The Great Shelby Farms Escape

[barone]

We've got a group launch planned for this Saturday, April 12 at Shelby Farms in Memphis TN. All YORFers and their friends and relatives are welcomed to attend. This is not a NAR sanctioned event but just a group of guys getting together to burn some motors and put some altitude between us and our rockets. However, due to our proximity to the Memphis International Airport, all flights must be under 2000 feet.

If interested in attending, just post here. I plan to be at the field at 9am to set the range up. Launches to begin around 10ish (hey, we're just there to have fun, so we don't need to stick to any schedules).

So far, there is no rain scheduled. However, there is wind in the forecast (20-30 mph). The actual go/no-go decision will be made that morning and I'll let all who have indicated they plan to come know. The reason for waiting is because the forecast could be wrong. Afterall, it was suppose to rain here last night and today and it hasn't.

So, pick your rockets and pack a lunch and meet us at Shelby Farms in Memphis TN on April 12 and escape the sanding and building sessions :D

[Race58]

Don,, Here is the picture I told you about in the PM.
Again, thanks for doing all the legwork on this get together. :)
I hope the weather turns out all right for you.

[tbzep]

If the winds aren't bad, Intruder and I plan on being there. I'm not a fan of windy launches, though. We will make our final decision Friday night after looking at the forecasts again.

[barone]

Don,, Here is the picture I told you about in the PM.
Again, thanks for doing all the legwork on this get together. :)
I hope the weather turns out all right for you.
Thanks Ed. Sorry you can't make it. Maybe next time. I really like that modified Duece's Wild :)

[barone]

If the winds aren't bad, Intruder and I plan on being there. I'm not a fan of windy launches, though. We will make our final decision Friday night after looking at the forecasts again.
I'm not a big fan of wind either. As a matter of fact, most of the stuff I planned on flying don't do well with wind (gliders and helicopters). When checking the weather, use the 38134 zip code for Shelby Farms. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Be sure to bring a light jacket. Temp suppose to be in the mid 60s after being in the 80s the past two days..... :eek:

[barone]

Weather looking better.....forecasted winds are now 15 to 20 ;)

I'll be calling the park today and find out if they have any problems with me cutting the grass in the range area. It was looking kinda high last time I was there and if it's like my yard, all this rain has caused a sudden burst in growth..... ;)

[DaveR]

NWS latest web update shows west winds 10 - 20 MPH for tomorrow.

[tbzep]

NWS latest web update shows west winds 10 - 20 MPH for tomorrow.

If it's as bad tomorrow as it is here right now, I don't have much that could survive the flights, much less being dragged after landing. The wind is definitely whipping.

[DaveR]

If it's as bad tomorrow as it is here right now, I don't have much that could survive the flights, much less being dragged after landing. The wind is definitely whipping.
A bit blustery today here as well, I suspect the wind will die down after sunset.

[tbzep]

A bit blustery today here as well, I suspect the wind will die down after sunset.

I'm not flying after sunset. :D

Let's hope they miss the wind forecast as bad as they did the severe weather. While it was bad in a few areas, it was nothing compared to what they were expecting all over the Mid-South.

[tbzep]

Memphis forecast is back up to 20-30 mph winds tomorrow. We may have to back out of this one.

[barone]

Strange...mine still shows the 10-20 :confused: . Well, let's see what tomorrow holds.

It was pretty windy today. I went to the range area after work and did some weed-eating. It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. Actually, I probably didn't have to do anything but I did cut 2 and a half runs for the launch pads. So, if there's more than three of us, someone is going to be standing in foot high grass :D .

The field was relatively dry for as much rain as we got last night and this morning. I walked out a little ways and didn't sink up to my knees (didn't even come close to the ankles :rolleyes: ). I think the corn stalks from last year are making a pretty good mat that spreads the load so you don't sink. If the winds prevail from the west tomorrow, there will be a ditch along side the road that will have to be crossed to get to the recovery area. Looks easy enough to cross.

Dave....if the winds tomorrow are like todays, I'm going to go launch. I've got some birds that it won't hurt. And the tree line is ssssooooooooooo far away (1/4 to 1/2 mile) I don't think there is any concern of hanging a tree, let alone a bison. I'm just gonna bring an arsenal and launch whatever the conditions will allow.

Tim.....I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you guys. You won't have to worry about the wind dragging the rockets along the ground. I think there are plenty of corn stalks that a parachute can hang on, well, hopefully ;) .

Everyone, check here in the morning before you leave or make a decision one way or the other. I'll try to give some idea of the conditions before I head out . If you use the weather service, again, use zip 38134.

