Finally another launch at the Amesbury field. This was the Fliskits Anniversary launch. The weather was not cooperating on the 15th, so the launch was held the next day. Since it was on Sunday, I could not attend the entire event. I finally got to the launch site around twelve thirty, and managed to get in eleven flights.
Because of my late arrival to the launch, I wanted to make sure I got my time consuming High Power flights done first. So my first flight of the day was my Super Black Magnum with an AMW J480 BB. I added two smoke balls to the outboard tubes for tracking smoke. The boost was Perfect! Awesome blue flame with mach diamonds. The smoke charges did their job and I could clearly see them all the way to apogee. To top off a perfect boost, the magnum had a perfect landing.
During this launch, I wanted to test my G-Wiz LCX altimeter, which was used in my first level three attempt. The apogee charge fired but there was no main event. I was wondering if in single battery mode, does the LCX do dual deployment. According to it’s specks, it does. Since it was already set up for G-Wiz altimeter, I used my Super Glotova’s altimeter bay in conjunction with my LOC “Hotel Express.” Since this was a altimeter test, I had the parachute deploy with the apogee charge and motor charge, whichever came first.
First test fight was with an Aerotech G79-10W reload. The rocket did not go as high as I was hoping it would go. The apogee charge did fire, but the main charge did not. Upon recovery, there was no audible altitude reading. So I wondered if the rocket did not go high enough for an altitude reading, would the altimeter not fire the main charge? With that question in mind, I decided to repeat the test, this time with an H128-10W. This time the Hotel Express went about 1500 ft, but the altimeter reported about 3000. Again, the Apogee fired and there was no main deployment.
I had very bad luck with my Ladyrobin rocket. I just spent $150 rebuilding and improving the lower section of the rocket. I decided to fly her with an AMW I375 Green Gorilla motor. Using a Transolve PK6 Altimeter, both the main and apogee charge used two igniters. Apogee was also backed up using the motor’s ejection. It took several tries to get the Green Gorilla motor going. Finally on the fourth try, the motor took and my Ladyrobin took off on its climb to 1,800 ft. There was never any deployment. None of the electronic and motor charges fired. It was a complete loss to the rocket. I should of gave up on try three.
After cleaning up the mess, it was time to fly my smaller rockets. First up was my unpainted Fliskits Whatchamacalit. I flew it with my favorite A motor, the A10-3T. Believe it or not I always have trouble following this rocket. It moves surprisingly fast. Next up was my EZ2C with dual C6-5 motors. Nice boost but the rocket came down via blob recovery. Even though the rocket used a baffle, the parachute was melted like there was nothing between the parachute and ejection charge. I was baffled.
I love clustered flights, so naturally I flew another clustered rocket. This time the rocket of choice was my Paylord. Perfect flight with three C6-5 motors. Another fun rocket is the Fliskits Frick n Frack. Best motor combination is a B6-0 in the booster, and a C6-0 in the sustainer. The boost with the B6-0 is like any other UFO fight. Nice and slow. The fun starts when staging occurs. The sustainer shoots off the booster, spinning up to apogee. When the motor burns out, the Frack flips over and slowly spins back to the ground.
My Estes Outlaw took off on its first flight with a C6-5. Great flight, but even with full canopy, it broke a fin on landing. Then my beautifully finished Estes Der Red Max took off on its first flight with a B4-4. Nice slow flight with a perfect recovery. My final black powder flight of the day was my Sunward Phoenix which flew with a slightly squirrelly flight on a C6-3.
| Pictures :) | |||
| My Super Black Magnum takes off with an AMW J480 Blue Baboon motor. The J480 is my favorite J motor to fly in my Magnum. |
| J480 pushing my magnum into the sky. |
| My Ladyrobin lifts off with a stuborn hard to light AMW I375 Green Gorilla motor. |
| Failure of the Ladyrobins electronics and failure of the motor's ejection charge resulted in the total distruction of my rocket. |
| The remains of the nose cone and the electronics bay of my ladyrobin rocket. |
| Brand new fin can ruined :(. |