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Old 02-22-2016, 05:19 PM
MarkB.'s Avatar
MarkB. MarkB. is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: El Paso
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Default January Launches

Comrades:

I thought I'd post pictures of our January family launches made on 1/4 and 1/18 in support of my nephew's science fair project. As you can see, the mornings were nice but a little cool. All pictures were taken by SWMBO.

Picture 1 is Rescue Bertha about to go on a C6-5 weather flight. Great flight; recovered in the mown area with its original 18" plastic chute.

Picture 2 is my vintage Starfire, the oldest survivor of my childhood fleet, returning to flight after 40 years and a partial rebuild, on an A8-5. This was a NARTREK qualifying flight but the plastic parachute was late in the cold air so I didn't make my time. I also got the Powr-Pad working thanks to the guys on this site.

Picture 3 is my personal Big Bertha on C6-5. Yes, the Texas sky at this altitude really is that blue: no Photoshop. Bertha landed on its fins SpaceX style with a 15" Top Flight nylon chute.

Picture 4 is my nephew's rocket. In studying the picture, you probably note that the rocket has no pointy nose cone. That was the project: He tested five nose cones with three flights each. He had an ogive, a cone, an hemispherical, a flat plate and a concave shape. This picture is the flat plate. The unpainted test rocket is one I designed for the kid's Scouting projects consisting of Semroc Goblin fins, 18mm engine mount and parachute on a BT-56/Series 13 18" body tube. On top of this was a 4.5" payload bay with its own parachute for the Estes altimeter and of course, the various cones mounted to the top. Each cone got three launches, but because of problems with the altimeter, we actually ended up launching the rocket 22 times over two days without damage. All recorded launches were with B6-4.

He got First Place.

The last picture is a particulaly cool shot of Rescue Bertha moving out on C6-5.

I thought I had some more pictures around here, let me see if I can find them.
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NAR 79743
NARTrek Silver
I miss being SAM 062

Awaiting First Launch: Too numerous to count
Finishing: Zooch Saturn V; Alway/Nau BioArcas; Estes Expedition; TLP Standard
Repair/Rescue: Cherokee-D (2); Centuri Nike-Smoke; MX-774
On the Bench: 2650;
Dream Stage: 1/39.37 R-7

Last edited by MarkB. : 02-22-2016 at 06:58 PM.
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Old 02-22-2016, 05:36 PM
luke strawwalker's Avatar
luke strawwalker luke strawwalker is offline
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Cool... glad to see kids doing some interesting projects...

My daughter just won first place for her fifth grade science project... Her project was "crash landing on Mars" and involved dropping various geometrically-shaped "vehicles" into a "Mars surface simulant" consisting of red sand and kitty litter... She replicated the tests with a harder surface, dropping the test objects from a known height (countertop) onto the kitchen floor. The test objects were constructed of Legos and damage was judged by how many pieces were knocked off or knocked loose, and the results tallied to determine which shape survived the impact with the least damage.

Later! OL J R
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Old 02-22-2016, 06:23 PM
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MarkB. MarkB. is offline
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OK Guys,

Here are the other pictures:

Picture 1 is my Toxic Avenger at the moment of truth. The payload section and cone is from my childhood; the rocket was an eBay rescue that, having suffered a core-sampling reentry, was serendipitously missing its payload section. I took this as a sign to buy it. I ended up carefully peeling off all of the glassine coating, replacing a few inches of body tube, regluing the fins, recoating the whole thing with sealer and painting it in what were probably the original colors of flat black and florescent orange.

Picture 2 is my 1/24 Estes V-2 on a D12-5. Absolutely rock-solid on boost. Probably my favorite rocket. Excelsior Decals complete the German A-4 V.3 prototype paint job.

Picture 3 is the lift-off of Toxic Avenger on B6-0/A8-5. Also a NARTrek flight, this was the first time (including my childhood) that I had ever had a two-stager work flawlessly. Totally worth it. My sister and niece are watching. If you look closely at the project table, you can see four of the five nose cones and the rocket and parachutes for my nephew's science fair project.

Picture 4 is the moment of ignition with my son launching the V-2 with my brother-in-law in the background. This launch was the first time my brother-in-law had ever seen a rocket fly. He went home and ordered a Big Bertha. As point of trivia, behind the mountain in the background, looking north, is the southern end of White Sands Missile Range. This was my D-E NARTrek qualifying launch.

The last picture is of the nose cones for my nephew's project mentioned in the first post. They are finished by dunking in glossy, water-based acrylic four times over a day. With a wonderful natural wood finish, they are super-shiny and smooth.
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__________________
NAR 79743
NARTrek Silver
I miss being SAM 062

Awaiting First Launch: Too numerous to count
Finishing: Zooch Saturn V; Alway/Nau BioArcas; Estes Expedition; TLP Standard
Repair/Rescue: Cherokee-D (2); Centuri Nike-Smoke; MX-774
On the Bench: 2650;
Dream Stage: 1/39.37 R-7

Last edited by MarkB. : 02-23-2016 at 08:39 AM.
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