A Fish Named Wallyum
05-29-2006, 02:17 PM
I spent a lot of the day working on the pool, so I only had about 3 1/2 hours to fly. It was hotter than a two dollar Mars Lander, but any day flying is a good day. I led off with my old-school Renegade on an E9-8, it's first flight since a major repair. I'm beginning to like the bigger rockets on the Estes E's a lot. More expensive, but compared to the big motors, pretty cheap. This flight in particular was awesome, quick off the pad into the wind and high enough to at first make me think it could leave the park. The winds were with me though. It recovered straight out from the pad, deep in the weeds.
My second flight was the upscaled Space Twins glider that I built, "flew" and abandoned back in 2001. Turns out the C5-3 I flew it on back then had a little too much punch for it as it kept shredding off the pad. Saturdays flight was on a B4-2, which was perfect for it. The only problem came at ejection when one of the gliders failed to disengage. Might have been better off if they both had failed, because the one that did come off flew away and was never found. Still, it was cool to have made it work properly.
Next up was the Rokitflite Odyssey on a C6-3. The flight was fine, but the three second ejection seemed way early. I think this works better off as a C6-5 flight. Recovered DEEP in the weeds, after which I made another pass to look for the lost glider. No luck, but I did find a missing McNeely bird.
I flew several dusty birds on Saturday, another of which was the Thrustline Cherokee D on a D12-5. This one hadn't been flown since it broke it's nose cone tip due to shock cord rebound a few years ago, but it seemed like the kind of day for this kind of rocket. Great flight but hung up forever and I had to drive after it to recover it. (Okay, I didn't HAVE to drive. But it was HOT!) I had a nice drive, drank my Propel, and felt a lot better afterwards, so sue me.
Next in line was a new bird, a Pimp Daddy A-20 Demon that is finished except for decals. This flew on a D12-7, and will definitely fly again. Recovered just out past the pads for my shortest walk of the day. If you haven't given Pimp Daddy a try yet, think about it. Very much a retro bird, but nicely done and at a decent price. I just wish they'd add Kevlar.
My Q-Modeling MRS Rogue was next on an E9-6. Ripped, screamed, then drifted forever. I really like this bird. A great project from start to finish.
My last two flights were first flight birds, an upscaled Estes Missile Toe and an Estes Defender clone. The Missile Toe flew on a D12-5 and zigged and zagged its way through the sky. Not so much unstable as...........interesting. This just needs decals to complete it, so I need to get an order into Bel Decal for paper.
The Defender also needs decals, but it flew arrow straight on an E9-8. Somehow I put the engine block about midway between the spot for a D and E flight. The E sticks out more than an inch, but still flies well. This was my last flight of the day because everyone was hot, tired and thirsty, so we struck the range and I headed for barbecue.
IT WAS CLOSED!
City Bar-B-Q apparently shut its doors just after I tried it three weeks ago. Hard to imagine. The plaza is crawling with people at all times and the guy I talked to said they were always busy. Cincinnati just isn't a big BBQ town yet, especially in yuppy West Chester. I had a burrito at Chipotle instead, which was still pretty good.
Almost forgot. I also got to see a new Semroc Mars Lander launch. Chan Stevens flew his on a C6-3 with added nose weight. Apparently it's fairly tricky to trim because a 1/4 oz difference in nose weight made all the difference. Very cool to watch.
My second flight was the upscaled Space Twins glider that I built, "flew" and abandoned back in 2001. Turns out the C5-3 I flew it on back then had a little too much punch for it as it kept shredding off the pad. Saturdays flight was on a B4-2, which was perfect for it. The only problem came at ejection when one of the gliders failed to disengage. Might have been better off if they both had failed, because the one that did come off flew away and was never found. Still, it was cool to have made it work properly.
Next up was the Rokitflite Odyssey on a C6-3. The flight was fine, but the three second ejection seemed way early. I think this works better off as a C6-5 flight. Recovered DEEP in the weeds, after which I made another pass to look for the lost glider. No luck, but I did find a missing McNeely bird.
I flew several dusty birds on Saturday, another of which was the Thrustline Cherokee D on a D12-5. This one hadn't been flown since it broke it's nose cone tip due to shock cord rebound a few years ago, but it seemed like the kind of day for this kind of rocket. Great flight but hung up forever and I had to drive after it to recover it. (Okay, I didn't HAVE to drive. But it was HOT!) I had a nice drive, drank my Propel, and felt a lot better afterwards, so sue me.
Next in line was a new bird, a Pimp Daddy A-20 Demon that is finished except for decals. This flew on a D12-7, and will definitely fly again. Recovered just out past the pads for my shortest walk of the day. If you haven't given Pimp Daddy a try yet, think about it. Very much a retro bird, but nicely done and at a decent price. I just wish they'd add Kevlar.
My Q-Modeling MRS Rogue was next on an E9-6. Ripped, screamed, then drifted forever. I really like this bird. A great project from start to finish.
My last two flights were first flight birds, an upscaled Estes Missile Toe and an Estes Defender clone. The Missile Toe flew on a D12-5 and zigged and zagged its way through the sky. Not so much unstable as...........interesting. This just needs decals to complete it, so I need to get an order into Bel Decal for paper.
The Defender also needs decals, but it flew arrow straight on an E9-8. Somehow I put the engine block about midway between the spot for a D and E flight. The E sticks out more than an inch, but still flies well. This was my last flight of the day because everyone was hot, tired and thirsty, so we struck the range and I headed for barbecue.
IT WAS CLOSED!
City Bar-B-Q apparently shut its doors just after I tried it three weeks ago. Hard to imagine. The plaza is crawling with people at all times and the guy I talked to said they were always busy. Cincinnati just isn't a big BBQ town yet, especially in yuppy West Chester. I had a burrito at Chipotle instead, which was still pretty good.
Almost forgot. I also got to see a new Semroc Mars Lander launch. Chan Stevens flew his on a C6-3 with added nose weight. Apparently it's fairly tricky to trim because a 1/4 oz difference in nose weight made all the difference. Very cool to watch.