See you all tomorrow (fingers crossed) :)

[Race58]

I sure hope it works for you all. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

[DaveR]

I'll be there regardless of winds. I'm not too worried about drift, I've got a 7 year old recovery crew. ;)

Memphis forecast is back up to 20-30 mph winds tomorrow. We may have to back out of this one.

Hope you guys can make it; but if not I can sure understand not wanting to make the drive. Hopefully we can do it again before it gets too hot. :)

[barone]

I'll be there regardless of winds. I'm not too worried about drift, I've got a 7 year old recovery crew. ;)
Yeah, we can just toss him over the ditch.... :D
Hope you guys can make it; but if not I can sure understand not wanting to make the drive. Hopefully we can do it again before it gets too hot. :)
Yeah, I'm sure you're looking at over 200 miles round trip. I would say there's always Sunday (hardly any wind scheduled that day) but the Boy Scouts are going to be there. Hey....maybe......hhhmmmm......I wonder if I have enough motors for TWO DAYS OF FLYING! :D

[barone]

Forecast change number 4......

Nice sunny day now instead of mostly cloudy.

Winds now 15 to 25 from the west. This means we've got a HUGE recovery area. Flat. 1/4 mile to 1/2 mile before road.....about another 300-400 feet to trees. Bison between road and trees :o . Just got to cross shallow ditch to get to recovery area from launch head.

It's a go for locals. After I go outside, I'll post what it feels/looks like.

[tbzep]

Yep...15-25. We're going to head out around 8:00 if all goes well. Kody is determined to fly his Astron Cobra today, so he's already up putting a coat of Future on it. Decals went on last night.

For the first time in a long time, I'll get to take a trip where the sun is at my back all day. (heading west in the AM and east in the PM) :cool:

[barone]

Yep...15-25. We're going to head out around 8:00 if all goes well. Kody is determined to fly his Astron Cobra today, so he's already up putting a coat of Future on it. Decals went on last night.

For the first time in a long time, I'll get to take a trip where the sun is at my back all day. (heading west in the AM and east in the PM) :cool:
Great! :)

I'm going to bring the FSI Sandhawk kit for you to check out.

See you there.

Dave.....I haven't forgotten your box of goodies either ;)

Ed....sure wish you could have made it.

Engineer Kelly.....haven't heard from you so hope you make it too.

[Race58]

Sure wish I could have made it. Hope all went well and if it did I expect some of those great pictures you usually take Tim. :D Yep...15-25. We're going to head out around 8:00 if all goes well. Kody is determined to fly his Astron Cobra today, so he's already up putting a coat of Future on it. Decals went on last night.

For the first time in a long time, I'll get to take a trip where the sun is at my back all day. (heading west in the AM and east in the PM) :cool:

[barone]

Hey Ed,

I can't speak for the others but I had a great time (even though my Saturn V took a beating :( ). Thanks guys for coming out and spending a day on the Farm with me.

Winds were tough to deal with but we all got some good flights in. Only lost one. Matt, Dave's son, lost one of his rockets from the Estes drag race set. I'm surprised both didn't get lost. I can't believe Estes marketed a kit that has like a 100% chance of having a rocket lost. Oh, wait a second, they also had the Mosquito.....my bad :rolleyes: . There were a few that got damaged either from landing on the gravel road, augering in, or some of those notorious shotgun ejection charges.

Some awards.......

Longest walk has to go to my Broadsword (on an eighteen inch chute, it managed to find a thermal and ended up in the bison pen).

Shortest walk has to go to Tim's Beta (must have landed within 20 yards of the pad and the only rocket that could have been caught if someone didn't value their camera more ;) ). Matt's drag race rocket may have been just as close.

Most impressive cluster....has to be a tie between Tim's upscaled Big Bertha and Dave's scratch built. Considering the amount of wind, both of these flew relatively straight and all motors ignited. Congratulations Dave for achieving a rocketry milestone.

Most impressive staging has to be Cody's Aerobee Hi (which looks better in person if you can believe that). Unfortunately it came down on the road and got damaged but nothing that, being as talented with finishing as he is , he won't be able to repair.

The Pranger award has to go to Dave (no Dave, my Saturn doesn't qualify because it came down on it's side :D ) who was able to determine the depth of the mud in the fields twice. Unfortunately, one rocket will probably end up being a few inches shorter. The other survives with no damage (obviously the mud was deeper than the penetration :rolleyes: ).

Anyway, I think the general concensus was to try for another get together some time again. I think we'll let Tim's schedule determine when since he has other family committments to work with. Sure hope you can make it next time Ed. Thanks again guys for coming out and burning a few....

[DaveR]

Some awards.......

Longest walk has to go to my Broadsword (on an eighteen inch chute, it managed to find a thermal and ended up in the bison pen).

