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UPscaler
12-22-2008, 05:07 PM
http://cgi.ebay.com/7-ft-Tall-Model-Rocket-Estes-The-Dude-Fly-300-ft-High_W0QQitemZ110327097847QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item110327097847&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A570%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318%7C301%3A1%7C293%3A1%7C294%3A50


If i am reading it right, it is saying there is an inflatable 7 foot rocket, that recovers on a 12 inch parachute?

Indiana
12-22-2008, 05:14 PM
That just about covers it. Not sure about the parachute size, but I'm sure it doesn't really even need one.

Royatl
12-22-2008, 06:36 PM
http://cgi.ebay.com/7-ft-Tall-Model-Rocket-Estes-The-Dude-Fly-300-ft-High_W0QQitemZ110327097847QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item110327097847&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A570%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318%7C301%3A1%7C293%3A1%7C294%3A50


If i am reading it right, it is saying there is an inflatable 7 foot rocket, that recovers on a 12 inch parachute?


Yep. it was available for a couple of years around 2001.

http://www.soarrocketry.org/Multimedia/SoARSeptember2006Launch/target15.html

A Fish Named Wallyum
12-22-2008, 08:32 PM
One of the all-time bad Estes jokes.

JoeLaunchman
12-22-2008, 09:15 PM
My local hobby shop had the Dude set up in the window display for a few years, the sight of it probably discouraged model rocketry.

barone
12-22-2008, 10:31 PM
Some B divisioners used them for the E SuperRoc competition at NARAM 49. Wait a second, was that only a threat? Bob, I can't remember seeing it fly. Did Rachel fly it?

jeff_in_AZ
12-23-2008, 12:02 AM
I recently got the new Hobby Surplus catalog, and they still have some Dudes,
selling for $14.99 + shipping, etc.

http://www.hobbysurplus.com/

My son and I have a Dude and have flown it a few times at the SSS monthly
launches at Rainbow Valley, AZ. Our main problem has been with the desert thorns,
they have not been kind to the Dude. That is why I've been looking for places where
I can buy another one ... and we may have to restrict it to a grassy park in town. :D

It's an odd rocket, not everyone's cup of tea, but can be fun. It doesn't fly very
high and it is fragile, but it seems to be a kid magnet and we have had fun with ours. We
flew it for the first time at GHS in 2006 and it was my son's favorite flight. You
were right about the parachute, the rocket doesn't weigh a lot, doesn't go very
high, and the chute doesn't seem to do much.

Jeff

UPscaler
12-23-2008, 01:07 AM
I kinda of like it, but i can see why a lot of people wouldn't like it though!

Shreadvector
12-23-2008, 07:38 AM
I love it. It is a big metallized baloon, so obviously it can be punctured by thorns or sharp or even mildly pointy tree branches. It is best flown on grassy fields.


It flies slow and to a few hundred feet. Then the ejection charge pops a small parachute out a sideways pointing tube and this helps keep the rocket horizontal as it floats down. It works fine even without the chute, but the chute is extra fun for some.

We use it on display at shows and it looks like it is a shiny metal rocket, like an Atlas missile.

Let's see where the photos are:

http://www.dars.org/jimz/gallery/gal227.jpg

http://www.dars.org/jimz/gallery/gal228.jpg

http://www.dars.org/jimz/gallery/gal256.jpg

http://www.dars.org/jimz/gallery/gal257.jpg

http://www.dars.org/jimz/gallery/gal258.jpg

jeff_in_AZ
12-23-2008, 12:13 PM
Nice pictures, Fred. Looks like you've had fun with the Dude.
I've attached a few of the pictures from our Dude below.
Looking back, it probably should have been obvious
that the desert thorns and brambles would be an issue
for a rocket made from a balloon. Ah well, live and learn,
we bought it for $6 on Ebay. In the video from the GHS 2006
flight, you can hear someone yelling, "It's gonna pop when
it hits the ground out here! Catch it!!" I still get a chuckle
out of that.

We had fun with the Dude and will fly it yet again (from a
grassy park) as soon as I buy another one.

Happy holidays, Jeff

jetlag
12-23-2008, 12:48 PM
Nice pictures, Fred. Looks like you've had fun with the Dude.
I've attached a few of the pictures from our Dude below.
Looking back, it probably should have been obvious
that the desert thorns and brambles would be an issue
for a rocket made from a balloon. Ah well, live and learn,
we bought it for $6 on Ebay. In the video from the GHS 2006
flight, you can hear someone yelling, "It's gonna pop when
it hits the ground out here! Catch it!!" I still get a chuckle
out of that.

