What is the rocket you've had the least amount of luck with?

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Donaldsrockets

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I thought this might be fun to ask people which rocket that they have had the least amount of luck with.

A few rockets I have had poor luck with:

AT Barracuda, suffered two road landings and a G80 that had a VERY short delay resulting in a 7 inch zipper.

Estes ARV Condor, questionable stability.

Maxi V-2, arced over and crashed due to not enough thrust due to wimpy E9 motor. Arced over and crashed on D12-3, ejection and impact were perfectly syncronized.

RTF Mini Marz Landers, one was destroyed by a lawn dart onto pavement, the other was completely blown to bits due to an A10-3T CATO.

Squirrel Works Red Baron, suffered damage during each flight and finally suffered a fatal crash.:(

I'm sure there are a few others too. Anyway, let's hear your stories about your rather bad luck rockets.;)
 
Estes Space Shuttle - underpowered (flew fine on the last flight however, go figure)
RocketVision Machbuster (on a G55)
Cammanch-3 (lost pieces, broke pieces, and ultimately lost the whole thing)
 
Centuri Stiletto - owned 5 of these two stagers and lost them all on their first flights. :rolleyes:

AeroTech Mustang - 1st one became a submersible by lawn-darting into a pond, probably buried nose-first in the bottom. 2nd one disappeared into a cloud - never to be seen again. 3rd was crunched (destroyed) by my niece while on a visit - the day after I had completed the paint job :(

Estes Pershing - not a single straight flight, always went horizontal a short distance off the pad. On its last voyage it crashed through the front glass doors of a tech school building. :eek:

Broke the Excalibur jinx with my recent clone, so i can take it off the "bad luck" list.
 
post moved...how the heck did I get that one here ?????? :confused:
 
Lately it's been any clone of any rocket that once bore the Centuri name. Groove Tube, Taurus, Vector V, Vulcan.........
 
Originally posted by Donaldsrockets
I thought this might be fun to ask people which rocket that they have had the least amount of luck with.


My scratch mach buster.

First flight, lawn darted. Chute got stuck

Second flight, lawn darted. Same reason. Had to trim off several inches of tube.

Third flight, disappeared going straight up. Never saw it again.
 
namly, anything i really didn't want lost/destroyed ;)

i've also had some consistent bad luck with the Estes Tomcat... well, first my uncle launched it a bunch of times with never a succesful flight. handed it off to me, and it managed to find the only paved path in the whole park and did a perfect cruiz missile onto it:( may live again...

my first 24mm rocket, only rocket that got eaten by the trees all day (out of some 20+)... dropped the BT during a hurakain and some1 ran over it with their bike. RIP

Donaldsrockets: i have an ARV Condor, and it has always turned in awsome flights. till one time it got a little wet and i decided to re-finish it, and i filled the balsa and everything on the gliders. this added weight seemes to have killed the stability a little, as the last time i launched it i also experienced some stability issues.
 
Launchpad ALARM, with Launchpad Seawolf in 2nd place.

Nothing against The Launchpad, but just unfortunate luck.

ALARM first launch = CATO... rocket half destroyed, but repaired it. 2nd Flight went into cruise missile mode and impacted the ground at motor burnout... totally wrecked, but bits can be salvaged and re-built.

Seawolf first launch went up vertically, turned 90deg (now horizontal 100ft up) flew in cruise missile mode 100yds, clipped a tree and turned 90deg to point striaght down. Landed nose first, with ejection soon after, but the n/c was rammed into the body, so all the ejection pressure forced the motor mount out backwards (only enough to totally warp the centering rings).

Both are still in bits in a box awaiting repair. If they do get rebuilt, then more noseweight, and bigger motors (possibly 3x 18mm cluster).
 
I have had nothing but bad luck flying this thing:

1st, it is the most expensive MPR I have ever purchased, and the last @ $79.99

During the build, the Ace supplied nosecone was warped, and the bodytubes had HUGE blisters. Aerotech replaced the tubes and cone, but I eneded up with yet another warped cone..Grrrrr

rocket would not take a paint job. The paint kept wrinkling and then it would crack like crazy.The silver on some of the supplied stickers kept coming off on my hands.

1st shot - G38 fast blackjack / landed in a tree.

2nd shot - G64 WL / lugs broke off while on the rod when a high wind down burst hit the launch field - no go.

3rd shot - G35WL SU / bonus delay, chute ejected a few feet from the ground, breaking fin on a hard landing.

I would love to take this rocket to Black Rock and stick the longest burning high impulse 29mm singleuse motor into it and let it rip. I would glue the nosecone on just to watch this "LEMON" fencepost on the hard playa.

I have video I shot at NSL `99 where Gary Rosen...demo'd the G-Force for the 1st. The rocket boosted beautifuly on a G64, and then flat spun to the ground and broke a fin off...I should have taken this as an omen.

:kill:
 
Without a doubt, my Estes Defender

First flight as a kid, major CATO on the pad.

