Windmill of Desssssstiny!

[BABAR]

I hope I am wrong, but there is going to be very high pressure on the outside of these fins due to air flow, and very low pressure in the inside due to the motors accelerating the flow. (In my early years I out A motor inside a Pepsi 2 liter bottle open at the base, never left the pad. The forces pushed the outer shell right into the jet stream. Hope your rods are strong!

 

[boatgeek]

I hope I am wrong, but there is going to be very high pressure on the outside of these fins due to air flow, and very low pressure in the inside due to the motors accelerating the flow. (In my early years I out A motor inside a Pepsi 2 liter bottle open at the base, never left the pad. The forces pushed the outer shell right into the jet stream. Hope your rods are strong!

The rods are 6mm carbon fiber tube and are quite strong. We’ll find out!

 

[cvanc]

A delightful bit of madness! Highly creative.

But... I bet it'll hang on the rail. They are not clean and smooth on the outside, not at any launch I've been to. A brand new rail might work, but I think this stands a better chance off a large rod instead. You can always scrub a rod with steel wool just before flying...

 

[boatgeek]

A delightful bit of madness! Highly creative.

But... I bet it'll hang on the rail. They are not clean and smooth on the outside, not at any launch I've been to. A brand new rail might work, but I think this stands a better chance off a large rod instead. You can always scrub a rod with steel wool just before flying...

The first launch will be on a nearly-new rail. After that, we'll see. The rail guide has a carefully-tuned amount of slop--enough to not drag on the rail but not so much that it can easily bind by getting cocked.

 

[Daddyisabar]

Cleaning rails....ugh! Way beneath my station. Just buy new ones.

But a club equipment clean up day will be a wonderful bonding experience! OK, but only with a steak cook out...And oddrocs allowed off the rail!

Wash those built up crusties off the rail, plenty of elbow grease. Work those delicate and talented fingers to the bone. Inhale the vinegar and other irritating chemical cleaners. Lube the newly cleaned rail to frictionless perfection. Wash, rinse, lube, repeat. These are the sacrifices we make for maximum efficiency!

 

[boatgeek]

The Windmill of Desssstiny has made its maiden flight, and it was ... exciting. Some of the excitement was avoidable, some maybe not. First of all, I was led off of the straight and narrow to the Dark Side by @Daddyisabar. "Trust in thrust!" he says. So I did. To the tune of a pair of F79s in the outboard motor mounts. Turns out that going directly to the highest power motors on the table on the maiden flight was a bad plan. Who could have predicted that?!

On ignition, it appears that the (very slippery silicone-coated) sails slid down the booms more or less immediately. They were held in place by rubber bands, but the bands apparently weren't strong enough. You can see that shortly after liftoff below, where the sails are falling into the smoke cloud and the center core with motors burning is well above them. Unfortunately, the sails held on at one point, making the center core unstable (it might have been anyway). The core tumbled away, throwing the rods out as it went. It eventually recovered under a parachute that I had added at the last minute, placed in a fire blanket on top of the center core. The center D12-0 apparently was able to kick it out for deployment as planned.

Good things:
All of the rods and parts were recovered, undamaged.
The chute on top worked and will be used for future flight(s)
The core slid very nicely up the rail with no binding

Next steps:
Clean the soot off of the sails
Add positive retention to the sails and rods
Try again with a trio of D12s
Try to live down the nickname of "Windmill of Death-stiny" that my LCO gave it.
View attachment IMG_4629.MOV

 

[lakeroadster]

Excellent launch report. No doubt this was a pucker factor 10 launch.

You could have just said the rocket was launched, the sails deployed at ejection, and the rocket was recovered intact.

You're a standup guy, and your ability to continue video taping, while questioning your own destiny, is very impressive.

@Daddyisabar Needs to amend his "Trust in Thrust" credo to "Trust in Thrust, but not on the 1st date"

 

[Daddyisabar]

Only Sith deal in absolutes. I am with the Jedi. Just like in the old catalogs: Recommended motor A8 3 on first flight of 3-4FNC!
Avoid the scum and villainy, we must be cautious.