We had fun with the Dude and will fly it yet again (from a
grassy park) as soon as I buy another one.

Happy holidays, Jeff

Very Cool!!! I need to get one for the kid 'WOW' factor alone! I do demos for my son's school, and they would get quite a kick out of it!
I guess I better get one or two! :D
Allen

UPscaler
12-23-2008, 03:10 PM
Great, now i want one!

dwmzmm
12-23-2008, 03:51 PM
There was one at one of our Hobby Lobby several years ago; I had an eye on buying it at a later time. But when that "time" came, the store had done a revamping of the display and
the Dude was no longer there :( . I had seen an inflated Dude at one of our local rocket launch around that time, and have to say I was impressed by the size and appearance of
that thing. The rocket's owner didn't fly it that day, so I didn't get the chance to see it fly.

5x7
12-23-2008, 07:42 PM
I wonder if anyone has done a duration contest with it-filled with helium?

Bob Kaplow
12-23-2008, 07:57 PM
I wonder if anyone has done a duration contest with it-filled with helium?

Alas, the stupid thing is heavy enough (the nose ring has 4 huge brass weights for stability) that even helium wouldn't make a difference in its lack of buoyancy.

At NARAM-49 my daughter flew one for E Stupidroc. It seems designed to cause small burn holes in the back end of the bag from ignition, so once flown it began to lose some air. By the time we brought it back, it definitely needed a little blue pill.

JAL3
12-23-2008, 08:33 PM
I bought a "distributor's" block of 4 of them off Ebay for $22. I kept one for myself just for the weird factor; its still in the box. I gave one to a kid from my club who was VERY helpful in dealing with younger kids in a museum class and at a launch where we had a lot of very young kids show up and I put the other 2 in my club's prize kitty where they have yet to be claimed.

The one I gave to Spikey (the helpful kid from my club) is the only one I have seen put together. He tried to fly it at the club launch where all the young kids showed up but was always defeated by the gusting winds which would wreak havoc. That was in July. I've still never seen one of the things fly.

One of these day's I suppose I'll put mine together and give it a try. I wonder how it would perform with an AT reload...some how I think it would be easy to track...

SCE to AUX
12-24-2008, 11:38 AM
I wonder how it would perform with an AT reload...some how I think it would be easy to track...

Saw one fly on an F24 RMS once. And ONCE is the operative word here.

The thrust caused the rocket to essentially turn itself inside out... :eek:

JAL3
12-24-2008, 12:09 PM
Saw one fly on an F24 RMS once. And ONCE is the operative word here.

The thrust caused the rocket to essentially turn itself inside out... :eek:

Do you think that with a lower thrust reload, say an F12, the result would have been worthwhile?

Maniac BAR
01-04-2009, 01:27 PM
Nice pictures, Fred. Looks like you've had fun with the Dude.
I've attached a few of the pictures from our Dude below.
Looking back, it probably should have been obvious
that the desert thorns and brambles would be an issue
for a rocket made from a balloon. Ah well, live and learn,
we bought it for $6 on Ebay. In the video from the GHS 2006
flight, you can hear someone yelling, "It's gonna pop when
it hits the ground out here! Catch it!!" I still get a chuckle
out of that.

We had fun with the Dude and will fly it yet again (from a
grassy park) as soon as I buy another one.

Happy holidays, Jeff


Hey, Jeff. I have one still in the box! You are welcome to it.

Man, I would have loved to see that thing turn itself inside out during thrust! :p I may have to put one of mine together just to do that. :D

Mark II
01-04-2009, 04:25 PM
Just wondering how Estes came up with the name for that model...:rolleyes:

I have never seen one, except in pictures in the web. When it is under thrust, does it fly like more like a rocket or more like a blimp?

I believe that The Dude was the only model rocket ever produced that came with instructions stating that the launch pad consisted of a rod stuck in the ground. :p

Mark \\.

Maniac BAR
01-04-2009, 07:24 PM
Just wondering how Estes came up with the name for that model...:rolleyes:

I have never seen one, except in pictures in the web. When it is under thrust, does it fly like more like a rocket or more like a blimp?

