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Old 08-30-2005, 03:59 PM
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Tweener Tweener is offline
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Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Ottawa, Ohio
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Boy did I get lucky on this one. My wife and I went out sunday evening about 8:30 PM - just before dark when the winds died down to launch my Estes Big Daddy. This was the second launch on a D12-3. Unfortunately, I had a shock cord separation and the nose cone floatd down serenely on the big 24" chute while the main body fell on it's own. The squat body of this rocket with the engine casing in it never became stable and tumbled all the way to the soybean field for a nice soft landing. Problem was, I couldn't find it in the waist deep plants, and it was getting dark. Fast forward to Monday morning. I searched the area where it went down again, but since I had to go to work early, I only had an hour - no luck. This morning I went back to search again with the last remnants of Katrina fast approaching. I knew if I didn't find it now, the rain would ruin it; there was already the beginnings of a light drizzle. I decided to trust my instincts and stood on the far side of the small strip field, positioning myself where I mentally marked the impact point Sunday. I started to walk a direct line to the place I was standing at launch, parting the plants and stepping through then parting them as far as I could reach to the left and right. I knew I'd have to be within 3 or 4 feet of it. After entering the field less than 20 feet I parted the plants to my left and THERE IT WAS! Needless to say, I'll never build another rocket without a Kevlar anchor on the shock cord again!
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John Lance Ladd
Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems
Grovers Mill, NJ
Established 1938
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Old 09-09-2005, 03:59 PM
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Tweener Tweener is offline
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Just launched The 'Daddy again on Labor day. This time I used a D12-5 and I must say the results were much better. The D12-3 seemed to kick the cone out on the way up, but this time it was definitely post-apogee and more horizontal at ejection. Oh, and the new Kevlar lead on the double-length shock cord worked like a charm.
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Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems
Grovers Mill, NJ
Established 1938
lladd.netau.net
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