What a great day for flying. It was a warm day, and was not too windy. Brought a lot of new low power rockets to fly, plus I got a chance to shoot off some high flying rockets. Throughout the day, I launched a total of nineteen rockets.
I started the day off with my Fliskits Frick and Frack. The F&F seems to like the B6-0/C6-0 combination the best. The B6-0 shorter burn time allows the staging to occur before the UFO has a chance to arch over, which it usually does when a C6-0 is used. Another beautiful flight and I managed to get an awesome video of the flight. I love how the sustainer spins after staging, and then helicopters back down for recovery.
A couple weeks before the launch, Bill’s Hobby Barn in Salem (NH) had some Estes “Ready To Fly” Moondog and Jinx rockets in the 50% off bin. Of course I bought one of each :). They both look big and heavy but I was surprised how well they fly. I flew both with A10-3T motors.
This launch I wanted to burn a lot of C6-7’s. The first to take a ride on one was my Astrocam. It had a great boost and the typical high speed nose-down ejection. The flimsy shock cord broke so the camera hit the ground hard, which resulted in the film cartridge being knocked out of the rocket. Of course this means the picture was lost.
Next up was three freshly painted minimum diameter rockets called the Stardart, Sizzler, and the Black Diamond. Since these rockets have never flown before, and I had them all loaded with C6-7’s, I dubbed each flight Virgin Sacrifice numbers one through three. I was not expecting to get any of them back. Each flight did not hesitate to fly out of sight, and because of the well known M80 ejection charges of these motors, each one suffered some sort of separation. At the end of the launch, I did get all the lost pieces back. There was two more C6-7 powered flight during the day. That motor is well suited for my Semroc Lil Ivan, which is why it’s my favorite choice for this rocket. As always it was a great flight. The final C6-7 flight of the day was scratch built rocket called the Jupiter. A great way to end the C6-7 parage, since I flew it with seven C6-7 motors! Awesome flight which resulted in charring around the motor mount area, and the central motor tube was knocked loose.
My beautifully finished Estes Der Red Max took off for its second flight with an Estes C6-5. The flight was nice and slow and got a respectable altitude for such a small rocket. My Sunward Phoenix logged in another flight with a C6-3.
When I first saw the announcement for the Estes D-Region Tomahawk, I was skeptical. It had a hefty price tag for a rocket that size. Then I saw the kit in the hobby shop, and saw how heavy duty it was. I had to add it to my collection. I decided for its first flight to launch it with the recommended E9-6. After a nice slow boost, the nylon chute deployed a few seconds after apogee. An E9-4 would be a better choice.
Next up to the plate was a scratch built rocket I call the ESRA Missile. Based off of two lengths of BT-70 tubing, the missile sported eight fins, four small fins in the back, and four large fins above those. This was its maiden flight. Even though I designed it with Rocksim, I wondered if this rocket would be stable like Rocksim predicted. I decided on dual E9-6’s for shakedown flight. What an awesome flight! Flew straight as an arrow and kept going and going and going! The 6 second delay was perfect for this bird too.
After flying all that black powder, it was time to get my AP fix. First up was my PML Bull Puppy, which took off with a G54-6W motor. A very nice motor that wasted no time taking my puppy out of sight. Then I decided to try out one of the new Aerotech G71 Redline motors in my AT Sumo. Aerotech gave me the wrong nozzle because the motor blew its aft closure off, which significantly damaged the Sumo.
Then I continued my G-Wiz test flights with my “Hotel Express,” which launched with an Aerotech H128-10W. I rigged the rocket so the main chute came out at apogee, with no chute in the main p-chute bay. It was a perfect flight with both Apogee and Main charges firing on time. The G-Wiz LCX does need two batteries to function properly.
My final High Power flight was my Megablast loaded with an AMW J440BB. I must have had a bad delay grain because the flight interrupted by a blow-by. This is ironic because the LCO read the “Main at 500’ on my flight card.” When the blow-by occurred, the LCO said “Yep, main at 500 feet”! Only damage to the rocket was a zipper, but that is no big deal.
Everything I wanted to fly was flown, and still had time to fly a couple more rockets. So I decided to see how well my ESRA missile does with dual D12-5 motors. Was not as fun as the E9 flight, but it was still a great flight. To finish my flying day, I launched my Estes Jinx again with an A10-3T.
| Pictures :) | |||
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Standing next to my Jupitor 7 before its first fligt. |
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My Jupitor 7 takes off with the power of seven Estes C6-7's. |
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Jupitor 7 on its way down after a sucessful fligt. |
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Yep, all seven motors fired. |
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My Der Red Max posed and ready for its second flight with a C6-5. |
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Posing next my Der Red Max after another sucessful flight. |
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Brand new Estes D-Region Tomahawk. |
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My Estes D-Region Tomahawk takes off with an E9-4. |
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The long burning Estes E9 takes my Tomahawk high into the sky. |
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My Sunward Phoenix ready for flight with a C6-3. |
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PML Bull Puppy takes off with an Aerotech G54 White Lightning motor. |
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Bull Puppy on its way back from a beautiful flight. |
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A Patriot takes off with a Smokey Sam motor. |
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Deployment occured right after burnout. |
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My 'Hotel Express' posed ready for liftoff. It is using my Super Glotova's electronics bay to test my G-Wiz altimeter. |
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My 'Hotel Express' takes off with an Aerotech H128-10W for another G-Wiz altimeter test. |
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My Megablast ready for takeoff. |
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My Megablast with a J440 Blue Baboon motor shortly before its blowby. |
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Tony Vincent preps his Talon. | 
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Tony's Talon takes off with a G79 White Lightning motor. |
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Borris Kantan launches his modified Ultimate with a cluster of G77 Redlines and smaller White Lightning motors. |
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Borris's clustered flight climbs higher in the sky. |
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My Sumo loaded with a G71-7R motor. |
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Apparently the reload came with the wrong nozzle which caused the motor to cato. |
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Damage to the inside of my Aerotech Sumo. |
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The parts that were recovered from the G71 that Catoed. |
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My ESRA missile before its second flight. |
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A rocket takes off with an Aerotech H220 Blue Thunder motor. |
| Select Videos :) | |||
| My Fliskits Frick & Frack takes off with a B6-0/C6-0 Combination. I love how the top section spins on the way down. | |||
| A Black Brant rocket takes off with a classic Econojet G35 motor. I loved these motors when they were availale. Nice long burn, full diameter tracking smoke. I miss them. | |||
| A LOC Forte launces with a classic G40 White Ligtning motor. | |||
| Tony Vincent launches his Estes Pro-Series Patriot with 4 D12-7 motors. It almost takes out another parachuting rocket. | |||
| My Der Red Max takes off with a C6-5. | |||
| My ESRA Missile takes off with two Estes E9-6's. | |||
| My Jupitor takes off with seven C6-7 motors. | |||
| I love the AMW I325 White Wolf motor! | |||
| The G71-7R in my Sumo catos. | |||
| My Hotel Express takes off with an H128-10W for a G-Wiz test flight. | |||
| My Megablast powered by an AMW J440 deploys way to early due to a blow by. | |||