Chrome mylar is much easier to track than silver.
Silver blends in with the sky, yet the least light shines brightly off chrome.

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When in doubt, WHACK the GAS and DITCH the brake !!!

Yes, there is such a thing as NORMAL, if you have to ask what is "NORMAL" , you probably aren't !
Failure may not be an OPTION, but it is ALWAYS a POSSIBILITY.
ALL systems are GO for MAYHEM, CHAOS, and HAVOC !

When I started staging - when I BAR'd in 1999 - I remember flying my Midget on an A10-0T in the booster, and it went way up before staging. I'm glad I had only a 1/2A3-4T in the sustainer.

For many fliers at that time, booster selection was pretty sparse, so folks would often be using B6-0's or C6-0's in the boosters. For many 2-stage rockets that were neither heavy nor draggy, fliers would be lucky to get back half of it much less the entire rocket.

Doug...would love to come into possession of some 1/2A boosters...

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YORF member #11

I buy what engines I don't have stockpiled from Wal-Mart clearance at Hobby Lobby, and they don't carry A8-0's, at least not around here. Unfortunate. B6-0 and C6-0 engines are readily available.

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NAR # 115523
Once upon a better day... SAM #0076
My site: http://rocketry.gonnerman.org

We had a Taser Twin at the BEMRC launch this past Saturday. It was painted all black and turned in two flights in which both stages were recovered. Both were B6-0 to B6-6. The fins on the booster were a little wavy, which certainly cost it some altitude during during the first stage burn....but it was easily the highest flying model of the day. Solid black with a bright orange streamer was relatively easy to track in the sky....with the emphasis on "relatively" .

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Bernard Cawley
NAR 89040 L1 - Life Member
SAM 0061
AMA 42160
KG7AIE

Too bad Estes discontinued the B4-6 and kept the B6-6.
The thrust profile and larger diameter nozzle makes for a much better and easier ignited upper-stage motor.
Some of the engines Estes discontinued make no sense at all.
Examples:
B4-6 instead of B6-6 ( it makes no sense to me to have both B6 and B4 motors in the same delay ); the only B6 motor that still should exist is the B6-4; The B4-2 is better than the B6-2 and the B4-6 is better than the B6-6.

C5-3 instead of the C6-3; there is nothing the C6-3 does that the C5-3 does not do better.

The entire B8 line; it was a decent substitute for the B14 and can be made with a pintle die instead of drilling the core as the B14 had to; The B8 is much better at getting draggy/heavy rockets moving than the B6; I'd just as soon like the entire B6 line replaced by the B8 in delays of 0, 2, 4, and 6 seconds; the nozzle diameter is the same as the B4 and just would need a pintle-die used when pressing the propellant. One can actually make their 'own' B8's/B14's out of B4's albeit against the NAR safety code.

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When in doubt, WHACK the GAS and DITCH the brake !!!

Yes, there is such a thing as NORMAL, if you have to ask what is "NORMAL" , you probably aren't !
Failure may not be an OPTION, but it is ALWAYS a POSSIBILITY.
ALL systems are GO for MAYHEM, CHAOS, and HAVOC !

I come into possession of them on occasion...along with 1/4A3 and 1/2A6 boosters too.

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I love sanding.

I miss the B4-6 also, but mainly because I loved how it got the old Centuri Bandito into the air. The difference is small, but noticeable.

As an aside: Given that 13mm engines fit (barely) into empty 18mm casings, I'm often surprised that Estes doesn't make a separate delay-and-ejection module that you could push into a booster engine. It would fill a lot of niches.

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NAR # 115523
Once upon a better day... SAM #0076
My site: http://rocketry.gonnerman.org

It could definitely simplify production if Estes only produced 'booster' engines, and separate 'delay/ejection' modules. Would definitely be better for customers as well.

__________________
When in doubt, WHACK the GAS and DITCH the brake !!!

Yes, there is such a thing as NORMAL, if you have to ask what is "NORMAL" , you probably aren't !
Failure may not be an OPTION, but it is ALWAYS a POSSIBILITY.
ALL systems are GO for MAYHEM, CHAOS, and HAVOC !

It would be better for us. The average Walmart kid would screw it up.

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I love sanding.

Who was the company that did that (anyone)? AVI? I've seen the motors, and might even have one somewhere.

In fact, as I recall, when I first met Carl at NARCON in 2002 in Austin, he and I discussed those. I always had the impression that, if Semroc got into the motor biz, he would be using that 2-part approach.

Doug

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YORF member #11