Jedi don't date, only Sith do.

 

[boatgeek]

Excellent launch report. No doubt this was a pucker factor 10 launch.

You could have just said the rocket was launched, the sails deployed at ejection, and the rocket was recovered intact.

You're a standup guy, and your ability to continue video taping, while questioning your own destiny, is very impressive.

@Daddyisabar Needs to amend his "Trust in Thrust" credo to "Trust in Thrust, but not on the 1st date"

I don't think it was a Pucker Factor 10 launch. Maybe that means that I need a little less hubris. Everyone but me and my LCO were well clear. It was also a small launch of people who were all paying attention. Heads up for sure!

 

[boatgeek]

You could have just said the rocket was launched, the sails deployed at ejection, and the rocket was recovered intact.

Was thinking about this a little more, and it reminded me of when my neighbor said, "I love hearing about when your kids do stupid stuff! It reminds me that my kid isn't the only one who does that. Most people don't tell you the bad stuff." If you don't share our poor decisions, nobody else gets to learn from our experiences. I did think briefly about not sharing the video, but decided it was worth it just for the sails slipping off and falling majestically to earth.

"You must learn from the mistakes of others--you will never live long enough to make them all yourself." -Harry Myers and Mason M. Roberts

"Good judgement depends mostly on experience and experience usually comes from poor judgement." -Fred Rose

(Note that both of these are usually attributed to Mark Twain or Will Rogers; Google led me to Quote Investigator for a likely better attribution.

 

[Daddyisabar]

Congratulations! The rocket went up and deployed a recovery system. No grievous bodily injury or property damage. All the low standards of the oddroc scum were met.

 

[lakeroadster]

Was thinking about this a little more, and it reminded me of when my neighbor said, "I love hearing about when your kids do stupid stuff! It reminds me that my kid isn't the only one who does that. Most people don't tell you the bad stuff." If you don't share our poor decisions, nobody else gets to learn from our experiences. I did think briefly about not sharing the video, but decided it was worth it just for the sails slipping off and falling majestically to earth.

"You must learn from the mistakes of others--you will never live long enough to make them all yourself." -Harry Myers and Mason M. Roberts

"Good judgement depends mostly on experience and experience usually comes from poor judgement." -Fred Rose

(Note that both of these are usually attributed to Mark Twain or Will Rogers; Google led me to Quote Investigator for a likely better attribution.

You're a standup guy,

 

[mbeels]

Was thinking about this a little more, and it reminded me of when my neighbor said, "I love hearing about when your kids do stupid stuff! It reminds me that my kid isn't the only one who does that. Most people don't tell you the bad stuff." If you don't share our poor decisions, nobody else gets to learn from our experiences. I did think briefly about not sharing the video, but decided it was worth it just for the sails slipping off and falling majestically to earth.

"You must learn from the mistakes of others--you will never live long enough to make them all yourself." -Harry Myers and Mason M. Roberts

"Good judgement depends mostly on experience and experience usually comes from poor judgement." -Fred Rose

(Note that both of these are usually attributed to Mark Twain or Will Rogers; Google led me to Quote Investigator for a likely better attribution.

Thanks for posting the video and full report, looks like a good launch to me, all things considered. I'd still consider this a relatively safer launch than a high altitude MD rocket with no room for redundant electronics or motor eject.

I had to check out the video frame by frame, but you already posted a good analysis of what happened.

All sails still attached:



Looks like the green one starts to slide down:


Everything starts to slide down:


Something lets loose and "destiny" starts to happen:


All strung out here:


Loop-de-loop completed, draggy bits eliminated, skyward ho! "It is my destiny!" says the rocket as it perseveres to gain altitude.

 

[BABAR]

Jedi don't date, only Sith do.

this may in part explain why there are so few Jedis in the world….

