A Fish Named Wallyum
04-09-2006, 10:20 PM
On Saturday one of my low-power buds and I did some small field flying up the street from my house. Sloppiest conditions I've ever launched in. Every step was a muddy squish. The winds dictated that we launch from one end of the field, and things worked fine except for two flights, the previously posted-on Tangent, and Richie's Exo-Smell, the top section of which now resides in a tree on the other side of the field from the Tangent. I had a bunch of new stuff to fly, but the winds and slop kept most of the rockets grounded. I did manage to fly the Semroc Snipe Hunter that I finished in about two hours on Friday night. (While I watched the Red's game.) I flew it on an A8-3 and it landed hard on the corrugated tin roof of the baseball dugout, but it wasn't damaged. I had planned to give the Empire Bomarc another try, (sloppy=no chance of raging brush fire,) but the winds would have killed it before it left the rod. I also waved off first flights of the Solar Warrior and Semroc Aerobee that I finished on my brief vacation last week. I DID fly a Custom Razor that I threw together in about fifteen minutes. The nose cone fell off at about the 100' mark. It was interesting because we got to see the ejection charge fire the wadding into the parachute. The Semroc Micron flew on a 1/2A6-2, but it was perfect for the conditions. Not much altitude, but the flight was perfect. I probably could have flown it on an A8-3, but I already lost one rocket to the swirling winds. Other flights on the day were the Quest Big Betty on a B6-4, a good flight but muddy recovery, my Mach 10 clone on a B4-2, the X-15 on a B6-4, and the Star Snoop on an A8-3. All in all, it was good to get out to fly, but the day was marked more by what I DIDN'T fly than what I did.
As for the pictures, I'd have more, but my launch crew tended to press the button as soon as they said "ONE" or they'd forget where they were and have to start over. I managed one decent launch picture all day, and that was the Death Star rocket that I built for Richie. Talk about windcocking!
As for the pictures, I'd have more, but my launch crew tended to press the button as soon as they said "ONE" or they'd forget where they were and have to start over. I managed one decent launch picture all day, and that was the Death Star rocket that I built for Richie. Talk about windcocking!