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Old 11-02-2015, 03:34 PM
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Doug Sams Doug Sams is offline
Old Far...er...Rocketeer
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Plano, TX resident since 1998.
Posts: 3,965
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Roscoe1951
I'm pretty new to this hobby and yesterday launched my first 2-stage rocket an Estes Express. I used a D12-0 in the booster and a C11-5 in the second stage. The rocket flew well, the separation was clean and the chute deployed. The only problem was that after separation the booster came straight down, nose first and augered into the ground about 30 feet from the launch pad. The front of the tube was chewed up, a fin broke loose, and the tube buckled just forward of the rear centering ring. Is this normal? Shouldn't the booster have tumbled to lessen the impact?
To be clear, CC Express? I've never flown one of these (but have flown many, many BP stagers). Eye-balling the booster, it looks like it ought to tumble. The common causes for not tumbling are that there's too much weight forward in the booster stage, or the fins are mounted too far aft.

If you used an extra long coupler, that could have shifted the weight too far forward.

With many kits, the stock position of the booster fins can cause lawn darting, but this isn't one of the kits I associate with that. The fins don't look too far aft in the catalog pics I've seen.

Anyway, sorry to hear your booster got buggered, but, if you repair or replace it, consider keeping the coupler short and the fins forward.

Also, one other thought, sometimes the weight of the motor keeps the booster unstable and makes it tumble. If yours spit its motor, that may have left the booster stable and caused it to augur in . So try putting a dab of tape on the booster motor to help it stay friction-fit into the tube.

Doug

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