan the slides in the basement...

 

[teepot]

We were in Denver when it went and we had ash on are car. We got maybe a 1/4 of ash. There was enough in the air to make it hazy. A friend of mine hiked up it last year.

 

[DaHabes]

Re-examined the Eggtimer Quark I built two months ago that didn't fire up. Broke out the 20x lighted loupe. I installed the processor chip backwards. Now I need to RubeTube how to extract the bugger and re-install it. Perhaps I need to buy that hot air gun. Yeah, more tools!

 

[Aslansmonkey]

I finished up this goofy thing. 3D printed parts and a Pringles can. Flies on a D motor. Or at least I hope it will. If it does, it'll go on Thingiverse.

This goofy thing flies!

Here's the link to the design on Thingiverse: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4860055

And here's the video:

NOTE: One of the fins was slightly less than true vertical, so it flew with a little derp too.

 

[rbelknap]

Piñatafication has begun:



View attachment IMG_1051.MOV

 

[rbelknap]

And I kind of got into a groove. I will have to wait until the modge podge has dried to see if mistakes have been made*



*I tried to go easy on the areas near the payload/nosecone seams. I intend to run a sharp hobby knife around the joints to separate the parts again, but I made have just decoupaged this flying model into a static display piece…

 

[jqavins]

I installed the processor chip backwards.

View attachment 464757

Now you have to add a slightly, um, ambitious ejection charge to push out a bunch of candy along with the 'chute.

 

[arconhi]

View attachment 464756
And some more from Saturday. Estes Mammoth Engine Nozzle blowout with an F15 motor and NCR Aerobee Hi Test on an F27.

This goofy thing flies!

Here's the link to the design on Thingiverse: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4860055

And here's the video:

NOTE: One of the fins was slightly less than true vertical, so it flew with a little derp too.