I believe that The Dude was the only model rocket ever produced that came with instructions stating that the launch pad consisted of a rod stuck in the ground. :p

Mark \\.

The dang thing flies just fine. Looks like a rocket going up and changes into a skinny blimp as it comes down. It needs plenty of room however cause it goes wherever it wants to on the way down, just like most blimps do in the wind.

Did it gets it name because someone at Estes saw it for the first time and asked the designer

" DUDE, are you really going to fly that" :chuckle: :chuckle: :D LOL

Les
01-04-2009, 07:54 PM
One thing to remember, you have to fly it when there is hardly any wind at all. Not so much for how the wind will carry it away (which it will), but even sitting on the launch pad any breeze will want to dump the launch pad over onto it's side.

jeff_in_AZ
01-04-2009, 10:59 PM
Hey, Jeff. I have one still in the box! You are welcome to it.


Thanks! PM sent.

Jeff

jeff_in_AZ
01-04-2009, 11:14 PM
I have never seen one, except in pictures in the web. When it is under thrust, does it fly like more like a rocket or more like a blimp?

Mark \\.

It turns out that I videotaped the 2 flights we have made with our Dude,
here is a link to the video of the flights:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5S8k8ONtgQ

The first flight was on a D12-3 with air in the balloon, the 2nd flight
was on a D12-5 using Helium in the balloon. You can judge for yourself, but
I think that Bob is right, the Helium didn't seem to make much difference.
The altitude was about the same, maybe a little gentler on the landing with Helium.

We had a lot of trouble trying to use the launch pad that comes with the kit
due to the hardness of the desert ground, so we just used a standard launch pad
with 1/4" launch rod both times.

Jeff

STRMan
01-05-2009, 04:55 AM
I love the backslide before deployment.

Shreadvector
01-05-2009, 06:59 AM
When it first came out we did a fast calculation on the mass difference between air and He and it was like an ounce or two for that volume (actual numbers are in the r.m.r archives...).


I flew one on an Aerotech E15-4 and it did start to flex aerodynamically. D12 is best.

The only reason it would get burn holes at ignition, is if you did not read the instructions and support it well above the flat blast deflector. My only burn holes are from post ejection minute embers that managed to impact the bag.

The name comes from the Big Lebowski.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118715/

Mark II
01-06-2009, 07:27 PM
[...]
The name comes from the Big Lebowski.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118715/
Knowing that, now I wish it was still in production! :D

Love the vids, Jeff! :)

Mark \\.

jadebox
01-07-2009, 11:23 AM
Do you think that with a lower thrust reload, say an F12, the result would have been worthwhile?

I have a couple of Ellis G20 motors ... and I have two "Dudes" still in their boxes. Hmmm .... :)

-- Roger

jadebox
01-07-2009, 11:26 AM
I flew one on an Aerotech E15-4 and it did start to flex aerodynamically.

Darn ... that probably rules out using a G20.

-- Roger

mperdue
01-07-2009, 12:00 PM
Chad staging works great with these things...

Mario

Shreadvector
01-07-2009, 12:08 PM
Darn ... that probably rules out using a G20.

-- Roger

Not at all. It will blow up before it reaches a dangerous MaxQ. :p

Mark II
01-07-2009, 03:18 PM
Chad staging works great with these things...

Mario
I can imagine! Is that how you get it to gain more than 60 feet in altitude? :D

Mark \\.

Shreadvector
01-07-2009, 04:23 PM
I can imagine! Is that how you get it to gain more than 60 feet in altitude? :D

Mark \\. (file://\\.)

The flame from the booster will burn a large hole in the bottom of the "bag" unless a heat sheild is installed - and that weight would be very bad.

mperdue
01-07-2009, 04:35 PM
The flame from the booster will burn a large hole in the bottom of the "bag" unless a heat sheild is installed - and that weight would be very bad.
I've seen it done several times without any problems.

Mario

naoto
12-03-2014, 01:20 PM
Chad staging works great with these things...

Mario
Hrm... I wonder what combo of motors we could use to maximize performance? I'm thinking the booster would need enough to get the whole stack off the ground and moving with enough speed for the fins to take effect, then the subsequent stages would be just enough to counteract the drag and impart a moderate amount of acceleration (namely to decrease chance of scrunching/flexing of the airframe) ?

Jerry Irvine
12-03-2014, 01:32 PM
C11-0, E9-0, E9-2

or

F101-4!