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#1
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Launch report: South Charleston, Ohio - Saturday, February 18, 2012
Rough day today, for both my rockets and for my confidence in Estes motors. I arrived at the field early enough to help with the very end of the setup, and again was SHOCKED AT HOW FRIGGING COLD IT WAS!!! I stopped in South Charleston at the bank to get money for my launch fees and was perfectly comfortable in my turtleneck, button down, sweater vest and baseball cap. (The turtleneck was one of those cold weather compression shirts, and to be honest, I thought I might be too warm.) The field is just a couple of miles outside of town, and after the setup, I went back to the car and started ransacking it for cold weather gear. Luckily I had a sock cap and some gloves in the trunk. The sun felt great, but the wind was murder. In several ways.
My first flight was my FSI Viking homage, the Viking 6. Flying on an E9-6 that acted more like an E9-9, the flight was fine until the ejection that never seemed to come. The rocket was heading down at a fair clip when the ejection charge finally fired. The chute fouled on the fin and the rocket continued its free fall, luckily sideways. I thought this might have allowed it to land a little softer, but it made no difference. No zipper, which shocked me, but the rocket was obviously finished for the day. Clean break, so it should be an easy fix.
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Bill Eichelberger NAR 79563 http://wallyum.blogspot.com/ I miss being SAM 0058 Build floor: Centuri Design Contest F-150 Hurricane Estes - Low Boom SST Semroc - Gee'Hod, Shrike, SST Shuttle In paint: Canaroc Starfighter Scorpion Estes F-22 Air Superiority Fighter, Solar Sailer II Semroc Cyber III Ready to fly: Estes - Multi-Roc, Solar Sailer II Semroc - Earmark, Snake Jumper |
#2
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Second flight was the Estes Vagabond that finished the last launch sitting on the pad with no continuity. No problems today. Great flight on an E9-6. Wind****ed heavily back over the flightline, then recovered deep in the corn.
(New camera, so I'm in a learning curve.) The good news is that I found two missing rockets while I was hunting for mine.
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Bill Eichelberger NAR 79563 http://wallyum.blogspot.com/ I miss being SAM 0058 Build floor: Centuri Design Contest F-150 Hurricane Estes - Low Boom SST Semroc - Gee'Hod, Shrike, SST Shuttle In paint: Canaroc Starfighter Scorpion Estes F-22 Air Superiority Fighter, Solar Sailer II Semroc Cyber III Ready to fly: Estes - Multi-Roc, Solar Sailer II Semroc - Earmark, Snake Jumper |
#3
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Are the found rockets still usable?
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#4
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Next up was the Estes Skybolt clone that I just finished with Excelsior decals. I'd planned to fly it on a D12-7, but I was sick most of the week and never got to Hobby Lobby, so I went with a C11-7 instead.
Heavy wind****ing, but still a nice, stable flight, and best of all it looked good. Got a couple of compliments on it.
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Bill Eichelberger NAR 79563 http://wallyum.blogspot.com/ I miss being SAM 0058 Build floor: Centuri Design Contest F-150 Hurricane Estes - Low Boom SST Semroc - Gee'Hod, Shrike, SST Shuttle In paint: Canaroc Starfighter Scorpion Estes F-22 Air Superiority Fighter, Solar Sailer II Semroc Cyber III Ready to fly: Estes - Multi-Roc, Solar Sailer II Semroc - Earmark, Snake Jumper |
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Are you kidding me? This forum censors WIND****ING???
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Bill Eichelberger NAR 79563 http://wallyum.blogspot.com/ I miss being SAM 0058 Build floor: Centuri Design Contest F-150 Hurricane Estes - Low Boom SST Semroc - Gee'Hod, Shrike, SST Shuttle In paint: Canaroc Starfighter Scorpion Estes F-22 Air Superiority Fighter, Solar Sailer II Semroc Cyber III Ready to fly: Estes - Multi-Roc, Solar Sailer II Semroc - Earmark, Snake Jumper |
#6
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Quote:
They also censor ****pit. |
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Against my better judgement, I decided to fly my FSI Hercules clone in the cornstalk camo paint job. The flight was great, but again another E9-6 had delay issues. This one took forever to fire, then when it did, the rocket was moving fast enough to completely strip the chute from the shroud lines. The rocket landed sideways, but one of the fins found the world's stoutest cornstalk.
I'll fix the fin tomorrow, then get SERIOUS about finishing that paint job.
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Bill Eichelberger NAR 79563 http://wallyum.blogspot.com/ I miss being SAM 0058 Build floor: Centuri Design Contest F-150 Hurricane Estes - Low Boom SST Semroc - Gee'Hod, Shrike, SST Shuttle In paint: Canaroc Starfighter Scorpion Estes F-22 Air Superiority Fighter, Solar Sailer II Semroc Cyber III Ready to fly: Estes - Multi-Roc, Solar Sailer II Semroc - Earmark, Snake Jumper |
#8
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FSI Clones + E9-6 =
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Flight #5 was the first flight of the Photon Disruptor. Big field, so I planned to go with a Quest C6-5, just because I had a couple that Chan Stevens traded me at NARAM last year. Apparently the Quest and Estes C6-5 have seriously different flight characteristics. The flight was a big, low arch. No time for the 5 second delay to fire. Even a C6-3 would have been pushing it. The rocket impacted with the ground, and a second later the ejection charge clearly fired. I feared the worst, but when I got to the landing site, I was shocked to find the body tube barely scratched.
The nose cone is pretty badly chewed up, but I've got plastic cones that will work as a replacement. Tough bird.
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Bill Eichelberger NAR 79563 http://wallyum.blogspot.com/ I miss being SAM 0058 Build floor: Centuri Design Contest F-150 Hurricane Estes - Low Boom SST Semroc - Gee'Hod, Shrike, SST Shuttle In paint: Canaroc Starfighter Scorpion Estes F-22 Air Superiority Fighter, Solar Sailer II Semroc Cyber III Ready to fly: Estes - Multi-Roc, Solar Sailer II Semroc - Earmark, Snake Jumper |
#10
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Quote:
Two were. They had just been flown and the corn hides a lot. I just helped the owners look and got lucky. A third had been there a LONG time. It was just a nose cone and the remains of a couple of ring fins.
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Bill Eichelberger NAR 79563 http://wallyum.blogspot.com/ I miss being SAM 0058 Build floor: Centuri Design Contest F-150 Hurricane Estes - Low Boom SST Semroc - Gee'Hod, Shrike, SST Shuttle In paint: Canaroc Starfighter Scorpion Estes F-22 Air Superiority Fighter, Solar Sailer II Semroc Cyber III Ready to fly: Estes - Multi-Roc, Solar Sailer II Semroc - Earmark, Snake Jumper |
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