Second flight (a cloned Defender) as a BAR, chute faulure. smashed fins and crumpled tube (I launched it on an E9-8 and it came screaming back in from about 1900'.)
 
Well, so far I've only had one flight on my Estes Space Shuttle, but it was a disaster. Flew up a bit arced over and hit the ground right at ejection. Orbiter nose cone crumpled ,parachute damaged, one fin broke off detachable fin unit. I have made repairs but due to weather have not been able to return it to flight, will try again perhaps next week if not too windy.

Glenn
 
Mine would be the Mean Machine. First launch went ok until ejection, then it blew itself apart.
Second one had the eingine mount give way and the whole assembly shot out through the rocket and cought it on fire.
My third one got about 8' off the ground, went horizontal, and torpedoed my truck.

My dad though this rocket was soo cool that he had to get one for me, but after the thrid one, I had to ask him to stop before someone got hurt.
 
Estes 'Sidwinder'

shock cord kept getitng burnt, ultimately letting go. So, after a few 'lawn dart session, it has since been rtired. Pitty, as it is one of teh better paint & detailing jobs.
 
Actually, the last two flights of my Estes Executioner went rather badly. On an E9, the chute seperated and it came in hard but didn't suffer any damage.

The most recent flight was on an AT E15-4W. First off, the motor chuffed about 5-6 times before finally coming up to pressure, the rocket boosted very nicely with a slight arc BUT the delay turned out to be about 7-8 seconds which stripped the chute and the rocket made a very hard landing on the roof of a school.

I was able to get the rocket back two days later and a fin was loosened and the rear of the body tube was crimped a bit.

So in other words, my luck with this rocket has gone down a bit.:(
 
My upscale 3" Red Max has had more kinks in the design that any rocket that I have ever flown...but it keeps coming back for more.
I have stripped the chute (twice), had the nosecone eyebolt rip out, broken shock cord, popped the launch lugs, cracked fillets, chipped a chunk out of the nose cone, zippered the airframe and a had a much higher rate of igniter misfires than is reasonable.

It's kinda like a study in anything that can go wrong in high power...
 
Originally posted by SpaceGarbageMan

AeroTech Mustang - 1st one became a submersible by lawn-darting into a pond, probably buried nose-first in the bottom.

I call That a "Pond Dart" One of my Crayons suffered to this terrible mishap
 
Originally posted by ScottRC
Mine would be the Mean Machine. First launch went ok until ejection, then it blew itself apart.
Second one had the eingine mount give way and the whole assembly shot out through the rocket and cought it on fire.
My third one got about 8' off the ground, went horizontal, and torpedoed my truck.

My dad though this rocket was soo cool that he had to get one for me, but after the thrid one, I had to ask him to stop before someone got hurt.

Almost sounds like mine... *my* Mean Machine is, last time I checked, about 28" tall... :p
 
Originally posted by Donaldsrockets
Squirrel Works Red Baron, suffered damage during each flight and finally suffered a fatal crash.:(

Interesting you say that - my Flying Jenny clone is probably my worst, very similar to the Red Baron. 7 Flights and only two were sucessfull (both very nice though), it suffered damage or from the wind on the rest of the flights before finally destroying itself at ejection.

I plan to build another though as it looks awesome when it works.
 
my modified Estes Saturn V - modified to fly on an F21-4W. Ejection charge blew the guts out of the rocket on first flight. Body tube tumbled down, mmt and assorted parts came down under chute. Lost the capsule. Estes replaced the capsule for me.

repaired it and tried again - this time the chute did not deploy properly and it crunched a couple fins beyond repair.

Estes sent me replacement parts. It's now ready to fly again but I am almost afraid to even try at this point.
 
I seem to have a problem with anything painted red & white:

1. Aerotech HV ARCAS: lost to a rocket-eating tree on an F25W.
2. Apogee Aspire: same thing, same field, on an E9-6.
3. Vaughn Bros. Javelin: where to begin? This was going to be my L1 bird but plans changed...
First flight: G35 Econojet, nice & straight to about 1100'.
Second flight: Ellis Mtn. G35, arced into the wind at about 50' and continued downrange for a half-mile or so. Went SPLAT! into a muddy wheat field. All that was left was the nose cone and fin can/motor mount. I rebuilt the rocket, foamed the fin can, and added an Aerotech-style ejection baffle.
Third flight: Aerotech H180W. Should've known something was wrong when I could hear the grains rattling around inside the casing. Gas must've passed through to the ejection charge 'cause it fired right after coming off the rod. Parachute deployed at about 20' and the rocket proceeded to chase its tail in front of an amused crowd.
Thankfully, damage was almost nonexistent so it'll fly another day.
 
Originally posted by Donaldsrockets
Squirrel Works Red Baron, suffered damage during each flight and finally suffered a fatal crash.:(

Funny you had problems with it - Mine's only flown once, but it was as perfect a flight as I could ask for!

As for my bad-luck rockets, the first one I built, an Estes Hi-Flier. 5 flights, all of them were more Long-Flier than Hi-Flier. Each required a significant walk/search in the desert to recover. It's been retired now - no more escape attempts for that little guy! Looking back, it was a pretty good paint job for a first rocket, too!