FWIW: As Matt and I were leaving, I measured the distance From the launch site to where the road intersected Farm road and it was 0.7 miles, so I'm guessing that as the crow flies (or Broadsword in this case) it easily drifted 1/2 mile maybe 3/4 depending how far it went into the bison pen.

I'll take the Pranger award but Don definatley gets the acrobatic award with 3 somewhat marginally stable flights. Too bad about the Saturn V, hopefully it can be repaired.

For those who may not have seen Intruder's Aerobee-Hi build thread:
http://forums.rocketshoppe.com/showthread.php?t=2802
I will second Don in that it looks even better in person, it's really a fantastic job. Actually both father and son's finishing skills are humbling. :o

Even though it was a tad blustery, and I've got some serious windburn; Matt and I had a great time and it was nice to put some faces with some "avatars". Hopefully we can get together again sometime and Ed can make it next time as well.


Lastly, it's offical.......My son's a redneck:
(this picture doesn't really do it justice)

[barone]

.....I'll take the Pranger award but Don definatley gets the acrobatic award with 3 somewhat marginally stable flights. Too bad about the Saturn V, hopefully it can be repaired.

LMAO....But three? Oh yeah, I forgot all about that "centering ring for fins rocket" :o The Saturn will probably be repaired and flown again but now I'm going to have to build another to be the hangar queen. Unfortunately, I think the kit I have now has the plastic fins :( .

Lastly, it's offical.......My son's a redneck:
(this picture doesn't really do it justice)
Man I hope that's not an owie :(

[DaveR]

Man I hope that's not an owie :(

He didn't seem to think it was too bad until the sun went down, now he's not a real happy camper.

[tbzep]

Well, we are back home after some good wings and stops at Hobbytown USA (for some more Model Masters Crysler Yellow for Kody), Michael's, where we picked up some of that UV resistant Krylon Clear that MicroMeister raves about, Hobby Lobby where we bought nothing, but marveled at the much greater selection of stuff than the Jackson HL has, and Office Depot where we grabbed a new printer for decals (old one is crapping out and I had to do the Beta decals at work).

We've been sitting here looking through the 157 photos. I shot at 1/2000 and some of those little rascals took off so fast that the images are still blurry. I may just have to give in and shoot at slower speeds, because the ISO was so high at that shutter speed that the images are all somewhat fuzzy. The few pics I took at low shutter speeds show super color and crispness in comparison.

It will take a while to go through the pics and crop them for the internet, so I won't be doing that for a while. I'll probably just burn a copy of them and mail them to you guys if you want them. That way you can crop them any way you please.

As a teaser, I'll talk about a couple:

Saturn V. Probably the most crisp liftoff shot of the day. Nice flame, bright sun for lower ISO setting at the high shutter speed. The best part....the rocket is still moving vertically in a couple of the shots. :D

My Beta with its special 1/4A3-0 booster actually staged before the rocket got half way up the 4 ft. rod! Kody and I figure there was some binding due to the wind, plus the rocket is a bit heavier with paint than when we test flew it naked (the rocket, not us). I guess I'll have to fly it on 1/2A3-0 boosters in the future, to ensure the chance to impale it on the top of the launch rod again.

Kody's Astron Cobra A10-3T cluster looked really good on takeoff, as did Dave's gray rocket cluster. As hard as the A10's eject, Kody decided it will have to fly with the single 18mm mount from now on. Once every ten years or so I get a bright idea, so I told him we could fly it with two plugged and one ejecting motor. Sure, there's a chance of failure, but there always is with a cluster flight. I can even whip up some special A10's as long as we fly like we usually do, or like we did today.

Dave, I got a good sequence of your yellow and blue rocket from liftoff through ejection. It was really easy to follow and I kept it in focus all the way for a change.

Don, your Broadsword looked good going up. I got one shot of it after ignition, but before any visible flame was showing....it looked like a Mac truck's exhaust stack where you see the distorted wavy lines from the hot exhaust, but no real smoke. The next shot has some good flame. The helicopter rocket looked good going up and coming down. I also got your ring rocket moving vertical, horizontal, and again vertical....nose up. :eek: :cool:

The best shots of the day as far as crispness and color were a couple of ground shots. One had a bunch of wacky German missiles in it, the other had a couple of goofy guys fooling with Astron Rangers. :p

Thanks for the invitation. We really enjoyed putting real faces on the characters we see here on YORF and seeing some of the rockets we've read about. Oh...special thanks to Don's brother-in-law, who came out just to chase rockets for us....on a windy day!

P.S. Kody said that the only thing that could have made the day more fun was winds that were only 50 mph instead of 100. :D (He said that after his belly was full of wings, btw.)