 

[lakeroadster]

this may in part explain why there are so few Jedis in the world….

They really are a mess.

Some of them had lust in their heart for their sister... and if that wasn't bad enough, didn't even know who their father was until the death and dismemberment agreement paid off.

You can pick your friends... but you can't pick your family.

 

[boatgeek]

Gosh, has it been nearly a year already? This project sat for a while, and I finally got it back out on the field for a mostly successful second flight. Major changes since last time are:

• The booms are retained to the core with light line tied to the post
• The sails are retained on the boom with a little thread tied to the hard points on the boom
• I tried washing the sails, but they're dingy until they die.

Here's what the overall unit and a detail of the booms look like:


I was originally going to fly in the same configuration as the last time with all of the burn strings, but then one of my threads broke as I was assembling it. The heck with it, I said. Surely the air pressure will push the sails down!

And it did, which takes about a third of the time off of prepping this horrifically-complicated rocket. So I'll definitely do that in the future. The top three booms in the second picture have the rubber bands still as intended, going straight from the trailing edge of the sail to the next boom, then up to the post. The others have slipped in various ways, but it didn't seem to matter much.

It was a really nice flight on 3xD12's, with a good spin on the way up, good deployment of the chute, and nothing broken. The only fly in the ointment was that one of the side D12-3 ejection charges cut the shock cord, so it fell from 20 or so feet up. No biggie though since it landed on soft sod.

Hopefully, @DirkTheDaring will have a video shortly. Thanks for the D12-0, too!

 

[DirkTheDaring]

Gosh, has it been nearly a year already? This project sat for a while, and I finally got it back out on the field for a mostly successful second flight. Major changes since last time are:

• The booms are retained to the core with light line tied to the post
• The sails are retained on the boom with a little thread tied to the hard points on the boom
• I tried washing the sails, but they're dingy until they die.

Here's what the overall unit and a detail of the booms look like:


I was originally going to fly in the same configuration as the last time with all of the burn strings, but then one of my threads broke as I was assembling it. The heck with it, I said. Surely the air pressure will push the sails down!

And it did, which takes about a third of the time off of prepping this horrifically-complicated rocket. So I'll definitely do that in the future. The three booms have the rubber bands still as intended, going straight from the trailing edge of the sail to the next boom, then up to the post. The others have slipped in various ways, but it didn't seem to matter much.

It was a really nice flight on 3xD12's, with a good spin on the way up, good deployment of the chute, and nothing broken. The only fly in the ointment was that one of the side D12-3 ejection charges cut the shock cord, so it fell from 20 or so feet up. No biggie though since it landed on soft sod.

Hopefully, @DirkTheDaring will have a video shortly. Thanks for the D12-0, too!

i have video and hope to upload it later today. It was freakin' awesome!

 

[DirkTheDaring]

Here it is: The WIIINNNDDMIIILLL of DDDESSSSTINNNYYY!



(Sorry about the audio, they were mowing the field, I suggest turn off the audio when playing.)

@boatgeek, may I have permission to post on Facebook in the Estes group? (Are you on FB?) With credit, of course.

 

[boatgeek]

Go ahead and post it to the Estes group. I am on Facebook, but I'm not in that group. No worries about crediting me beyond maybe a link to this build thread. I don't mind keeping a little mystery about my identity.

 

[shockie]

Consider creating a version with 2-3 canted motors.?

 

[NTP2]

Go ahead and post it to the Estes group. I am on Facebook, but I'm not in that group. No worries about crediting me beyond maybe a link to this build thread. I don't mind keeping a little mystery about my identity.

You certain? People might think you’re @Daddyisabar , not that that’s a bad thing.

 

[boatgeek]

Consider creating a version with 2-3 canted motors.?

You certainly could. I don't think I'll be doing another version of this even if it breaks. It's a lot of fun, but it was a real challenge to build and prep. Of course, I do still have the STL file, so it wouldn't be hard to reproduce the center core.