WW
 
I guess I have two or three that haven't thrilled me. My V-2 on an F24 flew an arch. At ejection the chute didn't fully deploy so it had some fin damage. My sons Exoskell has flown once, off the rod it went end over end then into the ground. My Gemini DC had one good flight out of four. The last two it went horizontal.

Someone(or two) mentioned the space shuttle. My sons shuttle has flown more than half a dozen flights without problems. I don't think you want to fly this in much wind, but if there is some wind face the external tank towards the wind. If you launch it with the orbiter facing the wind it will arch real bad. This goes for the SR-71 as well. Face the bottom into the wind and it will fly much straighter.

Larry
 
Originally posted by wwattles
As for my bad-luck rockets, the first one I built, an Estes Hi-Flier.
WW

I had problems with my Hi-Flier as well. First rocket I built as well. I lost mine however on B.

I have had problems with the Estes AGM-57 Heatseeker. Only flies well on an A8. B's are very unpredictable. I recently added nose weight to see if that would help, but I haven't flown it since I have done that.
 
Estes Sidewinder:

Marginallly stable with those big forward fins, more nose weight helped this fly fine.

Neubauer 1/100 Mercury Redstone:

Unstable with those really small fins, never have had a stable flight. I retired this one because it was hard to build and still looked good, so I am saving it as a display model. Anyway, there is no extra room for nose weight, and the A10T motors could not handle much more weight.

Quest Totally Tubular:

Great little rocket on A's, but it is unstable on C's, and marginal on B's. Extra nose weight would help, longer body... the short shoulder on the nose cone also allows it to be placed on at an angle which does not help the situation.

Estes Aerobee 300:

My cousin gave this one to me without fins back in '78. So not knowing anything, I slapped on some fins that looked "cool" and set out to launch it. On the second launch it drifted way down range and landed on the power line for the electric commuter trains. Eventually a train came by and it was blown off of the wire. When it was found it was missing the nose cone, one fin wasbusted, and one fin was gone. The next launch broke the shock cord. I have since rebuilt it and it flys again.

Goose
 
The NCR Hobgoblin shown on the cover of the March/April 1993 HPR magazine.

First flight on a J340 and 2 H125's went perfectly straight up, stopped at apogee, and ejected very gently. The nose came off and the bagged Paratech chute and pilot came out. However, the falling rocket never developed enough speed for the pilot to pull the rip cord and deploy the main. Broken body tube and 2 fins. I rebuilt it and...

2nd flight on a J285 airstarting 2 I115's. Good boost on the J, no ignition (Thermalite burned, propellant didn't) on the I's. Ejection occurred just as the rocket was impacting. Totaled :-(
 
The booster stage for the stock Estes Renegade kit gives me a lot of trouble. It lands hard and seems to pop off at least one of the tip pods each time. I hate that.
 
GlennW,
What you described with the Shuttle is exactly what happened to mine. Went horizontal shortly after after launch, hit the ground, then the ejection charge went off. Body tube was torn about 2 inches, where the nose cone goes in. Still waiting to be repaired.

wick
 
Both of my L3 attempts. It was a Smokin' Rockets Mission Impossible. The first flight was on an AMW M1850GG. The up part was flawless. Perfectly straight up to 5,900ft. The drogue chute deployed perfectly. When the main charge went, the chute hung up in the body tube. No cert, minimal damage.

Second flight, same motor. The motor lit perfectly and it started off great. Right at motor burnout, the electronics malfunctioned and deployed the chutes at about 450 mph. No cert, total destruction. The chute looked great though:D
 
Originally posted by WickBall
GlennW,
What you described with the Shuttle is exactly what happened to mine. Went horizontal shortly after after launch, hit the ground, then the ejection charge went off. Body tube was torn about 2 inches, where the nose cone goes in. Still waiting to be repaired.

wick

My flights have been margial, but survivable :) The last one was actually a vertical flight. Wonder what went wrong that time :D
 
I've had two unlucky rockets. First, my LOC Onyx. Third flight resulted in two fins getting ripped off, along with some of the body tube. Repaired it, and next flight, another fin and some body tube. Another repair, and the original fin that never came off, same thing. Finally, I replaced the fins with new ones, extended to the motor mount. Two flights later, and the shock cord loop on the nose broke, but it recovered with no damages.

My second unlucky rocket would have to be my crayon. We had taken a trip to visit some family, and was planning to stop at a launch on our way back. When we got to our family's house, and I was unloading the van, I didn't see the acrylic fins, and placed my hand on one with all my weight, and snapped it in half. I CA'd it together, and put some clear packing tape on it, and it still turned in a great flight on a G80. Next launch was on a H128, for a beautiful flight and recovery, till the wind filled the chute after landing. It drug it across some hard ground, rolling it hard enough to break the broken fin again, plus one more. I've fully replaced the two broken fins, but haven't had a chance to fly it again.
 
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