[Intruder]

For those who may not have seen Intruder's Aerobee-Hi build thread:
http://forums.rocketshoppe.com/showthread.php?t=2802
I will second Don in that it looks even better in person, it's really a fantastic job. Actually both father and son's finishing skills are humbling. :o


Thanks you guys. Although the Aerobee's encounter with the gravel road has left it looking A LOT better on the Internet.

Dad and I picked up some balsa strips at the Hobbytown USA. I'll eventually make another sustainer with them and a second booster. Maybe the new ones will actually work (for Dad this is supposed read: "Maybe the new ones will have satisfying results when launched" :p ).

[tbzep]

Thanks you guys. Although the Aerobee's encounter with the gravel road has left it looking A LOT better on the Internet.

Dad and I picked up some balsa strips at the Hobbytown USA. I'll eventually make another sustainer with them and a second booster. Maybe the new ones will actually work (for Dad this is supposed read: "Maybe the new ones will have satisfying results when launched" :p ).

I've told him the Aerobee has worked every time....at least for some neat staging pics. :cool: I got it today with the second stage already ignited and the booster still attached.

[Race58]

Boy am I sorry I missed all of what you have described. Despite the mis-haps it sounds like you all had a real good time. I can tell by the humor in the posts.
Can't wait to see the pictures you took Tim. You are way to critical of your photography skills. Even your worst picture (though I have never seen one. Just going by your descripton ;)) turns out 10 times better than any I have ever taken. :)
Dave I hope that Matt doesn't suffer that much with the "Redneck" he earned. ;) . You and Don are right in the job Kody and Tim did on the Aerobee. A picture never does it justice and it looks fantastic in the picture. Wish I could have seen it up close.
Don even though I could not get out of my commitment and couldn't get there myself I want to thank you for all your effort in pulling this off. Great Job! :D
BTW The Saturn V I built and launched back in the 70's had a side burn and went ballistic so I feel your pain.

The worst part about missing the gathering (besides launching the rockets of course) is that I really wanted to meet you all in person and I'm sorry I missed that. :( Maybe soon we can try again and I hope others will join in once they read about the fun you all had.

I am going to try and launch a few by myself this week weather permitting.
I'm going to have trouble getting pictures or video unless I can find a designated camera person. I would use my wife for that but for those that saw my first launch with my grandson's a couple weeks back know what I mean when I say that as soon as the rocket launches she forgets she has the camera in her hand. LMAO

[moonzero2]

As a teaser, I'll talk about a couple:
Saturn V. Probably the most crisp liftoff shot of the day. Nice flame, bright sun for lower ISO setting at the high shutter speed. The best part....the rocket is still moving vertically in a couple of the shots.

Since you're teasing us,... I think you should post this one picture of the Saturn V.

[DaveR]

snip....
As a teaser, I'll talk about a couple:

The best shots of the day as far as crispness and color were a couple of ground shots. One had a bunch of wacky German missiles in it...end snip


This pic wasn't ever posted, but I think it's neat that out of all the rockets there, the DRM was the only rocket we all had that was the same.

l to r: zep's upscale, mine, intruder's (or zep's, can't remember :( ), barone's

[Race58]

Very nice. Looks like a secret military base. :D This pic wasn't ever posted, but I think it's neat that out of all the rockets there, the DRM was the only rocket we all had that was the same.

l to r: zep's upscale, mine, intruder's (or zep's, can't remember :( ), barone's

[barone]

This pic wasn't ever posted, but I think it's neat that out of all the rockets there, the DRM was the only rocket we all had that was the same.

l to r: zep's upscale, mine, intruder's (or zep's, can't remember :( ), barone's
Yeah....and the wind was blowing so hard we got lucky to get the one shot without a hand in the picture... :D

[tbzep]

Yeah....and the wind was blowing so hard we got lucky to get the one shot without a hand in the picture... :D

Ya got that right... I blew my nose, farmer style, and some snot made it all the way to the buffalo farm! :eek: :D

[moonzero2]

Ya got that right... I blew my nose, farmer style, and some snot made it all the way to the buffalo farm! :eek: :D
And I thought I was the only one who blew their nose that way!

[tbzep]

And I thought I was the only one who blew their nose that way!

What can I say...I'm just an old country boy. :D

[A Fish Named Wallyum]

Ya got that right... I blew my nose, farmer style, and some snot made it all the way to the buffalo farm! :eek: :D

SNOT ROCKET!!! Favorite weapon of cross country runners. I had a "nose tackle" blow one on the ball once just as our offense was approaching the line. I acted like it was no more than another spot of mud or blood and snapped the ball. (Inside I was trying not to blow my groceries. :rolleyes: )